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Title: The folk-lore of the Isle of Man
        Being an account of its myths, legends, superstitions, customs, & proverbs

Author: A. W. Moore


        
Release date: December 15, 2025 [eBook #77469]

Language: English

Original publication: Douglas: Brown & Son, 1891

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOLK-LORE OF THE ISLE OF MAN ***
Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.




FOLK-LORE.




THE

FOLK-LORE

OF THE

ISLE OF MAN,

BEING AN ACCOUNT OF ITS MYTHS, LEGENDS, SUPERSTITIONS, CUSTOMS,
& PROVERBS,

Collected from many sources; with a GENERAL INTRODUCTION; and with
EXPLANATORY NOTES to each Chapter;

BY


A. W. MOORE, M.A.;

AUTHOR OF “_MANX NAMES_”, &c.

“I would not for any quantity of gold, part with the wonderful tales
which I have retained from my earliest childhood, or have met with in
my progress through life.”—_Martin Luther._

_ISLE OF MAN_: BROWN & SON, “Times” Buildings, Athol
Street, Douglas.

_LONDON_: D. NUTT, 270, Strand.

1891.


“THE ISLE OF MAN TIMES”,

Published every Wednesday at 1d., and Saturday at 2d., is the Leading
Journal of the Isle of Man. Copies by post, 1/2d. extra. Publishing
Offices, “Times” Buildings, Douglas.


BROWN’S POPULAR GUIDE

To the Isle of Man is the best published. Price, 1s.; by Post, 1s. 3d.
BROWN AND SON, “Times” Buildings, Douglas.




INTRODUCTION.


THE Isle of Man has been unfortunate in not having had competent
collectors of its Legendary Lore. But few have taken the slightest
interest in it, and those who have did not understand the language
in which they could have learned it at first hand. The earliest of
these collectors, and the one to whom we owe most of the tales which
are given in the following pages, was George Waldron, an Englishman,
who was in the Isle of Man, where he seems to have been acting as
Commissioner from the British Government, to watch and report on the
import and export trade of the country, between 1720 and 1730. He seems
to have had but little knowledge of the Manx people and their ways,
and the marvellous tales which he tells are given in his own language,
and, probably, with many additions suggested by his fancy. After
an interval of a century came Train, who had also the disadvantage
of being a stranger, and who was, therefore, obliged to gather the
greater number of the few additional tales he gives at second hand.
The next collector of Manx Folk-Lore who began his work about 1860,
was William Harrison, a Lancashire man, who lived for some time on the
Island, being a member of the House of Keys, and devoted considerable
attention to Manx antiquities. He has done good service in the cause of
Folk-Lore by collecting the ballads, proverbs, &c., which are printed
in volumes XVI. and XXI. of the Manx Society’s publications, and in
editing Waldron’s History. And, lastly, Jenkinson inserted some scraps
of Folk-Lore in his “Guide to the Isle of Man”, published in 1874.
Campbell, the editor of the “Popular Tales of the West Highlands”,
who visited the Island in 1860, was a singularly competent observer,
and might have done much for Manx Folk-Lore, even at such a late
period, and in spite of his also being a stranger, if he had thought
it worth his while. His visit was, however, only a very brief one,
and, being discouraged at his Gaelic not being understood, and at the
difficulty of extracting any information from the Manx peasantry,
did not persevere. He describes his difficulties in getting into the
confidence of the Manx peasants as follows:—“I found them willing to
talk, eager to question, kindly, homely folk, with whom it was easy to
begin an acquaintance. I heard everywhere that it used to be common to
hear old men telling stories about the fire in Manx; but any attempt to
extract a story, or search out a queer old custom, or a half-forgotten
belief, seemed to act as a pinch of snuff does on a snail. The Manxman
would not trust the foreigner with his secrets; his eyes twinkled
suspiciously, and his hand seemed unconsciously to grasp his mouth,
as if to keep all fast.” It is remarkable that no native Manxmen
have, till recently, troubled themselves about collecting what, we
suppose, they considered idle, if not mischievous, tales.[1] If they
had done so, and had recorded them in the original Manx, they would
have conferred a boon upon those who are interested in such researches.
Now it is, unfortunately, too late. The Manx language is moribund,
and Manx superstitions, except in the more remote districts, are in
a similar condition. Since even so recent a date as 1860, the change
in the condition of the natives is simply marvellous. The constant
and rapid intercourse with England, Scotland, and Ireland, the large
emigration of the Manx, and immigration of strangers, the shoals of
visitors who come over in the summer, and the consequent increase of
wealth and prosperity, have produced their natural results. There are,
however, remote parts of the Island, away from the towns and the main
highways, where beliefs in Fairies, Goblins, Demons, and Ghosts still
remain; where the “Evil Eye” is still a power; where there is still
a vague distrust of solitary old crones; and where the “Charmer” has
a larger practice than the ordinary medical practitioner. But these
things are not spoken of either to the stranger or to the educated
Manxman, especially if a clergyman, and, even among themselves, they
are mentioned with some sense of shame, and with a wish to keep them
as secret as possible, so that the most diligent and craftily-put
enquiries have extracted but little that has not been hitherto
known.[2] On the whole, the present state of the Isle of Man is so
antagonistic to such superstitions that, to place the reader in a
position which will enable him to understand the sort of people and
the state of society in which they originated, it is necessary to draw
a veil over the present, and to uncover the past as far as possible.
This we are able to do only to a very limited extent, as the old
historians, or rather annalists, were not at all concerned with the
people whose history they were supposed to write, but merely with the
movements of their rulers, dynastic and episcopal changes, battles and
ecclesiastical squabbles. We append such meagre accounts as exist. The
first writer who mentions the people in any way was Merick, who was
Governor and Bishop in 1577, and who confines himself to the astounding
statement that the women, when they went abroad, girded themselves
with the winding-sheet that they proposed to be buried in, “to show
themselves mindful of their mortality.” Speed, writing in 1627, copies
this, and adds on his own account the fiction that “such of them (the
inhabitants) as are at any time condemned to dy are sowed within a
sack, and flung from a rocke into the sea.” Blundell, writing 30 years
later, corrects the error about the winding-sheets, which, he shows,
were merely blankets or plaids, and mentions their houses, &c., as
follows:—“These men’s habitations are mere hovels, compacted of stones
and clay for the walls, thatched with broom, most commonly containing
one room only. Very few have two rooms, have no upper rooms—such as in
their town they call lofts—nor any ceiling but the thatch itself, with
the rafters, yet in this smoking hut ... doth the man, his wife, and
children cohabit, and in many places with ye geese and ducks under ye
bed, the cocks and hens over his head, the cow and calf at the bed’s
foot ... their constant diet is only salt butter, herrings, and oat
cakes, here made almost as thin as a paper leaf ... their drink is
either simple water, or water mixt with milk, or at best buttermilk.”
Beer, he says, is only drunk when they meet at market.[3] Chaloner,
who was Governor of the Island at this time, says that the Manx are
“very civil ... laborious, contented with simple diet and lodgings;
their drink, water; their meat, fish; their bedding, hay or straw,
generally; much addicted to the musick of the violyne ... bearing a
great esteem and reverence for the publique service of God.”[4] Bishop
Gibson’s account, in the edition of Camden’s _Britannia_ published in
1695, adds nothing new. Waldron (1720‒30) says that the houses of the
peasantry “are no more than cabins built of sods, and covered with the
same, except a few belonging to the better sort of farmers, which are
thatched with straw ... the greater part of them (the peasants) of
both sexes go barefoot, except on Sunday or when they are at work in
the field, and have then only small pieces of cow’s or horse’s hide
at the bottom of their feet, tyed on with packthread, which they call
carranes. Their food is commonly herrings and potatoes, or bread made
of potatoes.”[5]

Thomas Quayle, a Manxman, who wrote in 1812 about the agriculture of
the Island, also mentions the cottages of the peasantry as follows:
“The walls are about seven feet high, constructed of sods of earth; at
each side the door appears a square hole containing a leaded window.
Chimney there is none, but a perforation of the roof, a little elevated
at one end, emits a great part of the smoke from the fire underneath.
The timber forming the roof is slender, coarse, and crooked. It is
thatched with straw, crossed chequerwise, at intervals of twelve or
eighteen inches, by ropes of the same material, secured either by being
tied to the wall by means of coarse slates fixed and projecting, or by
stones hanging from the ends of the ropes. From that end of the roof
whence the smoke issues to the other end, the roof gently declines in
height. If the means of the inhabitant enable him to keep a cow, a
continuation of the roof covers another hovel of similar materials,
accommodating this valuable inmate.... The floor (of both portions of
the hovel) is hardened clay; the embers burn on a stone placed on a
hearth, without range or chimney; the turf-smoke, wandering at random,
darkens every article of furniture, till it finds exit at the aperture
in the roof or elsewhere. A partition separates the cottage into two
rooms; over the chamber end is sometimes a loft, to which the ascent is
by a ladder from the keeping room. The aspect of the inhabitants is in
unison with their abode. The mother and children are bare-legged and
bare-footed; their dark-coloured woollen garments squalid and unseemly.
Yet, perhaps, this wretchedness is but in externals. This homely abode
is warm and evidently not unhealthy.... In the northern district,
where quarries of stone are less accessible and lime more distant, the
cottages continue to be built in the primitive manner. In the southern,
where building materials are comparatively more plentiful, stone and
lime are used in the new cottages more frequently. The ancient mode of
thatching and roping is still general.[6]

He is followed, in 1816, by Bullock, who declares that “what an English
peasant would consider a state of actual starvation is scarcely
regarded by a Manxman as including any particular deprivation; from
their birth they are habituated to live very hardly. Herrings,
potatoes, oatmeal, and these in very moderate quantities, are the
general fare equally of the small native farmer and the labourer.
The latter resides contentedly in a cottage of mud, under a roof of
straw, so low that a man of middling stature can hardly stand erect
in any part of it. If to the common necessaries above stated the good
people add a stock of turf for the fire and a cow, fed in the lanes and
hedges, they enjoy the utmost abundance of which they have any idea. A
chaff bed for the whole family, a stool, and a wooden table constitute
the furniture of their mansion.”[7] Finally, Campbell, in 1860, tells
us that, “Of the poorer classes living in the mountain farms, and on
the points and distant corners of the Island, there are still many who
can hardly speak anything but Manx. Their hair is dark; the sound of
the voices, even their houses, are Celtic. I know one turf dwelling
which might be a house in North Uist. There was the fire on the floor,
the children seated around it, the black haired Celtic mother on a low
stool in front, the hens quarrelling about a nest under the table, in
which several wanted to lay eggs at once.” From other sources we gather
the following further facts about the Manx people of by-gone times:—A
fireplace or chimney in their houses was quite a modern luxury. The
_chiollagh_, or hearth, was made of a few stones laid on the floor, and
the smoke found its way out either through the door or a hole in the
roof. Frequently, from the scarcity of wood in the Island, they were
too poor to afford a door, and used a bundle of gorse in its place.
For burning they used turf, or even dried seaweed, from which latter
they also got kelp for washing. Of their costume we have been able to
collect the following particulars:—Train tells us, but without giving
his authority, that the ancient Manx wore their hair long, and bound
behind with a leather thong. The dress of the peasantry was made of
_kialter_, a woollen cloth, neither milled nor tucked. It consisted
of trousers, more recently of knee breeches, when blue stockings were
worn, and a short coat and waistcoat. The colour of these garments
was usually _keeir_, or dark brown, from the undyed fleece of the
_loghtan_, or native sheep; but sometimes it was _keeir-as-lheeah_,
“brown and gray”, or _keeir-as-gorrym_, “brown and blue”, the colours
being mixed in the wool. _Gorrym_, “blue”, was also a favourite colour.
On their feet they wore _oashyr-voynee_, a stocking without a foot,
but having a string to fasten it under the sole; or _oashyr-slobbagh_,
a stocking having no sole to the foot, but a lappet covering the top
of the foot, with a loop to the fore toe, and a heel strap. Over these
they had the _carrane_ or _kerrane_, a cover for the sole and sides of
the foot, made of raw hide, salted and dried, and laced with thongs of
the same at the top of the foot. Train says that, in 1836, these were
still worn by the peasantry in the uplands, but that they were being
rapidly displaced by a shoe with a large buckle; and with the buckles
the knee breeches came in vogue. Sometimes elderly people made inner
soles to their _carranes_ of pitched sheep skin, but this was generally
regarded as effeminate. On their heads they had a _bayrn_, or cap,
like the Scotch bonnet, but, at the beginning of the present century,
this was discarded in favour of the tall beaver hat. The women wore a
petticoat, or _oanrey_, of _eglhinolley_, or linsey-woolsey, which was
usually dyed dark-red with _scriss-ny-greg_, a moss which grows upon
the rocks by the sea, but it was also blue, _keeir_, or _keeir_ and
white chequered. It was full and loose, and fell to within six inches
of the ground. Over this there was a loose jacket with a broad collar,
called the “bedgown”, usually made of linen, and dyed some bright
colour, drawn in at the waist by a linen apron. On the head a mob cap,
called _quoif cooil corran_, or cap shaped like the back of a sickle;
dark blue or _keeir_ stockings and _carranes_, or, at a later date,
buckled shoes, completed the attire. A sun-bonnet was substituted for
the mob cap in the summer, but frequently no cap at all was worn in
the house, and when they went out they wrapped themselves in the plaid
or shawl, which Bishop Merick called their winding-sheet. It seems
probable that in early days, before the time of English rule, the men
wore the Scotch kilt, which at that time was worn by both Scotch and
Irish. It must be remembered that all these garments we have mentioned
were made either at home, or in the immediate vicinity of it. The women
spun both wool and linen, which was woven by the weaver, or _fidder_,
who was to be found all over the country. When the cattle were killed
at Martinmas, and salted for winter consumption, their hides were kept
and tanned at home; and the light beer, or _jough_, which was the usual
drink, was generally home-brewed. The woollen and linen cloths were
made into garments by tailors, who travelled from farm house to farm
house, and who were usually famous gossips and story tellers. Stories,
or _skeeal_, were told also by the old people during the long winter
nights, which stories they had heard from their forefathers, and which
they in their turn handed on to their children. As an illustration of
this method of oral tradition, it is recorded that the poem of “Fin
and Ossian” was written down a century ago from the recitation of an
old woman, who, when she was asked how and where she had learned it,
replied “from her mother and grandmother and many more.” She told
them also that she remembered the name of _Farg-hail_, the man with
the terrible eyes; and _Lhane-jiarg_, the man with the bloody red
hand. Can the existence of superstitions among a people so excluded
from the outer world be wondered at? It is difficult in these days to
estimate how complete this seclusion was, but a fair idea of what it
was, even at the beginning of the present century, may be arrived at
from considering the fact that the Battle of Waterloo was not heard of
in the Isle of Man till the beginning of September, six weeks after it
had taken place. Apart from their isolation, too, the people, who are
of mixed Celtic and Scandinavian race, were naturally superstitious,
so much so that Waldron stated “he verily believed that, idolisers
as they were of their clergy, they would be even refractory to them
were they to preach against the existence of fairies;” and at the
beginning of the present century, we have the evidence of Sir Walter
Scott, who was well informed about the Folk-Lore of the Island by his
brother, who lived there, to the effect that “Tales of Goblins, Ghosts,
and Spectres; legends of Saints and Demons, of Fairies and familiar
Spirits, in no corner of the British dominions are told and received
with more absolute credulity than in the Isle of Man.”

We have divided our consideration of the Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man
into the following chapters:—

 (1) Legendary Myths.

 (2) Hagiological, and Mytho-Historical Legends.

 (3) Fairies and Familiar Spirits.

 (4) Hobgoblins, Monsters, Giants, Mermaids, and Apparitions.

 (5) Magic, Witchcraft, Charms, &c.

 (6) Customs and Superstitions connected with the Seasons.

 (7) Superstitions connected with the Sun, Animals, Trees, Plants,
 Sacred Edifices, &c.

 (8) Customs and Superstitions, connected with Birth, Marriage, Death,
 &c.

 (9) Customs formerly enforced by Law.

 (10) Proverbs and Sayings.

Folk-Lore may be defined as being “the comparison and identification
of the survivals of archaical beliefs, customs, and traditions, in
modern ages”; and though many will doubtless think that the attempt to
perpetuate these figments of an ignorant and superstitious past is a
mistaken one; yet, on the other hand, there has been a disposition of
late years to recognise that they contain elements of instruction as
well as of amusement, for they are “often the only possible means of
penetrating to the historic past of nations”, and they are “certainly
the only means of tracing out many of the landmarks in the mental
development of man.”[8]

[Illustration]

[Footnote 1: The Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society
has appointed a Committee for this purpose.]

[Footnote 2: The results of these enquiries, which have chiefly been
made by Professor Rhys and the writer, are given in the following
pages, together with the Folk-Lore taken from previously published
accounts.]

[Footnote 3: Manx Society, Vol. XXV. p. 57.]

[Footnote 4: Manx Society, Vol. X. p. 11.]

[Footnote 5: Manx Society, Vol. XI p. 2.]

[Footnote 6: Quayle; General View of the Agriculture of the Isle of
Man, pp. 22-3.]

[Footnote 7: History of the Isle of Man, pp. 350‒1.]

[Footnote 8: The Handbook of Folk-Lore.]




PREFACE.


The wonders of the Isle of Man, according to Nennius, are “a strand
without a sea ... a ford which is far from the sea, and which fills
when the tide flows, and decreases when the tide ebbs”; and “a stone
which moves at night in Glen Cinden, and though it should be cast into
the sea, yet at morning’s dawn it would be found in the same valley.”
I cannot display such wonders as these in this little Compilation, yet
I think there will be found in it many quaint and curious “things not
generally known”; and I trust that it may not only interest Manx Folk
and Visitor Folk, but that it may be accepted as a contribution—though
an insignificant one—to the science of Folk-Lore.

Thanks are due to the many kind friends[9] who have contributed scraps
of Folk-Lore, and to Professor Rhys and Mr. Alfred Nutt, for assistance
in Chapter I.

  A. W. MOORE.

Cronkbourne, June, 1891.

[Footnote 9: In some cases the name of the contributor has been
attached; but in others, as similar information has been given by so
many different persons, this has not been practicable. Stories told to
the writer, which have not been committed to writing by the teller, are
marked _Oral_.]




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


  CHAP.                                                     PAGE.

  INTRODUCTION                                              i‒vi.


  I.—MYTHS CONNECTED WITH THE LEGENDARY HISTORY
  OF THE ISLE OF MAN:

  Manannan Mac Lir—Lug—The Story of the Isle of
  Falga—Culann—Finn—Oshin—The Stories of Sigurd
  Fafni’s Bane, and of the Punishment of Loki                1‒18


  II.—HAGIOLOGICAL AND MYTHO-HISTORICAL LEGENDS:

  Introductory—_Stories_: The Conversion of the Manx; the
  Conversion of St. Maughold; St. Maughold’s Fish;
  St. Maughold and Gilcolum; A Legend of Myrescogh
  Lake; The Stone Cross of Ballafletcher; Goddard
  Crovan’s Stone; Olave Goddardson and the Sword
  Macabuin; Alswith the Swift; Ivar and Matilda             19‒32


  III.—FAIRIES AND FAMILIAR SPIRITS:

  Introductory—_Stories_: Origin of the Arms of the Island;
  The Discovery of the Island; The Fairy Horn; The
  Fairy Saddle; The Fairy Horse Dealer; Fairy Music;
  The Fairy Lake; The Unfortunate Fiddler; Objection
  of Fairies to Noise; The Fairy Cup of Kirk Malew;
  Fairy Elf; The Kidnappers; A Fairy detected in
  Changing an Infant; Abduction of a Boy by Fairies;
  The Christening; The School Boys; Fairy Punishment;
  The Whipping of the Little Girl; Mischief done by
  Fairies; Fairy Dogs; The Cup of the Lhiannan-Shee;
  The Fairy Sweetheart; The Dooiney-oie                     33‒51


  IV.—HOBGOBLINS, MONSTERS, GIANTS, MERMAIDS, APPARITIONS,
  &C.

  Introductory—_Stories_: The Phynnodderee; The Glashtin
  or Glashan; The Water-Bull, or Tarroo-Ushtey; The
  Buggane; The Black Dog, or Moddey Doo; The Spellbound
  Giant; The Old Man; The Three-headed Giant;
  Jack the Giant Killer; The Captured Mermaid;
  The Mermaid’s Courtship; The Mermaid’s Revenge;
  Dwellings under the Sea; The Apparition of Castle
  Rushen; Ben Veg Carraghan; A Legend of the Sound;
  The Chasms; The Spirit “Hoa Hoa.”                         52‒75


  V.—MAGIC, WITCHCRAFT, &C.

  Introductory—Cases of Witchcraft from Insular Records—_Stories_:
  The Magician’s Palace; Origin of King
  William’s Sands; The Devil’s Den; The Submerged
  Island; Tehi-Tegi, the Enchantress; Caillagh-ny-Ghueshag;
  The Glencrutchery Well; The Effigy; The
  Witch of Slieu-Whallian; The Burnt Besom; Butter
  Bewitched; The Manx Witch; Popular Antidotes to
  Witchcraft; The Evil Eye; Dust as an Antidote;
  Charmers and their Charms                                76‒101


  VI.—CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE
  SEASONS:

  Introductory—New Year’s Day; Twelfth day; St. Paul’s
  Feast day; Bridget’s Feast day; Candlemas Day;
  Shrove-Tuesday; Periwinkle Fair; Weather Sayings
  for March and April; Patrick’s Feast day; Good
  Friday; Easter Sunday; St. Mark’s and Maughold’s
  Feast day; May-Day Eve; May-Day; Spitlin’s
  Summer Feast day; Perambulation of Parish Boundaries;
  Midsummer-eve; Midsummer day; Luanys’s
  Day; Harvest Festival; Maughold’s Feast day;
  Hallowe’en; The Twelfth of November; Spitlin’s
  Winter Feast day; Catherine’s Feast day; Thomas’s
  Feast day; Christmas Eve; Christmas Day; The White
  Boys; Stephen’s Feast day (“Hunt the Wren”); John’s
  Christmas Feast day; Feast day of the Children; New
  Year’s Eve                                              102‒140


  VII.—SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE SUN, ANIMALS,
  TREES, PLANTS, SACRED EDIFICES, &C.

  Nature Worship; The Sun; The Moon and the Stars;
  Animal Worship; Totemism; Sacrifices; Blood; Nail
  and Hair Cuttings; Criminals hung by Hair Ropes;
  Tree Worship; Adoration of Re-productive Power of
  Nature; May-Day, Midsummer, and Harvest Celebrations;
  The Hare, Herring, Cow, Cock, _Bollan_;
  Animals’ Weather Wisdom—_Stories_: The _Ushag-reaisht_;
  The _Lhondoo_; The Blackbird and the
  Thrush; How the Herring became King of the Sea;
  The Seven Sleepers; The Thorn, Elder, Shamrock, &c.;
  Virtues of Iron and Salt; The Sin of Sacrilege and its
  Punishment; Piety of the Manx, &c.                      141‒155


  VIII.—CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH,
  MARRIAGE, AND DEATH:

  _Birth._—Precautions taken to Preserve Women after
  Child-birth and Children before Baptism from Evil
  Influences and Fairies; Powers of a Posthumous
  Child, &c.; Virtues of Salt, and of a Caul.

  _Marriage._—Waldron’s Description of a Manx Wedding;
  Blowing of Horns; The _Dooinney-Moyllee_;
  Train’s and Harrison’s Descriptions of a Manx
  Wedding.

  _Death._—Omens which preceded it; Preparations for
  Burial; Bishop Merick’s Mistake about the Winding-sheet;
  Waldron’s Description of Death and Funerals;
  Road Crosses; a Funeral Entertainment; Further
  Death Signs; Modern Custom after a Funeral; Second
  Sight; A Supernatural Warning; Mock Funerals            156‒164


  IX.—CUSTOMS FORMERLY ENFORCED BY LAW.

  Introductory—Watch and Ward; Customs connected with
  Land Tenure; Jury for Servants; Custom about Servants
  Giving Notice; Yarding; The Deemster’s Oath; Legal
  Purgation; The Stocks; The Pillory; The Wooden
  Horse; Bishop Wilson on Peculiar Laws and Customs;
  Other Curious Laws; Manx Ecclesiastical Law;
  Excommunication; Penance; The Nuns’ Chairs; The
  Bridle; The Punishment of being Dragged after a Boat;
  Bowing to the Altar; Observation of Sunday; The
  Three Reliques; Games, &c.                              165‒180


  X.—PROVERBS AND SAYINGS:

  Introductory—(1) Proverbs relating to General Truths;
  (2) Proverbs inculcating Caution, Contentment, Thrift,
  Independence, Industry, and Charity; (3) Proverbial
  Weather-Lore; (4) Miscellaneous Sayings and Proverbs    181‒192

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER I.

MYTHS CONNECTED WITH THE LEGENDARY HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN.


THE reliable history of a country may be said to date from the period
when its written records begin. Before that time, there is an epoch
during which the place of history is usually supplied by tales of
imaginary personages, whose doings are calculated to gratify the
national pride. An unfailing characteristic of such an epoch is the
personification of the face in an eponym, who is its supposed ancestor
and founder. Thus, in the Isle of Man, we have the famous magician and
navigator Manannan Mac Lir in this capacity, and there are various
other mythical personages connected with the Island, all of whom appear
in ancient Irish tales, though nothing can be discovered with regard
to them from purely native sources of early date. In fact, the Isle
of Man was so intimately associated with Ireland till the coming of
the Northmen, that it is not likely that it would have any early myths
distinct from those in Ireland. It is, therefore, to the early Irish
legends that we have to refer for any mention of the Isle of Man, and
they tell us that it was considered to be a sort of Fairy-land to which
the Irish gods and heroes occasionally resorted. In the legends of
the heroic period in Ireland, we find the deities and heroes called
Lug, Cúchulainn, Cúroi, and Cúlann connected with Man as well as
Manannan; while, in the later or Ossianic Cycle of legends, we have
Finn and his son Oisin, who, in the only really early native legend,
are made to associate with the Scandinavian Oree. But of all these
deities, the most important in Man is Manannan, about whom many tales
have accumulated. To understand his place in the Legendary History of
Ireland we must bear in mind that, according to the _Leabhar Gabhala_,
or Book of Invasions (a compilation of the late 10th or early 11th
century), there were five conquests of Ireland, the first by Parthol or
Bartholemew, and his followers; the second by Nemed and his followers;
the third by the Firbolg; the fourth by the Tuatha Dé Danann; the fifth
by the Milesians. It is with the fourth body of invaders, the Tuatha Dé
Danann, who conquered the Firbolg, that Manannan is connected. In the
legendary and romantic literature of Ireland the Tuatha Dé Danann are
celebrated as magicians. By the Milesians and their descendants they
were regarded as belonging to the spirit world, and, in the imagination
of the people, they became Fairies, who were supposed to lie in
splendid palaces in the interior of green hills. There can be little
doubt that the Tuatha Dé Danann represent the Olympus of the ancient
Irish, that hierarchy of divine beings which the Celts possessed as
well as other Aryan people. In this hierarchy Manannan occupied the
position of god of the sea. But as early as the 9th and 10th centuries
of our era he had suffered the change known as euhemerisation, from an
immortal he had become a mortal. It is thus we meet him in one of the
oldest monuments of Irish literature, the so-called glossary of Cormac,
King-bishop of Cashel, killed in 903:—“Manannan Mac Lir, a celebrated
merchant who was in the Isle of Man. He was the best pilot that was
in the west of Europe. He used to know, by studying the heavens, the
period which would be the fine weather and the bad weather, and when
each of these two times would change. _Inde Scoti et Brittones eum
deum vocaverunt maris, et inde filium maris esse dixerunt_, i.e.,
_Maclir_, ‘son of sea.’ _Et de nomine Manannan_ the Isle of Man _dictus
est_.”[10] This theory of the Isle of Man being named after Manannan,
when so called, has been shown to be highly improbable by Professor
Rhys, who thinks that “Manannan gave his original name corresponding to
_Manu_ and its congeners to the Island, making it _Manavia Insula_....
for which we have in Welsh and Irish respectively _Manaw_ and _Manann_.
Then from these names of the Island the god derives his in its attested
forms of Manawydan and Manannan, which would seem to mark an epoch when
he had become famous in connection with the Isle of Man.”[11]

To Cormac’s account, O’Donovan has added the following note:—“He
was the son of Allot, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann chieftains. He
was otherwise called Orbsen, whence Loch Orbsen, now Lough Corrib.
He is still vividly remembered in the mountainous district of Derry
and Donegal, and is said to have an enchanted castle in Lough Foyle.
According to the traditions in the Isle of Man and the Eastern counties
of Leinster, this first man of Man rolled on three legs like a wheel
through the mist.”

We can follow the process of euhemerisation in later texts. Thus,
according to the Book of Fermoy, a MS. of the 14th to the 15th
century, “he was a pagan, a law-giver among the Tuatha Dé Danann, and
a necromancer possessed of power to envelope himself and others in a
mist, so that they could not be seen by their enemies.” The Book of
Lecan (14th century) mentions a Manannan whom it calls “son of Athgus,
King of Manain (Man) and the islands of the Galls” (the Western Isles),
who “came with a great fleet to pillage and devastate the Ultonians,
to avenge the children of Uisnech.” These children of Uisnech, when
compelled to fly “from Erinn”, had sailed eastwards, and conquered
“what was from the Isle of Man northwards of Albain”, and after having
killed Gnathal, King of the country, were induced to return to Ireland
under a pledge of safety from Conchobar, King of Ulster. The sons of
Gnathal, who also sought the protection of Conchobar, “killed the sons
of Uisnech”, in consequence of which Gaiar, the grandson of Uisnech,
banished Conchobar to the islands of Orc and Cat (the Orkneys and
Caithness), and Gaiar having reigned over Ulster for a year, went into
Scotland with Manannan, and died there. The 15th century version of a
story called “The exile of the children of Uisnech” tells us that Gaiar
was assisted against Conchobar by Manannan, who was the fourth of his
name and dynasty who had ruled in Man.

O’Flaherty speaks of him in his _Ogygia_ as follows: “The merchant
Orbsen was remarkable for carrying on a commercial intercourse between
Ireland and Britain. He was commonly called Mananan Mac Lir, that is,
Mananan, on account of his intercourse with the Isle of Man; and Mac
Lir, _i.e._, _sprung from_ the sea, because he was an expert diver;
besides, he understood the dangerous parts of harbours; and, from his
prescience of the change of weather, always avoided tempests.”[12]

The same author, in his _West Connaught_, states that Orbsen’s proper
name was Manannan, and that Lough Orbsen was called from him, because
when his grave was being dug the lake broke forth; and he says that, at
the adjacent _Magh Ullin_, “Uillin, grandchild of Nuadh (silver-hand),
King of Ireland twelve hundred years before Christ’s birth, overthrew
in battle, and had the killing of Orbsen Mac Alloid, commonly called
Mananan (the Mankish man), Mac Lir (son of the sea) for his skill in
seafaring.”[13]

Keating, in his _General History of Ireland_, written early in the 17th
century, gives Manannan’s genealogy as follows: “Mananan, the son of
Alladh, the son of Elathan, son of Dalboeth, an immediate descendant
of Nemedius, the progenitor of the Tuatha de Danans in Ireland; that
weird and mystic colony who never, through the lapse of ages, have
relinquished their dominion over the superstitions of the peasantry of
Ireland; but who are still believed to rule the spirit or Fairy-land of
Erin; to reign paramount in the _lis_, the cave, the mine; to occupy
genii palaces in the deepest recesses of the mountains, and under the
deep water of our lakes.”

But supplementing this pseudo-historical account of Manannan, we
find numerous romantic references to him at all stages of Irish
literature. Thus, the “Sick-bed of Cúchulainn”, a tale which goes
back, substantially, to the fifth century of our era, although we only
possess it in transcripts of the 11th century, relates that Manannan
became jealous of Cúchulainn, with whom his wife Fand had fallen in
love. He shook a cloak of invisibility of forgetfulness between the two
and carried off Fand with himself to Fairy-land, whereupon Cúchulainn
returned to his own wife.

Professor Rhys remarks of him that “In Irish literature he appears
mostly as King of the Fairies in the Land of Promise, a mysterious
country in the lochs or the sea. His character seems to have been
a most contradictory one—many tricky actions are ascribed to him,
while he was very strict about other people’s morality. At his court
no one’s food would get cooked if, while it was on the fire, any one
told an untrue story, and he is said to have banished three men from
Fairy-land to the Irish court of Tara for lying or acting unjustly....
In the Welsh Mabinogi, bearing the name of Manannan’s counterpart,
Manawydan, the latter is not much associated with the sea, excepting,
perhaps, his sojourn ... in the lonely Isle of Gresholm. It makes him,
however, take to agriculture, especially the growing of wheat.... He
is also called one of the three Golden Cordwainers of Britain, owing
to his having engaged successively in the making of saddles, shields,
and shoes.... The sinister aspect of Manannan is scarcely reflected by
Manawydan, who is represented as gentle, scrupulously just, and always
a peacemaker; neither is he described as a magician; but he is made to
baffle utterly one of the greatest wizards known to Welsh literature.”
It would appear also that he was connected with the other world, and
he figures as one of the three landless monarchs of Britain. He had,
however, a huge prison in the shape of a bee-hive, the walls of which
consisted of human bones. King Arthur was once incarcerated there for
three months.[14]

The Gaelic Manannan is represented in Brythonic (Welsh) literature by
Manawydan, but it is uncertain if there really was a Brythonic sea-god
corresponding to the Gaelic one, or if the Welsh tales are not simply
literary adaptations of Irish ones. Professor Rhys favours the former
view.

The connection of Manannan with the Isle of Man probably arose in
this way. It was the practice of the earliest Irish to represent
their divinities as living in Islands to which, under exceptional
circumstances, mortals might sail. It is uncertain if this conception
of the Island home of divinities is really older or not than that which
figures them as dwelling in the hollow hills. All one can say is that
we find it earlier in the Irish texts. It has been well studied by
Professor Zimmer in his admirable essay on the Brendan voyage,[15] in
which he shows that a number of texts which have come down to us are
still completely pagan in conception, and reflect a belief which must
still have been officially dominant in parts of Ireland as late as the
sixth century. Unofficially these beliefs linger in the traditions
respecting Hy Breasil. But, as a rule, the Gaelic peasant figures
“Faery” as inside a hill, or under the water, and probably this belief
is the older of the two.

Manannan MacLir is an actor in so many of the ancient Irish heroic
tales that it is impossible, with a due regard to space, to give more
than outline of a few of them as we have done. The magic powers of
his sword are frequently mentioned, _e.g._, in the curious tale of
Diarmait and Grainne. Those interested in such matters will find in
Vol. III. of the Ossianic Society’s Publications a marvellous romance
of the adventures of Cormac MacArt in the fairy palace of Manannan
in Man; but enough will have been given to exhibit Manannan in his
various attributes as King, warrior, trader, navigator, and magician;
and to show that his connection with the Isle of Man was supposed to
have begun after he and his Tuatha dé Dananns were defeated by the
Milesians, when he was chosen by the warriors as their leader, and that
he and they were supposed to have taken refuge in the Western Isles and
Man, whose inhabitants acknowledged him as their ruler.

From purely local sources we glean the following information about
Manannan; but it must be remembered that in its present form it is
all of comparatively recent origin, as the “Supposed True Chronicle
of Man”, and “The Traditionary Ballad”, both probably date from the
sixteenth century, though doubtless founded on older traditions. The
former tells us that “he was the first man that had Mann, or ever was
ruler of Mann, and the land was named after him”, and that “he reigned
many years, and was a Paynim, and kept, by necromancy, the Land of Man
under mists, and if he dreaded any enemies, he would make of one man
to seem an hundred by his art magick, and he never had any form of the
commons; but each one to bring a certain quantity of green rushes on
Midsummer Eve—some to a place called Warfield (now South Barrule), and
some to a place called Man,[16] and yet is so called. And long after
St. Patrick disturbed him, the said Manannan, and put Christian folks
into the said land.”[17] The ballad gives practically the same account.
More recent tradition has endowed him with the stature of a giant, who
by his strength and ferocity became the terror of the whole Island. It
is said that he used to transport himself with great ease across the
gorge between Peel Castle and Contrary Head. On one occasion, either
for amusement or in a fit of rage, he lifted a large block of granite
from the Castle rock, and though it was several tons in weight, he
hurled it with the greatest ease against the slope of the opposite
hill, about three miles distant, where it is seen to this day, having,
as an evidence of the truth of the story, the print of his hand on it.
His grave is said to be the green mound, thirty yards long, outside the
walls of Peel Castle.

