About this time another man, a Briton by race, is said to have been crossing the ground where this battle had been fought, and noticing that one spot was more green and beautiful than the rest of the field, he came to the wise conclusion that there could be no other explanation for this exceptional greenness but that some person of greater sanctity than anyone else in the army had been slain there. So he took away some of the earth wrapped up in a linen cloth, thinking that, as the event proved, it might have power to heal the sick. Proceeding on his journey, he arrived that night at a village and entered a house where some neighbours were having a feast. He was welcomed by the owners of the house, and when he had hung the cloth containing the earth on a beam of the wall, he sat down to share their meal. They had sat eating and drinking for a long while around a blazing fire in the centre of the room, when sparks flew up into the roof of the house, which was made of wattles thatched with hay, and quickly burst into flame. When the fuddled revellers realized this, they rushed out of the burning house in terror, powerless to extinguish the blaze. The house burned down, and only the beam from which the earth hung remained whole and untouched by the flames. When they saw this miracle, they were all astonished, and after making careful enquiry, they found that the man had taken the earth from the place where Oswald’s blood had been shed. These marvels were reported far and wide, and many folk began to visit the place each day and obtained healing for themselves and their families.