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Some time after, two English pilgrims from Ludlow were travelling in Palestine, and they met an old man “white and hoary, brighter than the sun at midday,” who showed them kindness and entertained them hospitably. He told them that he was John the Evangelist, and that he had a special love for the King of their country. He then gave them back the ring, and bade them restore it to King Edward, who had given it to him when he was disguised as a poor pilgrim. They were also to tell the King that in six months’ time he would be with St. John in Paradise. The pilgrims returned to England, and the thirteenth carving shows them bringing back the ring and delivering the message, whereupon the King began to prepare himself for his death.

These stories, together with others told of Edward’s kindness to the sick and to the leper, show us the power of this simple goodness and piety, and explain why the Confessor’s memory was so much loved and revered.

His tomb has been the centre round which not only many of our Kings and Queens, but gradually most of our best and greatest men, have been laid to rest.