The connection of Lug (an Irish divinity, corresponding partly to
Hermes, partly to Apollo) with Manannan and Man, is said to have been
a close one, as will be seen from the following account of him; and,
as will be shown later, his cult had spread to Man as well as to
other Celtic lands (see “August 1”, chap. vi). Lug is thus described:
“Like to the setting sun was the splendour of his countenance and his
forehead; and they were not able to look in his face from the greatness
of its splendour. And he was _Lugh Lamh-fada_,[18] and (his army was)
the Fairy Cavalcade from the land of Promise, and his own foster
brothers, the sons of Manannan.[19]” He is said to have been brought
up at the Court of Manannan, here called the Land of Promise, which in
many of the ancient tales is identified with Man. Lug was famous for
his mighty blows, and his spear became one of the treasures of the
Tutha Dé Danann. When he fought against the sons of Turenn and imposed
upon them the impossible eric-fine of procuring certain fabulous
weapons, he rode Enbarr of the flowing mane, Manannan’s steed, who was
“as swift as the clear, cold wind of spring”, and travelled with equal
ease on land and sea. He wore Manannan’s coat of mail, through, or
above and below which no one could be wounded; also his breast-plate,
which no weapon could pierce. His helmet had two glittering precious
stones set in front, and one behind, and Manannan’s sword, called “The
Answerer”, hung at his side. From the wound of this sword no one ever
recovered, and those who were opposed to it in the battle-field were
so terrified by looking at it, that their strength left them. He was
accompanied by his foster brothers, and by the Fairy Host, as already
mentioned. The sons of Turenn were told that they could not obtain the
eric-fine without the help either of Lug or Manannan, and they were
advised to ask Lug for the loan of Manannan’s steed, and if he refused,
for his canoe, the “Wave Sweeper.”

Lug, the great warrior of the Tuatha Dé Danann, has his counterpart
among the Ultonians in Cúchulainn, who is said to have been the son of
Lug, or Lug re-born. It is only in the story of “The Isle of Falga”,
given below, that he is mentioned in connection with the Isle of
Man, though there were formerly songs sung about him, and there is a
tradition to the effect that he was called “King of the Mists”, like
Manannan. His adversary, Cúroi Mac Daire, was a great magician. The
following tale gives an account of their rivalry for the fair daughter
of the king of Man.


THE STORY OF THE ISLE OF FALGA.

The Isle of Falga is variously supposed to have been the Isle of Man,
or _Insi Gall_, _i.e._, the Western Isles. Cúchulainn and the heroes
of Ulster once on a time resolved to go on a plundering expedition
to the Isle of the Men of Falga, a Fairy-land ruled by Mider as its
King. Cúroi, who was a great magician, insinuated himself among the
raiders in disguise, and by means of his arts he succeeded in leading
the Ultonians into Mider’s stronghold, after they had repeatedly
failed in their attempts. He did this on the condition that he was
to have of the plunder the jewel that pleased him best. They brought
away from Mider’s castle Mider’s daughter, Bláthnat, as she was a
damsel of exceeding beauty; also Mider’s three cows and his cauldron,
which were objects of special value and virtues. When they came to the
division of the spoils, the mean-looking man in grey, who had led the
victorious assault, said that the jewel he chose was Bláthnat, whom he
took to himself. Cúchulainn complained that he had deceived them, as
he had only specified a jewel, which he insisted on interpreting in no
metaphorical sense; but, by means of his magic, the man in grey managed
to carry the girl away unobserved. Cúchulainn pursued, and the dispute
came to be settled by a duel on the spot, in which Cúchulainn was so
thoroughly vanquished that Cúroi left him on the field bound hand and
foot, after having cut off his long hair, which forced Cúchulainn to
hide himself for a whole year in the wilds of Ulster, while Cúroi
carried away to his stronghold of Caher Conree both Bláthnat and her
father’s cows and cauldron. Later it would appear that Cúchulainn got
the better of Cúroi, and took Bláthnat away from him, for Bláthnat
proved a faithless wife to Cúroi and plotted with Cúchulainn to kill
him. At the time fixed upon by her, namely, November-eve, Cúchulainn
and his followers stationed themselves at the bottom of the hill,
watching the stream that came down past Cúroi’s fort; nor had they
to wait long before they observed its waters turning white: it was
the signal given by Bláthnat, for she had agreed to empty the milk of
Mider’s three cows from Mider’s cauldron into the stream, which has
ever since been called the Finnghlais, or White Brook. The sequel was
that Cúchulainn entered Cúroi’s fort unopposed, and slew its owner,
who happened to be asleep with his head on Bláthnat’s lap. Cúchulainn
took away Bláthnat, with the famous cows and cauldron; but he was not
long to have possession of his new wife, for Cúroi’s poet and harper,
called Ferceirtne, resolved to avenge his master; so he paid a visit
to Cúchulainn and Bláthnat in Ulster, where he was gladly received by
them; but one day, when the Ultonian nobles happened to be at a spot
bordering on a high cliff, Ferceirtne suddenly clasped his arms round
Bláthnat, and flinging himself over the cliff they died together.[20]
This old story has been embodied in a poem, called “Blanid”,[21] by
Robert D. Joyce, of which the following lines describing the combat
between Cúroi and Cúchullin are perhaps the best:—

  “I come to win back thy misgotten prize,
    Mine own beloved, the bloom-bright Maid of Man!”
  “Thou com’st to dye this grass with ruddy dyes
    Of thy best blood”, cried Curoi, “and to ban
  All knighthood with thy word forsworn! Her eyes
    Shall see the fight, so let him take who can!
  Lo! there she stands, with her fear-whitened face;
  Look thy last on her now, and take thy place!”
  Meanwhile, as one who on a wreck doth stand,
    That the wide wallowing waves toss to and fro,
  And sees the saving boat put from the land,
    Now high, now in the sea-trough sunken low,
  Trembling ’tween fear and hope, each lily hand
    Pressed on her heart, as if to hide her woe,
  And pale as one who had forsaken life,
  Young Blanid stood to watch the coming strife.

       *       *       *       *       *

  Then sprang they to their feet, and warily
    Looked in each other’s eyes with look of hate,
  And crossed their jarring swords, and with bent knee
    Fought a long time, their burning ire to sate,
  Till like a storm-uprooted stately tree
    Cuhullin fell, and Curoi stood elate,
  Eyeing him as the hunter eyes the boar,
  That fighting falls, but yet may rise once more.

Another mythic Irish figure connected with the Isle of Man is Culann,
the smith, who in this capacity may be compared with Hephæstus, or
Vulcan. Culann was, however, also a Divine and Prophet. He was the
possessor of a terrible hound, which was slain by the youthful Setanta,
who was in consequence called Cú-Chulainn, _i.e._, Culann’s hound.
Culann is said to have lived for a time in the Isle of Man, where he
manufactured a sword, spear, and shield of such transcendent excellence
for Conchobar, that he was invited by him to dwell in his realm. The
story about this may perhaps be found of sufficient interest to be
related at length:—Conchobar, who had not yet become King of Ulster,
but was an ambitious young man seeking to gain a kingdom, consulted
the famous oracle at Clogher as to how he might best attain his end.
The oracle advised him to proceed to the Isle of Man and get Culann to
make these weapons for him. Conchobar did so, and prevailed on Culann
to begin his task; but, while awaiting its completion, he sauntered
one morning along the shore, and in the course of his walk met with a
mermaid fast asleep on the beach. He promptly bound the syren, but she,
on waking and perceiving what had happened, besought him to liberate
her; and to induce him to yield to her petition, she informed him that
she was Teeval, the Princess of the Ocean; and promised that if he
caused Culann to form her representation on the shield surrounded with
this inscription, ‘Teeval, Princess of the Ocean,’ it would possess
such extraordinary powers that whenever he was about engaging his enemy
in battle, and looked upon her figure on the shield, read the legend,
and invoked her name, his enemies would diminish in strength, while
he and his people would acquire a proportionate increase in theirs.
Conchobar had the shield made according to the advice of Teeval, and,
on his return to Ireland, such extraordinary success attended his arms,
that he won the kingdom of Ulster. Culann accepted Conchobar’s offer,
referred to above, and settled on the plain of Murthemne, which was
fabled to have been formerly situated beneath the sea. It was here that
he was visited by Conchobar, accompanied by his Court and Cuchulainn.

Of the later legends, which form a cycle entirely distinct from that
of the heroic age, Finn, the son of Cumall (Finn MacCumaill), is the
chief hero. He is said to have been the chief of a band of mercenaries,
or robbers, called Fianns, and to have flourished in the second part
of the third century. If this were so, he lived on the very threshold
of the historical period in Ireland. Ossin, his son, was a famous
warrior and a great poet, in both of which roles he only reproduced the
character of his father, who was not merely celebrated as a warrior and
huntsman, but especially as a poet and diviner, as already stated. Finn
is connected with the Scandinavian Orree in a Manx heroic poem, and if,
as has recently been conjectured,[22] Finn is identical with Kettle
Finn, a Norseman who yielded great influence in Ireland and Man about
the middle of the ninth century, the connection is a very natural one.
The poem referred to above is undoubtedly the oldest known poetical
composition in the Manx language. We append it, together with some
interesting notes by Deemster Peter John Heywood, who died in 1790. It
is not known by whom the spirited English translation was made. With
the exception of lines 9 and 10, which rendered literally are—

  “Full threescore whelps, and not one less,
  With three old dames to look after them”,

it is fairly close to the original.


FIN AS OSHIN.

  Hie Fin as Oshin magh dy helg,
  [23]Fal, lal, lo, as fal, lal, la.
  Lesh sheshaght trean as moddee elg,
  Cha row un dooinney sloo ny keead,
  Coshee cha bieau cha row ny lheid,
  Lesh feedyn coo elsht hie ad magh,
  Trooid slieau as coan dy yannoo cragh,
  Quoi daag ad ec y thie agh Orree beg[24]
  Cadley dy kiune fo scadoo’n creg!
  Slane three feed quallian aeg gyn unnane sloo.

  Lesh three feed cailleeyn dy yeeaghyn moo,
  —Dooyrt inneen Fin ayns craid as corree,
  “Kys yiow mayd nish cooilleen er Orree?”
  Dooyrt inneen Oshin: “kiangle mayd eh,
  Lesh folt y ching chionn gys y clea,
  As chur mayd aile gys y cass cha bieau.”
  Clysht tappee eisht hug Orree ass,
  Tra dennee’n smuir roie ass e chiass,
  Loo [25]_Mollaght Mynney_ ad dy stroie,
  Va er n’yannoo craid er mac y ree,
  Dy fargagh breearrey ry ghrian as eayst,
  Dy losht ad hene as thieyn neesht.
  —Hie Orree beg magh dys ny sleityn,
  As speih mooar connee er e geayltyn,
  Hoght bart mooar trome hug eh lesh cart,
  Hoght kionnanyn currit ayns dagh bart.
  Hoght deiney lheid’s ’sy theihll nish t’ayn,
  Cha droggagh bart jeh shoh ny v’ayn
  Ayns dagh uinnag hug eh birt as ayns dagh dorrys,
  Agh mean y thie mooar hene yn bart mooar sollys.
  —Va Fin as Oshin nish shelg dy chionn,
  Lesh ooilley nyn treanee ayns ollish as loan,
  Yaagh wooar ren sheeyney ass y glion, neear,
  Troggal ayns bodjallyn agglagh myr rere;
  Roie Fin as roie Oshin derrey d’aase Oshin skee,
  Agh she Fin mooar hene chum sodjey nish roie;
  Eisht dyllee Fin huggey lesh coraa trome,
  “Cha vel faagit ain nish agh tholtanyn lhome,
  Quoi ren yn assee shoh nagh re Orree beg?”
  V’an chosney voue chelleerid gys ooig fo yn creg,
  Raad plooghit lesh yaagh hayrn ad magh er y cass.


FIN AND OSHIN.

  Fin and Oshin went out to hunt,
  [26]Fal, lal, loo, as fal, lal, la.
  With a noble train of men and dogs,
  Not less in number than one hundred men,
  So swift of foot and keen, none were their like;
  With scores of Bandogs fierce they sallied forth,
  O’er Hill and Dale, much Havock for to make.
  —Whom left they then at home, but youthful Orree!
  Who slept secure beneath the shadowy rock;
  Full three score Greyhounds, with their whelps they left,
  (With three score lovely maidens, young and fair,)[27]
  As many old dames to attend the young.
  Says Fin’s fair Daughter, in Disdain and Scorn,
  How on young Orree shall we be avenged?
  —Says Oshin’s Daughter
  Fast to the Harrows we will tie his Hair,
  And to his nimble feet, we’ll set a train of Fire.
  Then up starts Orree, with a nimble Spring;
  Feeling his Feet a broiling with the heat.
  With Curses direful, vowing to destroy,
  Those who presum’d t’ affront a King, his Son!
  Swearing most bitterly by Sun and Moon.
  To burn themselves and all their habitations;
  —Then to the Mountain hies he fast away,
  His heavy Gorse-hack poised upon his shoulder,
  Eight pond’rous Burthens thence he carried off,
  And eight large Faggots cram’d in ilka Burthen.
  Not eight such Men as in the world are now
  Could from the Ground one of these Burthen’s raise.
  Into each Window, he a Burthen thrust,
  Into each Door, a Burthen of the same,
  But, the grand blazing Burthen, on the Floor,
  Of the great Hall he laid, and set on Fire.
  —Meanwhile, our Heroes, Fin and Oshin fight,
  They and their hardy men pursued the chase,
  Eager, in sweat and dust all cover’d o’er.
  —Vast clouds full floating from the west
  Were seen like Billows dreadful, as I ween.
  —Then Fin he ran, and Oshin also ran,
  Till faint, and out of breath, he sat him down;
  But Fin, the hardy chief, still held it out,
  Then lift he up his lamentable Voice,
  Calling to Oshin, who was far behind,
  “We’ve nothing left but rueful, ruin’d walls!”
  —“This mischief who has done?” Who but young Orree,
  Who fled, and in a rocky cavern hid himself,
  —Then choak’d with Smoke, they drag him by the heels.
  [27](And tore him Limb from Limb (they say) with Horses wild.)

Cætera desunt.—But the Catastrophe is said to be that they tore him
Limb from Limb with wild horses. The tearing criminals asunder with
Horses fastened to each limb is the punishment in the old Statutes of
the Isle of Mann to be inflicted on those who should presume to draw a
weapon, or strike, or violate the peace within the verge of the Court
of Tynwald, or any Court held by the King of Mann, or his Governor.

We have a tradition, that Mann for about a century was governed by
a Norwegian race of kings called Orrys. According to the _Supposed
True Chronicle_: “Then there came a Son of the King of Denmark; he
conquered the Land, and was the first that was called King Orrye.
After him remained Twelve of the Stock, that were called King Orryees
insomuch that the last (named Reginald) had no Son but one Daughter,
named Mary, to whom the right descended, which Mary was Queen of Mann
& Countess of Straherne, who, taking with her all her Charters, fled
to the King of England, Edward the 1st in the 20th year of his reign,
being in St. John’s Tower in Scotland, otherwise called Perthe in Anno
Dom., in 1292, for Alexander King of Scots arrived at Ranoldsway, near
Castletown, and took possession of the Land of Mann.” (_See_ the Manx
Statute Book, p. 1st.) _See_ also the Ancient Chronicle of the Kings
of Man in Camden’s Britannia Edition, 1637, which says “1270, the 7th
day of October, a Navy set out by Alexander King of Scots arrived at
Rogalwath; and the next morning before Sun rising a Battaile was fought
between the People of Man, and the Scots in which were slaine of the
Manx men 537, whereupon a certain Versifier play’d upon the number—

  ‘L. decies Xter, et pente duo cecidere,
  Mannica gens de te, damna futura cave.’

  ‘L. ten times told, X thrice, with five beside and twaine,
  Ware future harmes; Tread (sic) of thy Folke Mann were slaine.’”[28]

A verse from an old song and a proverbial saying contain the only other
references to Finn in Manx tradition:—

In the following verse, Finn Mac Coole is associated with Fairies and
Demons:—

  Finn Mac Coole, as ooilley e heshaght,
  Ferrish ny glionney, as y Buggane,
  Dy jymsagh ad cooidjagh mysh dty lhiabbee,
  As eisht roie lesh oo ayns suggane.

  “Finn Mac Coole, and all his company,
  The Fairy of the Glen and the Buggane,
  If they would gather together about thy bed,
  And run off with thee in a straw-rope.”

The following quaint saying also relates to him:—

  Ny three geayghyn s’feayrey dennee Fion Mac Cooil,
  Geay henneu, as geay huill, as geay fo ny shiauill.

 “The three coldest winds that came to Fion Mac Cooil, wind from haw,
 wind from a hole, and wind from under the sails.”

There are only two Scandinavian tales remaining on record in Man. They
are _Sigurd Fafni’s Bane_ and _The Punishment of Loki_. These tales
have been preserved neither by tradition, nor by written record, but by
having been carved on stone. Both are found on a stone in Kirk Andreas
Churchyard, and the first only on a stone in Malew Churchyard.[29]
We take the following abstract of the two tales, which are
mythologico-historical lays in the Elder Edda, from an account of the
Andreas stone given by Mr. G. F. Black in the _Proceedings of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_.


THE STORY OF SIGURD FAFNI’S BANE.

“There was a king named Sigmund Völsungsson, who married Hiordis, a
daughter of King Eylimi, for his second wife. Some time after his
marriage Sigmund was attacked in his kingdom by King Lingvi Hundingsson
and his brothers, and was mortally wounded through being opposed by
a one-eyed man, with a broad-brimmed hat and blue cloak (Odin), who
held his spear against the sword of Sigmund, which was shivered into
fragments. At night, Hiordis came to the battle-stead and asked Sigmund
whether he could be healed, but he did not wish to be healed, for his
good fortune had forsaken him since Odin had broken his sword, of which
he requested Hiordis to collect the fragments, and give them to the son
she would bear, who should become the greatest of the Völsung race.
Hiordis was carried off by Alf, son of King Hialprek of Denmark, who
had just landed at the battle-stead with a band of Vikings, and who
married her after she gave birth to Sigmund’s child. This child was
named Sigurd[30] and grew up in Hialprek’s court, under the care of the
dwarf Regin, who taught him all the branches of knowledge known at that
time. He also urged him to demand his father’s treasure of Hailprek,
but Sigurd only asked a horse of the king, who allowed him to choose
one; and Odin, in the guise of an old man with a long beard, aided
him to find out Grana, that was of Sleipnir’s[31] race. Regin then
counselled Sigurd to go in quest of Fafni’s gold, of which he gave him
the following account:—

“Hreidmar had three sons, Fafni the Dragon, Ottur, and Regin the
dwarf-smith. Ottur could transform himself into an otter, under which
form he was in the habit of catching fish in Andvari’s waterfall, so
called from a dwarf of that name. One day as Ottur was sitting with
his eyes shut eating a salmon, Odin, Hœnir, and Loki passed by; and
Loki cast a stone at Ottur and killed him. The Æsir (gods) then skinned
him, and came well satisfied with their prize to Hreidmar’s dwelling.
Hreidmar caused them to be seized, and compelled them to redeem
themselves with as much gold as would both fill and cover the otter’s
skin. To obtain the gold Loki borrowed Rán’s[32] net, cast it into the
waterfall, and caught in it the dwarf Andvari, who was accustomed to
fish there under the form of a pike. The dwarf was compelled to give
all his gold-hoard as the price of his liberty; but on Loki taking
from him his last ring, with which he hoped to redeem his fortune, he
foretold that it should prove the bane of all its possessors. With this
gold the Æsir covered the otter’s skin; but on Hreidmar perceiving
a hair of the beard still uncovered, Odin threw on it the ring of
Andvari. Fafni afterwards slew his father Hreidmar, took possession of
the gold, became one of the worst of serpents, and now watched over his
treasures at Gnitaheid.”

Sigurd then asked Regin to forge him a sword, and Regin forged one that
could cleave an anvil, and cut through floating wool. Armed with this
weapon Sigurd fared forth, first to his maternal uncle Grip, who spared
his fortune. He then sailed with a large fleet collected for him by
King Hialprek to avenge his father’s death. During a storm they were
hailed by an old man (Odin) from a cliff, whom they took on board. He
told them his name was Hnikar, together with many other things. The
storm abating, he stepped ashore and vanished. Hunding’s son, with a
large army, encountered Sigurd, but were all slain, and Sigurd returned
with great honour. Sigurd now expressed a wish to slay the dragon
Fafni, whose lair had been pointed out to him by Regin. After a hard
fight Sigurd pierces the dragon through the body, but nevertheless it
holds a long conversation with its slayer, in which it answers Sigurd’s
questions relative to the Norns and Æsir, but strives in vain to
dissuade him from taking the gold.

After the death of Fafni, Regin cut out his heart, and told Sigurd
to roast it for him while he took a sleep. Sigurd took the heart and
roasted it on a spit, and when he thought it roasted enough, and as the
blood frothed from it, he touched it with his finger to see if it were
quite done. He burned his finger, and put it in his mouth, and when
Fafni’s heart’s blood touched his tongue, he understood the language
of birds. He heard a bird telling its companions that Sigurd should
himself eat the dragon’s heart. A second bird said that Regin would
deceive him; a third said that he ought to kill Regin; another one
counsels that he should take the dragon’s treasure. All these things
Sigurd performs, and rides off with the treasure on Grana’s back.”

In the upper left-hand corner of what, for convenience, we may call
the front of the stone, is carved the figure of Sigurd roasting the
heart of Fafni. Only the upper part of Sigurd’s body is now visible
on the stone, the remainder being broken off. In his left hand Sigurd
is represented holding a spit containing the heart of Fafni, which
is divided into three gobbets, while at the same time he inserts the
finger of his right hand into his mouth. The flames are represented by
three small isosceles triangles, one for each gobbet. Immediately above
Sigurd’s shoulders is shown the head and neck of one of the talking
birds which warned him of Regin’s intended treachery, and counselled
him to forestall the deceiver by cutting off his head. The head of the
bird is shown with the neck stretched forward, and the beak open as if
addressing Sigurd.

The head and neck of Sigurd’s horse Grana is also shown above that of
the bird. The whole subject is thus referred to in _Fafnismál_:—

The first bird[33] says:

  “There sits Sigurd sprinkled with blood
  Fafni’s heart at the fire he roasts.
  Wise methinks were the ring-dispenser,
  If he the glistening life-pulp ate.”

Second bird:

  “There lies Regin communing with himself;
  He will beguile the youth who in him trusts:
  In rage he brings evil words together,
  The framer of evil will avenge his brother.”

Third bird:

  “By the head shorter, let him the hoary sage[34]
  Send hence to Hell; all the gold then can he
  Possess alone, the mass that under Fafni lay.”

Fourth bird:

  “He would, methinks, be prudent,
  If he could have your friendly counsel, my sisters!
  If he would bethink himself and Hugin gladden.
  There I expect the wolf where his ears I see.”

Fifth bird:

  “Not so prudent is that tree of battle,
  As I that warlike leader had supposed,
  If he one brother lets depart,
  Now he the other has of life bereft.”

Sixth bird:

  “He is most simple, if he longer spares
  That people’s pest. There lies Regin,
  Who has betrayed him. He cannot guard against it.”

Seventh bird:

  “By the head shorter let him
  Make the ice-cold Jötun,
  And of his rings deprive him; then of that treasure thou,
  Which Fafni owned, sole lord wilt be.”

Sigurd replies:

  “Fate shall not so resentless be,
  That Regin shall my death-word bear;
  For the brothers both shall speedily
  Go hence to Hell.”

In the lowest left-hand corner is shown the upper half of a human
figure, holding a sword at arm’s length. It no doubt represents Sigurd,
but whether before or after slaying the dragon, it is impossible to say.

An historical connection with this tale of Sigurd Fafni’s Bane has been
suggested by Professor Browne, which, though not strictly in place in
a book of this kind, is so interesting and suggestive that it may be
briefly narrated.—Among the coins found when digging the foundations
of the tower at Andreas Church was one, either of Aulaf Sihtric’s
son, surnamed the Red, who was King of Northumbria 941‒945, and King
of Dublin till the battle of Tara in 980, or of Aulaf Godfrey’s son,
Sihtric’s brother’s son, who was King of Northumbria till 941. Now,
the Sigurd of Sigurd Fafni’s Bane was the great-great-grandfather of
these two Aulafs, and it is, therefore, a reasonable surmise that the
crosses both at Andreas and Malew are memorials to the memory of one
of them. This is particularly interesting to historians as showing the
connection of these Aulafs, probably that of Aulaf Sihtric’s son with
Man, and of equal interest to archæologists as demonstrating that these
crosses are of much earlier date than has generally been supposed.


THE STORY OF THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI.

After Loki had enraged the gods by his many treacheries, he was chased
by them, and took refuge in the waterfall of Frarangr, where he was
caught by the gods in a net under the form of a salmon. After his
capture he changed to his human form, and as a punishment the gods
caused him to be bound to a rock with the entrails of his own son Nari.
After he was bound Skadi (a goddess, daughter of Thiassi and the wife
of Njörd) took a venomous serpent and fastened it up over Loki’s head.
The venom dropped down from it on to Loki’s face. Sigyn, Loki’s wife,
sat beside him, and held a basin under the serpent’s head to catch
the venom, and when the basin was full she took it away to empty it.
Meanwhile the venom dropped on Loki, who shrank from it so violently
that the whole earth trembled.

Of all the mythical personages mentioned in this chapter, the only
one remaining in the Folk-Lore of the present day is Manannan, and
even about him comparatively little is known. He is usually called
_Maninagh_ “the Manxman”, and is supposed to have been the first man in
Man, which he protected by a mist. If, however, his enemies succeeded
in approaching in spite of this, he threw chips into the water, which
became ships. His stronghold was Peel Castle, and he was able to make
one man on its battlements appear as a thousand. Thus he routed his
enemies. These, together with the notion that he went about on three
legs at a great pace, are all the popular ideas about Manannan which
still survive.

[Footnote 10: Cormac’s Glossary. (O’Donovan’s edition), p. 114.]

[Footnote 11: Rhys, Hibbert Lectures, 1886, pp. 663‒4.]

[Footnote 12: Ogygia, p. 26, Dublin, 1793.]

[Footnote 13: _West Connaught_, Irish Arch. Soc., Dublin, 1849, p. 54.]

[Footnote 14: Rhys, Hibbert Lectures, 1886, pp. 665‒7.]

[Footnote 15: Zeitschrift für deut. Alt., 1889, Mr. Alfred Nutt’s
Summary Folk-Lore, June, 1890.]

[Footnote 16: This can scarcely mean the Island.]

[Footnote 17: Manx Soc., Vol. XII., p. 6.]

[Footnote 18: Long hands.]

[Footnote 19: The Fate of the Sons of Turren, published by O’Curry, in
the Atlantis. Vol. iv. p. 160‒3.]

[Footnote 20: This tale is taken from Rhys, Hibbert Lectures, pp.
473‒6, who quotes, as his authorities, Book of Leinster, Keating and
O’Curry.]

[Footnote 21: Published by Roberts Brothers, Boston. U.S.A.]

[Footnote 22: See Mr. Alfred Nutt’s abstract of Professor Zimmer’s
theory of the Ossianic Saga in “The Academy”, of Feb. 14, 1891.]

[Footnote 23: Chorus after every line.]

[Footnote 24: Orree beg—Young Orree—not from his size, but age;—where
there are two of the same family, Father and Son, of the same name, the
younger is styled beg—_i.e._, the lesser. This Orree beg is supposed to
have been a Scandinavian prince, prisoner on parole, with Fingal and
like some modern gallants, to make love to both young ladies at the
same time,—and thus they shew their resentment. He declines the hunting
party, for an opportunity of intrigueing (sic) with one or other of the
ladies. Meantime he falls asleep in a grotto in the heat of the day;
but when he awoke and found the indignity done to him, he resolves, in
revenge, to burn Fingal’s palace—takes his huge bill, an instrument
like a hoe, with which they hack and grub up gorze and heath, or
ling, &c., for firing—hies him to the forest, and made up eight large
burthens, such as eight modern men could not heave from the ground, and
with these he fired the house as above described.]

[Footnote 25: _Mollaght Mynney_, is the bitterest curse in our
language, that leaves neither root nor branch, like the Skeabthoan, the
besom of destruction.]

[Footnote 26: Chorus after every line.]

[Footnote 27: Not in the Manx.]

[Footnote 28: “Ten L, thrice X, with five and two did fall, ye Manx
beware of future evil’s call”, is the translation given by Munch in his
edition of the Chronicle, Manx Society, Vol. xxii., p. 3.—ED.]

[Footnote 29: Mr. P. M. C. Kermode has the credit of being the
discoverer of the former, and Canon G. F. Browne of the latter. Canon
Browne, indeed, was the first to indicate the existence of this tale
on any sculptured stone in the United Kingdom, he having identified
it on a cross in Leeds Parish Churchyard and having pointed out its
historical and archæological significance.]

[Footnote 30: The Sigurd here mentioned is the same person as the
Siegfried of the Old High German _Nibelungenlied_. The northern
version, however, is the older, more mythical, and more simple of
the two. A bold attempt has lately been made by Dr. G. Vigfusson to
identify Sigurd with the noble Cheruscan youth Arminius.—_Sigfried
Arminius_, pp. 1‒21.]

[Footnote 31: _Sleipnir_, “the slipper”, was the eight-footed steed of
Odin. _Grana_ (commonly _Grani_) means the “grey steed.”]

[Footnote 32: _Rán_ was the goddess of the sea, and caught in her net
all those who were drowned.]

[Footnote 33: The original word is _igóa_, which has been variously
interpreted eagle, hawk, nuthatch, woodpecker, or magpie; _Egóir_ is
the poetical word for eagle.]

[Footnote 34: The original word is _Þulr_, the technical meaning of
which is obscure. In the Cleasby-Vigfusson _Icelandic Dictionary_ it is
rendered “a sayer of saws, a wise man, a sage (a bard?).”]

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER II.

HAGIOLOGICAL AND MYTHO-HISTORICAL LEGENDS.


The following legends are of entirely different character and origin
from the early myths. Those relating to the “Conversion of St.
Maughold”, “St. Maughold and Gilcolm”, “The Legend of Myrescogh Lake”,
and “The Stone Cross of Ballafletcher” are pious stories invented by
monks and priests for the edification of simple-minded laymen; while
the legends entitled “Goddard Crovan’s Stone”, “Olave Goddardson and
the Sword Macabuin”, “Ivar and Matilda”, and “Alswith the Swift” are
tales which, fostered by the love of the marvellous, have sprung up
about personages, some of whom are historical, centuries after the
events related are supposed to have taken place. The account of the
conversion of the Manx which follows is probably semi-historical, but
will serve as an introduction to the legends.


THE CONVERSION OF THE MANX.

The _Tripartite Life of St. Patrick_ contains the following interesting
account of the conversion of Manxmen to Christianity:—St. Patrick
having by means of a miracle converted a wicked man of Ulster, called
Macc Cuill, and his men, the following incident is related:—“Then they
were silent, and said, ‘Truly this man Patrick is a man of God.’ They
all forthwith believed, and Macc Cuill believed, and at Patrick’s
behest he went into the sea in a coracle of (only) one hide.... Now
Macc Cuill went on that day to sea, with his right hand towards
Maginis, till he reached Mann, and found two wonderful men in the
island before him. And it is they that preached God’s Word in Mann,
and through their preaching the men of that island were baptized.
Conindri and Romuil were their names. Now, when these men saw Macc
Cuill in his coracle, they took him from the sea, and received him with
a welcome; and he learnt the divine rule with them, until he took the
bishopric after them. This is Macc Cuill from the sea”, the illustrious
bishop and prelate of Arduimen.[35] It has been conjectured with
reasonable probability, for reasons that need not be given here, that
Macc Cuill is identical with Maughold. In this story of the conversion
of the Manx there is probably a substratum of fact mingled with
fiction. The “Traditionary Ballad” gives the following account of it:—

  Then came Patrick into the midst of them;
  He was a saint, and full of virtue;
  He banished Mannanan on the wave,
  And his evil servants all dispersed.
  And of all those that were evil,
  He showed no favour nor kindness,
  That were of the seed of the conjurors,
  But what he destroyed or put to death.
  He blessed the country from end to end,
  And never left a beggar in it;
  And also cleared off all those
  That refused or denied to become Christians.
  Thus it was that Christianity first came to Man,
  By St. Patrick planted in,
  And to establish Christ in us,
  And also in our children.
  He then blessed Saint German,
  And left him a bishop in it,
  To strengthen the faith more and more,
  And faithfully built chapels in it.
  For each four quarterlands he made a chapel
  For people of them to meet in prayer;
  He also built German Church in Peel Castle,
  Which remaineth there until this day.
  Before German had finished his work,
  God sent for him, and he died;
  As ye yourselves know that this messenger
  Cannot be put off by using means.
  He died and his corpse was laid
  Where a great bank had been, but soon was levelled;
  A cross of stone is set at his feet
  In his own church in Peel Castle.
  Then came Maughold, we are told,
  And came on shore at the Head,
  And built a church and yard around,
  At the place he thought to have his dwelling.
  The chapels which Saint German ordered
  For the people to come to prayers in them,
  Maughold put a parcel of them into one,
  And thus make regular parishes.
  Maughold died, and he is laid
  In his own church at Maughold Head.
  And the next Bishop that came after
  To the best of my knowledge was Lonnan.
  Connaghan then came next,
  And then Marown the third;
  There all three lie in Marown,
  And there for ever lie unmolested.
  Now we will pass by these holy men,
  And commit their souls to the Son of God.
  It profiteth them not to praise them more
  Until they appear before the King of Kings.[36]

The St. Maughold referred to above is said to have been one of St.
Patrick’s earliest disciples. The “Book of Armagh” gives the marvellous
story of his conversion by St. Patrick, and in the other accounts of
St. Patrick’s life are equally marvellous tales about his episcopate.
These are all, perhaps, surpassed by the circumstantial statements in
the _Chronicon Manniæ_ (see below), concerning his reappearance in the
twelfth century to strike dead with his staff a daring pirate who had
profaned his sanctuary.


THE CONVERSION OF THE ROBBER CHIEF MACALDUS, OTHERWISE ST. MAUGHOLD.

A district adjoining the Boyne was invested by a band of robbers under
the command of a chief named Macaldus. Some of these had been converted
from the error of their ways by the Missionaries, and their chief was
very wroth in consequence against St. Patrick. Hearing that he was to
pass along a road in their neighbourhood on a certain day, he and some
of his band took up a position by its side, intending to murder him;
but as they caught sight of him slowly approaching, and apparently
sunk in profound contemplation, they found themselves deprived of all
desire to injure him. Still they would not let the opportunity pass
without endeavouring to bring ridicule on him by some stratagem. So
one of them lay down by the side of the woodland path as if dead, and
Macaldus, as the Saint passed by, besought him to restore his dead
comrade to life. “I dare not intercede for him”, said the Saint, and
passed on. Though very well inclined to offer him some insult, they
could not muster resolution for the purpose, and when he had gone on
a little way, Macaldus ordered the man to rise. But while this poor
wretch had been feigning death, life had really deserted his body,
and consternation and remorse now seized on his comrades. Macaldus,
foremost in wickedness, was the first to feel repentance. Following St.
Patrick, and throwing himself on his knees before him, he besought him
to return and intercede for his comrade’s restoration, acknowledging
the deception they had attempted, and his own readiness to undergo the
severest penance the Saint might impose.

The Apostle, retracing his steps, knelt by the dead body, and did not
cease to pray till the breath of life entered it again. All the band
present vowed on the spot to embrace the faith preached by Patrick, and
Macaldus besought the imposition of some most rigorous penance upon
himself. Patrick conducted him to the Boyne, and taking a chain from a
boat he flung it round him, secured the ends by a padlock, and threw
the key into the river. He then made him get into the boat, and trust
his course to Providence. “Loose not your chain”, said he, “till the
key which now lies at the bottom of this river is found and delivered
to you. Strive to maintain (with God’s help) a spirit of true sorrow;
pray without ceasing.” He then unmoored the hide covered canoe; it
drifted down the river, out by the old seaport of Colpa, and so into
the sea.

In twenty hours it was lying by a little harbour in Man, and those
who assembled wondered much at the robust form of the navigator, his
dejected appearance, and the chain that bound his body. On making
enquiry for the abode of a Christian Priest, he found that the Bishop
of the Island lived near. He went to his house, told him his former
life and present condition, and besought instruction. This was freely
given, and the man’s conversion found to be sincere. Feeling a strong
vocation for the clerical office, he studied unremittingly, and at last
came to the eve of the day on which he was to receive holy orders. On
that evening the cook, suddenly entering the room in which the Bishop
and postulant were conferring, cried out, “Behold, O my master, what
I have taken from the belly of a fish just brought in.” Macaldus,
catching sight of the key in the cook’s hand, at once recognised it as
the one with which St. Patrick had secured his chain. It was at once
applied to its proper use, and he had the happiness of being ordained
next day, unencumbered by spiritual or material bonds. At the death of
his kind patron and instructor, he was raised to the dignity of the
Bishop of Man.[37]


ST. MAUGHOLD’S FISH.

