Taken from “The Young Folks Treasure Chest”, a Daily Express publication, in 1934
We really know very little about St. David except that he founded a great many monasteries in the southern part of Wales.
According to legend, he was a brave Welsh knight who defended his country from savage invaders, and the origin of the leek as an emblem of Wales is explained as follows. In a great battle fought between St. David’s followers and their enemies the two armies were so closely mixed together that it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe and St. David was afraid lest his knights should kill one another.
The fighting was going on in the midst of a great field planted with leeks. Bending down from his horse he plucked one of the leeks and fastened it to his helmet, crying to all his knights to do the same. Thus, the next time the Welsh charged they were able to recognize one another in the fighting, and after a long struggle the enemy were put to rout.
At a great meeting held about the year 560, many thousands of people gathered to hear the Welsh bishops so many, indeed, that the bishops were unable to make themselves heard. At last, one of the bishops, who was called Paul the old, and was St. Davis’s teacher, advised that he should be sent for to speak to the multitude. When he came, a snow-white dove is said to have settled upon his shoulder, and the flat ground upon which he was standing rose up to form a hill, from the summit of which his voice could be heard like a trumpet. As an old writer said:’ He was heard by the most distant as by the nearest, as the sun is seen by everybody at noon.