It taught Bodo to pray to the Ever-Lord instead of to Father Heaven, and to the Virgin Mary instead of to Mother Earth, and with these changes let the old spell he had learned from his ancestors serve him still.

It taught him, for instance, to call on Christ and Mary in his charm for bees.

When Ermentrude heard her bees swarming, she stood outside her cottage and said this little charm over them: Christ, there is a swarm of bees outside, Fly hither, my little cattle, In blest peace, in God's protection, Come home safe and sound.
Sit down, sit down, bee, St Mary commanded thee.
Thou shalt not have leave, Thou shalt not fly to the wood.
Thou shalt not escape me, Nor go away from me.
Sit very still, Wait God's will![9] And if Bodo on his way home saw one of his bees caught in a brier bush, he immediately stood still and wished--as some people wish today when they go under a ladder.

It was the Church, too, which taught Bodo to add 'So be it, Lord', to the end of his charm against pain.

Now, his ancestors for generations behind him had believed that if you had a stitch in your side, or a bad pain anywhere, it came from a worm in the marrow of your bones, which was eating you up, and that the only way to get rid of that worm was to put a knife, or an arrow-head, or some other piece of metal to the sore place, and then wheedle the worm out on to the blade by saying a charm.