The following story about St. Maughold, when residing in the Isle of
Man, is from the _Triadis Thaumaturgæ_ of Colgan:—And when he had
for some time abided there, a fish was one day taken in the sea, and
brought into their dwelling, and when the fish was opened before
them, a key was found in his belly, and Machaldus being released from
his chains, gave thanks unto God, and went henceforth free; and he
increased in holiness, and after the decease of these holy Bishops,[38]
attained to the episcopal degree, and being eminent in his miracles
and in his virtues, there did he rest. In that Island there was a city
called after him, of no small extent, the remains of whose walls may
yet be seen, and in the cemetery of its church is a sarcophagus of
hollow stone, out of which a spring continually exudes, nay, freely
floweth, which is sweet to the palate, wholesome to the taste, and
healeth divers infirmities, and the deadliness of poison; for whoso
drinketh thereof, either receiveth instant health or instantly dieth.
In that stone the bones of St. Machaldus are said to rest, yet nothing
is found therein save the clear water only; and though many have
oftentimes endeavoured to remove the stone, and especially the king of
the Norice (of Norway?), who subdued the Island, that he might at all
times have sweet water, yet they have all failed in their attempts; for
the deeper they dug to raise the stone, so much the more deeply and
firmly did they find it fixed in the heart of the earth.

This well is still celebrated for its sanative properties (see ch. vi.,
“August 12th.”)

The next story about him relates to a much later period.


ST. MAUGHOLD AND GILCOLUM.

  “Thenne, of Maughold, the Saynte, thys storye is,
    Of wycked Gil Colum by Kewyse;
  A wonderous tale, yett so trewe ytt is,
    That noe bodye ytt denyes.”

While Somerlid was at Ramsey, in Man, in 1158, he was informed that
his troops intended to plunder the Church of St. Maughold, where a
great deal of money had been deposited, in hopes that the veneration
due to St. Maughold, added to the sanctity of the place, would secure
everything within its precincts. One GilColum, a very powerful
chieftain, in particular, drew the attention of Somerlid to these
treasures; and, besides, observed that he did not see how it was
any breach of the peace against St. Maughold, if, for the sustenance
of the army, they drove off the cattle which were feeding round
the Churchyard. Somerlid objected to the proposal, and said that
he would allow no violence to be offered to St. Maughold. On this,
GilColum earnestly petitioned that he and his followers might be
allowed to examine the place, and engaged to take the guilt upon his
own head. Somerlid, at last, though with some reluctance, consented,
and pronounced these words: “Let the affair rest between thee and St.
Maughold—let me and my troops be innocent—we claim no share of thy
sacrilegious booty.” GilColum, exceedingly happy at this declaration,
ran back and ordered his vassals to assemble. He then desired that his
three sons should be ready at day-break, to surprise the church of St.
Maughold, about two miles distant. Meanwhile, news was brought to those
in the church that the enemy were advancing, which terrified them to
such a degree that they all left the sanctuary, and sought shelter in
caves and subterraneous dens. The other inhabitants of the district,
with loud shrieks, spent the whole night in imploring the forgiveness
of God, through the merits of Maughold. The weaker sex, also, with
dishevelled locks, ran frantic about the walls of the church, yelling
and crying with a loud voice, “Where art thou departed, Holy Maughold?
Where are the wonders that, in the old time before us, thou wroughtest
in this spot—hast thou abandoned us for our transgressions—wilt thou
forsake thy people in such an extremity? If not in compassion towards
us, yet for thine own honour, once more send us deliverance.”

Maughold mollified, as we suppose, by these and the like supplications,
pitied the distress of his votaries. He snatched them from their
imminent danger, and consigned their adversary to instantaneous death.
GilColum had no sooner fallen asleep in his tent than St. Maughold,
arrayed in a white garment, and holding a pastoral staff in his hand,
appeared to the robber. He placed himself opposite to the couch, and
thus addressed him:—“What hast thou against me, GilColum? Wherein have
I, or any of my servants, offended thee, that thou shouldest thus covet
what is deposited within my sanctuary?” GilColum answered, “And who
art thou?” He replied, “I am the servant of Christ; my name, Maughold,
whose church thou purposest to violate; but vain are thy endeavours!”
On this, raising the staff which he held, he struck him to the heart.
The impious man was confounded, and awakened his soldiers, who were
sleeping in their tents. The Saint struck him again, which made the
ruffian utter a shriek, so hideous, that his son, and followers,
ran in the greatest consternation to see what was the matter. The
wretch’s tongue clove to his mouth in such a manner that it was with
much difficulty he could utter the following sentence:—“Maughold”,
said he with a groan, “was here, and thrice he struck me with his rod.
Go, therefore, to the church, bring his staff, and also priests and
clerks, that they may make intercession for me, if, peradventure, St.
Maughold will forgive what I devised against him.” In obedience his
attendants straightway implored the priests to bring the staff, and
to visit their master apparently in the agonies of death, relating at
the same time what had happened. The priests and clerks and people,
on hearing of the miracle, were exceedingly rejoiced indeed, and
despatched some clergymen with the crosier. Coming into the presence of
the afflicted wretch they found him almost breathless, wherefore one
of the clerks pronounced the following imprecation:—“May St. Maughold,
who first laid his vengeful hand upon thee, never remove thy plagues
till he has bruised thee to pieces. Thus shall others by seeing and
hearing thy punishment learn to pay due respect to hallowed ground.”
The clergy then retired, and immediately such a swarm of monstrous,
filthy flies come buzzing about the ruffian’s face and mouth, that
neither he himself nor his attendants could drive them away. At last,
about the sixth hour of the day, he expired in great misery and dismal
torture. The exit of this man struck Somerlid and his whole host with
such dismay that, as soon as the tide floated their ships, they weighed
anchor, and with precipitancy returned home.


A LEGEND OF MYRESCOGH LAKE.

There was a certain person called Donald, a veteran Chieftan, and
a particular favourite of Harald Olaveson. This man, flying the
persecution raised by Harald Godredson, took sanctuary with his infant
child in St. Mary’s Monastery, at Rushen. Thither Harald Godredson
followed, and as he could not offer violence in this privileged place,
he, in flattering and deceitful language, addressed the aged man to
this purpose:—“Why dost thou thus resolve to fly from me? I mean to
do thee no harm.” He then assured him of protection, adding that he
might depart in peace to any part of the country he had a mind. The
veteran, relying on the solemn promise and veracity of the King,
followed him out of the Monastery. Within a short space, however, his
Majesty manifested his sinister intentions, and demonstrated that he
paid no regard to truth, or even his oath. He ordered the old man to
be apprehended, bound, and carried to an Isle in the Lake at Myrescogh
where he was consigned over to the charge of a strong guard. In this
distress, Donald still had confidence towards God. As often as he
could bend his knees, he prayed the Lord to deliver him from his
chains, through the intercession of the blessed Virgin, from whose
Monastery he had been so insidiously betrayed. The Divine interposition
was not withheld. One day as he was sitting in his chamber, and guarded
only by two sentinels, for the others were absent, suddenly the fetters
dropped from his ankles, and left him at full liberty to escape. He
reflected, notwithstanding, that he could elope more successfully
during the night while the sentinels were asleep, and from this
consideration attempted to replace his feet in the fetters, but to his
astonishment found it impossible. Concluding, therefore, that this was
wrought by the might of Heaven, he wrapped himself in his mantle, and
taking to his heels, made the best of his way. One of the sentinels,
a baker by trade, observing him, immediately started up and pursued.
Having run a good way, eager to overtake the fugitive, he hit his shin
a severe blow against a log; and thus while posting full speed he was
so arrested by the power of the Lord that he could not stand. Hence the
good man, by the help of Heaven, got clear, and on the third day he
reached St. Mary’s Abbey at Rushen, where he put up thanksgivings to
God and the most merciful Mother for the deliverance. This declaration,
adds the chronicler, we have recorded from the man’s own mouth. This
took place in 1249.[39]


THE STONE CROSS OF BALLAFLETCHER.

In a wild and barren field near Ballafletcher there was formerly a
large Stone Cross, but in the many changes and revolutions which have
happened in this Island has been broken down, and part of it lost;
but there still remains the cross part. This has several times been
attempted to be removed by persons who pretended a claim to whatever
was on that ground, and wanted this piece of stone; but all their
endeavours have been unsuccessful. Nor could the strongest team of
horses be able to remove it, though irons were placed about it for that
purpose. One day a great number of people being gathered about it,
contriving new methods for the taking of it away, a very venerable old
man appeared among the crowd, and, seeing a boy of about six or seven
years of age, he bade him to put his hand to the stone, which the child
doing, it immediately turned under his touch, and under it was found
a piece of paper, on which were written these words: “Fear God, obey
the priesthood, and do to your neighbour as you would have him do to
you.” Everybody present was in the utmost surprise, especially when
looking for the old man in order to ask him some questions concerning
the miraculous removal of the stone, he was not to be found, though it
was not a minute that they had taken their eyes off him, and there was
neither house nor hut in a great distance where he could possibly have
concealed himself. The paper was, however, carefully preserved, and
carried to the vicar, who wrote copies of it, and dispersed them over
the Island. They tell you that they are of such wonderful virtue to
whoever wears them that on whatever business they go they are certain
of success. They also defend from witchcraft, evil tongues, and all
efforts of the devil or his agents.—_Waldron._


GODDARD CROVAN’S STONE.

Down in the valley of St. Mark’s, near a little purling brook, lies
the famous granite boulder, weighing between twenty and thirty tons,
known by the name of Goddard Crovan’s stone. It was cast into this
situation one day by Goddard Crovan, son of Harold the Black, of
Iceland, who lived with his termagant wife in a great castle on the
top of Barrule. Unable to endure the violence of her tongue, he turned
her unceremoniously out of doors. After descending the mountain some
distance, imagining herself out of reach, she turned round and began
again to rate him so soundly at the full pitch of her voice that, in
a rage, he seized on this huge granite boulder, and hurling it with
all his might killed her on the spot. This took place about the year
1060.—_Cumming._

This stone was broken up and used in building the parsonage house at
St. Mark’s, and has been considered effectual as a specific for the
cure of a termagant by every occupier.


OLAVE GODDARDSON AND THE SWORD MACABUIN.

According to tradition, there resided in Man, in the days of Olave
Goddardson, a great Norman baron, named Kitter, who was so fond of the
chase that he extirpated all the bisons and elks with which the Island
abounded at the time of his arrival, to the utter dismay of the people,
who, dreading that he might likewise deprive them of the cattle, and
even of their purrs in the mountains, had recourse to witchcraft to
prevent such a disaster. When this Nimrod of the north had destroyed
all the wild animals of the chase in Man, he one day extended his
havoc to the red deer of the Calf, leaving at his castle, on the brow
of Barrule, only the cook, whose name was Eaoch (which signifies a
person who can cry aloud), to dress the provisions intended for his
dinner. Eaoch happened to fall asleep at his work in the kitchen. The
famous witch-wife Ada caused the fat accumulated at the lee side of
the boiling pot to bubble over into the fire, which set the house in
a blaze. The astonished cook immediately exerted his characteristic
powers to such an extent that he alarmed the hunters in the Calf, a
distance of nearly ten miles.

Kitter, hearing the cries of his cook, and seeing his castle in
flames, made to the beach with all possible speed, and embarked in a
small currach for Man, accompanied by nearly all his attendants. When
about half way, the frail bark struck on a rock (which, from that
circumstance, has since been called Kitterland), and all on board
perished.

The fate of the great baron, and the destruction of his boat, caused
the surviving Norwegians to believe that Eaoch the cook was in league
with the witches of the Island, to extirpate the Norwegians then in
Man; and on this charge he was brought to trial, and sentenced to
suffer death. The unfortunate cook heard his doom pronounced with great
composure; but claimed the privilege, at that time allowed to criminals
in Norway, of choosing the place and manner of passing from time to
eternity. This was readily granted by the king. “Then”, said the cook,
with a loud voice, “I wish my head to be laid across one of your
majesty’s legs, and there cut off by your majesty’s sword, Macabuin,
which was made by Loan Maclibuin, the Dark Smith of Drontheim.”

It being generally known that the king’s scimitar could sever even a
mountain of granite, if brought into immediate contact with its edge,
it was the wish of everyone present that he would not comply with the
subtle artifice of such a low varlet as Eaoch the cook; but his majesty
would not retract the permission so recently given, and, therefore,
gave orders that the execution should take place in the manner desired.

Although the unflinching integrity of Olave was admired by his
subjects, they sympathised deeply for the personal injury to which he
exposed himself, rather than deviate from the path of rectitude. But
Ada, the witch, was at hand: she ordered toads skins, twigs of the
rowan tree, and adders eggs, each to the number of nine times nine,
to be placed between the king’s leg and the cook’s head, to which he
assented.

All these things being properly adjusted, the great sword, Macabuin,
made by Loan Maclibuin, the Dark Smith of Drontheim, was lifted with
the greatest caution by one of the king’s most trusty servants, and
laid gently on the neck of the cook; but ere its downward course could
be stayed, it severed the head from the body of Eaoch, and cut all the
preventives asunder, except the last, thereby saving the king’s leg
from harm.

When the Dark Smith of Drontheim heard of the stratagem submitted
to by Olave to thwart the efficacy of the sword Macabuin, he was so
highly offended that he despatched his hammerman, Hiallus-nan-urd,
who had only one leg, having lost the other when assisting in making
that great sword, to the Castle of Peel to challenge King Olave or
any of his people to walk with him to Drontheim. It was accounted
very dishonourable in those days to refuse a challenge, particularly
if connected with a point of honour. Olave, in mere compliance with
this rule, accepted the challenge, and set out to walk against the
one-legged traveller from the Isle of Man to the smithy of Loan
Maclibhuin, in Drontheim.

  They walked o’er the land and they sail’d o’er the sea.

And so equal was the match that, when within sight of the smithy,
Hiallus-nan-urd, who was first, called at Loan Maclibhuin to open the
door, and Olave called out to shut it. At that instant, pushing past
he of the one leg, the King entered the smithy first, to the evident
discomfiture of the swarthy smith and his assistant. To show that he
was not in the least fatigued, Olave lifted a large forehammer, and
under pretence of assisting the smith, struck the anvil with such force
that he clove it not only from top to bottom, but also the block upon
which it rested.

Emergaid, the daughter of Loan, seeing Olave perform such manly
prowess, fell so deeply in love with him that during the time her
father was replacing the block and the anvil, she found an opportunity
of informing him that her father was only replacing the studdy to
finish a sword he was making, and that he had decoyed him to that place
for the purpose of destruction, as it had been prophesied that the
sword would be tempered in Royal blood, and in revenge for the affront
of the cook’s death by the sword Macabuin. “Is not your father the
seventh son of old _windy cap_, King of Norway?” said Olave. “He is”,
replied Emergaid, as her father entered the smithy. “Then”, cried the
King of Man, as he drew the red steel from the fire, “the prophecy must
be fulfilled.” Emergaid was unable to stay his uplifted hand till he
quenched the sword in the blood of her father, and afterwards pierced
the heart of the one-legged hammerman, who he knew was in the plot of
taking his life.

This tragical event was followed by one of a more agreeable nature.
Olave, conscious that had it not been for the timely intervention of
Emergaid, the sword of her father would indeed have been tempered in
his blood, and knowing the irreparable loss which she had sustained
at his hands, made her his queen, and from her were descended all
succeeding Kings of Man down to Magnus, the last of the race of Goddard
Crovan, the Conqueror.—_Train._


ALSWITH THE SWIFT.

Alswith, a son of Hiallus-nan-ard, the dark smith of Drontheim, whom
Olave Goddardson slew in the smithy of Loan Maclibuin, undertook to
walk round all the churches in the Isle of Man in one day. Now, in
these days there were a great number of churches and chapels which St.
Germanus had caused to be built, and the roads were then very rough and
steep over the mountains, so that it was no easy task to accomplish
this. However, Alswith started off very early one fine summer’s
morning, and he walked and walked till he had almost accomplished his
task. As the evening was drawing on he approached the Tynwald Chapel at
St. John’s, and from thence pursued his way along the old road leading
to the Staarvey, the road up Craig Willey’s hill not having been made
till long after this. It was now getting very late, and he had still
to visit Kirk Michael before his task would be completed; so he pushed
on faster than ever, so that when going up the hill leading over “The
Driney” he fell down quite exhausted with fatigue and feeling utterly
miserable at not having accomplished his undertaking. Since then that
hill has been called _Ughtagh breesh my chree_, “Break my heart hill.”


IVAR AND MATILDA.

  “The course of true love never did run smooth.”—_Shakspeare._

“In the year 1249 Reginald began to reign on the 6th May, and on
the 30th May of the same month was slain by the Knight Ivar and his
accomplices.”—_Chronicon Manniæ._

There was a young and gallant knight, named Ivar, who was enamoured of
a very beautiful maiden, named Matilda. He loved her ardently, and she
reciprocated his affection. From childhood they had been companions,
and as they grew up in years, the firmer became they attached to each
other. Never, indeed, were two beings more indissolubly bound by the
fetters of love than Ivar and Matilda. But storms will overcast the
serenest sky. At this period Reginald was King of the Isle of Man; and,
according to ancient custom, it was incumbent upon Ivar to present
his betrothed at the Court of the Monarch, and obtain his consent,
prior to becoming linked in more indissoluble fetters with her. The
nuptial day had already been fixed, the feast had been prepared, and
it was noised abroad that the great and noble of the Island were to
be present at the celebration of the marriage. King Reginald resided
in Rushen Castle, in all the barbaric pomp which was predominant in
those olden times; and thither Ivar, accompanied by Matilda, proceeded
to wait upon him. Dismounting from their horses at the entrance of
the keep, they were conducted to the presence of the King. Ivar doffed
his jewelled cap, and made obeisance; then, leading forward Matilda,
he presented her to him. Reginald was greatly enraptured with the
maiden’s beauty from the first moment she had met his gaze, and swore
inwardly that he would possess her for himself, and spoil the knight
of his affianced bride. To carry into effect his wicked purpose, he
accused Ivar of pretended crimes; and, ordering in his guards, banished
him from his presence; detaining, however, the maiden. Vain would it
be to depict Matilda’s anguish at this barbarous treatment. Reginald
endeavoured to sooth her agitation, but it was to no purpose. He talked
to her of his devoted love, but the maiden spurned his impious offers
with contempt. Exasperated at her resistance, he had her confined in
one of the most solitary apartments in the Castle. In the meantime,
Ivar exerted himself to avenge the deep injury which he had received;
but Reginald had such despotic sway, that all his endeavours proved
abortive. At length he resolved to retire from the world, to assume the
monastic habit, and to join the pious brotherhood of the Monastery of
St. Mary’s of Rushen. The brethren received him with joy, commiserating
the bereavement which he had sustained. Ivar was now devoted to acts
of piety; but still he did not forget his Matilda. Sometimes he would
ascend the Hill, and gaze towards the Castle, wondering if Matilda
were yet alive. One day, matin prayers having been offered up, Ivar
wandered as usual through the woods, thinking of his betrothed, and
bowed down with sorrow. At last he reclined on the grass to rest;
when, looking around, he beheld a fissure in a rock which abutted from
an eminence immediately opposite. Curiosity induced him to go near;
and he discovered that it was the entrance to a subterranean passage.
Venturing in, he proceeded for some distance. Onward he went, till a
great door arrested his progress. After some difficulty it yielded to
his endeavours, and he passed through. Suddenly a piercing shriek,
which reverberated along the echoing vaults, fixed him horror-struck
for a moment to the place. It was repeated faintly several times. A
faint glimmer of light now broke in upon his path, and he found himself
in a vaulted chamber. Passing through it, another cry met his ear; and
rushing impetuously forward, he heard a voice in a state of exhaustion
exclaim, “Mother of God, save Matilda!” Whilst, through a chink in
the barrier, he beheld his long-lost love, with dishevelled hair and
throbbing bosom, in the arms of the tyrant Reginald. Ivar instantly
sprang through the barrier, rushed upon the wretch, and, seizing his
sword, which lay carelessly on the table, plunged it into Reginald’s
bosom. Ivar, carrying Matilda in his arms, continued on through the
subterranean passage, which brought them to the sea side where they met
with a boat, which conveyed them to Ireland. There they were united in
holy matrimony, and passed the remainder of their days in the raptures
of a generous love, heightened by mutual admiration and gratitude.

[Footnote 35: Stoke’s Translation, p. 223.]

[Footnote 36: Manx Society, vol. xxi., pp. 29‒33; or Train’s History of
Isle of Man, p. 52.]

[Footnote 37: From Kenned’s _Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts_,
London, 1866; original authority _The Book of Armagh_, probably written
in the eighth century.]

[Footnote 38: Conindrius and Romuilus, supposed to have been the two
first Bishops of the Island.]

[Footnote 39: Founded on the account given in the _Chronicon Manniæ_.]

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER III.

FAIRIES AND FAMILIAR SPIRITS
OF THE ISLE OF MAN.


THE belief in Fairies or Elves was formerly very prevalent in the
Isle of Man, and cannot be said to have altogether died out even at
the present day. The Manx conception of a Fairy seems to be very
much the same as that in other Celtic lands, with, perhaps, a tinge
of the somewhat more sombre Scandinavian superstition. They are
supposed to be like human beings in form and feature, though very
much smaller and more delicately constructed. At a distance they seem
to be handsome, but on closer inspection they are often found to be
decrepit and withered. They are usually represented as being clad in
blue or green, with red peaked caps. They live in green hill sides,
more especially affecting the ancient tumuli. Any one straying near
these on a fine summer’s evening would probably hear delightful music;
but he must take care, especially if he is a musician, not to linger
lest he should be entrapped. Sometimes, too, they may be seen playing
like children, or dancing, the rings seen on the grass being caused
by this; at other times feasting. They hunt, being for the most part
very furious riders. They are partly human and partly spiritual in
their nature, and are visible to men only when they choose. Some of
them are benevolent, curing men of diseases and delivering them from
misfortune. Others are malevolent, stealing children, even abducting
grown people, and bringing misfortune. The flint arrow heads which are
occasionally picked up, are the weapons with which the Fairies avenge
themselves upon human beings who had wronged them. Their impact is not
felt, and does not break the skin, but a blue mark is found on the body
of the victim after death. The good Fairies are, fortunately, more
powerful than the bad, and will enable those who are considerate in
their behaviour to them to prevail over the latter. It is, therefore,
very desirable to keep on good terms with them, and to propitiate them
by taking care not to wound their feelings; with this view, they are
called “the little people”, or “the good people”, the word Fairy being
never mentioned, as they are supposed not to like it. Indeed, the Manx
word _Ferrish_ is merely a recent corruption of the English word, there
being no such word in the Manx language 150 years ago. It was an old
custom to keep a fire burning in the house during the night, so that
the Fairies might come in and enjoy it. If any one was rash enough not
to do this, or to abuse them in any way, he would be sure to suffer for
it. It was also customary to leave some bread out for the Fairies, and
to fill the water crocks with clean water for them before going to bed.
This water was never used for any other purpose, but was thrown out
in the morning. The Manx women, formerly, would not spin on Saturday
evenings, as this was deemed displeasing to the _Mooinjer-Veggey_
(Fairies), and at every baking and churning a small bit of dough and
butter was stuck on the wall for their consumption. Besides keeping on
good terms with the benevolent Fairies, there are various other methods
of defeating the machinations of the malevolent ones. Among these are
the incantations and herbs got from men and women who had acquired the
reputation of being Fairy Doctors, or Charmers, though their nostrums
were usually applied to the cure of cattle. One of the most renowned
of these practitioners, Teare of Ballawhane, told Train, in 1833, that
the malevolence of the Fairies had caused the seed potatoes to become
tainted in the ground, and, in order to convince him that this was
the case, he said that all the potatoes which he had taken under his
protection had vegetated vigorously.

But there are methods for protecting human beings and animals against
Fairies, which are so well known that there is no need to apply to a
Charmer before applying them. Thus, salt is very efficacious, and so
is iron, as will be seen from stories which follow. It was necessary
to take great care of children, especially before baptism, as one of
the commonest actions of the malevolent Fairies is to steal children.
If a child were taken away, a decrepit and emaciated Fairy would be
found in its place, and the prettier the child, the greater the risk of
this. One way of preventing this catastrophe was to lay an iron poker,
or other iron implement, on the child when left alone, another was to
tie a red thread round the child’s neck, and when taking her child to
be christened, a woman would take a piece of bread and cheese with
her, which she gave to the first person she met for the same purpose.
Another protective measure, both for human beings and animals, is to
have the _cuirn_, or Mountain-Ash, in the form of a cross, made without
a knife, put over the threshold of their dwellings. Flowers growing in
a hedge, especially if yellow, are also useful in this respect, and
ploughmen were wont to throw chamber lee over their ploughs to protect
them. On Midsummer Eve, when their power is at its height, flowers
and herbs are the only barriers to their incursions, and these are
regularly spread at the doors of the houses to protect the inmates.
They are also supposed to be always abroad during the harvest moon; and
many stories are related of their excursions through the Island, and
particularly of their merry-makings in Glentrammon. The interior of
Fairy Hill, in Rushen, is supposed to be the palace of the Fairy King,
and many a tale was told of the midnight revels of the fairy court of
Mona.

Waldron,[40] to whom we owe most of our stories about Fairies, after
referring to the ignorance of the Manx people as being the cause of
their excessive superstition, writes:—“I know not, idolizers as they
are of the clergy, whether they would even be refractory to them,
were they to preach against the existence of fairies, or even against
their being commonly seen.... They confidently assert that the first
inhabitants of their Island were fairies, so do they maintain that
these little people have still their residence among them. They call
them the good people, and say they live in wilds and forests, and
on mountains, and shun great cities because of the wickedness acted
therein; all the houses are blessed where they visit, for they fly
vice. A person would be thought impudently profane who should suffer
his family to go to bed without having first set a tub, or pail full
of clean water, for these guests to bathe themselves in, which the
natives aver they constantly do, as soon as ever the eyes of the family
are closed, wherever they vouchsafe to come. If anything happens to
be mislaid, and found again, in some place where it was not expected,
they presently tell you a fairy took it and returned it; if you chance
to get a fall and hurt yourself, a fairy laid something in your way to
throw you down, as a punishment for some sin you have committed.”

Cumming, writing in 1849, says, “It is not often now-a-days that we
can meet with persons not ashamed to own their belief in the existence
of the good people, and still more seldom is it that we can extract
affirmative testimony of eye-witnesses to their tiny pranks upon the
green sward. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that the minds
of the Manx peasantry are uninfluenced by a superstitious feeling of
reverence for the Fairy Elves, and for places which tradition has
rendered sacred to their revels. The superstition has with them its
use, it causes them to keep good hours; and in some parts of the Island
it would be difficult to prevail on a native to stir out after dark.
Yea, it is said, that on dark, dismal and stormy nights, up in the
mountain parts of parishes, the tender-hearted peasants retire earlier
to rest, in order to allow to the weather-beaten Fairies the unmolested
and unwatched enjoyment of the smouldering embers of their turf fire.”

Campbell, in writing of the Fairies in the Highlands and the Western
Isles, says “Men do believe in fairies, though they will not readily
confess the fact. And, although I do not myself believe that fairies
_are_, in spite of the strong evidence offered, I believe there once
was a small race of people in these Islands, who are remembered as
fairies.... They are always represented as living in green mounds.
They pop up their heads when disturbed by people treading upon their
houses. They steal children. They seem to live on familiar terms
with the people about them, who treat them well, and to punish them
when they ill-treat them.” He then proceeds to compare these fairy
structures with the abodes of the modern Laplanders, and to state, with
a considerable show of probability, that many of the stories about
Fairies have originated from tradition about these curious little
people.

Further on in his book, after giving a number of Gaelic fairy tales,
he continues: “The Manks fairy creed is again the same. Similar beings
are supposed to exist, and are known by the name of _Ferish_, which
a Mankman assured me was a genuine Manks word.[41] If so, fairy may
be old Celtic, and derived from the same root as Peri, instead of
being derived from it. The fairies in the Isle of Man are believed to
be spirits. They are not supposed to throw arrows as they are said
still to do in the Highlands. None of the old peasants seemed to take
the least interest in ‘elf shots,’ the flint arrows, which generally
lead to a story when shown elsewhere. One old man said, ‘the _ferish_
have no body, no bones,’ and scorned the arrow heads. It is stated in
Train’s History that there are no flint arrow heads in the Isle of Man;
but as there are numerous barrons, flint weapons may yet be discovered
when some one looks for them.[42] Still these Manks fairies are much
the same as their neighbours on the main land. They go into mills at
night and grind stolen corn; they steal milk from the cattle; they live
in green mounds; in short, they are like little mortals invested with
supernatural power.”

It will be seen from the first two stories that follow that the Fairies
are supposed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the Island.
In addition to the Fairies proper, there are familiar or household
Spirits, who are implacable in their resentment, but unchanging in
their friendship. There are two of these in the Isle of Man, viz., the
_Lhiannan-Shee_, or “spirit friend”, a guardian spirit, identical with
the Irish _Lianhannshee_ and the _Dooiney-oie_, or “night-man”, who
seems peculiar to the Island, though he bears a faint resemblance to
the Irish _Banshee_.


ORIGIN OF THE ARMS OF THE ISLAND.

  “Quocunque Jeceris Stabit.”—_Motto._

The natives say that many centuries before the Christian era the Island
was inhabited by Fairies, and that all business was carried on in a
supernatural manner. They affirm that a blue mist continually hung
over the land, and prevented mariners, who passed in ships that way,
from even suspecting that there was an Island so near at hand, till a
few fishermen, by stress of weather, were stranded on the shore. As
they were preparing to kindle a fire on the beach, they were astounded
by a fearful noise issuing from the dark cloud which concealed the
Island from their view. When the first spark of fire fell into their
tinder box, the fog began to move up the side of the mountain,
closely followed by a revolving object, closely resembling three legs
of men joined together at the upper part of the thighs, and spread
out so as to resemble the spokes of a wheel. Hence the Arms of the
Island.—_Train._


THE DISCOVERY OF THE ISLAND.

  “Mona, once hid from those who search the main,
  Where thousand elfin shapes abide.”—COLLINS.

Some hundred years before the coming of our Saviour, the Isle of Man
was inhabited by a certain species called Fairies, and everything was
carried on in a supernatural manner; a blue mist hanging continually
over the land, prevented the ships that passed by from having any
suspicion there was an island. This mist, contrary to nature, was
preserved by keeping a perpetual fire, which happening once to be
extinguished, the shore discovered itself to some fishermen, who were
there in a boat on their vocation, and by them notice was given to the
people of some country, who sent ships in order to make a further
discovery. On their landing, they had a fierce encounter with the
little people, and having got the better over them possessed themselves
of Castle Rushen, and by degrees, as they received reinforcements, of
the whole Island. These new conquerors maintained their ground some
time, but were at length beaten out by a race of giants, who were not
extirpated, as I said before, till the reign of Prince Arthur, by
Merlin, the famous British enchanter. They pretend, also, that this
Island afterward became an Asylum to all the distressed princes and
great men in Europe, and that those uncommon fortifications made about
Peel Castle were added for their better security.—_Waldron._


THE FAIRY HORN.

A young sailor, coming off a long voyage, though it was late at night,
chose to land rather than lie another night in the vessel; being
permitted to do so, he was set on shore at Douglas. It happened to
be a fine, moonlight night, and very dry, being a small frost; he,
therefore, forbore going into any house to refresh himself; but made
the best of his way to the house of a sister he had at Kirk Malew.
As he was going over a pretty high mountain, he heard the noise of
horses, the halloo of a huntsman, and the finest horn in the world.
He was a little surprised that anybody pursued those kind of sports
in the night; but he had not time for much reflection before they all
passed by him, so near that he was able to count what number there was
of them, which, he said, was thirteen, and that they were all dressed
in green, and gallantly mounted. He was so well pleased with the sight
that he would gladly have followed, could he have kept pace with them.
He crossed the footway, however, that he might see them again, which he
did more than once, and lost not the sound of the horn for some miles.
At length, being arrived at his sister’s, he tells her the story, who
presently clapped her hands for joy, that he was come home safe. “For”,
said she, “those you saw were fairies; and ’tis well they did not take
you away with them.”—_Waldron._

Manx Fairies seem to have been especially fond of the chase. If a horse
were found in his stall wet with perspiration, for which no particular
reason could be given, it would be said that he must have been ridden
by them. Of this superstition, the following story is an instance:—


THE FAIRY SADDLE.

Once upon a time an old Vicar of Braddan was very much troubled by
having his horse taken out of the field during the night, and finding
him in the morning sweating all over, and as much exhausted as if
he had been furiously ridden many miles. In spite of all enquiries,
he could never learn who had done this. But one morning, just at
day-break, as he was returning home from the bedside of one of his
sick parishioners, to whom he had been administering the Sacrament, he
observed, just as he was passing his field, a little man in a green
jacket, and carrying a riding whip in his hand, in the act of turning
his horse loose into the field. On this little individual turning
round, he saw the Vicar standing by the gate, on which he immediately
vanished, and the saddle, which he had placed at the side of the fence
was turned into stone in the shape of a saddle. It has remained there
ever since, and so the road which passes this point is called “The
Saddle-road” to this day. It is almost needless to state that the old
Vicar’s horse was never molested again.—_Oral._


THE FAIRY HORSE DEALER.

A Manxman, who had the reputation of the utmost integrity, being
desirous of disposing of a horse he had at that time no great occasion
for, and riding him to market for that purpose, was accosted, in
passing over the mountains, by a little man in a plain dress, who
asked him if he would sell his horse. “’Tis the design I am going on”,
replied the person who told the story. On which the other desired to
know the price. “Eight pounds”, said he. “No”, resumed the purchaser,
“I will give no more than seven; which, if you will take, here is your
money.” The owner thinking he had bid pretty fair, agreed with him,
and the money being told out, the one dismounted and the other got on
the back of the horse, which he had no sooner done than both beast
and rider sunk into the earth immediately, leaving the person who had
made the bargain in the utmost terror and consternation. As soon as
he had a little recovered himself, he went directly to the parson of
the parish, and related what had passed, desiring he would give his
opinion whether he ought to make use of the money he had received or
not. To which he replied that, as he had made a fair bargain, and in
no way circumvented, nor endeavoured to circumvent, the buyer, he saw
no reason to believe, in case it was an evil spirit, it could have any
power over him. On this assurance, he went home well satisfied, and
nothing afterwards happened to give him any disquiet concerning this
affair.—_Waldron._


FAIRY MUSIC.

  Such a soft floating witchery of sound,
  As twilight elfins make, when they at eve
  Voyage on gentle gales from Fairy-land.—_Coleridge._

An English gentleman, the particular friend of our author, to whom he
told the story, was about passing over Douglas Bridge before it was
broken down, but the tide being high he was obliged to take the river,
having an excellent horse under him and one accustomed to swim. As he
was in the middle of it he heard, or imagined he heard, the finest
symphony, he would not say in the world, for nothing human ever came up
to it. The horse was no less sensible of the harmony than himself, and
kept in an immovable posture all the time it lasted; which, he said,
could not be less than three-quarters of an hour, according to the
most exact calculation he could make when he arrived at the end of his
little journey and found how long he had been coming. He, who before
laughed at all the stories told of fairies, now became a convert, and
believed as much as ever a Manxman of them all.—_Waldron._


THE FAIRY LAKE.

  What cursed foot wanders this way to-night,
  To cross my obsequies.

  —_Shakspeare._

A little beyond the “Devil’s Den”, is a small lake, in the midst of
which is a huge stone, on which formerly stood a cross; round this
lake the fairies are said to celebrate the obsequies of any good
person. I have heard many people, and those of a considerable share
of understanding, protest that, in passing that way, they have been
saluted with the sound of such music as could proceed from no earthly
instruments.—_Waldron._


THE UNFORTUNATE FIDDLER.

