CHAPTER III.
THE ABBEY _Eoves here dwelt and was a swain,_ _Wherefore men call this Eovesholme_.
-- LEGEND ON MONASTIC SEAL.
(_Modernised_.) THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY In the dim ages of antiquity, when the face of the country, now busy and fertile, was one dense forest, with here and there a settlement of dwellers in huts, tillers of the land, herdsmen, or hunters, there lived near the spot now occupied by the thriving town of Evesham a swineherd named Eoves.

One day, we are told, a favourite sow was missing, and her master hunted brake and briar, far and near, in search of her.

While on this errand he penetrated far into the depths of the forest, when suddenly he was startled by a radiant light, in which appeared three figures of women dazzling by their beauty.

The vision faded, and on the spot the joyful herdsman discovered his sow with a litter of young.
The news was soon noised abroad, and at length reached the ears of Egwin, the Bishop of the diocese, at Worcester.

Egwin inquired into the matter, visited the place, and was himself rewarded by the appearance of the three figures, whom he pronounced to be no other than the Virgin Mary with two attendant angels.