The vegetable lamb grows in the far north, on the Paradise of Sheep and Birds.1 As the goose grows from the barnacle, and the mouse from hay, the vegetable lamb grows from unattended scraps of wool left behind after the shepherd shears his flock. In the fertile soil of the Paradise of Sheep and Birds, the wool easily takes root and sprouts leaves. Over time, it turns into a vast mound of wool.
These are the stories passed on by good Christian chroniclers. Here, the plant does not grow. But when walking on the northern shores one will sometimes find wool of great fineness, washed up on the beach. After scouring, it is warm yet light. A man wearing it may feel as if the dead of winter is a summer day. It dyes well and keeps away the wet as well as sealskin. It is said that wool of gold is less valuable than the wool of the vegetable lamb. That such a marvelous herb exists is sure proof of God's beneficence.
As useful as the vegetable lamb is, pagan superstition hangs over it. Legends tell of great heaps of wool in the shape of enormous sheep washing up on land and seedpods that, when cracked open, revealed an infant lamb. The pagans thought this was a sign of their gods' wrath. These uncanny tales are why despite the vegetable lamb's virtues, many avoid its wool.
My brethren consider all the legends to be pagan nonsense and a few even doubt the vegetable lamb itself. The myths of angry pagan deities are surely just that and sheep made of wool may be as well. But the wool certainly exists, and so do the seedpods. When gathering saltwort one spring day, I found one washed up at the wrack line. It was as long as my arm and a third as wide, covered with a thick brown husk. After cracking it open, I found the lamb within, still warm and dry.
The texts I keep within my cell claim the lamb-flesh is a powerful sacrament once pickled and blessed by a priest, uniting the body and soul with Christ. Heretical--and judged justly so--but I believe the authors experienced something powerful even if their theology was dangerously wrong. They write of seeing a brightly lit land of lush grass, where the sheep run freely. Some were a sheep in their visions. The flesh of the lamb may be a drug, either in its natural state or due to the pickling process. Knowing as they do of the Paradise of Sheep and Birds and the Lamb of God, that they hallucinate such a place is no surprise.
Lastly, if the lamb within is indeed edible, eating it should not violate the fast of Lent.2
- Translation and footnotes by L.S.