  Then let them all encircle him about,
  And, fairy like, to pinch the unclean knight,
  And ask him why that hour of fairy revel
  In their so sacred paths he dares to tread
  In shape profane.—_Shakespeare._

A fiddler, having agreed with a person, who was a stranger, for so much
money, to play to some company he should bring him to, all the twelve
days of Christmas, and received earnest for it, saw his new master
vanish into the earth the moment he had made the bargain. Nothing could
be more terrified than was the poor fiddler; he found he had entered
himself into the Devil’s service, and looked upon himself as already
damned; but having recourse to a clergyman, he received some hope. He
ordered him, however, as he had taken earnest, to go when he should
be called; but that whatever tunes should be called for, to play none
but Psalms. On the day appointed, the same person appeared, with whom
he went, though with what inward reluctance ’tis easy to guess; but,
punctually obeying the minister’s directions, the company to whom he
played were so angry that they all vanished at once, leaving him at the
top of a high hill, and so bruised and hurt, though he was not sensible
when, or from what hand he received the blows, that he got not home
without the utmost difficulty.—_Waldron._

There are many stories of fairy music, of even later date than this.
The most definite of these is to the effect that the music of the
famous song called _The Bollan Bane_, or “The White Herb”, a plant
known to the Fairy Doctors, and of great healing virtues, was taken
from a tune sung by the Fairies one evening on the mountains, which was
heard by a belated wanderer, some fifty years ago.—_Oral._


OBJECTION OF FAIRIES TO NOISE.

It is well known that all Fairies and their like have a great
objection to noise, especially to the ringing of church bells. This is
illustrated by the following story:—About seventy years ago, a man,
very early one spring morning, heard a low murmuring, wailing noise.
On going to the door to see what occasioned it, he beheld “multitudes
of the good people passing over the stepping stones in the river, and
wending their way up the side of the hill, until they were lost in
the mist that then enveloped the top of Bearey Mountain. They were
dressed chiefly in _Loaghtyn_, with little pointed red caps, and most
of them were employed in bearing upon their shoulders various articles
of domestic use, such as kettles, pots, pans, the spinning wheel, and
such like, evidently seeking fresh and more quiet quarters, having
been disturbed, as was supposed, by the noise of a fulling mill lately
erected in their neighbourhood.”—_W. Harrison._


THE FAIRY CUP OF KIRK MALEW.

I have heard many Manxmen protest they have been carried insensibly
great distances from home, and without knowing how they came there,
found themselves on the top of a mountain. One man had been led by
invisible musicians for several miles together, and not being able
to resist the harmony, followed, till it conducted him into a large
common, where were a great number of little people sitting round a
table, and eating and drinking in a very jovial manner. Among them were
some faces whom he thought he had formerly seen, but forbore taking
any notice, or they of him, till the little people offered him drink;
one of them, whose features seemed not unknown to him, plucked him by
the coat, and forbade him, whatever he did, to taste anything he saw
before him; “for if you do”, added he, “you will be as I am, and return
no more to your family.” The poor man was much affrighted, but resolved
to obey the injunction. Accordingly a large silver cup filled with some
sort of liquor, being put into his hand, he found an opportunity to
throw what it contained on the ground. Soon after, the music ceasing,
all the company disappeared, leaving the cup in his hand; and he
returned home, though much wearied and fatigued. He went the next day
and communicated to the minister of the parish all that had happened,
and asked his advice how he should dispose of the cup; to which the
parson replied, he could not do better than to devote it to the service
of the Church; and this very cup, they tell me, is that which is now
used for the consecrated wine in Kirk Malew.—_Waldron._

A similar tale is told of the “Altar Cup in Aagerup”, a village in
Zeland:—One Christmas Eve a farmer’s servant in the village borrowed
his master’s horse and rode down to see the “troll meeting”, and while
he was wondering to see how well and gaily the little dwarfs danced,
up came a troll to him and invited him to dismount and take a share in
their merriment. Another troll held his horse, while he went down and
danced with them all night long. As it was drawing near day he mounted
his horse to return home, when a maiden, who held a gold cup in her
hand, invited him to drink the stirrup cup. He took it, but having some
suspicion, while he made as if he was raising the cup to his mouth,
threw the contents over his shoulder. He then clapped spurs into his
horse’s sides and rode away with the cup in his hands as fast as the
horse could gallop. The trolls set off in full pursuit, and gained
on him every minute. In his distress he prayed to God, and he made a
vow that, if he should be delivered, he would bestow the cup on the
Church. As he rode along by the wall of the Churchyard he hastily flung
the cup over it, that it at least might be secure; and pushing on at
full speed, and just as they were on the point of catching hold of the
horse, he sprang in through the farmer’s gate and closed the wicket
after him. Thus was he saved, and the cup was presented to the Church.

Chancellor Gervase, of Tilbury, writing in the thirteenth century,
makes mention of a knight who on being presented with a large horn by
the “ancient people”, rode off with it, instead of returning. For this
he is said to have been condemned to death. A cup with some mysterious
drink is common in Celtic traditions. There was the Cup of Fionn which
healed diseases, and the Saint Graal, of mediæval romance. In more
recent times there was the well-known cup called “The Luck of Eden
Hall”, and the “Ballafletcher Drinking Glass.” (see pp. 49, 50.)


THE FAIRY ELF.

  Yee fairies, who,
  Into their beds did foist your babes,
  And theirs exchanged to be.—

  Albion’s England, 1612.

The story of infants being exchanged in their cradles is here in such
credit that mothers are in continual terror at the thought of it. I
was prevailed upon to go and see a child, who, they told me, was of
these changelings, and indeed must own I was not a little surprised,
as well as shocked, at the sight; nothing under heaven could have
a more beautiful face; but, though between five and six years old,
and seemingly healthy, he was so far from being able to walk, or
stand, that he could not so much as move any one joint—his limbs were
vastly long for his age, but smaller than infant’s of six months; his
complexion was perfectly delicate, and he had the finest hair in the
world; he never spoke or cried, eat scarce anything, and very seldom
seen to smile, but if anyone called him a _Fairy Elf_ he would frown,
and fix his eyes so earnestly on those who said it, as if he would
look them through. His mother, at least his supposed mother, being
very poor, frequently went out a charing, and left him a whole day
together; the neighbours, out of curiosity, have often looked down
at the window to see how he behaved when alone, which, whenever they
did, they were sure to find him laughing, and in the utmost delight.
This made them judge that he was not without company more pleasing to
him than any mortals could be, and what made this conjecture seem the
more reasonable was that if he were left ever so dirty, the woman, at
her return, saw him with a clean face, his hair combed with the utmost
exactness and nicety.—_Waldron._


THE KIDNAPPERS.

  From fairies, and the tempters of the night,
  Guard me, beseech you.—_Shakespeare._

An account of this nature I had from a woman, to whose offspring the
fairies seemed to have a particular fancy. The fourth or fifth night
after she was delivered of her first child, the family were alarmed by
a most terrible cry of fire, on which everybody ran out of the house
to see whence it proceeded, not excepting the nurse, who, being as
much frighted as the others, made one of the number. The poor woman lay
trembling in her bed alone, unable to help herself, and her back being
turned to the infant, saw not that it was taken away by an invisible
hand. Those who had left her having enquired about the neighbourhood,
and finding there was no cause for the outcry they had heard, laughed
at each other for the mistake; but as they were going to re-enter the
house, the poor babe lay on the threshold, and by its cries preserved
itself from being trod upon. This exceedingly amazed all that saw it,
and the mother being still in bed, they could ascribe no reason for
finding it there, but having been removed by fairies, who by their
sudden return, had been prevented from carrying it any further.

About a year after the same woman was brought to bed of a second child,
which had not been born many nights before, a great noise was heard in
the house where they kept their cattle. Everybody that was stirring
ran to see what was the matter, believing that the cows had got loose;
the nurse was as ready as the rest, but finding all safe, and the
barn-door close, immediately returned, but not so suddenly but that the
new-born babe was taken out of the bed, as the former had been, and
dropped on their coming in the middle of the entry. This was enough to
prove the fairies had made a second attempt; and the parents sending
for a minister, joined with him in thanksgiving to God who had twice
delivered their children from being taken from them.

But in the time of her third lying-in everybody seemed to have forgot
what had happened in the first and second, and on a noise in the cattle
house ran out to know what had occasioned it. The nurse was the only
person, excepting the woman in the straw, who stayed in the house, nor
was she detained through care or want of curiosity but by the bonds of
sleep, having drunk a little too plentifully the preceding day. The
mother, who was broad awake, saw her child lifted out of the bed and
carried out of the chamber, though she could not see any person touch
it, on which she cried out as loud as she could, “Nurse, nurse! my
child! my child is taken away”; but the old woman was too fast to be
awakened by the noise she made, and the infant was irretrievably gone.
When her husband and those who had accompanied him returned they found
her wringing her hands and uttering the most piteous lamentations for
the loss of her child, on which, said the husband, looking into the
bed, “The woman is mad, do not you see the child lies by you?” On which
she turned and saw indeed something like a child, but far different
from her own who was a very beautiful, fat, well-featured babe,
whereas, what was now in the room of it was a poor, lean, withered,
deformed creature. It lay quite naked, but the clothes belonging to the
child that was exchanged for it lay wrapt up all together on the bed.

This creature lived with them near the space of nine years, in all
which time it eat nothing except a few herbs, nor was ever seen to
void any other excrement than water. It neither spoke nor could stand
or go, but seemed enervate in every joint, like the changeling I
mentioned before, and in all its actions showed itself to be of the
same nature.—_Waldron._


A FAIRY DETECTED IN CHANGING AN INFANT.

The wife of a fisherman had to go into the harvest to help with the
reaping, as there were very few hands, in consequence of so many being
away at the fishing. She took her young child with her, which up to
that time had not been christened, because of the absence of her
husband, and placed it between two sheaves on the headland, taking
the precaution to place an open pair of scissors across it, for fear
the fairies should take the _boght millish_ (poor, sweet thing), and
leave one of their own bantlings in its place. She was engaged at the
other end of the field, when, hearing great wailings, and thinking that
something had happened to the child, she hastened to the spot where she
had placed it; but found that it was not there. Being half distracted
with the fear of losing her infant, she ran towards the entrance of the
field, from whence she saw two little people engaged in dragging the
child between them. She at once rushed after them, seized the child,
and carried it home. It was supposed that the scissors had slipped off,
and thus left the child unprotected.—_W. Harrison._

The following story is very similar:—A woman during harvest was in a
field helping her husband to stook the corn, when she heard her child
crying. She had previously placed it behind one of the stooks, and when
she arrived at the spot it was missing, and another child in its place,
it having been exchanged by the Fairies. Soon afterwards, hearing this
child cry, she began to run to it; but her husband knowing it was not
the voice of their own child, held the woman back, and would not let
her go till the cry had ceased. She then went back and found her own
child. The Fairies having heard their child in distress, and seeing it
uncared for, had taken it away, and left the woman her own.—_Jenkinson._

Nor were the misdeeds of Fairies confined to children, as will be seen
from the next two stories: Many years ago, the Fairies stole away the
fair wife of the owner of Ballaleece. After some time, the man took
to himself a second partner, and then the first paid him a visit in
company with a troop of sister Fairies, riding on small horses. She
arranged with her husband that they should come again at a stated time,
when she would be on the second horse, and he was, therefore, to seize
hold of the bridle and detain her; but it was stipulated that he should
not succeed in doing so, unless he swept the barn floor so clear, that
there was not left a single bit of straw. He made everything ready for
the meeting, but in the meantime told the secret to his second wife,
and she, through jealousy, and in order to circumvent her rival, placed
a single straw secretly under a bushel on the barn floor. The result
was, that when the Fairies came, the farmer seized hold of the second
horse by the bridle, as pre-arranged, but could not detain it, and away
went all the troop.—_Jenkinson._


ABDUCTION OF A BOY BY FAIRIES.

Not so many years ago a farmer’s son, in the parish of Andreas, was
taken away by the Fairies, and was lost for four years. One day, as his
two brothers were passing by a thorn bush not far from their house,
they heard a crack that startled them, so that they ran back home.
Not long afterwards their mother heard a footstep near the house,
upon which she remarked that if John (the lost boy) had been at home,
she would have said that it was his footstep. At the expiration of
the four years, the boy returned, and told them his adventures. He
asked his brothers if they remembered the crack from the bush, and, on
receiving a reply in the affirmative, he explained that it was one of
the Fairies, with whom he had been galloping about all the time, who
was shooting an arrow at them, and that he had lifted up a plate to
intercept the arrow; hence the crack that they had heard. As to the
footstep his mother had heard, he said that was his, and he told them
that he was near them all the time, but could not get to them; in fact
he saw all they were doing, and, as an instance of this, he mentioned
the day on which they had taken corn to Ramsey. He could give no
account of how he had been let loose by the Fairies, merely remarking
that he seemed as if he had been unconscious, and then waked up in this
world, and at once came to his people.—_Rhys._


THE CHRISTENING.

  The wife which is of Fairie,
  Of suche a childe delivered is.—_Gower._

A woman told me that, being great with child, and expecting every
moment the good hour, as she lay awake one night in bed, she saw seven
or eight little women come into her chamber, one of whom had an
infant in her arms; they were followed by a man of the same size with
themselves, but in the habit of a minister. One of them went to the
pail, and finding no water in it, cried out to the others, “What must
they do to christen the child?” On which they replied it should be done
in beer. With that the seeming parson took the child in his arms, and
performed the ceremony of baptism, dipping his hand into a great tub
of strong beer, which the woman had brewed the day before, to be ready
for her lying-in. She told me that they baptised the infant by the name
of Joan, which made her know she was pregnant of a girl, as it proved
a few days after, when she was delivered. She added, also, that it was
common for the fairies to make a mock christening when any person was
near her time, and that according to what child (male or female) they
brought, such should the woman bring into the world.—_Waldron._


THE SCHOOL BOYS.

A gentleman, my near neighbour, who affirmed with the most solemn
asseverations that, being entirely averse to the belief in fairies, or
that any such beings were permitted to wander for the purposes related
of them, had been at last convinced by the appearance of several little
figures, playing and leaping over some stones in a field, whom, a few
yards distance, he imagined were school boys, and intended, when he
came near enough, to reprimand, for being absent from their exercises
at that time of the day, it being then, he said, between three and
four of the clock. But when he approached, as near he could guess,
within twenty paces, they all immediately disappeared, though he had
never taken his eye off them from the first moment he beheld them; nor
was there any place where they could so suddenly retreat, it being
an open field, without hedge or bush, and, as is said before, broad
day.—_Waldron._


FAIRY PUNISHMENT.

As an instance that fairies will not suffer any abuse without resorting
to some mode of punishment, the following occurred some six years ago,
and was notorious. A man of Laxey, somewhat intoxicated, met a party of
them, and began forthwith to abuse and curse them as the devil’s imps;
they wreaked their vengeance on him by piercing his skin with a shower
of gravel. My guide, perhaps recollecting that the fairies were within
hearing, took their part, and expressed his assurance that they would
not have molested him had he not provoked them by his insults. The
catastrophe did not terminate here. The offender sickened that night,
his favourite horse died next morning, his cows died also, and in six
weeks he himself was a corpse!—_Lord Teignmouth’s Sketches_, 1836.


THE WHIPPING OF THE LITTLE GIRL.

A girl about ten years old, daughter of a woman who lived about two
miles from Ballasalla, being sent over the fields to the town for a
pennyworth of tobacco for her father, was, on the top of a mountain,
surrounded by a great number of little men, who would not suffer her
to pass any farther. Some of them said she should go with them, and
accordingly laid hold of her; but one seeming more pitiful, desired
they would let her alone; which they refusing, there ensued a quarrel,
and the person who took her part, fought bravely in her defence. This
so incensed the others, that to be revenged on her for being the cause,
two or three of them seized her, and whipped her heartily; after
which, it seems, they had no further power over her, and she ran home
directly, telling what had befallen her, and showing her back on which
were the prints of several small hands. Several of the townspeople went
with her to the mountain, and, she conducting them to the spot, the
little antagonists were gone, but had left behind them proofs, that
what the little girl had informed them was true; for there was a great
deal of blood to be seen on the stones.—_Waldron._


MISCHIEF DONE BY FAIRIES.

The following item of news was communicated to the _Mona’s Herald_
newspaper, by a correspondent, in 1847:—“We are sorry to state that
the same disgraceful conduct has again been manifested in breaking
the windows of the house of Mr. Quayle, Maughold. Several panes have
again been broken, and all efforts to trace the depredators have been
abortive. Every precaution has been taken—the door has been thrown
open, but when the neighbours rushed after those who did it, all was
as still as if nothing had been there. A number of the most active and
stout-hearted young men in the parish assisted in the search; three
fierce dogs were brought from neighbouring farms, but they shrunk
affrighted, and refused to follow the instinct of their nature. No
means were resorted to, but it remains as great a mystery as ever, and
nothing will convince the people but that it is the mischievous tricks
of the fairies or ghosts! They say that Mr. Quayle ploughed lately a
small plot of ground that was never ploughed before, and that he turned
over some bones in an old grave-yard, which was the sole cause!”


FAIRY DOGS.

A man, with some fresh fish, was once followed home by a lot of Fairy
Dogs. When he arrived at his own door he picked up a stone and threw
it among them, whereupon they disappeared, but not without his being
struck or stung. He was consequently ill for six months afterwards. My
informant told me that this man would have been left alone if he had
put a pinch of salt in the fish, as the Fairies could not stand salt or
baptism, and baptised children were safe from being changed by them.
He also told me that when he was engaged in the fishing and had a fish
given him to take home, they would never let him start, if it was in
the evening, without putting a pinch of salt in the mouth of the fish
to prevent the Fairies setting on him.—_Rhys._

Another story about Fairy Dogs was related by an old man in 1874, who
said that when a lad, he and a companion were travelling one fine
moonlight night in the East Baldwin Valley, and hearing something in
a _gill_ (small glen) they stopped, and on looking about saw little
creatures, like small dogs with red caps, running away.


THE CUP OF THE LHIANNAN-SHEE.

The estate of Ballafletcher, on which stands the Parish Church of
Braddan, now called Kirby, was long in the possession of a family
named Fletcher. Colonel Wilks, the late proprietor of this estate,
had in his possession an antique crystal goblet, resembling those
old-fashioned wine glasses still to be met with in the store of the
curious housewife. This goblet was presented to him by an old lady,
a connection of the family of Fletcher, the former proprietor of
the estate. It is larger than a common bell-shaped tumbler, and is
ornamented with carved sprigs and white lines. It is supposed to
have been dedicated to the _Lhiannan-Shee_, or “peaceful spirit” of
Ballafletcher, by the former owners of the estate, and to have been
held in great esteem, being only used once a year, at Christmas, when
the Lord of the Manor drank a bumper from it to the _Lhiannan-Shee_ of
his hearth and domain. To break this fragile memorial would have been
deemed a great misfortune to the family, and displeasing to the spirit
of peace. Colonel Wilks, honouring and respecting the fancies of the
olden times, caused it to be encased in a strong oaken box, mounted
with silver; and, in all probability, the old lady donor was glad at
having got it safe out of her hands.—_Train._

William Harrison, in his notes to Waldron, written about twenty years
later than Train’s history, gives the following account of this cup,
which he calls “The Ballafletcher Drinking Glass.”: “This drinking cup,
now in the possession of Major Bacon, of Seafield House, upwards of two
hundred years ago adorned the beaufet of Ballafletcher House. It was
purchased at the sale of the effects of the last of the Fletchers, in
1778, by Robert Cæsar, who gave it to his niece for safe keeping, in
consequence of an ancient tradition ‘that whosoever had the misfortune
to break the glass would surely be haunted by the _Lhiannan-Shee_ of
Ballafletcher’. The cup is a crystal cyathus engraved with floral
scrolls, having between the designs, on two sides, upright columellæ of
five pillars.... The following is the legend:—In ancient times there
stood in the parish of Braddan a mansion called Kirkby. It was so named
because it was the place of entertainment for the Bishops of Sodor, in
their progresses to and from the Isle. Of this building nothing remains
except its site, near an ancient encampment, and the picturesque
Churchyard of Braddan with its numerous runes and runic crosses. More
than two centuries ago, when Kirkby merged into the Fletcher family,
its ancient name was changed, and the place took the designation of
the new owner. To the first of this family was given the cup, with the
injunction ‘that as long as he preserved it peace and plenty would
follow; but woe to him who broke it, as he would surely be haunted by
the _Lhiannan-Shee_.’ The glass stood in a recess, and was never taken
from its place or used except on Christmas and Easter days. It was then
filled with wine and quaffed off at a breath by the head of the house
only, as a libation to the spirit for her protection. The cup belonged,
it is said, to Magnus, the Norwegian King of Man, who took it from the
shrine of St. Olave when he violated the saint’s oratory.”


THE FAIRY SWEETHEART.

There was a man who lived not long ago near Port Erin who had a
_Lhiannan-Shee_. “He was like other people, but he had a fairy
sweetheart; but he noticed her, and they do not like being noticed, the
fairies, and so he lost his mind. Well, he was quite quiet like other
people, but at night he slept in the barn, and they used to hear him
talking to his sweetheart, and scolding her sometimes; but if anyone
made a noise he would be quiet at once.” Now, the truth of this story
is clear enough. The man went mad, but this madness took the form
of the popular belief, and that again attributed his madness to the
fairy mistress. I am convinced that this was believed to be a case
of genuine fairy intercourse, and it shows that the fairy creed still
survives in the Isle of Man.—_Campbell._


THE DOOINEY-OIE.

The _Dooiney-oie_, or night-man of the Manx peasantry, is reverenced
as the tutelar demon of certain families, as it appeared only to
give monitions of future events to particular persons. His voice was
sometimes very dismal, when heard at night on the mountains, something
like H-o-w-l-a-a, or H-o-w-a-a. When his lamentation in winter
was heard on the coast, being a sure prediction of an approaching
tempest, it was so awful that even the brute creation trembled at the
sound.—_Train._

Of late years there has been a disposition to confound the
characteristics of the _Dooiney-oie_ with those of the _Phynnodderee_
and _Glashtin_, as he is supposed to do work, such as threshing corn,
for those with whom he is connected.

[Footnote 40: See Preface.]

[Footnote 41: Here we think Campbell’s informant was mistaken. (see p.
34)]

[Footnote 42: Train was certainly wrong, as numerous flint arrow heads
have been discovered both before and after his time. Campbell’s
informant was also in error, as these flint weapons are certainly
supposed by the Manks to have been used by the Fairies.]

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER IV.

HOBGOBLINS, MONSTERS, GIANTS, MERMAIDS, APPARITIONS, &C.


THE distinction between Fairies proper and Hobgoblins seems to be
mainly that the former are nimble, merry, and clever, and the latter
heavy, plodding, and stupid. The characteristics of the two creatures
called, in the Isle of Man, the _Phynnodderee_ and the _Glashtin_,
or _Glashan_, are certainly of the lower, rather than of the higher,
class. For, as will be seen from the tales given concerning them, they
combine the attributes of the Scotch Brownie, and of the Scandinavian
Troll, though the _Glashtin_ seems to be a water-horse also. (see p.
54.) The Brownies are sturdy Fairies, who, if well fed and kindly
treated, will do a great deal of work; and the Trolls are beings who
unite preterhuman strength with demoniac malice. They are bigger
and stronger than men, with fiendish tempers, and are of deformed
and hideous appearance. They dwell in rocks and caverns. In their
intercourse with men they are usually cruel and mischievous, and take
vengeance if they have been slighted or insulted. But sometimes they
can be thankful and reward such kindnesses as they may have received
from men, and even do them services of their own accord. Whoever is
fortunate enough to do a Troll a service is sure to be lucky for
the rest of his life. They know things man does not, such as the
whereabouts of hidden treasure, though, generally speaking, they are
stupid and devoid of reasoning powers. They hate Christianity and the
sound of church bells, so much so, that any one pursued by a Troll can
get rid of him by ringing the church bells. Trolls were probably once
well-known by name in Man, as they still survive in place-names such as
Trollaby.

The _Phynnodderee_ is defined by Cregeen[43] as a “satyr”, and he
quotes the following text to show that his name is used in the Manx
Bible in that sense:—_Hig beishtyn oaldey yn aasagh dy cheilley marish
beishtyn oaldey yn ellan, as nee yn phynnodderree gyllagh da e heshey_:
“The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of
the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow” (Isaiah 34, 14). The
popular idea of the _Phynnodderee_ is that he is a fallen Fairy, and
that in appearance he is something between a man and a beast, being
covered with black shaggy hair and having fiery eyes. Many stories are
related by the Manx peasants of his prodigious strength. He may be
compared with the _Gruagach_, a creature about whom Campbell writes as
follows:—“The _Gruagach_ was supposed to be a Druid or Magician who had
fallen from his high estate, and had become a strange hairy creature.”
The following story is told about one of these:—“The small island of
Inch, near Easdale, is inhabited by a brownie, which has followed the
MacDougalls of Ardincaple for ages, and takes a great interest in them.
He takes care of their cattle in that island night and day, unless
the dairy-maid, when there in summer with the milk cattle, neglects
to leave warm milk for him at night in a knocking-stone in the cave,
where she and the herd live during their stay in the island. Should
this perquisite be for a night forgot, they will be sure in the morning
to find one of the cattle fallen over the rocks with which the place
abounds. It is a question whether the brownie has not a friend with
whom he shares the contents of the stone, which will, I daresay, hold
from two to three Scotch pints.”

The following account is given of the _Phynnodderee_ in prose and
verse by Mrs. E. S. Craven Green:—“Once upon a day, an Elfin Knight
fell in love with one of the daughters of Mann, as she sat in her
bowery home beneath the blue tree of Glen Aldyn. Offering to abandon
the Fairies for a domestic life with this sweet nymph, and absenting
himself from Fairy-Court during the celebration of the ‘Rehollys vooar
yn ouyr,’ or royal high harvest festival (kept by the Fairies with
dancing in the merry Glen Rushen), he so offended the little people
that the Elfin King expelled him from Fairy Hall, and cursed him with
an undying existence on the Manx mountains in the form of a satyr,—thus
metamorphosed he became a strange, sad, solitary wanderer, known as the
Phynnodderee. We compassionate his misfortune, as it fell upon him in
consequence of his true love for a Manx maiden.”

  “His was the wizard hand that toil’d,
    At midnight’s witching hour;
  That gather’d the sheep from the coming storm
    Ere the shepherd saw it lower.
  Yet asked no fee save a scatter’d sheaf
    From the peasants’ garner’d hoard,
  Or cream-bowl kissed by a virgin lip
    To be left on the household board.”

The _Glashtin_ or _Glashan_ is defined by Cregeen[44] as “a goblin, a
sprite.” The popular idea of him is that he is a hairy goblin or sprite
of somewhat similar characteristics to the _Phynnodderee_. He is said
to frequent lonely spots, and is useful to man, or otherwise, as the
caprice of the moment leads him. In addition to the above, we have
Monsters called _Tarroo-Ushtey_, or “Water-Bull”, and _Cabbyl-Ushtey_,
or “water-horse”, sometimes called the _Glashtin_. These would seem to
be analogous to the Irish _Phooka_, who is said to appear sometimes as
a bull and sometimes as a horse, and to the Scandinavian _Nykr_, or
_Vatna-Hestr_, “river-sprite” or “water-horse.” The _Vatna-Hestr_ is
supposed to live either in salt or fresh water, and to associate with
ordinary cattle. In 1859 it was reported that an animal of this kind
was to be seen in a field near Ballure Glen, and hundreds of people
left Ramsey in order to catch a sight of it, but they were doomed to
disappointment. The people about Glen Meay believed that the glen below
the waterfall was haunted by the spirit of a man who one day met the
_Glashtin_, or _Cabbyl-Ushtey_, and, thinking it was an ordinary horse,
got upon its back, when it ran off and disappeared in the sea, and the
rider was drowned.

Campbell says that in the Western Highlands and Islands, and the Isle
of Man, there is a whole series of tales which relate to water-horses,
and which show that people still firmly believe in their existence. He
proceeds: “In Sutherland and elsewhere many believe that they have seen
these fancied animals. I have been told of English sportsmen who went
in pursuit of them, so circumstantial were the accounts of those who
believed they had seen them. The witnesses are so numerous, and their
testimony agrees so well that there must be some old deeply-rooted
Celtic belief which clothes every dark object with the dreaded form of
the _each uisge_.... The bay or grey horse grazes at the lake-side, and
when he is mounted, rushes into the loch and devours his rider. His
back lengthens to suit any number; men’s hands stick to his skin; he
is harnessed to a plough, and drags the team and the plough into the
loch, and tears the horses to bits; he is killed and nothing remains
but a pool of water; he falls in love with a lady, and when he appears
as a man and lays his head on her knee to be dressed, the frightened
lady finds him out by the sand in his hair ... and when he sleeps she
makes her escape. He appears as an old woman, and is put to bed with
a bevy of damsels in a mountain shealing, and he sucks the blood of
all, save one, who escapes over a burn, which, water-horse as he is,
he dare not cross.... These tales and beliefs have led me to think
that the old Celts must have had a destroying water-god, to whom the
horse was sacred, or who had the form of a horse.” He also says that
the water-bull is known all over the islands. “There are numerous lakes
where the water-bulls are supposed to exist, and their progeny are
supposed to be easily known by their short ears. When the water-bull
appears in a story he is generally represented as friendly to man.”

We have also Spirits or Fiends, who are for the most part of evil and
malicious natures, such as the _Buggane_, the famous _Moddey Dhoo_, or
black dog, the _Cughtagh_, who was a spirit whose abode was in caves
by the sea, and whose voice was the soughing of the wavelets, and the
_Keimagh_ who haunted the Churchyard stiles (_Keim_) and guarded the
graves. _Giants_, who performed superhuman feats, abound, as in all
Celtic lands. The _Mermaid_, too, was well-known. She had no special
name in Manx, being called simply _Ben-varry_, or “Woman of the sea”,
and had the same form, half fish, half woman, as represented in the
tales of other countries. She was generally of an affectionate and
gentle disposition, though terrible when angered, and she was greatly
given to falling in love with young men. Of her mate, the _Merman_,
_Dooiney-varrey_, “Man of the sea”, or _Phollinagh_, as he is variously
called, less is known. Such are the names of the various dwellers in
Fairy-land, most of whose characteristics will be illustrated by the
following stories:—


HOBGOBLINS.


THE PHYNNODDEREE.

A gentleman having resolved to build a large house and offices on his
property, a little above the base of Snafield Mountain, at a place
called Tholt-e-will, caused the requisite quantity of stones to be
quarried on the beach, but one immense block of white stone, which
he was very desirous to have for a particular part of the intended
building, could not be moved from the spot, resisted the united
strength of all the men in the parish. To the utter astonishment,
however, of all, not only this rock, but likewise the whole of the
quarried stones, consisting of more than an hundred cart-loads, were
in one night conveyed from the shore to the site of the intended
onstead by the indefatigable _Phynnodderee_, and, in confirmation of
this wonderful feat, the white stone is yet pointed out to the curious
visitor.

The gentleman for whom this very acceptable piece of work was
performed, wishing to remunerate the naked _Phynnodderee_, caused a few
articles of clothing to be laid down for him in his usual haunt. The
hairy one, on perceiving the habiliments, lifted them up one by one,
thus expressing his feelings in Manx:

  “Bayrn da’n chione, dy doogh da’n chione,
  Cooat da’n dreeym, dy doogh da’n dreeym,
  Breechyn da’n toin, dy doogh da’n toin,
  Agh my she lhiat ooilley, shoh cha nee lhiat Glen reagh Rushen.”

  “Cap for the head, alas! poor head,
  Coat for the back, alas! poor back,
  Breeches for the breech, alas! poor breech,
  If these be all thine, thine cannot be the merry Glen of Rushen.”

Having repeated these words, he departed with a melancholy wail, and now

  “You may hear his voice on the desert hill
    When the mountain winds have power;
  ’Tis a wild lament for his buried love,
    And his long-lost Fairy Bower.”

Many of the old people lament the disappearance of the _Phynnodderee_,
for they say, “There has not been a merry world since he lost his
ground.”

The _Phynnodderee_ also cut down and gathered meadow grass, which would
have been injured if allowed to remain exposed to the coming storm.
On one occasion a farmer having expressed his displeasure with the
Phynnodderee for not having cut his grass close enough to the ground,
the hairy one in the following year allowed the dissatisfied farmer to
cut it down himself, but went after him stubbing up the roots so fast
that it was with difficulty the farmer escaped having his legs cut
off by the angry sprite. For several years afterwards no person could
be found to mow the meadow, until a fearless soldier from one of the
garrisons at length undertook the task. He commenced in the centre of
the field, and by cutting round as if on the edge of a circle, keeping
one eye on the progress of the _yiarn foldyragh_, or scythe, while the
other

  Was turned round with prudent care
  Lest Phynnodderee catched him unaware.

He succeeded in finishing his task unmolested. This field, situate in
the parish of Marown, hard by the ruins of the old Church of Saint
Trinian’s, is, from the circumstance just related, still called _yn
lheeanee rhunt_, or the Round Meadow.—_Train._

He is said to have borrowed a sickle and to have cut down two fields
of corn in the parish of Bride in the course of one night. Among the
many stories of his having brought sheep home for his farmer friends,
there is an often told one of his having, on one occasion, brought home
a hare among the rest, and of his having explained that the _loghtan
beg_, or “little native sheep” (_i.e._, the hare) had given him more
trouble than all the rest, as it made him run three times round
Snaefell before he caught it.—_Oral._

In the following curious old song the doings of the _Phynnodderee_ are
thus commemorated:—

  The Phynodderee went to the meadow
  To lift the dew at gray cock-crow,
  The maiden-hair and the cattle-herb,
  He stamped them under both his feet.
  He was stretching out on the ground of the meadow,
  He threw the grass on the left-hand,
  He caused us to wonder last year,
  And this year he is far better.
  He was stretching out on the ground of the meadow,
  Cutting the herbs in bloom,
  The bog-bane herb in the rushy curragh,
  As he went out it was all shaking.
  The scythe he had was cutting everything,
  Skinning the meadow to the sods,
  And, if a leaf were left standing,
  He stamped it down with his heels.

(The same in Manx.)

  Yn Phynnodderree hie dy’n lheeanee,
  Dy hroggal druight y vadran glass,
  Luss-y-voidyn as luss-yn-ollee
  V’eh dy stampey fo e ghaa chass.
  V’eh sheeney magh er laare yn lheeanee,
  Cheaayn faiyr er y cheu chiare,
  Hug y yindys orrin nuirree,
  As t’eh ny bleeaney foddey share.
  V’eh sheeney magh er laare yn lheeanee,
  Ghiarey yn lussey ayns y vlaa,
  Lubber-lub ayns y curragh shuinagh,
  Myr v’eh goll va ooilley craa.
  Yn yiarn va echey y ghiarey ooilley,
  Scryssey yn lheeanee rise y foaidyn,
  As, my va rybbag faagit shassoo,
  V’eh cur stampey lesh e voydyn.

In the same song the vengeance of the water-bull and the _Glashtin_ is
invoked upon some person unknown:—

  What if the spotted water-bull,
  And the Glashtin take thee,
  And the Phynnodderee of the glen, waddling
  To throw thee like a bolster against the wall?

  Cred dy jinnagh yn tarroo-ushtey spottagh,
  As yn Ghlashtin oo y ghoaill,
  As yn Phynnodderee ny glionney, sprangagh
  Clooisagh y yannoo jeed noi’n voal.

As an instance of the strength of the Phynnodderee, it was stated
he met a blacksmith one night as he was going from his shop, and on
accosting him, and requesting to shake hands, the blacksmith gave him
hold of the iron sock of a plough which he happened to have with him,
and the strange visitor instantly squeezed it just as though it were a
piece of clay.


THE GLASHTIN, OR GLASHAN.

With regard to this creature, Campbell relates the following, which was
told him by a woman who lived near the Calf of Man, who said:—

“Well, you see, in the ould times they used to be keeping the sheep in
the folds, and one night an ould man forgot to put them in, and he sent
out his son, and he came back and said the sheep were all folded, but
there was a year-old lamb, _oasht_, playing the mischief with them,
and that was the Glashan. You see they were very strong, and when they
wanted a stack threshed, though it was a whole stack, the Glashan would
have it threshed for them in one night. And they were running after the
women. There was one of them once caught a girl, and had a hould of
her by the dress, and he sat down and he fell asleep, and then she cut
away all the dress, you see, round about, this way, and left it in his
fist, and ran away; and when he awoke, he threw what he had over his
shoulder, this way, and he said something in Manx. Well, you see, one
night the ould fellow sent all the women to bed, and he put on a cap
and a woman’s dress, and he sat down by the fire, and he began to spin;
and the young Glashans they came in, and they began saying something in
Manx that means ‘Are you turning the wheel? are you trying the reel?’
Well the ould Glashan he was outside, and he knew better than the young
ones; he knew it was the ould fellow himself, and he was telling them,
but they did not mind him, and so the ould man threw a lot of hot
turf, you see it was the turf they burned then, over them, and burned
them; and the old one said (something in Manx). You’ll not understand
that now?” “Yes I do, pretty nearly.” “Ah, well, and the Glashans went
away, and never came back any more.” “Have you many stories like that,
guid wife?” “Ah!” said she, “there were plenty of people that could
tell those stories once. When I was a little girl I used to hear them
telling them in Manx over the fire at night; but people is so changed
with pride now that they care for nothing.”

