Saint Bede the Venerable (see About the Author, page 90) tells in Book IV of his Ecclesiastical History the story of an Anglo-Saxon poet named Caedmon. Excluding self-descriptions in poems of the period, Bede's "Story of Caedmon" provides the only biographical information we have about an early Anglo-Saxon poet. It also contains, embedded in the story, "Caedmon's Hymn" the earliest Old English poem that has survived. Little is known of Caedmon other than the miraculous story that Bede recounts. According to Bede, Caedmon was an illiterate cowherd and keeper of horses with no training as a singer of tales, or scop. One night after having listened to others sing at an entertainment, Caedmon went to sleep in his stable. A figure appeared to him in a dream and demanded that he sing about the creation of the world. Caedmon suddenly found himself able to compose beautiful poetry. The next day, he sang his hymn to Hild, the Abbess of the Monastery of Whitby, and to some "learned men." They all agreed that Caedmon had received a divine gift, a miraculous inspiration. Caedmon went on to compose many long poems on religious subjects. Among the surviving poems commonly attributed to Caedmon are a number of Old English Christian epics that retell stories from the Bible. These epics include Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, Azariah, Judith, and Christ and Satan.