In commenting on the _Glashan_ story, he says “Now, here is a story
which is all over the Highlands in various shapes. Sometimes it is a
Brollichan, son of the Fuath, or a young water-horse transformed into
the likeness of a man, which attacks a lonely woman and gets burned or
scalded, and goes away to his friends outside.... The Glashan, as I
found out afterwards, frequented neighbouring farms till within a very
late period.”


MONSTERS.


THE WATER-BULL; OR, TARROO-USHTEY.

Among the prodigies of Nature, I know none which more justly may be
called so, at least, of those which I am convinced of the truth of,
than that of the Water-Bull, an amphibious creature which takes its
name from the so great resemblance it has of that beast, that many of
the people, having seen him in a field, have not distinguished him
from one of the more natural species. A neighbour of mine, who kept
cattle, had his fields very much infested with this animal, by which
he had lost several cows; he, therefore, placed a man continually to
watch, who bringing him word that a strange bull was among the cows, he
doubted not but it was the Water-Bull; and having called a good number
of lusty men to his assistance, who were all armed with great poles,
pitch forks, and other weapons proper to defend themselves, and be the
death of this dangerous enemy, they went to the place where they were
told he was, and ran altogether at him; but he was too nimble for their
pursuit; and after tiring them over mountains and rocks, and a great
space of stony ground, he took a river, and avoided any further chase
by diving down into it, though every now and then he would show his
head above water, as if to mock their skill.—_Waldron._

Another account of the _Tarroo-Ushtey_ was obtained more than a hundred
years later:—

A few years ago, the farmer of Slieu Mayll, in the Parish of Onchan,
was, on a Sunday evening, returning home from a place of worship, when
at the _garee_ of Slegaby, a wild looking animal, with large eyes,
sparkling like fire, crossed the road before him and went flapping
away. This he knew to be a _Tarroo-Ushtey_, for his father had seen
one at nearly the same place. Over the back of this animal he broke
his walking stick—so lazy was it to get out of his way. This man’s
brother had also seen a _Tarroo-Ushtey_, at Lhanjaghyn, in the same
neighbourhood. When proceeding to the field, very early one morning in
the month of June, to let the cattle out to feed before the heat of
the day came on, he saw a Water-Bull standing outside the fold. When
the bull that was within with the cattle, perceived him, he instantly
broke through the fence and ran at him, roaring and tearing up the
ground with his feet; but the _Tarroo-Ushtey_ scampered away, seeming
quite unconcerned, and leaping over an adjoining precipice, plunged
into deep water, and after swimming about a little, evidently amusing
himself, he gave a loud bellow and disappeared.—_Train._

This monster was also to be met with, according to Macculloch’s
_Description of the Western Isles_, in Loch Awe and Loch Rannoch.
Campbell, in his tales of the _West Highlands_, says, “There are
numerous lakes where Water-Bulls are supposed to exist, and their
progeny are supposed to be easily known by their short ears. He is
generally represented as friendly to man. His name in Skye is _tarbh
eithre_.”


THE BUGGANE OF ST. TRINIAN’S

Was the most notorious of these fiends in Man. The following story
is told of him:—This religious edifice (St. Trinian’s) is said to
have been erected in fulfilment of a vow made by a person when in a
hurricane at sea, but, according to tradition, it was never finished.
This was through the malice of a mischievous _Buggane_, or evil
spirit, who, for want of better employment, amused himself with
tossing the roof to the ground, as often as it was on the eve of being
finished, accompanying his achievement with a loud fiendish laugh of
satisfaction. The only attempt to counteract this singular propensity
of the evil one, which tradition has conveyed to us, was made by
Timothy, a tailor of great pretensions to sanctity of character. On the
occasion alluded to, the roof of St. Trinian’s Church was, as usual,
nearly finished, when the valorous tailor undertook to make a pair of
breeches under it, before the Buggane could commence his old trick. He
accordingly seated himself in the chancel, and began to work in great
haste; but ere he had completed his job, the head of the frightful
Buggane rose out of the ground before him, and addressed him thus—“Do
you see my great head, large eyes, and long teeth?” “Hee! Hee!” that
is, “Yes! yes!” replied the tailor, at the same time stitching with all
his might, and without raising his eyes from his work. The Buggane,
still rising slowly out of the ground, cried in a more angry voice
than before, “Do you see my great body, large hands, and long nails?”
“Hee! Hee!” rejoined Tim, as before, but continuing to _pull out_ with
all his strength. The Buggane having now risen wholly from the ground,
inquired in a terrified voice, “Do you see my great limbs, large feet,
and long ——?” but ere he could utter the last word, the tailor put the
finishing stitch into the breeches, and jumped out of the Church, just
as the roof fell in with a crash. The fiendish laugh of the Buggane
arose behind him, as he bounded off in a flight, to which terror lent
its utmost speed. Looking behind, he saw the frightful spectacle close
upon his heels, with extended jaws, as if to swallow him alive. To
escape its fury Timothy leaped into consecrated ground, where, happily,
the Buggane had not power to follow; but, as if determined to punish
him for his temerity, the angry sprite lifted its great head from its
body, and with great force pitched it to the feet of the tailor, where
it exploded like a bomb shell. Wonderful to relate, the adventurous
Timothy was unscathed; but the Church of St. Trinian remained without a
roof.—_Train._

Another _Buggane_ is said to haunt the precipitous mountain of
_Slieauwhallian_, whence his screams are sometimes heard; but a third
fiend, of similar origin, who was formerly supposed to frequent the
_Gob-ny-scuit_, “mouth of the spout”, a small waterfall, in the Parish
of Maughold, has disappeared. Terrible wailings were heard at times
from this unfortunate spirit. Even the great fairy doctor of Ballawhane
(Teare) had failed to lay it. But about 50 years ago a Manxman of a
scientific and inquiring mind noticed on examining the rock, over which
the water fell, that these peculiar noises proceeded from it only when
the wind was blowing from a certain point. Further examination showed a
narrow cleft in the rock below the fall through which the wind blew and
caused the sound. Thus was the _Buggane_ disposed of!—Oral.


LEGEND OF THE BLACK DOG, MODDEY DOO.

  Whence! and what art thou?—_Milton._

Through one of the old churches in Peel Castle, there was formerly
a passage to the apartment belonging to the Captain of the Guard,
but it is now closed up. An apparition, called in the Manx language,
“The Mauthe Doo”, in the shape of a large black spaniel with curled
shaggy hair, was used to haunt Peel Castle; and has been frequently
seen in every room, but particularly in the Guard Chamber, where, as
soon as candles were lighted, it came and lay down before the fire
in the presence of all the soldiers, who at length, by being so much
accustomed to the sight of it, lost great part of the terror they were
seized with at its first appearance. They still, however, retained a
certain awe, as believing it was an evil spirit, which only waited
permission to do them hurt, and for that reason forbore swearing and
all profane discourse while in its company. But though they endured
the shock of such a guest when altogether in a body, none cared to be
left alone with it. It being the custom, therefore, for one of the
soldiers to lock the gates of the Castle at a certain hour, and carry
the keys to the Captain, to whose apartment, as I said before, the
way led through a church, they agreed among themselves, that whoever
was to succeed the ensuing night, his fellow in this errand should
accompany him that went first, and, by this means, no man would be
exposed singly to the danger; for I forgot to mention that the _Mauthe
Doo_ was always seen to come from that passage at the close of day,
and return to it again as soon as the morning dawned, which made them
look on this place as its peculiar residence. One night, a fellow being
drunk, and by the strength of his liquor rendered more daring than
ordinary, laughed at the simplicity of his companions, and, although
it was not his turn to go with the keys, would needs take this office
upon himself to testify his courage. All the soldiers endeavoured to
dissuade him, but the more they said, the more resolute he seemed, and
swore that he desired nothing more than that _Mauthe Doo_ would follow
him, as it had done the others, for he would try if it were Dog or
Devil. After having talked in a very reprobate manner for some time, he
snatched up the keys and went out of the Guard-room. In some time after
his departure, a great noise was heard, and no one had the boldness
to see what had occasioned it, till the adventurer returning, they
demanded the knowledge of him; but as loud and noisy as he had been at
leaving them, he was now become sober and silent enough, for he was
never heard to speak more; and though all the time he lived, which was
three days, he was entreated by all who came near him, either to speak,
or if he could not do that, to make some signs, by which they might
understand what had happened to him, yet nothing intelligible could be
got from him, only that, by the distortion of his limbs and features,
it might be guessed that he died in agonies more than is common in a
natural death. The _Mauthe Doo_ was, however, never seen after in the
Castle, nor would anyone attempt to go through that passage, for which
reason it was closed up, and another way made.—This happened about
1666.—_Waldron._

“Phantom dogs”, says Campbell, “abound in Celtic stories.” In many
of them the hound or dog plays an important part. “Sometimes he
befriends his master, at other times he appears to have something
diabolical about him; it seems as if his real honest nature had
overcome a deeply-rooted prejudice, for there is much which savours of
detestation, as well as of strong affection. Dog, or son of the dog,
is a term of abuse in Gaelic as elsewhere, though _cuilein_ is a form
of endearment, and the hound is figured beside his master or at his
feet, on many a tombstone in the Western Isles. Hounds are mentioned
in Gaelic poetry and Gaelic tales, and in the earliest accounts of the
Western Isles.”


GIANTS.


THE SPELL-BOUND GIANT.

There is an apartment in Castle Rushen “which has never been opened
in the memory of man.” The persons belonging to the Castle are very
cautious in giving any reason for it; but the natives assign this,
“_that there is something of enchantment in it_.” They tell you that
the Castle was at first inhabited by fairies, and afterwards by giants,
who continued in possession of it till the days of Merlin, who, by
force of magic, dislodged the greatest part of them, and bound the
rest in spells, which they believe will be indissoluble to the end of
the world. For proof of this, they tell you a very odd story. They say
there are a great number of fine apartments underground, exceeding in
magnificence any of the upper rooms. Several men of more than ordinary
courage have, in former times, ventured down to explore the secrets of
this subterraneous dwelling-place, but none of them ever returned to
give an account of what they saw; it was, therefore, judged convenient
that all the passes to it should be kept continually shut, that no more
might suffer by their temerity.

About some fifty or fifty-five years since (1670), a person who had
an uncommon boldness and resolution, never left soliciting permission
of those who had the power to grant it, to visit these dark abodes.
In fine, he obtained his request, went down, and returned by help of
a clue of packthread, which he took with him, which no man before
himself had ever done, and brought this amazing discovery. That, after
having passed through a great number of vaults, he came into a long
narrow place, which the further he penetrated, he perceived he went
more and more on a descent, till having travelled, as near as he could
guess, for the space of a mile, he began to see a little gleam of
light, which, though it seemed to come from a vast distance, yet was
the most delightful sight he had ever beheld in his life. Having at
length come to the end of that lane of darkness, he perceived a very
large and magnificent house, illuminated with a great many candles,
whence proceeded the light just now mentioned. Having, before he
began this expedition, well fortified himself with brandy, he had
courage enough to knock at the door, which a servant, at the third
knock, having opened, asked him what he wanted. “I would go as far as
I can”, replied our adventurer, “be so kind, therefore, to direct me
how to accomplish my design, for I see no passage but that dark cavern
through which I came.” The servant told him he must go through that
house, and accordingly led him through a long entry, and out at the
back door. He then walked a considerable way, and at last he beheld
another house, more magnificent than the first, and the windows being
all open, discovered innumerable lamps burning in every room. Here he
designed also to knock, but had the curiosity to step on a little bank
which commanded a low parlour; on looking in, he beheld a vast table
in the middle of the room of black marble, and on it, extended at full
length, a man, or rather, monster; for, by his account, he could not be
less than fourteen feet long, and ten or eleven round the body. This
prodigious fabrick lay as if sleeping, with his head on a book, and a
sword by him, of a size answerable to the hand which it is supposed
made use of it. This sight was more terrifying to the traveller than
all the dark and dreary mansions he had passed through in his arrival
to it. He resolved, therefore, not to attempt entrance into a place
inhabited by persons of that unequal stature, and made the best of his
way back to the other house, where the same servant re-conducted him,
and informed him that if he had knocked at the second door, he would
have seen company enough, but never could have returned, on which he
desired to know what place it was, and by whom possessed; but the other
replied that these things were not to be revealed. He then took his
leave, and by the same dark passage got into the vaults, and soon after
once more ascended to the light of the sun.—_Waldron._


THE OLD MAN.

Castle Rushen has long been famous in the estimation of the natives
for its subterraneous passages, and there are individuals amongst them
who still believe that they lead to a beautiful country underground,
inhabited by giants. Many attempts, they say, have been made to
explore these passages, but they have been generally unsuccessful.
Once, however, a number banded themselves together, and, having armed
themselves and provided torches, they descended. After proceeding some
way, they came across an old man of great size, with a long beard, and
blind, sitting on a rock as if fixed there. He, hearing them approach,
inquired of them as to the state of the Island, and at last asked
one to put forth his hand, on which one of them presented him with a
ploughshare, when the old giant squeezed the iron together with the
greatest ease, exclaiming at the same time, “There are yet men in the
Isle of Man.”—_W. Harrison._


THE THREE-HEADED GIANT.

Once upon a time there landed at The Lhane a number of Danes, who took
possession of that part of the Island. Amongst them was a huge monster
of a man with three heads, who officiated as their parson, and who was
promptly appointed by them to the Rectory of Andreas, which chanced
to be vacant at that time. He soon began to extort all he could from
the people, making his bands for the tithe corn three times larger
than was customary, and taking the “double penny” for everything. For
a long time he went on in this fashion, till they got used to it, and,
consequently, did not grumble so much as at first. Indeed, they rather
began to like him, as he often gave them a hand at busy times, when
the men were for the most part away at the fishing, and was always
ready to do them a good turn. So things went on till his death, when,
in accordance with his wish, he was carried to the top of Karrin, and
buried there under a big cairn. A long time after this, a man who had
heard about this three-headed creature from the old people, and who
was consumed with a desire to see him, began to open his grave. He had
not dug very far, however, when he was seized with a great pain in his
back, which compelled him to leave off. He managed to get home, but in
three days he was dead. Since then no one has ventured to disturb the
giant’s remains. They say that since the days of the giant the parson
of Andreas has always had three times more pay than the rest.—_Oral._


JACK THE GIANT KILLER.

The title at least of the following is clearly derived from the well
known English tale: There was once a poor woman who lived in a secluded
glen on the eastern side of Slieau-ny-Farrane. Her husband was a
fisherman, who was frequently absent from home for long periods. The
wife had, consequently, not only to attend to domestic matters, but to
see after the children as well, so you may be sure the boys were left
to do much as they pleased. The eldest of them, Juan, was growing into
a stout lad, who was always trying to do some great feat or other. Many
were the battles that he and the old gander had, to see who should be
the master. As he grew bigger he extended his attacks to the cattle, so
that when they saw him coming they endeavoured to get out of the way
of the big stick he always carried with him. In vain did his father
scold him, when he came home from the fishing on a Saturday night, for
he only became the more daring. At last he began to use his stick on
all, whether man or beast, that he met in those parts, and he became
such a terror that they gave him the name of Jack the Giant Killer.
His great strength became so notorious that many came from Laxey side
to try conclusions with him, but they were always worsted. He kept his
old mother well supplied with _purrs_, as they called the wild swine
that were formerely found in the mountains. Now, there was an old boar
_purr_, called the _Purr Mooar_, that had long been a terror to the
district, so much so that it was not considered safe for any one to go
alone over the Rheast, and through Druidale. Even the shepherds with
their dogs were unwilling to face him. This _purr_ Jack determined
to kill, so he armed himself with his thickest stick, and set out
in search of him. After travelling a considerable distance, he made
his way down to a deep glen, through which the water was tumbling
amongst the rocks below the Crammag, where he discovered the boar, it
being a sultry day, luxuriating in the water. No sooner did he see
Jack than he raised himself up, and, with a terrible roar, rushed out
upon him. Jack, nothing daunted, received him with a severe blow upon
the fore legs, which caused him to roll over. Getting up again, he
rushed once more at Jack, who belaboured him with many a heavy blow,
but unfortunately the boar managed to inflict a deep wound in Jack’s
thigh, which laid it open to the bone. Still the conflict went on till
both were well-nigh exhausted and faint from loss of blood, till at
last Jack with one terrible blow shattered the boar’s head, and laid
him dead at his feet. It was with great difficulty that he managed to
crawl home, and it was long before his wounds, which were said to be
of a poisonous nature, healed, and, even when they had healed, he was
obliged to go about with a crutch for the rest of his life. Thus was
the neighbourhood rid of two troubles—Jack and the _Purr Mooar_—for the
one was now harmless and the other dead. This feat was commemorated in
the saying, “Jack the Giant Killer, _varr a vuc_ (_i.e._, killed a pig)
in the river.”—_Oral._

There are many other tales about giants, the accuracy of which is
proved to the satisfaction of the tellers by the existence of large
stones, which are pointed out in various places as having been hurled
by them. There is one in particular, near Jurby Church, which is said
to have been thrown by a giant from one of the mountains after a
companion who had insulted him, but who contrived to escape by swimming
from Jurby to Scotland. The numerous detached rocks at the southern end
of Greeba are satisfactorily accounted for as being the contents of
a creel which a giant had upset there. There was another giant, said
to have been contemporary with St. Patrick, who by his strength and
ferocity became the terror of the whole Island. He used to transport
himself with great ease across the gorge between Peel Castle and
Contrary Head, which is now bridged by a breakwater. On one occasion,
either for amusement or in a fit of rage, he lifted a large block of
granite from the Castle rock, and, though several tons weight, tossed
it with the greatest ease against the acclivity of the opposite hill,
about half a mile distant, where it is to be seen to this day, with a
print of his hand on it. In support of such legends as these the Manx
peasantry formerly showed strangers the giant’s casting stones, which
are two huge monoliths of clay-slate, each ten feet high, between Port
St. Mary and Port Erin; the Fairy Hill; the giant’s grave at the foot
of South Barrule; and a green mound, thirty yards long, outside the
walls of Peel Castle, having the same name.


MERMAIDS.


THE CAPTURED MERMAID.

  A mermaid from the water rose,
  A woman most fair and lovely.—_Sinclair._

Waldron was surprised to find that the Manx actually believed in
mermaids, and he gave several stories that they told him about them, as
follows:—“During the time that Oliver Cromwell usurped the Government
of England, few ships resorted to this Island, and that uninterruption
and solitude of the sea gave the mermen and mermaids (who are enemies
to any company but those of their own species) frequent opportunities
of visiting the shore, where, in moonlight nights, they have been seen
to sit, combing their heads and playing with each other; but as soon
as they perceived anybody coming near them, jumped into the water,
and were out of sight immediately. Some people, who lived near the
coast, having observed their behaviour, spread large nets made of small
but very strong cords upon the ground, and watched at a convenient
distance for their approach. The night they had laid this snare but one
happened to come, who was no sooner sat down than those who held the
strings of the net drew them with a sudden jerk, and enclosed their
prize beyond all possibility of escaping. On opening the net, and
examining their captive, by the largeness of her breasts and the beauty
of her complexion, it was found to be a female. Nothing could be more
lovely, more exactly formed in all parts above the waist, resembling
a complete young woman, but below that all fish with fins and a huge
spreading tail. She was carried to a house, and used very tenderly,
nothing but liberty being denied. But though they set before her the
best provision the place afforded, she would not be prevailed on to
eat or drink, neither could they get a word from her, tho’ they knew
these creatures were not without the gift of speech, having heard them
talk to each other, when sitting regaling themselves on the seaside.
They kept her in this manner three days, but perceiving she began to
look very ill with fasting, and fearing some calamity would befall the
Island if they should keep her till she died, they agreed to let her
return to the element she liked best, and the third night set open
their door, which, as soon as she beheld, she raised herself from the
place where she was then lying, and glided, with incredible swiftness,
on her tail to the seaside. They followed at a distance, and saw her
plunge into the water, where she was met by a great number of her own
species, one of whom asked what she had observed among the people of
the earth,—‘Nothing very wonderful,’ answered she, ‘but that they are
so very ignorant as to throw away the water they have boiled eggs in.’”


THE MERMAID’S COURTSHIP.

  Come to our rich and starry caves,
  Our home amid the ocean waves;
  Our coral caves are walled around
  With richest gems in ocean found,
  And crystal mirrors, clear and bright,
  Reflecting all in magic light.

A very beautiful mermaid became so much enamoured of a young man who
used to tend his sheep upon the rocks, that she would frequently sit
down by him, bring him pieces of coral, fine pearls, and what were yet
greater curiosities, and of infinitely more value, had they fallen into
the hands of a person who knew their worth, shells of various forms
and figures, and so glorious in their colour and shine, that they even
dazzled the eye that looked upon them. Her presents were accompanied
with smiles, pattings of the cheek, and all the marks of a most sincere
and tender passion. One day throwing her arms more than ordinarily
eagerly about him, he began to be frightened that she had a design to
draw him into the sea, and struggled till he disengaged himself, and
then ran a good many paces from her; which behaviour she resented so
highly, it seems, that she took up a stone, and after throwing it at
him, glided into her more proper element, and was never seen on land
again. But the poor youth, though but slightly hit with the stone,
felt from that moment so excessive a pain in his bowels, that the cry
was never out of his mouth for seven days, at the end of which he
died.—_Waldron._


THE MERMAID’S REVENGE.

There is a tradition that a mermaid becoming enamoured of a young man
of extraordinary beauty, took an opportunity of meeting him one day as
he walked on the shore, and opened her passion to him, but was received
with coldness occasioned by his horror and surprise at her appearance.
This, however, was so misconstrued by the sea lady, that, in revenge
for his treatment of her, she punished the whole Island, by covering
it with mist; so that all who attempted to carry on any commerce with
it, either never arrived at it, but wandered up and down the sea, or
were on a sudden wrecked upon its cliffs, till the incantatory spell or
_pishag_, as the Manxs say, was broken by the fishermen stranded there,
by whom notice was given to the people of their country, who sent
ships in order to make a further discovery. On their landing, they had
a fierce encounter with the little people, and having got the better
of them, possessed themselves of Castle Rushen, and by degrees of the
whole Island.—(_Collins_ in a note to his “Ode to Liberty.”)

Of the dwellings of these creatures under the sea, and of the treasure
they have accumulated there, many tales are told. The notion of a land
under the waves is very widely spread, and common to many nations.
Manxmen formerly asserted that a splendid city, with many towers and
gilded minarets, once stood near Langness, on a spot now covered by
the sea, which, in peculiar states of the atmosphere, might have been
occasionally seen in all its former magnificence.

Waldron gives the following marvellous account of dwellings under the
sea, stocked with treasure, which he was assured had been attested by a
whole ship’s crew, and happened in the memory of some then living, but
at which, nevertheless, “he was exceedingly surprised”:—


DWELLINGS UNDER THE SEA.

There was, about some forty or fifty years since (1676), a project set
on foot for searching for treasures in the sea. Vessels were got ready,
and machines made of glass, and cased with a thick, tough leather, to
let the person down who was to dive for the wealth. One of these ships
happening to sail near to the Isle of Man, and having heard that great
persons had formerly taken refuge there, imagined there could not be a
more likely part of the ocean to afford the gain they were in search
of, than this. They, therefore, let down the machine, and in it the
person who had undertaken to go on this expedition; they let him down
by a vast length of rope, but he still plucking it, which was the sign
for those above to increase the quantity, they continued to do so, till
they knew he must be descended an infinite number of fathoms. In fine,
he gave the signal so long, that at last they found themselves out of
cord, their whole stock being too little for his capacious inquisition.
A very skilful mathematician being on board, said that he knew by the
proportion of the line which was let down, he must have descended
from the surface of the waters more than twice the number of leagues
that the moon is computed to be distant from the earth. But having,
as I said, no more cord, they were obliged to turn the wheel, which,
by degrees, brought him up again; at their opening the machine, and
taking him out, he appeared very much troubled, that his journey had
so soon been stopped, at a period, telling them, that could he have
gone a little further he should have brought discoveries well worth
the search. It is not to be supposed but everybody was impatient to be
informed of what kind they were, and being all gathered about him on
the main deck, as soon as he had recruited himself with a hearty swill
of brandy, he began to relate in this manner:—

After I had passed the region of fishes, I descended into a pure
element—clear as the air in the serenest and most unclouded day,
through which, as I passed, I saw the bottom of the watery world, paved
with coral and a shining kind of pebbles, which glittered like the
sunbeams reflected on a glass. I longed to tread the delightful paths,
and never felt more exquisite delight, than when the machine I was
enclosed in grazed upon it. On looking through the little windows of
my prison, I saw large streets and squares on every side, ornamented
with huge pyramids of crystal, not inferior in brightness to the finest
diamonds; and the most beautiful buildings—not of stone, nor brick, but
of mother of pearl, and embossed in various figures with shells of all
colours. The passage which led to one of these magnificent apartments
being open, I endeavoured with my whole strength to move my enclosure
towards it, which I did, though with great difficulty, and very slowly.
At last, however, I got entrance into a very spacious room, in the
midst of which stood a large amber table, with several chairs round
the same. The floor of it was composed of rough diamonds, topazes,
emeralds, rubies, and pearls. Here I doubted not but to make my voyage
as profitable as it was pleasant, for could I have brought with me but
a few of these, they would have been of more value than all we could
hope for in a thousand wrecks; but they were so closely wedged in, and
so strongly cemented by time, that they were not to be unfastened. I
saw several chains, carcanets, and rings, of all manner of precious
stones, finely cut, and set after our manner, which, I suppose, had
been the prize of the winds and waves. These were hanging loosely on
the jasper walls, by strings made of rushes, which I might easily have
taken down; but as I had edged myself within half a foot of them, I
was unfortunately drawn back, through your want of line. In my return
I met several comely mermen and beautiful mermaids, the inhabitants of
this blissful realm, swiftly descending towards it, but they seemed
frighted at my appearance, and glided at a distance from me, taking me,
no doubt, for some monstrous and new created species.

Here he ended his account, but grew so melancholy, and so much
enamoured of those regions he had visited, that he quite lost all
relish for earthly pleasures, till continual pinings deprived him of
his life; having no hope of ever descending there again, all design of
prosecuting the diving project being soon after laid aside.


APPARITIONS.

Stories of Apparitions and Spirits are common, as would naturally be
expected, among such an imaginative people as the Manx. The following
will suffice as specimens:—


THE APPARITION OF CASTLE RUSHEN.

  Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn’d!—_Shakspeare._

A mighty bustle they make of an apparition which, they say, haunts
Castle Rushen, in the form of a woman, who was some years ago executed
for the murder of her child. I have heard, not only persons who have
been confined there for debt, but also the soldiers of the garrison,
affirm they have seen it various times; but what I took most notice of,
was the report of a gentleman, of whose good understanding, as well
as veracity, I have a very great opinion. He told me, that happening
to be abroad late one night, and caught in an excessive storm of wind
and rain, he saw a woman stand before the Castle Gate, where being not
the least shelter, it something surprised him, that anybody, much less
one of that sex, should not rather run to some little porch, or shed,
of which there are several in Castletown, than choose to stand still
exposed and alone, in such a dreadful tempest. His curiosity exciting
him to draw nearer, that he might discover who it was that seemed so
little to regard the fury of the elements, he perceived she retreated
on his approach, and at last, he thought, went into the Castle, though
the gates were shut; this obliging him to think he had seen a spirit,
sent him home very much terrified; but the next day, relating his
adventure to some people who lived in the Castle, and describing as
near as he could the garb and stature of the apparition, they told
him it was that of the woman above mentioned, who had been frequently
seen, by the soldiers on guard, to pass in and out of the gates, as
well as to walk through the rooms, though there was no visible means to
enter. Though so familiar to the eye, no person has yet, however, had
the courage to speak to it, and as they say, a spirit has no power to
reveal its mind without being conjured to do so in a proper manner, the
reason of its being permitted to wander is unknown.—_Waldron._


A STRANGE APPARITION.

A clergyman, accustomed to pass some hours every evening in a field
near his house, indulging in meditation and calling himself to an
account for the transactions of the past day, was in this place one
night, more than ordinarily wrapt in contemplation, he wandered,
without thinking where he was, a considerable distance farther than it
was usual for him to do; and, as he told me, he knew not how far the
deep musing he was in might have carried him, if it had not suddenly
been interrupted by a noise, which, at first, he took to be the distant
bellowing of a bull, but, as he listened more heedfully to it, found
there was something more terrible in the sound than could proceed from
that creature. He confessed to me that he was no less affrighted than
surprised, especially when the noise coming still nearer, he imagined
whatever it was that it proceeded from, it must pass him; he had,
however, presence enough of mind, to place himself with his back to
a hedge, where he fell on his knees, and began to pray to God, with
all the vehemence so dreadful an occasion required. He had not been
long in that position, before he beheld something in the form of a
bull, but infinitely larger than ever he had seen in England, much
less in Man, where the cattle are very small in general. The eyes, he
said, seemed to shoot forth flames, and the running of it was with
such force, that the ground shook under it, as in an earthquake. It
made directly towards a little cottage, and there, after most horribly
roaring, disappeared. The moon being then at the full, and shining in
her utmost splendour, all these passages were perfectly visible to our
amazed divine, who having finished his ejaculation, and given thanks to
God for his preservation, went to the cottage, the owner of which, they
told him, was that moment dead. The good old gentleman was loth to pass
a censure which might be judged an uncharitable one; but the deceased
having the character of a very ill liver, most people, who heard the
story, were apt to imagine this terrible apparition came to attend his
last moments.—_Waldron._


BEN VEG CARRAGHAN.—(The Little Woman of Carraghan.)

Once upon a time there was a poor woman of very diminutive stature, who
lived in the neighbourhood of Maughold Head. She earned her livelihood
with her spinning wheel, “going upon the houses” to work with it.
From her cheerful disposition and readiness to do a good turn at all
times, she was always welcome. She received in payment her board and
lodgings, and the “bit of pence.” In this way she travelled and lived
for a considerable length of time, and it became notorious that she had
made “a purse.” Whether it was on this account or not that she was
made away with, has never to this day been known; but certain it is
she has been many times seen sitting on the side of Carraghan mountain
with her wheel on her shoulder, and putting her head on her arm as
if in great trouble. Well it is for those who have occasion to pass
over this mountain that they do not come upon the apparition of this
poor woman, for fear some dire calamity might befall them. A few years
ago a person was returning to his home in the West Baldwin valley,
about two o’clock in the afternoon, when he saw “the little woman”
sitting on her favourite spot. As soon as he came in sight she rose and
endeavoured to go away, but he, being determined to solve the mystery,
started in pursuit with his dogs, and sent three other persons, one
on each side, and one to the top of the mountain. The little woman,
being thus surrounded, made many ineffectual attempts to escape, and at
last came close to one of the men and the dogs. The latter could not
be persuaded to touch her, but seemed in great trouble and shed tears.
It had previously been noticed that, on reaching a small _gill_, she
immediately vanished: and now, on reaching that spot, she disappeared,
and has never been seen since. A man on the Northside afterwards
affirmed that, on the same day, he had observed her hastening over
North Barrule, in the direction of Maughold Head. The man who had been
with the dogs and close to the woman, at once fell ill, and was not
able to do any work for more than six months afterwards.—_Jenkinson._


A LEGEND OF THE SOUND.

Not far from the Sound there is a sea cave, into which one may
penetrate by boat when the weather is fine. It is called _Ghaw kione
doo_, “Black Head Creek.” It is remarkable from a weird story being
attached to it, and also from the fact (?) of an inscription of some
sort being sculptured above its entrance. My informant could not point
out this inscription, but said he “had heard it was somewhere about.”
“Once upon a time” the cave was used by a pirate as a store-place for
the spoils taken in his expeditions. When he last sailed away on an
expedition, from which he never returned, he left one of his crew in
charge of the cave and of the treasure therein. Whether he and his crew
were overwhelmed by a storm, or were suspended from a gallows, the
chronicler knew not; but he proceeded to relate that, after many years
of waiting, the lonely guardian of the treasure cave disappeared also.
“No doubt”, continued my informant, “having been taken sick in the cave
he died there.” At any rate he was never seen again. “An old fisherman
told me”, said he, “that once while he was engaged in ‘laying a bolk,’
close to the cave, he was surprised to see a boat, manned by six
sailors in red caps, come towards land, and rowing to the mouth of the
cave disappear therein. Curious to know who they were and from whence
they came, he followed them into the cave, which has only one entrance,
but found it quite empty.”—_F. Swinnerton._


THE CHASMS.

A respectable landholder and his servant, in the neighbourhood of
Spanish Head, were one day gathering their sheep, somewhere about forty
years ago, when one of the best of them, to escape from a dog by which
it was pursued, bounded into the mouth of that dark pit, he said, at
the brink of which you were so lately standing with listless temerity.
Being then young, and not easily daunted, I determined to descend for
the purpose of recovering my _loughtyn_ pet, notwithstanding the most
urgent remonstrance on the part of my father, who was aware of many
strange incidents that happened there to former adventurers. I caused
myself to be let down, however, into the dark aperture in a basket
attached to a rope, and every rope in the village was knotted, one
to the end of another, and all used in lowering me into the pit, but
just as I reached the bottom of it, I was mortified to hear the last
bleat of my poor sheep, evidently struggling under the knife of the
butcher. As I advanced through a spacious cavern, to a place whence
the sound proceeded, I distinctly heard, in a neighbouring apartment,
human voices in quick conversation, which, with the rattling of knives
and forks, the drawing of corks, the decanting of liquor, and the
uproarious noise which followed, tended to convince me that I was
proceeding towards a company of bacchanalians, for whose gratification
my poor sheep had probably been despatched. Lest, therefore, I should
share the same fate, I made with all possible speed for the mouth of
the cavern; but just as I had set my foot on the sward, as many angry
sounds issued from the pit as if a pack of harriers had been uncoupled
at my heels. My descent and retreat had evidently been discovered by
the gentry below, but not till, thanks to Providence, I was out of
their reach.—_Train._


THE SPIRIT “HOA HOA.”

The disturbed spirit of a person shipwrecked on a rock adjacent to
this coast, wanders about it still, and sometimes makes so terrible a
yelling, that it is heard at an incredible distance. They tell you
that houses even shake with it; and that, not only mankind, but all
the brute creation within hearing, tremble at the sound. But what
serves very much to increase the shock is, that whenever it makes this
extraordinary noise, it is a sure prediction of an approaching storm;
nor does it ever happen, say they, but some ship or other splits, and
its crew thrown up by the waves. At other times, the spirit cries out
only, “Hoa! hoa! hoa!” with a voice little, if anything, louder than a
human one.—_Waldron._

[Footnote 43: Manx Dictionary.]

[Footnote 44: Manx Dictionary.]

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER V.

MAGIC WITCHCRAFT, &C.


IT would seem that the inhabitants of Man and the other Western Isles
of Scotland had acquired a reputation for magical powers at an early
period. For the bard, who accompanied Hakon, king of Norway, in his
expedition to these parts in 1203, wrote as follows:—“Now our deep
inquiring sovereign encountered the horrid powers of enchantment and
the abominations of an impious race. The troubled flood tore many fair
gallies from their moorings, and swept them anchorless before the
waves. A magic raised watery tempest blew upon our warriors, ambitious
of conquest, and against the floating habitations of the brave.”[45]
Two centuries later, we are told by Ranulph Higden that “In the Ilonde
of Mann is sortilege and witchcraft used; for women there sell to
shipmen wynde as it were closed under three knottes of threde, so
that the more wynde he would have the more knottes he must undo.”[46]
According to Sacheverell, Martholine, who was Governor of the Isle of
Man in 1338, wrote a treatise against the practice of witchcraft then
prevalent there.

A profound belief in the power of Magic was one of the characteristics
of Goidelic peoples, though indeed it was formerly all but universal.
Their paganism was a kind of fetichism which considered the various
objects of nature, especially the sun, as malignant beings, who had
to be propitiated with offerings to avert their wrath. In connection
with this worship, a class of persons arose called _Druadh_, who stood
between the people and their deities, and acquired great power over the
former by the influence they were supposed to be able to exert over
the latter by their sacrifices and magic arts. St. Patrick, who is
supposed to have driven the _Druadh_ from Ireland, prays in a very old
hymn attributed to him, to be protected:—

      “Against snares of demons,
      Against black laws of heathens,
  Against spells of women, smiths, and _Druads_.”

These Goidelic _Druadh_[47] probably belonged to the same system as the
Gaulish Druids at a very remote period; but, by Julius Cæsar’s time,
the latter had picked up a little Greek philosophy, and were probably
comparatively well educated and superior men; while the _Druadh_
in Britain, and more especially in Ireland and Man, being isolated
from Continental influences, had shrunk into mere Magicians and
Medicine-men. It was formerly supposed that they sacrificed to _Baal_
on the cromlechs within the stone circles, but more recent research
has shown that these mighty stone monuments are the memorials of a
pre-historic race, and that the Goidels, who, before the introduction
of Christianity, worshipped the heavenly bodies, hills, fire, wells,
&c., had no knowledge of the Phœnician _Baal_, or, indeed, of a
personal God of any kind. With the introduction of Christianity these
_Druadh_ disappeared, but the beliefs they had inculcated survived
in other forms, as it was believed that all the powers of evil were
concentrated in the devil and his myrmidons, that he could delegate
his powers to human beings who sold their souls to him, and who,
according to the nature of their functions or their sex, were called
Magicians, Enchanters or Enchantresses, Sorcerers or Sorceresses,
Wizards or Witches. By their spells, or charms, they could bring all
kinds of evil on human beings, but by counter-charms they could also
alleviate those evils. The Magicians, Enchanters, and Enchantresses
belonged to the higher order of these beings. They had spirits or
demons at their command, and were proficient in the occult sciences,
but would not condescend to the petty malignity occasionally practised
by the Sorcerers and Sorceresses, the Wizards and the Witches. The only
Magician who is remembered by name in the Isle of Man is the famous
_Manannan_ (see Chapter I.) There is also the Enchantress _Tehi_, and
the Sorceress, or rather Prophetess, called _Caillagh-ny-Ghueshag_,
a sort of Manx Mother Shipton, who appears to have been superior to
most of her kind. To the lower and much more common order of these
beings belong those who practised witchcraft, which may be defined
to be a supernatural power which persons were formerly supposed to
obtain by entering into compact with the devil. As soon as the bargain
was concluded, the devil was said to deliver to the Wizard or Witch
an imp or familiar spirit, to be ready at call to do whatever it was
directed. By the aid of this imp and the devil together, the Witch—who
was almost always an old woman, the Wizard being comparatively
uncommon—was enabled to transport herself through the air on a
broomstick, and transform herself into various shapes, particularly
those of cats and hares; to inflict diseases on whomsoever she chose,
and to punish her enemies in various ways. The belief in witchcraft is
very ancient, being common in Europe till the sixteenth century, and
it maintained its ground till the middle of the seventeenth century;
indeed it is not altogether extinct either in the Isle of Man, or
elsewhere, at the present day. A special attribute of Sorcerers and
Witches was the possession of the “Evil Eye.” This was supposed to be
an influence in virtue of which its possessor could injure whomsoever
he or she cast a hostile or envious eye upon, and to be the cause of
many things going wrong. For instance, if anyone took suddenly ill,
if a cow was diseased, or any difficulty occurred in churning, if the
hens did not lay well, &c., the operation of the “Evil Eye” was at
once suspected. Before curing any of these complaints, it was first
necessary to discover the operator. One of the most approved methods
of doing this, in the case of a diseased animal, is to burn it; when,
as Train remarks, “The first person that passes that way after the
fire is kindled, is recognised as the witch or wizard.” Fire, indeed,
was considered generally efficacious against Witches and their wiles,
and was used at special seasons, as we shall see later (Chapter VI.),
when they were supposed to be more powerful than usual. When the
possessor of the “Evil Eye” was discovered, the next step was to cure
the disease, and this was frequently effected by picking up the dust
from beneath the feet or from the threshold of the suspected Witch, and
rubbing it on her victim.

But there were cases in which the popular and well-known methods
failed, when recourse was had to the practitioners called “Charmers”,
or “Witch-doctors.” These Charmers—_Fer-obbee_, “Men-charmers”,
and _Ben-obbee_, “Women-charmers”, as they might be either men or
women—used certain formulas and practised various ceremonies for the
purpose of curing diseases, or, occasionally, of causing them; and they
also made use of their powers to counteract the spells of Fairies as
well as those of the malevolent Sorcerers or Witches. For diseases, in
addition to using charms, they administered medicinal herbs and applied
fasting spittle, in the virtues of which there was a very general
belief, but to accomplish the more recondite branch of their profession
they used charms and incantations[48] only. They were all more or
less tainted with the suspicion of dabbling a little in sorcery and
witchcraft on their own account, but, as their powers were on the whole
used for good purposes, they were tolerated.

One of the best known of these Witch-doctors was Teare, of Ballawhane,
who was described by Train as follows:—“The Seer is a little man,
far advanced into the vale of life; in appearance he was healthy and
active; he wore a low-crown slouched hat, evidently too large for his
head, with a broad brim; his coat, of an old-fashioned make, with
his vest and breeches, were all of _loughtyn_ wool, which had never
undergone any process of dyeing; his shoes, also, were of a colour
not to be distinguished from his stockings, which were likewise of
_loughtyn_ wool.” He was said to have been the most powerful of all
these practitioners, and when their prescriptions had failed in
producing the desired effect, he was applied to. The messenger that was
despatched to him on such occasions was neither to eat nor to drink
by the way, nor even to tell any person his mission. The recovery was
supposed to be perceptible from the time the case was stated to him.
These powers were supposed to be hereditary, and were handed down in
the same family for generations. There is for instance, a daughter of
Teare’s still practising the same art, and she is resorted to by the
fishermen for the sake of having their nets charmed, and so cause them
to be lucky in their fishing.[49] To preserve these powers intact from
generation to generation, it was supposed to be necessary to hand them
down from a man to a woman, but in the next generation from a woman
to a man, and so on. Having thus referred to the methods of detecting
Witches and of protecting and curing those that were attacked by them,
we will now proceed to show how they were punished. The Law with regard
to witchcraft and kindred practices was very severe in every part of
Europe, and, it is said, that in England alone, no less than 30,000
Wizards and Witches have suffered at the stake. Blackstone writes
with regard to the law on this subject in England as follows:—“Our
law once included in the list of crime, that of actual witchcraft
or intercourse with evil spirits; and though it has now no longer a
place among them, its exclusion is not to be understood as implying a
denial of the possibility of such an offence. To deny this, would be to
contradict the revealed word of God in various passages both of the
Old and New Testament; and the thing itself is a truth to which every
nation hath in its turn borne testimony; either by examples seemingly
well attested, or by prohibitory laws, which at least suppose the
possibility of a commerce with evil spirits. * * *

By the Statute 33, Henry VIII., all witchcraft and sorcery were
declared to be ‘felony without benefit of clergy,’ and by 1. Jac. 1.,
‘all persons invoking any evil spirits, or consulting, covenanting
with, entertaining, employing, feeding or rewarding any evil spirit;
... or killing, or hurting any person by such infernal arts; should be
guilty of felony and suffer death; and if any person should attempt,
by sorcery, to discover hidden treasure, or to restore stolen goods,
or to provoke unlawful love, or to hurt any man or beast, he, or she,
should suffer imprisonment and pillory for the first offence, and death
for the second.’ These acts long continued in force, to the terror
of all antient females in the kingdom; and many poor wretches were
sacrificed thereby to the prejudice of their neighbours and their own
illusions; not a few having confessed the fact at the gallows.” In the
Isle of Man, too, legislation on this subject was not neglected, for we
find, by the 50th Spiritual Law, that “all such as are suspected for
sorcerie and witchcraft are to be presented to the Chapter Quest, then
the Ordinary in such cases finding any suspicion is to impannel a jury
of honest men within the same parish and the party suspected in the
meantime to be committed to the Bishop’s Prison, and all the offences
and crimes the jury doth find the Ordinary shall write, and if the jury
can prove any notorious fault or crime done by the same person, then
the Ordinary to deliver him out of the Bishop’s Prison to the Lord’s
Jail and Court.” It is supposed that in old times the usual result of
the legal procedure against Witches was that they were subjected to
two so-called forms of ordeal, but which were really means of putting
them to death, as, if they survived the first, the second would almost
certainly prove fatal, for they were said to have been thrown into
the middle of the _Curragh Glass_, or “green bog” pool, in the valley
below Greeba mountain. If they sank, their bodies were taken out of
the water, carried home, waked, and received a Christian burial; but
if, to save themselves from drowning, they managed to paddle to either
side, they were instantly declared guilty of the crime of which they
were charged, and were consequently either burned alive as unconvicted
witches, or rolled from the top of _Slieau Whuallian_ in spiked
barrels. Thus literally was followed the Scripture maxim, “Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live.”

The following extracts from the Manx Episcopal and Civil Records show,
however, that our forefathers dealt with these poor creatures in the
seventeenth century, and later, in a milder fashion than they did,
according to tradition, at an earlier date:—

 1638.—Whereas Jony Tear hath been presented by the Chapter Quest upon
 information given them that she was seen together with an Irish woman
 in a gill pulling strange herbs, and whereas the said Jony Tear hath
 cleared herself, her slanderers had to ask her forgiveness before the
 congregation.

The following entry, taken from the _Liber Scaccar_, or Exchequer Book,
appears in the Malew Register in 1659. It affords an instance of the
enforcement of Church discipline by the temporal ruler who took the
Bishop’s place during the time of the Commonwealth:—

 Bishop’s Court, 30th September, 1659.—Whereas Mrs. Jane Cesar hath
 been accused upon suspicion of witchcraft, charminge or sorscerie,
 whereupon certaine examinacons have been taken. And the said case
 being putt to the triall of a jurie, they the said jurors (after
 examinacon of the business) have this day cleared and acquitted ye
 said Jane Cesar of the accusacon aforesaid as by theire Answere
 may appeare. Nevertheles that the said Jane Cesar may declare her
 inocencie of such practizes and that shee doth renounce the same as
 diabolicall and wicked; she is hereby ordered to acknowledge the same
 before the Congregacon off (sic.) Kk. Malew Parish on the next Lord’s
 day to the end that others may be admonished to relinquish detest
 and abhor such delusions which are of great inducement to greater
 temptacons and are too frequently practized in this Island as is dayly
 observed. Of which if any one shall be hereafter accused and the same
 lawfully proved such persons are to be severely fined and punished, or
 otherwise proceeded against accordinge as the law doth provide in such
 cases.

  (Signed) Jam. Chaloner.

 To Sr. Tho. Parr minister of Kk Malew who is to read ye before his
 Congregacon the next Sabbath in English and Manxe and to return this
 Order with the acknowledgment made as aforesaid into the Comptrouleres
 office afterwards. True Coppie agreeinge with ye originall.

 October the 2nd, 1659

  (Signed) J. Woods.

It is certainly remarkable that this unfortunate woman, after being
acquitted by the jury of the offence alleged against her, should be
ordered “to acknowledge the same before the congregation”, and at the
same time “to declare her innocencie.”

The following, in 1690, is from the Archideaconal Register:—

 We, whose names are hereunder written, being sworn in a jury of
 inquiry to take evidence in some difference between Gilbert Moore and
 John Steon about witchcraft, picking of herbs, and strikening them
 unknown, do give in our verdict as followeth:—Ann Callister, alias
 Karran, and Grace Cowley, being sworn and examined say that John Steon
 said unto Ann Callister thou b—— and w—— that little fat that thou
 has gotten upon thee I will take it oft thee in a short time, and
 since that time she has lost very many of her goods, and furth: saith
 not, Ann Callister further saith that John Steon’s wife said unto
 her that she knew an herb, that if a man drank of the drink of it he
 would forget himself, but if one drank of it twice he would forget
 himself for ever—and further saith not. John Corlet and William Tear
 swore that Daniel Quayle told them that John Steon gave him an herb
 to put to his eyes and he never saw afterward, and further saith not.
 Gilbert Callister and Ann Callister declared that the said Daniel
 Quayle’s wife told them the same words, and further saith not. Dollin
 Gawn sworn, examined, saith that himself and John Steon chid (sic) and
 the said John Steon promised to give him loss, and shortly after he
 received it, & furth: saith not. Dollin Gawn’s wife sworn, examined,
 saith that the same John Steon told her that he knew that none of her
 children should inherit that little place they had, and since that
 time one of her child^n dyed and another is now a cripple at her fire
 side, and furth: saith not. Adam Callister sworn, examined, saith that
 he came with John Corlett and John Steon from church and John Corlett
 told Steon he would present him to the great inquest, and the said
 Steon answered that he could not tell whether he would be able to do
 so, but that he might be sick and have need to be washed in tobacco
 water and swines broth, and further saith not. Ann Cowle sworn,
 examined, saith that John Steon said unto her he would deceive her and
 blind her, and strike her unknown. Adam Callister sworn, examined,
 saith that the said Steon told him that he would strike him unawares,
 and John Corlett declared that that was the common report he had heard
 of John Steon that he would strike people unknown and furth: saith
 not. Gilbert Moore sworn, examined, saith that the said Steon came
 to his house and said to his wife and children that he would strike
 them unawares so that they should not know of it, and since that time
 he lost abundance (sic) of his goods, and furth: saith not. Gilbert
 Moore likewise and Pat. Cowley sworn, examined, say John Steon came
 to the plough to Gilbert Moore for the lone (sic) of a Manks spade,
 and the said Moore denyed him, whereupon Steon told him he would do
 him a mischief and that shortly and within a while after one of his
 oxen were struck lame so the said Moore sent to Steon to come to see
 the Ox, and Steon coming spit upon the Ox and handled him and he
 recovered, and further saith not. Mrs. Nelson sworn, examined, saith
 that John Steon told her that he knew she would be willing to deliver
 up her land unto Grinsey and Richard Cannell, and the said Mrs. Nelson
 asked him how did he know, whereupon the said Steon replyed that he
 knew she would be willing to give them payment for taking it from her
 and they would not accept of it, and further saith not. Pat. Cannell
 sworn and examined saith that he came upon John Steon’s daughter
 picking of herbs in the Court land where corn was sowen on our Lady
 day in Lent a little after break of day. Ellin^r Cannell sworn,
 examined, saith as aboves^{d,} Jaine Quayle examined saith that she
 saw an herb with John Steon’s daughter, and asked what that was for
 and she said to preserve her from the flux and seeing something else
 with her she said it was to preserve her from the feaver.—Having taken
 the above depositions we find said Steon to be guilty, and leave him
 to the discretion of the Court for fine and punishment. Jo. Quayle his
 m^{k.} ×, Gilb^{t.} Callist^r his m^{k.} ×, Pat. Caine his m^{k.} ×,
 and W^{m.} Quayle his m^{k.} ×.

At Kirk Michael, July 31, 1712, one Alice Knakill, _alias_ Moor, of
Kirk Lonan, confessed to a charge of having taken up some earth from
under a neighbour’s door, and burnt it to ashes, which she gave to her
cattle, “with an intention, as she owns, to make them give more milk.
Also another woman declares that the said Alice Knakill cut a piece out
of her petticoat and burnt it to powder, which she drank with a design,
as she confessed, to recover her health, and procure sleep. Both which
charms she owns to have been taught her by an Irishwoman.” She was
sentenced to three Sundays’ penance in the neighbouring churches. In
the following year, Alice Cowley, of Ballaugh, a regular dealer in
charms, and known as such far and wide in the Island, was brought
before the Consistory Court. It was then deposed that this old crone,
“addressed herself to a youth, and told him, if he would give her a
ninepenny piece, she would give him something that would make a young
woman fall in love with him, which proves to be a powder in a paper,
which he believes to be the powder of some of the bright stones that
are at Foxdale.” Her dealings with married women, under the pretence
of removing barreness; with farmers for procuring a crop of corn, or
making the herd fruitful; with young women for procuring lovers; and
with parents for the recovery of a sick child were also deposed to;
the mischief in each case being implied to be the Witch’s doing, and
thought to be remedied by drawing blood from her. All these charges
were proved, and Alice was sentenced, by the Bishop and Vicars-General,
to “thirty days’ imprisonment, and before releasement to give
sufficient security to stand two hours in a white sheet, a white wand
in her right hand, and these words, ‘for charming and sorcery,’ in
capital letters on her breast, in the four market towns of this Island,
at the public cross, in the height of the market; and afterwards to do
penance in Ballaugh Church.”

In 1716, a woman from Jurby complained to Vicar-General Walker that
she and her husband had been “suspected to have been out early in the
morning last May-Day, walking on the dew in their neighbours’ fields,
with a design to prejudice them in the increase of their crop”, and
that though this calumny had been disproved by evidence, it was
still repeated. It was, therefore, ordered by the Court, in order
“to discourage such vile and unchristian thoughts of one neighbour
receiving damage from another, by any trivial, foolish customs of that
kind, which betray great weakness of faith and trust in God”, that a
fine of £3, and imprisonment for forty days, besides further punishment
at the Ordinary’s discretion, should be imposed on anyone reviving the
story.

Bishop Wilson evidently viewed the practice of charming with
abhorrence, as we find him writing about it, in 1741, as
follows:—“There is a cursed practice carried on secretly by Satan and
his instruments, which I beseech you, my brethren, take this proper
occasion[50] to speak upon: both to terrify those that practice it, and
to confirm people’s faith in God, against any hurt the devil or his
agents can do them. Many complaints have been brought into our courts
against people using foolish and wicked charms and arts, either to
injure their neighbour in his goods, or to transfer them to themselves,
to the great dishonour of God, who alone can increase the fruits of the
earth to our comfort, or withhold them for our sins; and, indeed, it
is for want of a true faith in God’s power and goodness that makes men
afraid of what such wretched instruments of Satan can do....”

There are many other similar presentments to be found in the Records
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but we will content
ourselves with mentioning two cases which have come into the Courts in
the present century. In the _Manx Sun_ newspaper of the 5th of January,
1838, it is reported that “a case of sorcery was recently brought into
and solemnly heard in one of the Courts of Law.” About the same time
the then Deemster McHutchin was applied to for a warrant against a
Witch on the charge of depriving cows of their milk, and causing them
to sicken. He, however, wisely asked a veterinary surgeon to supply a
remedy, and thus put a stop to the prosecution.

The following account was published in the _Mona’s Herald_ newspaper
of the 10th of January, 1844, concerning the proceedings against a
suspected Witch:—“A farmer in the parish of Marown, having lost in
succession, a heifer, a cow, and a horse, attributed the death of these
animals to the influence of witchcraft. Consequently he obtained a
trespass warrant from one of the Deemsters, under authority of which
a jury was sworn, and a number of persons summoned as witnesses and
examined. Such questions as the following were put: ‘Did you ever witch
Quine’s cattle?’ ‘Do you bear malice against Quine?’ ‘Did you hear
anybody talking about Quine before his cattle died, and seeming to
grudge him what he possessed?’ Among those who were sworn was Quine’s
sister-in-law, and on being asked if she ever came _in any shape or
form_ to do Quine or his goods an injury, she confessed ‘that she had
once passed through Quine’s fields without leave.’ The poor woman was
frightened into paying the costs in consequence of this. While the
case was going on someone let loose a wild rabbit in the room. On the
appearance of this unexpected visitor all became terrified, crying,
‘The Witch, the Witch!’ This continued for several minutes, till one of
the party, more courageous than the rest, seized the supposed Witch,
and, while depriving the harmless creature of existence, triumphantly
exclaimed, ‘You shall not trouble poor Quine again.’”

The stories which follow relate to the various practices of MAGIC,
ENCHANTMENT, SORCERY, and WITCHCRAFT. A list of the CHARMS most in
vogue is also given.


THE MAGICIAN’S PALACE.

  In visionary glory rear’d,
  The gorgeous castle disappear’d;
  And a bare heath’s unfruitful plain
  Usurp’d the wizard’s proud domain. _Warton._

In the days of enchantment a certain great magician had, by his art,
raised for himself the most magnificent palace in the Isle of Man that
eye ever beheld; but none who, either out of curiosity or a desire of
being entertained there, went to it but was immediately converted into
stone, or at least had the appearance of it, so implacable an enemy was
the wicked master of it to all his own species, being served only by
infernal spirits. He became at length so much the terror of the whole
Island that no person would venture to live or pass within several
leagues of his habitation, so that all that side of the country was
in a manner desolate, to the great loss and detriment of the place
in general. This had continued for the space of three years, when
an accident, or rather the peculiar direction of divine providence,
was pleased in mercy to deliver them from the terror of so cruel a
neighbour.

A poor man, whom one may justly term a pilgrim, having nothing to
subsist on but what he procured by imploring the charity of those
able to afford him succour, happening to travel on that side of the
Island, not knowing anything of the fame of this enchanter, and
perceiving no house inhabited, nor any cottage even, where he might
get a lodging, and it growing dark, he was in terrible apprehensions
of being under the necessity of taking up his lodgings on those bleak
mountains, yet wandering on as long as light permitted, in hopes of
better fortune, he, at last, came within sight of this palace, which
filled his heart with much joy. Coming near it, he beheld large
piazzas, which surrounded that magnificent building, and believing
these might serve him for a resting-place, without being troublesome
to any of the servants, whose churlish disposition in other places
did not always afford a ready welcome to strangers, he chose rather
to content himself with resting his wearied limbs on the marble floor
than entreat a reception into any of the barns, which, perhaps, might
be denied. In a word, he sat down on a bench in one of these piazzas,
and, finding himself hungry, he took out of his pouch a piece of meat
and bread, which he had begged at the last town he had passed through.
He had also a little salt, which, by dipping his meat in the dark,
he happened to spill some on the floor, on which he presently heard
the most terrible groans to issue from the earth beneath, vast winds
seemed to be let loose from every quarter of the element, all the face
of heaven was deformed with lightning, the most dreadful thunder
rattled over his head, and in less than a moment this fine palace,
with all its proud and lofty piazzas, porticos, and brazen doors,
vanished into the air, and he found himself in the midst of a wide,
desert, mountaneous plain, without the least appearance of anything he
had formerly seen. Surprised as he was, he instantly betook himself
to his prayers, nor removed from his knees till day began to break,
when, after thanking God for bringing him safe through the dangers of
the night past, he made what speed he could to the next village, and
relating the adventure just as it was to the inhabitants, they could
not at first give credit to what he said, but, going in great numbers
towards the place where the palace of the necromancer had stood, they
were convinced, and all joined in prayer and thanksgiving for so great
a deliverance.

It was presently concluded, from what the pilgrim said, that the salt
spilt on the ground had occasioned this dissolution of the palace, and
for that reason salt has ever since been in such estimation among them
that no person will go out on any material affair without taking some
in their pockets, much less remove from one house to another, marry,
put out a child, or take one to nurse, without salt being mutually
interchanged; nay, though a poor creature be almost famished in the
streets, he will not accept any food you will give him unless you join
salt to the rest of your benevolence.—_Waldron._

Salt has borne a conspicuous part in many superstitious ceremonies.
The high priest of the Jews was ordered to season all offerings with
salt.[51] The Egyptians and Romans also used it in their sacrifices.
In Ireland, before the seed is put into the ground, salt is sent into
the field for the purpose of counteracting the power of the witches
and fairies. So in the Isle of Man, salt was placed in the churn lest
the fairies should prevent the production of butter. Salt was formerly
placed on the breast of a corpse in the Isle of Man, as elsewhere, as
an emblem of the immortality of the soul. The dread of spilling salt
was a general superstition.


ORIGIN OF KING WILLIAM’S SANDS.

They tell you that the Island was once much larger than it is at
present; but that a magician, who had great power over it, and
committed many wonderful and horrible things, being opposed by one
who was a friend to the place, and at length, overcome by him, he, in
revenge, raised a furious wind, not only in the air, but also in the
bosom of the earth, which, rending it, tore off several pieces, which,
floating in the sea, in process of time were converted into stone,
and became those rocks which are now so dangerous to shipping. The
smaller fragments, they say, are sands, which, waving up and down, are
at sometimes to be seen, and at others, shift themselves far off the
coast. They maintain that it was on one of these that the late King
William had liked to have perished, and strengthen this suggestion by
the trial of the pilot, who must infallibly have been hanged, if on
strict examination of all the charts there had been in any of them the
least mention made of any such sands, but, however, these floating
ruins have ever since remained, and from thence are called, King
William’s Sands.—_Waldron._


THE DEVIL’S DEN.

  “Deeper than plummet ever sounded.”—_Shakspeare._

About a league and a half from Barrule, there is a hole in the earth,
just at the foot of the mountain, which they call “The Devil’s Den.”
They tell you, that, in the days of enchantment, persons were there
confined by the magicians, and that it now contains a very great
prince, who never knew death, but has for the space of six hundred
years been bound by magic spells; but in what manner he lies, or in
what form, none had ever courage enough to explore. They add, that if
you carry a horse, a dog, or any other animal to the mouth of this
hole, its hair will stand on end, and its eyes stare, and a damp sweat
cover its whole body. Strange noises are also said to have been heard
to issue from this place, and I knew a man once, who positively averred
that his great-grandfather saw a huge dragon, with a tail and wings
that darkened all the element, and the eyes that seemed two globes of
fire, descend swiftly into it, and after that, heard most terrible
shrieks and groans from within.—_Waldron._


THE SUBMERGED ISLAND.

There was supposed to be a submerged island near Port Soderick which
appeared every seven years. Train relates the story of one of these
appearances as follows:—“Many a time and oft had Nora Cain heard
her old grandsire relate the tradition of the enchanted island at
Port Soderick, while sitting spinning by the turf fire on a winter’s
evening. It was in the days of the Great Fin MacCooil, that mighty
magician, who, for some insult he had received from the people who
lived on a beautiful island, off Port Soderick, cast his spell over
it, and submerged it to the bottom of the ocean, transforming the
inhabitants into blocks of granite. It was permitted them, once in
seven years, to come to the surface for the short space of thirty
minutes, during which time the enchantment might be broken if any
person had the boldness to place a Bible on any part of the enchanted
land when at its original altitude above the waters of the deep.

On one occasion, it was about the end of September, on a fine moonlight
night, Nora was sauntering along the little bay in sweet converse with
her lover, when she observed something in the distance which continued
to increase in size. It struck her to be none other than the enchanted
isle she so often had heard of. It continued gradually rising above
the surface of the water, when, suddenly disentangling herself from
the arm of her lover, she hastened home with all the speed she could,
and rushed into the cottage, crying out, and breathless with her
haste, “The Bible, the Bible, the Bible!” to the utter amazement of
the inmates, who could not at the moment imagine what had possessed
her. After explaining what she had seen, she seized hold of the coveted
volume and hastened back to the beach, but, alas! only just in time to
see the last portion of the enchanted isle subside once more to its
destined fate of another seven years’ submersion.

From that night poor Nora gradually pined away, and was soon after
followed to her grave by her disconsolate lover. It is said from that
time no person has had the hardihood to make a similar attempt, lest,
in case of failure, the enchanter in revenge might cast his club over
Mona also.


TEHI-TEGI, THE ENCHANTRESS.

                “With lips of rosy hue,
  Dipp’d five times over in ambrosial dew,
  She led them to their destruction.”—_Old Poet._

A famous enchantress, sojourning in this Island, had by her diabolical
arts made herself appear so lovely in the eyes of men that she ensnared
the hearts of as many as beheld her. The passion they had for her so
took up all their hearts that they entirely neglected their usual
occupations. They neither ploughed nor sowed, neither built houses,
nor repaired them; their gardens were all overgrown with weeds, and
their once fertile fields were covered with stones; their cattle died
for want of pasture; their turf lay in the bowels of the earth undug
for, and everything had the appearance of an utter desolation, even
propagation ceased, for no man could have the least inclination for any
woman but this universal charmer, who smiled on them, permitted them to
follow and admire her, and gave everyone leave to hope himself would be
at last the happy He. When she had thus allured the male part of the
Island, she pretended one day to go a progress through the provinces,
and being attended by all her adorers on foot, while she rode on a
milk-white palfrey, in a kind of triumph at the head of them. She led
them into a deep river, which by her art she made seem passable, and
when they were all come a good way in it, she caused a sudden wind
to rise, which, driving the waters in such abundance to one place,
swallowed up the poor lovers, to the number of six hundred, in their
tumultuous waves. After which, the sorceress was seen by some persons,
who stood on the shore, to convert herself into a bat, and fly through
the air till she was out of sight, as did her palfrey into a sea hog or
porpoise, and instantly plunged itself to the bottom of the stream.

To prevent the recurrence of a like disaster, it was ordained that the
women should go on foot and follow the men henceforth, which custom
is so religiously observed, that if by chance a woman is seen walking
before a man, whoever sees her cries out immediately, “Tehi! Tegi!”
which, it would appear, is the name of the enchantress who occasioned
this law.—_Waldron._


CAILLAGH-NY-GHUESHAG.

_Caillagh_ was the name given to an old woman, and, from the ugliness
associated with old women, it came to mean a hag or witch. The most
famous _Caillagh_ was an old woman called _Caillagh-ny-Ghueshag_,
“old woman of the spells”, or the Sorceress. She was an adept
at chiromancy—_Faaishlaght_—and could perform a charm or
incantation—_pisag_; but her posthumous reputation arose mainly from
her having foretold certain things, which, she said, were to happen
before the end of the world. Such of her predictions as have been
recorded certainly related to very trifling events. There was a small
treen chapel called _Cabbal-keeill-Vout_, between the Foxdale river
and Slieau-whallin, concerning which she is said to have predicted as
follows:—

  _Tra Vees Cabbal-keeill-Vout ersooyl lesh-y-hooilley,
  Cha bee cleïn Quirk Slieau-whallin veg sodjey._

_i.e._, “When the Chapel Keeil-Vout shall be taken away by the flood
the Quirk family will be no longer in Slieau Whallin.” It is said that
about 70 years ago the last fragment of the chapel and the last of the
Quirks of Slieau Whallin disappeared simultaneously. The following
sayings are also attributed to her:—_Dy beagh chimlee caardagh ayns
chooilley hie roish jerrey yn theill_—“That there would be a smithy
chimney in every house before the end of the world;” and that _Dy nee
ass claghyn glassey yoghe sleih nyn arran_—“People would get their
bread from grey stones.” Like many other prophecies, these decidedly
require an interpreter! Another saying that was attributed to her was
that “the Manx and the Scotch will come so near as to throw their
beetles at each other.” Certainly, the Point of Ayre is extending
slowly towards Scotland, but thousands of years would have to elapse,
even if the same process continued steadily, before it could get
there.—_Harrison._


THE GLENCRUTCHERY WELL.

A story is told of a girl who was going to the Glencrutchery well
for water, and met an old man, who had the reputation of being a
sorcerer,[52] on her way. He asked her where she was going. “Going to
your well for water”, she said. “Is there no water in your well?” said
he. She replied that there was, but that her mistress had sent her to
get water from his well. He then gave her some money, and told her to
take the water out of their own well. The girl took the money, which
confirmed the charm, and went to the fair, which was going on that day,
after fetching the water home. When she returned home in the evening
her mistress asked her where she had got the water, as she had been
churning all day without getting any butter.—_Oral._


THE EFFIGY.

In a lonely part of the northern district of the Island stood the
cottage of an old woman, who had been long suspected of being a
practitioner of the “black art”, to the detriment of many of her
neighbours. A person of great courage having had occasion to pass that
remote dwelling one night, at a late hour, and seeing a strong light
within, on peeping through a chink in the door, perceived distinctly
the old beldame busily turning an image before a large fire, and
sticking pins into it occasionally, on which she muttered a cabalistic
rhyme which he could not understand. Next morning, on hearing that the
minister had been suddenly seized by a chronic disease on the preceding
evening, which lasted till midnight, the man who had seen the crone
at work at the very time the minister was tortured by racking pains,
publicly charged her of being the sole cause of his indisposition,
which was seemingly confirmed by the Captain of the Parish finding in
her possession the image or supposed effigy of the minister, with an
old bladder containing rusty nails, pins, and skewers. After having
been tried and found guilty, she walked seemingly quite unconcerned to
the common place of execution, and just before she was bound to the
stake, confessed the crime for which she was about to suffer.—_Train._


THE WITCH OF SLIEU WHALLIAN.

                                  They say,
  Lamentings heard i’ the air! strange screams of death.

  —_Shakspeare._

About two miles from Peel, opposite to the Tynwald Mount, there is
a hill called Slieu Whallian, said to be haunted by the spirit of a
murdered witch, but, however, it does not appear to mortal eyes, but
every night joins its lamentations to the howling winds. This woman was
put into a barrel with sharp iron spikes inserted round the interior,
pointing inwards, and thus, by the weight of herself and the apparatus,
allowed to roll from the top of the hill to the bottom.

Many other persons have suffered here in a similar manner, one of whom
was a man named Thomas Carran, who died protesting his innocence of
the crime of which he was accused. In proof of this, as he is said to
have predicted, a thorn-tree has since grown, and marks the fatal spot
on the summit of the hill, where the cask, in which he was enclosed,
in fulfilment of the sentence awarded against him, was pushed over the
brow, to roll, and bound, and dash with headlong speed to the plain
below.—_Train._


THE BURNT BESOM.

The following story was told last year by a man who is now living:—One
morning as he was returning from courting—courting it should be
mentioned was, and still is in the country districts, carried on at
night—he saw a woman, who was a reputed Witch, at the four cross-roads,
near Regaby, sweeping a circle round her as large as that made by
horses when threshing. He kicked her, and took her besom (broom) from
her, and hid it till mid-day, when he and some boys collected some dry
gorse, fired it, and put the besom on top. Wonderful to relate, when
burning it made reports like guns going off, which could be heard at
Andreas Church. This besom had on it “17 sorts of knots.” Soon after
its destruction the woman died.—_Rhys._


BUTTER BEWITCHED.

One day a woman who was a reputed Witch, called at the door of a
neighbouring farm-house when churning was going on, and asked the
dairy-maid for some buttermilk. Not having any, she refused and went
on churning; but from that moment it was of no avail, as the butter
refused to come, and she got none at all, while the Witch, who kept
only one cow, took sixteen pounds of butter to sell, the produce of her
dairy, which was a common event with her when the farmers near her were
unsuccessful.—_Oral._

The following extract from a poem by the Rev. T. E. Brown, of Clifton,
entitled “The Manx Witch”, gives an excellent idea of the usual Manx
notions about these creatures:—


THE MANX WITCH.

  A wutch,[53] of coorse she was a wutch,
  And a black wutch, the wuss that’s goin’—
  The white is—well, I’m hardly knowin’.
  Is the lek in[54]: but these ould things
  That’s sellin’ charms to sailors—rings,
  Papers, ye know ...
  I spose the most of ye’s got the lek
  Somewhere hung about your neck.
  But there’s odds of charms; for some is just
  A sort of a blessin’; but some is a cuss,
  Most bitter—brewed in the very gall
  Of spite and hate, and’ll creep and crawl
  Over your body and over your sowl,
  Aye, man! aye! at laste so I’m tould;
  And through and through, and making you sick,
  And making you mad—aw, they know the trick!
  Cussin’ your fingers and cussin’ your toes,
  Cussin’ your mouth and cussin’ your nose,
  Every odd jint, and every limb,
  And all your inside—that’s the thrim—
  Cussin’ your horse and cussin’ your cow,
  Cussin’ the boar and cussin’ the sow—
  Everything that’s got a tail.
  Aye, and your spade, and your cart and your flail,
  Plough and harras[55] stock and crop,
  Nets and lines—they’ll navar stop.
   . . . You’ll be passin’ by,
  And not a word, but the evil eye.—
  There ye are! Your stuck, they’ve done ye!
  They’ve got ye—you’re tuck! they’ve put it upon ye!
   . . . And harbs! they picks them
  The right time of the moon, and they’ll take and mix them.
  Divils! divils! that’s what they are!
  And should be tuk and burnt the way
  They used to be.

The following stories refer to the popular antidotes to the effects
of witchcraft, which, as stated above, are mainly the use of fire and
dust, the former being used partly as a preventive to witchcraft,
and partly as a means of detecting the Witch, while the latter is
an antidote only. The sacrifice of cattle by burning, as a means of
preventing witchcraft, has been common even in the present century, and
is secretly practised in the remote districts even now:—

The cattle of a farmer, in the Parish of German, having been, in
about 1834, attacked by a kind of murrain, which he attributed to
witchcraft, he sought to stay the spreading of the disease by offering
up a living calf as a burnt sacrifice. The ashes of this unfortunate
beast were collected and applied to the rest of the herd. A small
chapel was afterwards built near the spot where this disgusting
sacrifice took place, and was consequently called _Cabbal yn oural
losht_, “Chapel of the burnt offering.”—_Oral._

A similar case occurred near the Union Mills in 1843.

The _Manx Sun_ newspaper describes the sacrifice of a calf in the
Parish of Maughold, in 1853, as follows:—“The calf was dragged to an
eminence not far from the highway, a large quantity of peat and straw
was provided, and, a light having been applied, the calf and pyre were
consumed.”

There was an _oural losht_ in the Parish of Jurby in 1880, and even
within the last five years there have been several sacrifices, but it
is difficult to obtain any particulars. One of them was that of a young
horse which was supposed to have been bewitched to death, which was
burned in order to see the Witch come by, and she was, accordingly,
seen through the smoke.

Some thirty years ago, cattle which were afflicted with “black-leg”
were thrown into the sea at the _Lhen-vuirr_, in the hope that, as the
tide carried them out, so would the disease be prevented from seizing
their fellows.

It was not only on land that burning some animal or thing to detect
or exorcise witchcraft was resorted to, but at sea also, for when
a boat was unsuccessful during the fishing season, the cause was
ascribed by the sailors to witchcraft, and, in their opinion, it then
became necessary to exorcise the boat by burning the Witches out of
it. Townley, in his journal, relates one of these operations, which
he witnessed in Douglas harbour in 1789, as follows:—“They set fire
to bunches of heather in the centre of the boat, and soon made wisps
of heather, and lighted them, going one at the head, another at the
stern, others along the sides, so that every part of the boat might be
touched.” Again he says, “there is another burning of witches out of an
unsuccessful boat off Banks’s Howe—the flames are very visible to the
top of the bay.” Feltham, writing a few years later, also mentions this
practice.

We now come to some stories relating to the use of dust, the great
antidote to the effects of witchcraft. “If a person”, says Train,
“wishes to purchase an animal, but will not give the price demanded,
the disposer lifts earth from the print made by the person’s right foot
on the ground, where he stood to drive the bargain, and rubs the animal
all over with it, to prevent the effects of what is called by the
Islanders, ‘overlooking.’” The following stories will illustrate this:—

A farmer and his neighbour were in treaty for the purchase of a
pony; but, differing about the price, his neighbour, vexed at his
disappointment, put an evil eye upon the beast, who instantly, and
without visible cause, became so lame as to be wholly useless, and so
continued for twelve months; when, by extraordinary good luck, another
person called on him, who had on his part the power to discern these
unrighteous influences, and to do away with them by a counter-charm. No
sooner had this man cast his eye on the animal than he pronounced his
lameness to have originated with the malignant purchaser, and, after
performing certain ceremonies, he assured the farmer that the spell
was broken, and that within a few hours, the pony would be restored
to perfect soundness and strength, all which, in course, happened as
foretold.—_Waldron._

A farmer in the parish of Braddan sold a calf to a Douglas butcher; but
his wife, not being aware of this, had sold the same calf to another
person of the same trade, who, upon concluding the bargain, paid the
price agreed on, and then took away the calf and killed it. As soon
as the farmer discovered the mistake made by his wife, he called on
the butcher to whom he had sold the calf, and, after explaining the
circumstances, offered to refund the price which his wife had received
from the other butcher, which was more than the price which the first
butcher had agreed to pay. This he not only refused; but instituted an
action against the farmer for the unlawful disposal of his property.
During the continuance of this law suit, the mother of the disputed
calf ceased to give milk, and became hide-bound, as did all the rest of
the farmer’s cows. This led to the belief that they were all bewitched,
and they were not cured till a servant maid was obtained, from the
north of the Island, who was skilful in applying the antidotes to
witchcraft.—_Train._

Mr. Karran, the late Captain of the Parish of Marown, had a fine colt,
to which a person in Baldwin took a particular fancy, and was very
anxious to purchase it, though Mr. Karran had no intention of parting
with the animal. On the evening of the last refusal, the colt became
suddenly ill; and although every possible means were resorted to for
its recovery, it continued to grow worse. On the third day, a friend
accidentally called at Mr. Karran’s house, and on being told the
circumstance thus related of the colt, undertook the cure of it. He
immediately started off for Baldwin, in the hope of meeting the person
whose _evil-eye_ had infected it; he did so; and when the person with
the evil eye had passed Mr. Karran’s friend, the latter gathered the
dust of the road out of his footsteps, and returned with it in his
pocket-handkerchief. On rubbing the colt all over with the dust, it
presently partook of food and rapidly recovered, to the surprise of the
proprietor and many of his neighbours.—_Train._

In the following there is no purchase:—A hare, or rather a Witch in
the shape of a hare, was crossing a field and stood still to stare at
a team of horses employed in ploughing, when, to the horror of the
ploughman, they instantly dropped dead on the ground. Fortunately,
however, he retained his presence of mind, and, remembering that what
had occured was doubtless the result of the “Evil Eye”, he collected
some of the dust from where the hare had stood and threw it over the
horses, who were at once restored to life.—_Oral._

The use of dust against the influence of the “Evil Eye” has not been
uncommon during the last fifty years. Quite recently a man on the south
side of the Island, finding his calf suddenly taken ill, and observing
an old woman crossing a field where it was, hurried after her, took
up the dust from the place where she had passed, and then rubbed the
calf with it till it recovered. It should be remembered that touching
or lifting the earth was in many countries considered a remedy for
diseases, especially for those of the eye. Earth taken from the spot
where a man was slain was prescribed in Scotland for a hurt or an ulcer.

Having given an account of the remedies against witchcraft made use of
by amateurs, we will now proceed to describe the skill of the regular
practitioners, or Charmers, in the same direction. The two following
stories relate to two of the best known of them, the first being about
the famous Teare, of Ballawhane:—

In the spring, when the doctor is called professionally to more places
than he can accomplish in the time required, many respectable farmers
will suspend for days the operation of sowing, although the land should
be fully prepared, and even in the most precarious weather, rather than
run the risk of committing the seed to the soil without his accustomed
benediction. Seer Teare had power over the birds of the air as well as
over the beasts of the field. In July, 1883, the great Fairy Doctor had
just entered the house of Mr. Fargher, innkeeper, of Laxey, and seated
himself in an old arm-chair, when he was greeted by the landlord,
“Well, Ballawhane, I am glad to see you; my little field of wheat is
nearer ripe than any grain in the glen, and the sparrows feed on it in
such flocks, notwithstanding all I can do to prevent them, that they
will have all the grain carried away before the straw is fit for the
sickle.” “I am quite aware of that”, replied Mr. Teare, “and I am just
come to try if I can put them away for you.” After returning from the
cornfield, where he had performed some ceremonious rites, he remarked
to the innkeeper “these sparrows know well to take advantage of corn
that has not been seen by me before it was sown, but I have sent them
all away now, and I think they will not again venture into your field
this season.” This singular exorcism of the sparrows soon became known
throughout Laxey; the paper-makers and the miners in the neigbourhood
were the only persons who had any doubt as to the doctor’s power in
such matters, and, for the purpose of satisfying themselves, they
narrowly watched the field during the remaining part of the season. To
their great surprise, however, though the sparrows flocked round Mr.
Fargher’s field in greater numbers than before, casting many a wistful
eye to the waving grain, yet not one of them dared to enter the charmed
precincts.—_Train._

Another of these Charmers, who lived in Ballaugh, was specially noted
for his skill in bringing luck in fishing to those who applied to him.
One of these was told by the old fellow that he could not put the fish
in their nets; but he could remove anything that might cause him to be
unsuccessful. He then gave him a lot of herbs, which he was to pound
and boil, and mix with a pint of whisky. Of this compound, a glass was
first to be taken by the captain of the boat, and then by each man in
it, and the rest was to be sprinkled over the boat and nets. On one
occasion he was sent by his fellows, after a spell of ill-luck in the
fishing, to see the old charmer; but, being somewhat sceptical, he
spent the charmer’s fee in drink, and compounded the nostrum himself,
though quite ignorant of the proper herbs, the result was a magnificent
haul that night; but he never dared tell his comrades of the trick he
had played on them.—_Rhys._

But these powers may be taken away for having been made use of when
unnecessary, as witness the following story:—A man near Laxey had
the power of being able to stop any effusion of blood by a charm he
possessed. On one occasion he was taunted by an unbeliever with being
unable to stop the bleeding of a pig which he was about to kill. The
moment the creature’s throat was cut, the incantation was pronounced;
but the power of the charmer was gone from henceforth.—_Oral._

We now append a list of such of the charms as we have been able to
discover.


CHARMS.


YN CHIED PHISHAG DY GHEDDYN FUILL.

_Farraneagh yn uill ghoo, myr doo naght jiarg; goym’s eh, as bee eh
aym, as cha derrym geill da ny smoo._


THE FIRST CHARM TO GET BLOOD.

“The black blood running, as black as red; I will take it, and it shall
be mine, and I will take no further heed of it.”


YN NAH PHISHAG.

_Phillip va Ree ny Shee, as Bahee yn ven echey; yinnagh ee Brearey
gys Jee, nagh beagh dy bragh lackal er aeg ny shenn. Goym’s spyrryd
firrinagh, as jiooldym voym yn doo spyrryd; as goym’s eh, as bee eh
aym, as cha beem dy bragh yn drogh spyrryd._


THE SECOND CHARM.

“Philip was the king of peace, and Bahee his wife; she would vow to
God, that there never would be want to young or old. I will take the
true spirit, and cast from me the black spirit; and I will take it, and
it shall be mine, and I shall never be the evil spirit.”


A CHARM TO STAUNCH THE HORSE’S BLOOD.

_Three Moirraghyn hie dyn Raue, ny Ke imee as ny Cughtee, Peddyr as
Paul, dooyrt Moirrey jeu, shass, dooyrt Moirrey jeu, shooyl, dooyrt
Moirrey elley, Dy gast yn uill shoh, myr chast yne uill haink as lottyn
Chreest: mish dy ghra eh, as mac Voirrey dy chooilleeney eh._

“Three Maries went to Rome, the Spirits of the Church stiles and the
Spirits of the houghs,[56] Peter and Paul, a Mary of them said, stand;
a Mary of them said, walk; the other Mary said, may this blood stop[57]
as the blood stopped which came out of the wounds of Christ: me to say
it and the son of Mary to fulfil it.”


A CHARM TO BANISH ALL EVIL SPIRITS.

The following is a printed form having blank spaces for the insertion
of names by the Charmer:—


PISHAG DY STHAPPAL ROIE FOALLEY.

_Three deiney chranee haink voish y Raue—Chreest, Peddyr, as Paul. Va
Creest y Chrosh, yn uill echey shilley, as Moirrey er ny glioonyn yn
ec liorish. Ghow for jeu yn er-obbee ayns e lau yesh, as hayrn Creest
crosh † harrish eh. Three mraane aegey haink harrish yn ushtey, dooyrt
unnane jeu, seose, dooyrt, nane elley, fuirree—dooyrt yn trass-unnane
sthappyms fuill dooinney ny ben. Mish dy ghra eh, as Chreest dy yannoo
eh, ayns ennym yn Ayr, as y Vac as y spyrryd Noo._

_N.B._—On repeating “crosh”, you are to draw a cross with the thumb of
your right hand over the bleeding part.


CHARM TO STOP BLOOD.

“Three godly men came from Rome—Christ, Peter, and Paul. Christ was on
the cross, his blood flowing, and Mary on her knees close by. One took
the enchanted one in his right hand, and Christ drew a cross † over
him. Three young women came over the water, one of them said, ‘up,’
another one said, ‘stay,’ and the third one said, ‘I will stop the
blood of man or woman.’ Me to say it, and Christ to do it, in the name
of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”


PHISHAG SON Y ROIG.

_Ta mee dy rheynn eh ayns ennym yn Ayr as y Vac as yn spyrryd Noo,
eddyr eh ve roig shee, ny roig Ree, dy jean yn chrou rheynnit shoh
skeayley’n dourin shoh er geinnagh ny marrey._


CHARM FOR THE KING’S EVIL.

“I am to divide it in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost; whether it be a sprite’s evil, or a King’s evil, may
this divided blemish banish this distemper to the sand of the sea.”


TO CURE THE TOOTHACHE.

The following charm, written on a scrap of paper or parchment, and
stitched securely into the inner garments, is a certain means of
prevention as well as cure:—

                Saint Peter was ordained a saint
                Standing on a marble stone,
                Jesus came to him alone,
  And saith unto him, “Peter, what makes thee shake?”
  Peter replied, “My Lord and Master it is the toothache.”
  Jesus said, “Rise up and be healed, and keep these words for my sake,
  And thou shalt never more be troubled with toothache.”


A CHARM TO STOP BLEEDING.

  Sanguis mane in te,
  Sicut Christus in se;
  Sanguis mane in tuâ venâ,
  Sicut Christus in suâ pœnâ;
  Sanguis mane fixus,
  Sicut erat Christus,
  Quando fuit crucifixus.

The consequence of interpreting this would be that its efficacy would
be lost for ever! The same charm was in use in the West of England, and
is to be found in Pepys’s Memoirs.


CHARM TO REMOVE NUMBNESS OR “SLEEP” IN THE FEET.

(This is called in Manx, _Cadley-Jiargan_.)

      “_Ping, ping, prash,
  Cur yn cadley-jiargan ass my chass._”

A translation of this would spoil the effect.

Another charm to stop blood is as follows:—_O Hiarn eaisht rish my
phadjer! Ayns dty ynrickys cur geill da my aghyn! As ayns dty ynrickys
jean hoilshaghey mieys; son cha vel dooiney bio oddys ayns dty hilley’s
ve ynrick as er ny heyrey gys yn jerrey.* Ta mee credjal dy ren Adaue
as Eve chur er hoshiaght yn cheid peccah. Ayns ennym Adaue ta mish eisht
cur fo harey dagh giarey as bine jeh fuill yn, {dooiney} shoh
                                               {  ben  }
dy scuirr. Amen. Amen._

“O Lord hear my prayer! In Thy faithfulness give heed to my petitions!
And in thy faithfulness manifest goodness; for no man living in Thy
sight can be perfect and justified to the end. I believe Adam and Eve
did begin the first sin. In Adam’s name I then do charge each gash and
drop of this {man’s  } blood to stop. Amen. Amen.”
             {woman’s}


A CHARM AGAINST THE FAIRIES.

  _Shee Yee as shee ghooinney,
  Shee Yee er Columb-Killey,[58]
  Er dagh uinnag, er dagh ghorrys,
  Er dagh howl joaill stiagh yn Rehollys,
  Er kiare corneillyn y thie,
  Er y voayl ta mee my lhie,
  As shee Yee orrym-pene._

  “Peace of God and peace of man,
    Peace of God on Columb-Killey,
    On each window and each door,
    On every hole admitting moonlight,
    On the four corners of the house,
    On the place of my rest,
    And peace of God on myself.”

       *       *       *       *       *

NOTE—It will be observed that in this charm the name of the famous St.
 Columba, Columcille or Columb-Killey, is mentioned. There are two
 _Keeills_ dedicated to him in the Island.

       *       *       *       *       *

One of the most efficacious charms to prevent milk being bewitched, was
to place a branch of the _cuirn_, or Mountain-Ash, in the cow-house on
May-eve. Written charms were believed to prevent people from taking
diseases if they were carried about sewn in the clothes. Great virtue
was supposed to attach to red flannel for curing coughs. The virtue lay
in the colour, not in the flannel.

The following charms are for curing warts:—Take a halfpenny and smear
it over with fat bacon; then rub the wart with the halfpenny; after
doing this, bury both the bacon and the halfpenny, and by the time the
bacon has decayed the wart will have passed away.

Procure a piece of woollen thread and tie as many knots upon it as
there are warts. Throw it away, or bury it in some place that the
patient is ignorant of, and as the thread rots, the warts will die
away. It is essential that no tie of blood exist between the operator
and the patient.

_Steal_ (the stealing is necessary) a piece of raw beef, and rubbing it
nine times backwards over the warts, secretly bury it in a dry sandy
place, when, as the beef decays, the warts will disappear; but perfect
secrecy must be preserved, not even the patient’s wife is to receive a
hint of it, if a successful result is desired.

The following case of a successful “charming” operation was reported
in the _Mona’s Herald_ newspaper, in 1853:—A man named John Kaighan,
employed at the landing pier works, was hammering an iron rod, when he
missed his stroke, and the iron rod pierced one of the arteries in his
left arm. The blood flowed freely from the wound, and he was taken to
the hospital; but all efforts to stop the flow of blood were fruitless,
and it was feared the man would bleed to death. In this state of
affairs, his relatives had recourse to a certain person who bears the
reputation of being a blood charmer; and when this person had repeated
his incantation over the wound, strange to say the flow of blood
shortly afterwards ceased.

The following extraordinary charm emanated from a woman who was
much better educated than such practitioners usually are. She lived
at Ballasalla, fifty years ago, and produced a number of religious
pamphlets, which for the most part consisted of wild prognostications,
and of invocations to the Deity. Her mind seems to have been affected,
and she was at times subject to hallucinations. She was called the
Prophetess of Ballasalla, and was much respected and feared by her
neighbours:—

 “WHERE is the JEHOVAH ELSHADDAI, the LORD GOD of
 ELIJAH?” See 2d. Kings, 2d. Chapter, 14th Verse.

 “Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
 over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt
 you.”—See Saint Luke, 10th Chapter, 19th Verse.

 “And, Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. Amen.”
 See Saint Matthew, 28th Chapter, 20th Verse.

 In the Name of the FATHER, and of the SON,
 and of the HOLY GHOST, In the Name of GOD the
 FATHER, and of GOD the SON, and of
 GOD the HOLY GHOST, the most HIGH GOD HELION
 ELSHADDAI, Whose Name alone is JEHOVAH, and through
 the GRACE, and by the POWER of our LORD JESUS
 CHRIST, I, a Baptised Papist, and a poor unworthy Servant of the
 LORD JESUS CHRIST, do now command all devils, and all damned
 spirits, and all evil, wicked and bad spirits, and all Fairies, and
 all Wizards, and all Witches, and every evil eye, and each, all and
 every evil bad devilish satanick power and powers of evil whatsoever,
 Not to hurt, Not to harm, Not to injure, Nor do any devilish evil bad
 wicked mischief in anywise whatsoever unto thee [Margaret C——alias
 C——, Nor unto thy Husband, Nor unto any one of all your Children.]
 Nor unto any thing that ever did, or that now doth, or that hereafter
 shall and may both Justly and Lawfully belong in anywise whatsoever
 unto thee [Margaret, or unto Thy Husband, or unto your Children, (And
 now especially) as unto Thy Child Elizabeth Anna C——] so long as the
 _Almighty Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Son of God with Power_, Liveth
 and Reigneth _God over all, God_ blessed for evermore. Amen. Even so
 _Lord Jesus_, Amen; if it be Thy _Holy Godly Blessed Will_; for the
 alone sake of Thy most Holy Atoneing, Redeeming Propitious Blood, and
 justifying Righteousness, and Holy Sanctifying saving Grace of _God_
 the _Holy Ghost_, the Blessed gift of _God_ the _Father Jehovah_,
 To them that believe through saving Grace.—Wherefore, none of all
 the powers of evil, shall not again be able to hurt thee Margaret,
 in anywise whatsoever, so long as thou believeth in the _Lord Jesus
 Christ_, to be the _Son_ of _God_, with Power. Amen. _Lord Jesus_,
 Amen. For thy great Almighty Name’s sake.

 May _Jesus_ Help thee [Margaret, and Help all of Them.] May _Jesus_
 Save thee, [and Save all of Them;] and, O, May _Christ the Lord
 Jesus_, both Bless, Prosper, and Keep thee, both now and forever more,
 even forever. Amen. _Lord Jesus Christ_, our _God_ and only _Saviour_.
 Let it be so, according to Thy Promise, and our Faith in Thee; and
 give us Faith alone in Thee. Amen, Almighty _Lord Jesus Christ_.

[Footnote 45: Poem of Snorro Sturlson (Johnstone’s Translation.)]

[Footnote 46: Polychronicon, A.D. 1487. Rolls Series.]

[Footnote 47: The genitive of this word, _droata_, has been deciphered
by Professor Rhys in the Ogam character on a stone at Ballaqueeney,
near Port St. Mary.]

[Footnote 48: Specimens of these are given at the end of this chapter.]

[Footnote 49: Even now it is no uncommon thing for any one who has a
cut, or a burn, to seek the nearest Charmer and have a charm ‘put on
it.’]

[Footnote 50: During the perambulations of the parishes on Ascension
Day.]

[Footnote 51: Leviticus ii., 13.]

[Footnote 52: There seems to be practically no distinction between
Sorcery, when deprived of the prophetic element, and Witchcraft.]

[Footnote 53: Witch.]

[Footnote 54: If the like exist.]

[Footnote 55: Harrows.]

[Footnote 56: Or, cliffs by the sea.]

[Footnote 57: Or, heal.]

[Footnote 58: These words are almost identical with those of the first
two verses of the 143rd Psalm.]

[Illustration]




[Illustration]



CHAPTER VI.




CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE SEASONS.


IN the Isle of Man, as elsewhere, many customs and superstitions,
as well as much weather-lore, have attached themselves to the
different seasons of the year. Both the Celts and Norsemen, before
the introduction of Christianity, held high festival at the beginning
of summer and winter, the mid-winter and mid-summer feasts being more
especially of Scandinavian origin. When Christianity was introduced,
its ministers, unable to do away with these feasts, wisely adopted
their periods as Christian festivals, and so they have continued
semi-pagan in form till the present day. Such ancient observances as
perambulating the parish bounds, were also christianised by being
associated with Divine worship; and the wells, which the people were
wont to visit, were dedicated to the Saints and Martyrs of the Church.
After the Reformation, the practice of visiting these holy wells, and
of frequenting the tops of the mountains at Lammas, was denounced as
superstitious and wicked, but in vain, as, even at the present day, it
can scarcely be said to have altogether ceased.

The various customs and superstitions will be considered in the order
of the Calender:—

January 1, New Year’s Day, formerly called _Laa Nolick beg_, “Little
Christmas Day”, was the occasion for various superstitions. Among
these was that about the “first foot.” The “first foot”, called the
_qualtagh_ in Manx, is defined as follows by Kelly in his Dictionary:
“The first person or creature one meets going from home. This person is
of great consequence to the superstitious, particularly to women the
first time they go out after lying-in.” The _qualtagh_ (he or she) may
also be the first person who enters a house on New Year’s morning.
In this case it is usual to place before him or her the best fare the
family can afford. It was considered fortunate if the _qualtagh_ were
a person (a man being preferred to a woman), of dark complexion, as
meeting a person of light complexion at this time, especially if his
or her hair is red, would be thought very unlucky. It is curious that
the superstition in Scotland is the exact reverse of this—_i.e._, to
meet a light complexioned person was fortunate. If the _qualtagh_ were
_spaagagh_, or splay-footed, it would be considered very unfortunate.
It was important, too, that the _qualtagh_ on New Year’s Day should
bring some gift, as if he or she came empty-handed, misfortunes would
be sure to ensue. To meet a cat first on this day was considered
unlucky. It was supposed to be necessary to exercise great care to
sweep the floor of the house on New Year’s morning from the door
towards the hearth, so that the dust should go towards the hearth,
for, if this were not done, the good fortune of the family would be
considered to be swept from the house for that year.

It was formerly the custom for a number of young men to go from house
to house on New Year’s Day singing the following rhyme:—

  _Ollick ghennal erriu, as blein feer vie;
  Seihll as slaynt da’n slane lught thie;
  Bea as gennallys eu bioyr ry-cheilley,
  Shee as graih eddyr mraane as deiney;
  Cooid as cowryn_ stock _as stoyr.
  Palchey puddase, as skeddan dy-liooar;
  Arran as caashey, eeym as roauyr;
  Baase myr lugh ayns ullin ny soalt,
  Cadley sauchey tra vees shiu ny lhie,
  Gyn feeackle y jiargan, cadley dy mie._

  “A merry Christmas, and a very good year to you;
    Luck and health to the whole household,
    Life, pleasantness and sprightliness to you together,
    Peace and love between men and women;
    Goods and riches, stock and store.
    Plenty of potatoes and herring enough;
    Bread and cheese, butter and beef.
    Death like a mouse in a barn haggart,[59]
    Sleeping safely when you are in bed,
    Undisturbed by [60]the flea’s tooth, sleeping well.”

Nothing should be lent on this day, as anyone who does so will be
lending all the year. In old times, when tinder and flint were used, no
one would lend them on this day.


SEASONS.

January 6, _or Twelfth day_, was the thirteenth or last day of Yule
in the Northern Calendar. It was one of the days on which no one
might borrow fire, but had to purchase it. After the introduction of
Christianity, it became a Church festival in commemoration of the
Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Bishop Phillips, in the Manx
Prayer Book[61] written by him early in the seventeenth century, calls
it _Shen lail chibbert ushtey_, ‘old feast day of the water-well,’ the
meaning of which is not clear. It was formerly a day of much festivity
in the Isle of Man, being called _Laa giense_ ‘dance or revel day.’
Among the games then played were “Cutting off the Fiddler’s Head”, “The
Lackets”, and “The Goggans.”

The _Cutting off the Fiddler’s Head_ is described by Waldron as
follows:—“On Twelfth day the Fiddler lays his head in some one of the
wenches’ laps, and a third person asks who such a maid or such a maid
shall marry, naming the girls then present one after another, to which
he answers according to his own whim, or agreeable to the intimacies
he has taken notice of during this time of merriment. But whatever
he says is as absolutely depended on as an oracle; and if he happens
to couple two people who have an aversion to each other, tears and
vexation succeed the mirth. This they call _Cutting off the Fiddler’s
Head_, for after this, he is dead for the whole year.” The _Lackets_,
_Legads_, or ‘valentines,’ was the name of a game which was played as
follows:—A _mainshter_, or master of ceremonies, was elected, who then
proceeded to appoint a _legad_ to every man of the party from among
the girls present in the following words: _Eaisht-jee, as clasht-jee,
as cur-jee myner; ta N. as M. legadyn son y vlein shoh, as ny sodjey,
my oddys ad cordail. Moylley as soylley, jingey as pronney daue, &c._
“Listen, and hear, and give heed; N. and M. are valentines for this
year, and longer, if they be agreeable. Praise and joy, peace and
plenty to them, &c.” (The remaining words are lost.) Doubtless, the
appointments of the _mainshter_, who probably had a shrewd idea which
of the young people were attached to each other, were the cause of much
merriment. It would seem that these entertainments were usually held
at a public-house, whose landlord would be elected as the _mainshter_.
After the _legads_ had all been appointed, the whole party sat down to
supper, each man paying for his own _legad_, or valentine. During the
supper the _laare vane_, or white mare,[62] was brought in. This was
a horse’s head made of wood, and so contrived that the person who had
charge of it, being concealed under a white sheet, was able to snap the
mouth. He went round the table snapping the horse’s mouth at the guests
who finally chased him from the room, after much rough play. A similar
custom is mentioned by Dr. Johnson as taking place on New Year’s Eve,
in Scotland: One of the company dressed himself in a cow’s hide, upon
which the rest of the party belaboured him with sticks. They all then
left the house and ran round it, only being re-admitted on repeating
the following words, which are still preserved in St. Kilda: “May God
bless this house and all that belongs to it, cattle, stones and timber.
In plenty of meat, of bed and body clothes, and health of men, may it
ever abound.” Each then pulled off a piece of the hide, and burnt it
for the purpose of driving away disease. The Manx custom was probably
formerly the same as this.

The _Goggans_, or _Noggins_, were small mugs filled with symbols of
various trades, thus—water, for a sailor; meal, for a farmer, &c. These
were laid in front of the hearth, and then, when the girls had gone
outside, they were changed. The girls were then brought back, and,
according to the _goggan_ they laid their hands upon, so was the trade
of their future husband.

It was supposed that the weather on the twelve days after “Old
Christmas Day”, indicated the weather of each month in the following
year.

January 25, _Laa’l Noo Phaul_,[63] “St. Paul’s Feast day”, is a church
festival in commemoration of the conversion of St. Paul. There seems to
have been a very general superstition throughout Western Europe that,
from the state of the weather on this day, the whole character of the
year following might be predicted. We have, for instance, the old Latin
distich:—

  _Clara dies pauli bona tempora denotat anni,
  Si nix vel pluvia, designat tempora cara;
  Si fiant nebulæ, pereunt animalia quœque;
  Si fiant venti, designat prælia genti._

An English version of which is:—

  If St Paul’s day be fair and clear,
  It does betide a happy year;
  But if it chance to snow or rain,
  Then will be dear all kinds of grain;
  If clouds or mists do dark the skie,
  Great store of birds and beasts shall die;
  And if the winds do flie aloft,
  Then war shall vex the kingdom oft.

The Manx version is as follows:—

  _Laa’l Paul ghorrinagh as gheayagh,
  Ghenney er-y-theill as baase mooar sleih;
  Laa’l Paul aalin as glen,
  Palchey er-y-theill dy arroo as mein._

  Paul’s day stormy and windy,
  Famine on the earth and much death on people;
  Paul’s day beautiful and fair,
  Abundance on the earth of corn and meal.

February 1, _Laa’l Breeshey_ “Bridget’s Feast day”, when the festival
of this famous Irish saint was celebrated. A parish church, a nunnery,
and no less than seven of the ancient _keeills_ or cells are named
after her in the Isle of Man, where she seems to have been a great
favourite. An old custom on this day was to gather rushes, and standing
with them on the threshold, to invite St. Bridget to come and lodge
there that night, saying “_Brede, Brede, tar gys my thie, tar dys
thie ayms noght. Foshil jee yn dorrys da Brede, as lhig da Brede
cheet stiagh._” “Bridget, Bridget, come to my house, come to my house
to-night, open the door to Bridget, and let Bridget come in.” After
these words were repeated, the rushes were strewn on the floor by way
of a carpet or bed for her. It is said also that straw was sometimes
used, instead of rushes.

A similar custom is described by Martin,[64] as practised in some of
the other Sodor Isles:—“The mistress and servants of each family take
a sheaf of oats and dress it up in woman’s apparel, put it in a large
basket and lay a wooden club by it, and this they call Briid’s bed,
and then the mistress and servants cry three times, ‘Briid is come,
Briid is welome.’ This they do just before going to bed, and when they
rise in the morning, they look among the ashes expecting to see the
impression of Briid’s club there, which, if they do, they reckon it a
true presage of a good crop and a prosperous year, and the contrary
they take as an ill omen.”[65]

There were various weather sayings with regard to this day, thus:—

  _Laa’l Breeshey bane,
  Dy chooilley yeeig lane._

  Bridget’s Feast day white, every ditch full.

_i.e._, If snowy on St. Bridget’s day, there will be a wet mild spring.

_Choud as hig y skell ny-gah-ghreinney stiagh Laa’l Breeshey, hig y
sniaghtey roish Laa Boayldyn._ “As long as the sunbeam comes in on
Bridget’s Feast day, the snow comes before May-Day.” _i.e._, If mild
on St. Bridget’s day, there will be a cold spring.

February 2.—The festival of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, or
Candlemas day, called in Manx _Laa’l Moirrey ny gianle_, “Mary’s
Feast day of the Candle”, seems, since St. Bridget has been forgotten,
to have taken the place of the festival of the Irish saint, as the
prognostics founded on the state of the weather on this day are
practically identical with those derived from St. Bridget’s festival.
There is a universal superstition throughout Christendom that good
weather on this day indicates a long continuance of winter and a
bad crop, and that its being foul is, on the contrary, a good omen.
Sir Thomas Browne, in his _Vulgar Errors_, quotes a Latin distich
expressive of this idea.—

  _Si sol splendescat Maria purificante,
  Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante;_

Of which the Scotch version is:—

  If Candlemass day be dry and fair,
  The half o’ winter’s to come and mair;
  If Candlemass day be wet and foul,
  The half o’ winter’s gane at Yule.

The Manx proverb corresponding with this conveys a caution to the
farmers:—

  _Laa’l Moirrey ny gianle,
  Lieh foddyr as lieh traagh._

 “Candlemas day (or Mary’s Feast day of the Candle), half straw and
 half hay.”

_i.e._—In the probable event of a mild Candlemas, half the stock of
fodder should still be unconsumed, as much wintry weather will probably
follow.

_Shrove-Tuesday_, in Manx _Oie Ynnyd_, “Eve of the Fast”, seems to have
been observed in the Isle of Man in much the same way as in England. It
was formerly the custom to have _sollaghan_, which is made of oatmeal
and gravy, for dinner on this day, instead of at breakfast as usual,
while the supper consisted of meat and pancakes. The following Manx
saying is, we suppose, a warning against relying on the continuance of
such sumptuous fare:—

  _Ec shibber Oie Ynnyd my vees dty volg lane;
  My jig Laa Caisht yiow traisht son shen._

  “At Shrove-Tuesday supper if thy belly be full;
  Before Easter day thou mayest fast (hunger) for that.”

February 6—A fair, called _Periwinkle_ Fair, was held on this day
till 50 years ago. It took place on the shore at _Pooyl-Vaaish_,
where cattle, horses, and sheep were bought and sold as usual, and
fairings sold, among them periwinkles. Hence the name. The 6th was
St. Dorothy’s day, but there seems to be no trace of any special
celebration on this day elsewhere.

March—There are various weather sayings about this month:—

_Share craagh ve ’sy cheer, na mee ny Vayrnt cheet stiagh meein._
“Better a slaughter in the country than the month of March should come
in mild.”

_Sheeu hishan dy yoan Mayrnt maaill bleeney Vannin._ “A peck of March
dust is worth a year’s rent in the Isle of Man.”

_Ta’n Vayrnt chionney as yn nah bee fanney._ “March tightens and the
next month skins.” This refers to the characteristics of these two
months—dry, with cold winds.

There is an old superstition that a Saturday’s new moon was unlucky,
and, if it occurred in March, it was still more so. Hence the
saying:—_Ta eayst jesarn ’sy Vayrnt dy-liooar ayns shiaght bleeantyn_.
“A Saturday’s moon in March is enough in seven years.”

March 17 is _L’aal Pharick_, “Patrick’s Feast day”, when a fair was
held. This famous Irish saint and missionary has three churches and
seven _keeills_ dedicated to him in the Isle of Man. This day was
also called _Patermas_, “Patrick’s Mass”, and on it the saint’s staff
was carried in procession by some one who was paid by the owner of
the saint’s staffland, who also had to keep in order and renew the
staff itself; for there are two small properties, one in the parish of
Patrick and the other in the parish of Maughold, which seem to have
been held on this tenure. The former of them, first mentioned in a
Papal Bull of 1231 as _terram de baculo Sti. Patricii_, “The land of
the Staff of St. Patrick”, has long since disappeared as a separate
property; the latter, which is part of the Barony of St. Bees, still
survives under the name of The Staffland. This place is considered to
be freehold, inasmuch as no rent or service is rendered in respect of
it to the lord.[66] The service of the Staff of St. Patrick seems to
have been commuted for a money-rent at the time of the Reformation,
while the Staffland in Maughold fell into the hands of the Christians
of Milntown.

There is an old saying: _Laa’l Pharick arree, yn dow gys e staik as
y dooiney ass e liabbee_. “Patrick’s spring Feast day, the ox to his
stake, and the man from his bed.” It thus seems to indicate the time
when active farming operations (March 17) should begin. Seed-sowing is
usually begun in the Isle of Man about this time.

April—There is the following weather saying about the month of April:—

  _Tra heidys Avril dy-bing e charyn,
  ’Sy theihll vees palchey traagh as oarn._

  When April shall shrilly sound his horn,
  On earth there will be plenty of hay and corn (barley).

_i.e._, A dry April is good for the crops.

_Good Friday._—_Jy-heiney chaist_, or, as Bishop Phillips has it,
_Jy-heny-ghayst_, “Easter Friday”, was a day on which several
superstitious customs were observed. No iron of any kind was to be
put into the fire, and even the tongs were laid aside, lest any
person should unfortunately stir the fire with them, a stick of the
Mountain-Ash (_cuirn_) being used as a substitute. To avoid placing the
iron griddle on the fire, a large thick cake, called a _soddag_,[67]
which is triangular in shape, was baked on the hearth. It was also a
custom for people to go to the shore on this day to gather shell-fish.

_Easter Sunday._—It was believed that anyone who went up to the top
of a high hill on this morning to watch the sunrise would see the sun
bow two or three times, as if in adoration to the risen Saviour. The
superstition that the sun bowed or danced on this day was once very
prevalent in England, and was embodied by Sir John Suckling in the
following verses on a belle of the day:—

  Her feet beneath her petticoat
  Like little mice peep’d in and out,
    As if they feared the light!
  And oh! she dances such a way—
  No sun upon an Easter Day
    Were half so fine a sight.

April 25 is now best known as _Laa’l Noo Markys-yn-sushtallagh_, “St.
Mark the Evangelist’s Feast day”; but it was formerly connected with
the famous Manx saint, Maughold, to whom a parish church is dedicated.
He had two days in the year, this, the first and more important,
being called _Laa’l Maghal toshee_—Maghold’s chief Feast day. The
superstitions formerly practised on the eve of this day were the same
as those belonging to the eve of St. Mark in England. If a person on
the eve of this day were to watch in the Churchyard from eleven in the
evening till one in the morning he would see the wraiths of those who
are to be buried there during the year.

May 11—_Oie Voaldyn_, or May-Day Eve—was the occasion of many
superstitious observances. On this evening the Fairies were supposed to
be peculiarly active. To propitiate them, and to ward off the influence
of evil Spirits and Witches, who were also active at this time, green
leaves or boughs and _sumark_, or primrose flowers, were strewn on the
threshold, and branches of the _cuirn_, or Mountain-Ash, were made into
small crosses without the aid of a knife, which was on no account to be
used, and stuck over the doors of the dwelling-houses and cow-houses.
Cows were further protected from the same influences by having the
_bollan-feaill-Eoin_[68] (John’s-feast wort) placed in their houses.
This was also one of the occasions on which no one would give fire, and
on which fires were and are lit on the hills to drive away the Fairies,
Witches, &c., and also to purify the fields, cattle, and horses by
the smoke passing over them. It is said that a handful of gorse was
formerly lit in each field to purify it.

With reference to the practice of not giving fire, Waldron remarks that
there was not one of the native families “but keeps a small quantity of
fire continually burning, no one daring to depend on his neighbour’s
vigilance in a thing which he imagines is of such consequence: everyone
consequently believing that if it should ever happen that no fire were
to be found throughout, most terrible revolutions and mischiefs would
immediately ensue;”—and, as to the lighting of fires, Kelly says that
“the inhabitants kindle fires on the summits of the highest hills,
in continuation of the practice of the Druids, who made the cattle,
and probably the children, ‘to pass through the fire,’ using certain
ceremonies to expiate the sins of the people; but the northern practice
is for each _balla_ or town to kindle a fire, so that the wind may
drive the smoke over their cornfields, cattle, and habitations.... The
inhabitants dress their houses with flowers, and before every door a
considerable space is strewed with primroses.... On this eve also the
damsel places a snail between two pewter dishes, and expects to find
next morning the name of her future husband in visible characters
on the dish; but the success of this depends on her watching till
midnight, and having first purified her hands and face by washing them
in the dew of the wheat.”[69]

Fifty years ago the celebration of May-Day Eve was still very general,
as will be seen from the following account extracted from the _Mona’s
Herald_ newspaper of the 5th of May, 1837; but now it has almost
died out:—“On May-Day eve the people of the Isle of Man have, from
time immemorial, burned all the whin (gorse) bushes in the Island,
conceiving that they thereby burned all the witches and fairies which
they believe take refuge there after sunset. The Island presented the
scene of a universal conflagration, and to a stranger, unacquainted
with our customs, it must appear very strange to see both old and young
persons gathering particular herbs, and planting them at their doors
and in their dwellings for the purpose of preventing the entrance of
the witches.”

It is thus clear that the Manx people placed very great reliance on
the influence of fire in protecting them from the powers of evil. This
influence was also made use of—or would seem to have been made use
of—by sacrificing animals as propitiatory offerings to the powers above
mentioned. Such a method would naturally be supposed to have belonged
to past ages only if there was not evidence that lambs have been burnt
on May-Day Eve or May-Day—_son oural_—for a sacrifice within living
memory. Such sacrifices seem to have been distinct in their purpose
from the burning of animals already mentioned (in Chapter V.) for
discovering Witches or driving away disease.[70]

May 12—_May-day_, or _Laa-Boaldyn_, the _Beltaine_, as it was called
in Irish, was the first of the great Celtic feasts, and was held at
the opening of the summer half of the year. Cormac, in his Glossary,
says that this name, _Beltaine_, arose “from two fires which the
Druids of Erinn used to make with great incantations”; and he adds
that cattle used to be brought to these fires and driven between them,
as a safeguard against diseases. According to Jameson, “the Gaelic
and Irish word, _Beal-tine_ or _Beil-tine_, signifies Bel’s fire; as
composed of _Baal_ or _Belis_, one of the names of the sun in Gaelic,
and _tein_, signifying fire;” but, as a matter of fact, this is all
pure guess-work, no one having given a satisfactory derivation of the
name.[71]

At an early hour on this morning the maidens went forth to gather
the dew, and wash their faces in it, as it was supposed to ensure a
good complexion, as well as to render the hostility of the Witches
innocuous. At an equally early hour, horns were blown to prevent the
Fairies from enticing children away. Later on in the day a Queen of the
May was chosen, according to Waldron, in the following fashion: “In
almost all the great parishes they choose from among the daughters
of the most wealthy farmers a young maid for the Queen of May. She is
dressed in the gayest and best manner they can, and is attended by
about twenty others, who are called maids of honour, she has also a
young man, who is her captain, and has under his command a great number
of inferior officers. In opposition to her is the Queen of Winter, who
is a man dressed in women’s clothes, with woollen hoods, fur tippets,
and loaded with the warmest and heaviest habits one upon another; in
the same manner are those who represent her attendants dressed; nor is
she without a captain and troop for her defence. Both being equipped
as proper emblems of the beauty of the spring and the deformity of
the winter, they set forth from their respective quarters; the one
preceded by violins and flutes, the other with the rough music of tongs
and cleavers. Both companies march till they meet on a common, and
then their trains engage in a mock-battle. If the Queen of Winter’s
forces get the better, so far as to take the Queen of May prisoner,
she is ransomed for as much as pays the expenses of the day. After
this ceremony, Winter and her company retire and divert themselves in
a barn, and the others remain on the green, where, having danced a
considerable time, they conclude the evening with a feast, the queen
at one table with her maids, the captain with his troop at another.
There are seldom less than fifty or sixty persons at each board.” For
the seizure of her majesty’s person, that of one of her slippers was
substituted more recently, which was in like manner ransomed to defray
the expenses of the pageant. The procession of the summer, which was
subsequently composed of little girls, and called the _Maceboard_,
outlived that of its rival, the winter, some years. The Maceboard went
from door to door, inquiring if the inmates would buy the queen’s
favour, which was composed of a small piece of ribbon; this has also
fallen into disuse.

This custom was evidently derived from the Northmen, whose proceedings
on this day are thus described by Olaus Magnus, who wrote in the
sixteenth century:—“The Southern Swedes and Goths that are very far
from the Pole, have a custom, that on the first day of May, when the
sun is in Taurus, there should be two horse troops appointed of young
and lusty men, as if they were to fight some hard conflict. One of
these is led on by a captain, chosen by lot, who has the name and
habit of Winter. He is clothed with divers skins, and adorned with
fire forks, and casting about snow balls and pieces of ice, that he
may prolong the cold, he rides up and down in triumph, and he shows
and makes himself the harder, the more the icicles seem to hang from
their stoves.(?) The chieftain of the other is for summer, and is
called Captain Floria, and is clothed with green boughs and leaves and
summer garments that are not very strong. Both these ride from the
fields into the city, from divers places, one after another, and with
their fire spears they fight, and make a public show, that Summer hath
conquered Winter. Both sides striving to get the victory, that side
more forcibly assaults the other which on that day seems to borrow
more force from the air, whether temperate or sharp. If the winter
yet breathes frost, they lay aside their spears, and riding up and
down, cast about upon the spectators ashes mingled with live sparks
of fire taken from the graves or from the altar; and they, who in the
same dress and habit are auxiliary troops, cast fire-balls from their
horses. Summer, with his band of horse, shows openly his boughs of
birch, or tiel-tree, which are made green long before by art, as by the
heat of their stoves and watering them, and privately brought in as if
they newly came from the wood. But because nature is thus defrauded,
those that fight for winter press on the more, that the victory may not
be got by fraud; yet the sentence is given for summer by the favourable
judgement of the people, who are unwilling to endure the sharp rigor
of winter any longer; and so summer gets the victory with the general
applause of them all, and he makes a gallant feast for his company, and
confirms it by drinking cups, which he could scarcely win with spears.
This is the custom of driving away the winter, and receiving of summer.”

The Welsh story of the contest of Gwyn, as representing the powers of
darkness, and Gwythur, as representing the summer sun, makes them fight
for the possession of a beauteous damsel on the first of May. Gwythur
gains the victory, which symbolises the recovery by the Sun-God of
his bride at the beginning of summer, after his antagonist had gained
possession of her at the beginning of winter.

The 12th of May is still the general day for letting houses, paying
house rents, and taking grazing cattle, and also for farm girls going
to their places; but the distinctive observances connected with it have
died out.

On the 10th of this month was the Church festival called _Laa’l Spitlin
souree_, “Spitlin’s summer Feast day”, after a Saint now unknown.

_Perambulation of Parish Boundaries._—On the Monday, Tuesday, or
Wednesday, before Ascension Day it was an ancient custom in the Isle
of Man, as in England, to perambulate the boundaries of the parishes.
In Roman Catholic times, this perambulation was a matter of great
ceremony, and banners, handbells, and lights enlivened the procession.
In Queen Elizabeth’s reign it was ordained that the people should,
once in a year, make a circuit of the parish with the curate, who was
to admonish the people to give thanks to God, as they beheld his
benefits, and for the increase and abundance of the fruits upon the
face of the earth. This custom seems to have been derived from the
Roman _Terminalia_ and _Ambervalia_, which were festivals in honour of
the god Terminus, and the goddess Ceres. In England, and, as we shall
see, in the Isle of Man also, it has likewise a twofold object, firstly
to preserve a correct knowledge of the bounds of the parishes, and
secondly to supplicate the divine blessing on the fruits of the earth.
How this custom was performed in the Isle of Man will be seen from the
following injunction by the Bishop, Henry Bridgeman, in 1677:—“Upon
a solemn and tedious audience of the tennants of my Ld Bp’s demesne
together with most or many of the most aged and most substantiall
parishioners of the parish and parish Church of St Mary of Ballaugh,
in the Isle of Mann, concerning the performance of parochiall rights
and the payment of Parochiall duties betwixt the s^d tennants and
the rest of the parishioners aforesaid, which difference hath now
continued to be agitated betwixt them for many years. It was finally
sentenced and determined upon the second day of February, 1677, by the
Right Rev^d Father in God, Henry, Ld. Bp. of this Isle, before whom
it was clearly proved by the oaths of Thomas Craine, of the Glaick,
in Ballaugh, aged 71 years or thereabouts, and of Thomas Kinred, of
Ballaterson, in the same parish of Ballaugh, aged about 60 years,
and of Thomas Cowley, of Knockan, in the psh aforesaid, aged about
55 years. Many other aged persons of the said parish being ready to
confirm the same by their respective oaths had they been thereunto
admitted or required, which was forborne for the said Ld. Bp.’s tenants
did before his L’sp then and there confesse and acknowledge the verity
of their assertions vidt. That they had for severall years known the
respective parsons of Ballaugh and vicars of Kirk Michaell meet upon
severall ascension dayes together with their respective parishes at
the gate of B’sp’s Court, and in their perambulation goe into the
Chappell of the said Ld. Bp., and there unanimously agree that the
upper or East end thereof did stand, and was of antient time held to
be within the præcints of the Parish of St. Mary, of Ballaugh, and
the tower or West end of the said Chappell was of ould time accounted
and esteemed to be within the site and præcints of the parish of Kirk
Michaell and that the said respective Parsons and Vicars did severally
officiate divine service, the one at the one side or end of the said
Chappell, and the other at the other side or end of the same Chappell
alternately upon the said same dayes of perambulation. The Parsons of
Ballaugh coming down by a well called Aulcaugh als Phinlowes’ well and
so along by the river or milne-dam of the said Ld. Bp’s demesne up
to the said Chappell: and from thence with a considerable part of his
meadow called Ballaugh-third, conterminating upon the middle-third of
the said meadow, and thence to a parcell of land called John Gawn’s
Croft, and so to Brough-garge’s lands, which goes along the Strand or
seaside whereby it did evidently appear unto the said Ld Bp that all
his tenants upon the Demesne aforesaid which were inhabitants within
the said perambulation of the Parson of Ballaugh were and ought to be
esteemed, and are now by his Lp accordingly adjudged to be parishioners
of the parish and Church of St. Mary, of Ballaugh, and so subject and
liable to all parochial duties and performances unto ye said church as
the rest of the parishioners of the said parish are (excepting _onely_
the payment of such tythes as now are and of ould usually have been due
and payable unto the Ld Bp.) And more particelarly yt it is incumbent
upon them (as such) to make their proportionable part of the churchyard
hedge or ditch of the said parish of St. Mary’s of Ballaugh, according
as it is apportioned them in ye Register Book of the s^d church in the
year 1660, and it is now ordered and decreed by the said Ld Bp that
henceforth all the said tenants shall repaire unto divine service and
all the offices of the Holy Church upon every Ld^s Day, every holy day,
and other extraordinary dayes of public fasts and thanksgivings unto
the said church of St. Marie’s, as to their sole proper parish church;
and yt if they shall absent themselves frequently from the same upon
such dayes (without a lawfull and sufficient cause and reason to be
allowed by the s^d Ld Bp and his successors or his Vic^r Gen^{le}) that
they shall be presented by the churchwardens of the said parish for the
time being (whose consciences are hereby onerated to deall faithfully
therein) unto the Bp or his Vic^r Gen^{le} that they may be punished or
fined 12d apiece for every such dayes absence whereof they cannot give
a reasonable and satisfactory account. Provided always that ye decree
be no longer of force after they shall produce an antient, sufficient
and legall execution, which some of them seem to pretend unto, but
are not or have not yet been able to produce or make good, and in the
intervine (_sic_) they are hereby required to yield punctual submission
and obedience hereunto upon pain of excommunication. Given under the
Episcopal Seal of the said Ld Bp this second day of February, in the
seventh year of his consecration and in the year of Our Lord, 1677.

  JOHAN ALLEN, Actuar
  a Secretis D^{mi} Epi.

  A copy whereof is hereby enjoyned to   }
  be entered in the several registers of }
  both parishes, and the original to be  }
  kept in the Ld Bp’s records.           }

The following is taken from the Parochial Register of Lezayre, Anno.
1715:—“The Revd. Mr. Wm. Walker, Vicar Genl. and Rector of Ballaugh,
and the Revd. Mr. Henry Allen, Vicar of Kirk Christ, Lezayre, together
with several of the ancients of both parishes, having met this day at
a place called Cottier’s platt in order to determine Boundaries of the
two Parishes from the place aforesaid unto the High-road leading from
Bishop’s Court to Ramsey: and both Parties having agreed to leave it
to me to hear what can be sayd on both sides, and to put a final end
to all controversies for the future concerning the said Boundary, I,
therefore, having heard all that hath been sayd by both Parties, and
having carefully viewed and walked the ground, do adjudge and declare
that a straight line drawn from the East side of the platt aforesaid,
betwixt two remarkable trees growing in the Highway aforesaid, and
betwixt two large white stones on the other side of the said Highway to
the end of an Hedge leading from thence to the mountains, shall ever
hereafter be looked upon and be the true Boundary of the two Parishes,
with which both sides being entirely satisfied, I do hereby require
that nobody do presume presumptuously to cut down the trees or to
remove the stones aforesaid; and that a true copy of this determination
be preserved in the Registers of both Parishes, as an end of all strife
on this account. Given under my hand and seal at Bishop’s Court the day
and year above written.

  (Signed) THO: SODOR AND MAN.”

A letter of Bishop Wilson’s, on the subject of perambulations
follows:—“To the Reverend the Archdeacon and the rest of the Clergy of
the diocese of Sodor and Man: My brethren,—The last Convocation but
one, you were put in mind of a very considerable ommission, in not
going every Holy Thursday the boundary of your severall Parishes or
some part of such as are large which hath been practised till of late,
time out of mind. In order, therefore, to the keeping of this laudable
custom, you are hereby required to give notice to your Parishioners
on Rogation Sunday, May 3rd, that you purpose (God willing) to walk
the boundarys of your Parish, or some considerable part of them, on
Holy Thursday following, and desire the people to meet you at prayers
and to accompany you. And that they may be better dispos’d to do so,
you shall inform them that besides the great advantage of settling
and securing the boundarys of Parishes, the great design is to give
publick and national acknowledgement and thanks to God for all his
blessings both by sea and land, and especially for the fruits of the
earth which at this time begin to appear, as also to beg of God to
send us such seasonable weather, as that we may receive the fruits
thereof, to our own comfort, and for the relief of those that are in
want, and lastly to beseech God of his mercy to preserve us from all
infectious diseases and unusual mortality amongst men and beasts and
from the rage of enemies. You shall further inform them, how necessary
this is to keep up a constant sense of our dependence upon Almighty
God, for every blessing we enjoy or hope for, whether peace or plenty,
or security from our enemies, or health to enjoy these blessings. Now,
the manner of observing this laudable custom has been at certain places
to read distinctly the 103rd Psalm, by the Minister only, and in other
places to pronounce openly the curse set down in Deut. 27, 17—‘Cursed
is he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark,’ that is, who defrauds
his neighbour of any of his rights, either by fraud or force, or going
to law without just cause. At the same time people should be exhorted
to beware of the great sin of covetousness, and to be content with
the blessing God has given to their own honest labours. That ‘better
is the little that the righteous have,’ such as they have gotten by
righteous ways, than ‘great riches cf the ungodly,’ which they have
gotten wrongfully, and that God will never bless such possessions as
are gotten, or defended, or kept by unjust means. Here also it will
be very becoming a clergyman against the great sin of Litigiousness
by which Christian love and charity are broken, and men hazard the
loss of a heavenly inheritance to gain some trifle often in this
world.—Dated at Bishop’s Court, the 24th April. 1741. (Signed) THO.
SODOR AND MANN.” Below this he appends the proper “Collects to
be used on the perambulation: Quinquagesima Sunday; Third Sunday in
Lent; Septuagesima Sunday; The Prayer for Rain, if then needful; In
time of Death and Famine; In time of Warr; In the Litany, the last
two petitions, viz., ‘That it may please Thee to give and preserve to
our use, &c.,’ ‘That it may please Thee to forgive us all our sins,’
and the Prayer in Mr. Nelson’s book for Rogation Week.”[72] These
Perambulations have not yet fallen entirely into disuse.

The festival on June 24th, _Midsummer day_, and on its eve,
_Midsummer-eve_, kept since the change in the Calendar on July 5th and
July 4th, seems to have been of Scandinavian origin, for, among the
ancient Celts, the longest day, as far as is known, was of no especial
account. But to people living within the Arctic circle, who for months
in the winter were altogether deprived of the sun, his ascent and
descent were naturally of greater importance than to people living
further south. This festival was probably originally in honour of
Balder, the northern Sun-God, who at Midsummer attained his greatest
splendour and duration, and from thence began to decline.[73] The
beginning of his declination was commemorated by the lighting of his
funeral pyre, which the modern bonfires have perpetuated. Of the later
celebration of this eve and day in Scandinavia, Vigfusson writes:—“St.
John Baptist’s Day is in the northern countries a kind of Midsummer
Yule, and was in Norway and Sweden celebrated with bonfires, dance, and
merriment; and tales of fairies and goblins of every kind are connected
with St. John’s Eve in the summer as well as Yule-eve in winter.” And
with regard to its origin, he says:—“The origin of this feast is no
doubt heathen, being a worship of light and the sun, which has since
been adapted to a Christian name and a Christian Calendar.”[74] Very
similar are the observances of this eve in Man. Bonfires were lit on
the hills, and blazing wheels were formerly rolled from their tops,
probably originally with the intention of typifying the beginning of
the sun’s declination.[75] Cattle were also driven between or over
fires to keep them from disease, and men and boys leaped over the
flames. Train says that “on the eve of St. John the Baptist, the
natives lighted fires to the windward side of every field, so that the
smoke might pass over the corn; they folded their cattle and carried
blazing furze or gorse round them several times.”

These fire observances were in fact the same as on May-Day Eve, and
they seem to have been designed as Charms to secure as much sunshine
as possible, which, considering our dull and cloudy climate, is not
to be wondered at; and they were at one time connected with human
sacrifices.[76] There was also a notion that the corn would grow well
as far as the bonfires were seen, and, therefore, numerous bonfires
were lit on these occasions, and it was supposed that the height of the
straw depended on the height that the men jumped over the flames.

Fairies are supposed to be especially powerful on this eve, and Witches
are said to hold a saturnalia.

A curious belief that the souls of all people left their bodies when
asleep on this night, and wandered to the place where they would die
was formerly prevalent, and from this probably arose the custom of
sitting up to watch, and so avoiding such an occurrence. Those who
watched in the church porches were rewarded with the sight of those
who would die in the year, as on St. Mark’s eve and Hollantide eve. On
this eve, too, was gathered the _Bollan-Feaill-Eoin_, “John’s Feast day
wort” (mugwort), which was made into wreaths to be worn on the heads
of man and beast to protect them from witchcraft.

The next morning the great _Tinwald_ Court,[77] corresponding to the
Icelandic _Althing_, was held, when the laws were promulgated, and the
festival proper, all Witches and evil Spirits having been disposed
of on the previous evening, began. At this festival, which probably
lasted a fortnight in old times, there took place not only the Court,
but probably a religious feast and merry-makings of all kinds, such as
hurling and football, match-making, feasting, and, above all, recitals
of legends and traditions. As regards Man, however, we have no definite
information about the observance of this day from tradition, except
that there was a fair, which still continues; and from written sources
there is only preserved a letter written, in 1636, by Bishop Parr
to Archbishop Neile, in which he states that on St. John Baptist’s
day he found the people in a chapel dedicated to that Saint “in the
practice of gross superstitions”, which he caused “to be cried down”,
and, in the place of them, “appointed Divine services and sermons.” We
can only wish that the good Bishop had informed us what these “gross
superstitions” were. We have already seen (Chapter I.) that Manannan
received his tribute of rushes on this day, and it is curious that the
pathway leading up to the chapel is still covered with rushes supplied
by a small farm close by, which is held on the tenure of doing this
service.

As we have already seen from the name, St. John, the Church adopted
this heathen festival as that Saint’s feast, _Feaill Eoin_,
“John’s-Feast”, as it is called in Manx. It has been ingeniously
suggested by Mr. Tylor that this adoption, or rather adaptation, may
have arisen from the same train of symbolism which adapted the heathen
Midwinter solar festival to the Nativity of our Lord, _i.e._, from our
Lord’s own words “He must increase, but I must decrease.” It seems,
however, much more probable that St. John was merely substituted for
Balder, as our Saviour was substituted for him in other portions of the
northern faith.

The following proverb attached to St. John’s Day probably refers to the
desirability of having rain to bring on the straw of the corn crops at
this time rather than later, when it would interfere with the maturing
of the grain: _Lane croie cabbyl dy ushtey Laa’l Eoin feeu mayl
Vannin_, “A full horse-shoe of water (on) John’s Feast day is worth the
rent of Man.”

July 13 was dedicated to the Saint called German, after whom the
Cathedral on Peel Island is supposed to be named.[78] August 1st,
kept since the change in the calendar, on August 12th, is called
_Laa Luanys_, or _Laa Lunys_, “Luanys’s Day.” This name was probably
originally associated with the Celtic god _Lug_, or _Lleu_, as he is
called in Wales, who, as he was said to have been brought up at the
court of Manannan, was closely connected with Man.[79] In Ireland,
his festival, called the _Lug-nassad_, or the wedding of Lug, was
celebrated on this day by a fair, at which games and sports took
place. In Man, too, there was, within living memory, a great fair in
the parish of Santon, on the same day. This festival was, according to
Professor Rhys, “the great event of the summer half of the year, which
extended from the calends of May to the calends of winter. The Celtic
year was more thermometric than astronomical; and the _Lug-nassad_
was, so to say, its summer solstice.”[80] The fair has disappeared;
but the ancient custom of visiting the highest hills and the sacred
wells on this day, cannot be said to be altogether extinct. These
wells are usually found near old ecclesiastical sites, as the holy
recluses would naturally build their _keeills_ near springs, where they
would construct wells both for their own personal convenience as well
as for baptizing their disciples. Some of these wells were formerly
much venerated, as their waters were supposed to possess sanative
qualities, and to be of special virtue as charms against witchcraft
and Fairies. The devotees would drop a small coin into the well, drink
of the water, repeat a prayer, in which they mentioned their ailments,
and then decorate the well, or the tree overhanging it, with flowers
and other votive offerings, usually rags. They believed that when the
flowers withered, or the rags rotted, their ailments would be cured.
These rites have been observed in the Isle of Man within the memory of
those now living. There is a well on Gob-y-Vollee, called Chibber Lansh
(where the meaning of _lansh_ is uncertain), consisting of three pools,
which was formerly much resorted to for the cure of sore eyes. The cure
could only be effective if the patient came on Sunday, and walked three
times round each pool, saying in Manx, _Ayns enym yn Ayr, as y Vac,
as y Spyrryd Noo_, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost”, and then applied the water to his or her eye. Many of
these wells, however, together with the sacred tree which overshadowed
them, were certainly objects of veneration long before the days of the
recluses and their religion.[81]

The Church attempted to put an end to this custom, and failed, but
contrived to give it a religious character by changing the date of its
observance from the first day of August to the first Sunday in that
month.[82] The following representation made to the Ecclesiastical
Court by the curate and wardens of the parish of Lonan, in 1732, will
show that this custom was prevalent at that time:—

“The curate and wardens represent to the Court that there is a
superstitious and wicked custom, which is yearly continued and
practised in this and the neighbouring parishes by many young people
(and some of riper years) going to the top of Snaefell Mountain upon
the first Sunday in August, where (as they are informed) they behave
themselves very rudely and indecently for the greater part of that
day. Therefore, they crave that the Rev. Court may be pleased to order
what method must be taken to put a stop to this profane custom for
the future.” The Court (consistorial), in consequence of this order,
ordained “that publication be made yearly on the two last Sundays in
July, by the minister for the time being, after the Nicene Creed,
that whoever shall be found to profane the Lord’s Day after this
wicked and superstitious manner shall be proceeded against with severe
ecclesiastical censures; and the minister and wardens are hereby
required to do their utmost in discovering the persons guilty in this
particular, and to make presentment thereof.”

But such methods did not avail against this “superstitious and wicked
custom” and in vain, too, did Bishop Wilson fulminate against it, as it
was quite common 70 years ago, and is not quite extinct yet. It is said
that, about 1820, a preacher, named Gick, went up South Barrule and
denounced it, and that consequently it has since then almost ceased,
though a few people still ascend the mountains on the first Sunday
after the 12th of August, pretending that they do so to search for
blaberries; and a few may be seen lurking in the vicinity of the wells.
There is now an idea prevalent that this custom of ascending the hills
is in commemoration of Jepthah’s daughter going forth on the hills,
with the daughters of Israel following her, an idea which has probably
been promulgated by the preachers with a view of causing a heathen
superstition to be superseded by a Christian ceremony.

_Harvest._—When the landlord, or farmer, entered for the first time the
field where harvesting operations went on, it was customary to bind him
with _sugganes_, or straw ropes, and not to release him till he paid a
forfeit.

The harvest festival is called in Manx _yn mheillea_, or _yn meailley_,
‘the harvest home,’ “though”, says Gill,[83] “more strictly it is
the name of the garland made of the last handful of corn which is
shorn and formed into the shape of that which is borne by Ceres. This
figure, dressed with ribbons, is carried before the reapers, and is
called, together with the procession, _yn meailley_, or _meilley_,
‘the reapers feast,’ from _meail_.” “_Meail_”, he adds, “is the whole
gang of reapers.” This figure, somewhat obscurely described by Gill,
was called _yn moidyn_, ‘the maiden,’ and was made of straw, decorated
with ribbons and wild flowers. It was carried by the Queen of the
_Meailley_, a girl elected from among the female workers, though
usually the youngest of them, to the highest part of the field where it
was placed and saluted with hearty cheers. It was also a custom to cut
off a bunch of ears from this last sheaf of corn, with about 12 inches
of straw attached. This bunch of corn, called _baban ny mheillea_, ‘the
doll of the harvest,’ or simply, _yn mheillea_, ‘the harvest,’ which
was usually about 4 inches in diameter, was dressed up to represent a
woman, from the neck downwards, the ears doing duty for the head and
face. It was then placed on the chimney piece in the kitchen of the
farm house, and was not removed till the following harvest, when its
place was taken by a similar successor. This custom has not long died
out, and indeed the small sheaf, though not dressed, may still be seen
in many a farm house. The large sheaf previously referred to was taken
from the field, when the last load of corn was carried and placed on
top of it, together with the _moidyn_.[84] It was then deposited in
the barn with much clamour and rejoicing, and was kept there till
the following harvest. After this they all adjourned to the supper,
which it was usual for the farmer to provide on these occasions, and
which was a scene of great joy and merriment, the _Laare-vane_, as on
twelfth day, being a conspicuous feature (see p. 104). The carrying of
the ‘maiden’ has now fallen into desuetude, so that the name is now
associated with the harvest supper only.

October 25th.—_Laa’l Maghal_, ‘Maughold’s Feast day,’ the second of the
two days dedicated to this Saint.

October 31st and November 11th are the present and past dates, in
accordance with the change in the Calendar, of the eve of the Church
festival called “All Hallow Mass”, or “All Saints’ Mass” (Middle
English _halowe_ ‘a saint’). The eve of this day, Hallowe’en in
English, is called _Oie houiney_ in Manx, and is still kept in the
Isle of Man on the 11th of November. The day itself is called _Sauin_,
_Souin_ or _yn Tauin_, corresponding with the Irish and Scotch Samhain,
though the English “Holland-tide” is the name now usually given to the
season and to the fair held on the 12th of November.

This day was formerly the first day of the first month of winter, and
also the first day of the Celtic year. A tradition to the effect that
it was the first day of the year still obtains among the Manx, who
are accustomed to predict the weather for the ensuing year from that
on the 12th of November, and this is emphasised by the fact that, as
we shall see later, the ceremonies now practised on New Year’s Eve,
were, within living memory, practised on the 11th of November. Among
the Norsemen, the first night of winter, which they celebrated by a
feast, was the 14th of October, but winter would come earlier in their
more Northern clime. According to the ancient Irish, _Samhain_ Eve was
the proper occasion for prophecies and unveiling mysteries. In Wales,
within almost recent times, women congregated in the parish churches
on this eve to learn their fortune from the flame of the candle each
one held in her hand, and to hear the names or see the coffins of the
parishioners destined to die in the course of the year. The Scotch
believed that all the Warlocks and Witches assembled in force at this
season, and perpetrated all sorts of atrocities. Similar beliefs to the
above prevailed in the Isle of Man. It was, therefore, very necessary
to propitiate the Fairies, who alone were amenable to such attentions,
on this night in particular. The leavings of the supper of the family
were consequently not removed, and crocks of fresh water were placed
on the table, so that ‘the little People’ might refresh themselves.
Professor Rhys says that the reason why this night was regarded as “the
Saturnalia of all that was hideous and uncanny in the world of spirits”
was because “it had been fixed upon as the time of all others when the
Sun-God, whose power had been gradually falling off since the great
feast associated with him on the first of August, succumbed to his
enemies, the powers of darkness and winter. It was their first hour of
triumph after an interval of subjection, and the popular imagination
pictured them stalking abroad with more than ordinary insolence and
aggressiveness.”[85] It was, in fact, the time when the result of the
combat which took place in May was reversed; then the powers of light
gained the ascendency, now the powers of darkness. Bonfires were lit on
_Oie Houiney_, as on _Oie Voaldyn_, and for the same reason.

The following custom, which survived till recently, has now died
out. Mummers went from house to house shouting the following curious
refrain, the meaning of which can only be conjectured. The portion now
in English was, of course, formerly in Manx:—

      _Hog-annaa_—This is old Hollantide night:
      _Trolla-laa_—The moon shines fair and bright.
      _Hog-annaa_—I went to the well,
      _Trolla-laa_—And drank my fill;
      _Hog-annaa_—On my way back
      _Trolla-laa_—I met a witch-cat;
      _Hog-annaa_—The cat began to grin,
      _Trolla-laa_—And I began to run.
      _Hog-annaa_—Where did you run to?
      _Trolla-laa_—I ran to Scotland.
      _Hog-annaa_—What were they doing there?
      _Trolla-laa_—Baking bannocks and roasting collops.
      _Hog-annaa—Trolla-laa!_
  If you are going to give us anything, give us it soon,
  Or we’ll be away by the light of the moon—_Hog-annaa_!

Professor Rhys came across a different and seemingly more rational
version of this Hollantide rhyme in the South of the Island last
year:—_Oie Houna_—“Hollantide Eve.” _Shibber ny gauin(a)_[86]—“Supper
of the heifer.” _Cre gauin marr mayd?_—“Which heifer shall we kill?”
_yn gauin veg vreac_—“The little spotted heifer.” There were more
lines, but his informant had forgotten them.

The first line of this song was formerly “_Hog-annaa_—To-night is New
Year’s Night”,[87] which is another proof that this was the last night
of the year; and it is significant, also, that the customs of raking
out the ashes from the fire and placing ivy in water, now practised
on the 31st of December, were practised on this night within living
memory. These facts, combined with the recollection of the 12th being
considered New Year’s Day by old persons (as previously mentioned), may
be considered to settle the question. But, in addition to this, the
words of the chorus, _Hog-annaa, trollalay_, are probably identical
with _Hogmanay, trollalay_, the words of a Scotch song which is sung
on New Year’s Eve—_Hogmanay_, according to Jamieson, being either
the last day of the year or the entertainment given to a visitor on
this day. In France, too, there is a similar custom and word, as _En
Basse Normandie les pauvres le dernier jour en demandant l’aumosne,
disent Hoguinanno_. “In Low Normandie, the poor, the last day (of
the year), in demanding alms, say _Hoguinanno_.” We may, therefore,
conclude that this was undoubtedly the last night of the year. As to
the meaning of this word, _Hog-annaa_, _Hogmanay_, or _Hoguinanno_,
we may venture to suggest that, supposing the Scotch form to be the
most accurate, both it and _trollalay_ are of Scandinavian origin, and
refer to the Fairies and the Trolls. We know that on this night it
was considered necessary to propitiate the dwellers in Fairy-land,
who, with the Phynnodderees, Witches, and Spirits of all kinds, were
abroad and especially powerful. We may, therefore, perhaps translate
_Hog-man-aye_ into _Hanga-man-ey_—“mound-men (for) ever”, the Fairies
being considered as dwellers in the _hows_ (_or tumuli_, or green
mounds)—and _trollalay_ into _trolla-á-lá_, “trolls into the surf.”
The Fairies, who were considered the most powerful of these creatures,
being thus propitiated, would then protect their suppliants against
the rest. The boys, who went round singing this song, carried big
sticks with cabbages or turnips stuck in the top, and with these they
knocked at people’s doors till they received herrings and potatoes and
such-like gifts. The usual supper on this night consists of potatoes,
parsnips and fish, pounded together and mixed with butter; and a cake
is made, called _Soddag valloo_, or dumb cake. “Every woman is obliged
to assist in mixing the ingredients (flour, eggs and eggshells, soot,
&c.), kneading the dough and baking the cake on the glowing embers; and
when it is sufficiently baked, they divide it, eat it up, and retire to
their beds backwards without speaking a word, from which silence the
cake derives its name, and in the course of the night they expect to
see the images of the men who are destined to be their husbands.”[88]
The following is another Hollantide recipe for dreaming of a future
husband:—Take a salt herring from a neighbour’s house without the
consent or knowledge of the owner. Be sure to capture it in the dark,
and take the first that comes to hand. Then take it home, and roast
it in its brine upon the cinders. Maintain strict silence, both while
eating it and afterwards, and carefully consume every scrap—bones
and all. On the stroke of midnight retire to bed backwards, undress
in the dark, and avoid touching water. If these instructions are
properly carried out, the future husband will appear in a dream, and
will present a drink of water. Yet another recipe was, for the girls
to fill their mouths with water, and hold a pinch of salt in each
hand. Thus equipped they went to a neighbour’s door, and listened to
the conversation within, when the first name mentioned would be that
of their future husband. There are various customs practised on this
evening in Man, which are almost identical with those in all other
parts of the United Kingdom. Of these, the burning of nuts for purposes
of divination, is one of the most popular. It is described by Burns for
Scotland; and by Brand, in his “Popular Antiquities”, for Ireland, in
words which we quote, as they are precisely applicable to what takes
place in Man:—

  The auld guidwife’s well hoordit nits[89]
    Are round and round divided,
  And mony lads’ and mony lasses’ fates
    Are there that night decided:
  Some kindle couthie[90] side by side,
    An’ burn thegither trimly,
  Some start awa’ wi’ saucy pride,
    And grimp out owre the chimlie
              Fu’ high that night.

  Jean slips in twa wi’ tentie e’e;[91]
    Wha ’twas she wadna tell;
  But this is Jock, and this is me,
    She says in to hersel;
  He bleez’d owre her, an’ she owre him,
    As they wad ne’er main part!
  Till fuff! he started up the lum,[92]
    An Jean had e’en a sair heart
              To see’t that night.

“It is a custom in Ireland, when the young women would know if their
lovers are faithful, to put three nuts upon the bars of the grate,
naming the nuts after the lovers. If a nut cracks or jumps, the lover
will prove unfaithful, if it begins to blaze or burn, he has a regard
for the person making the trial. If the nuts named after the girl and
her lover burn together, they will be married.”

Much amusement is also derived from the custom of setting apples afloat
in a tub of water from which they have to be extracted by the teeth.
The pouring of molten lead into water, where it takes various fantastic
shapes from which the future vocation of the person who pours is
divined, is still a favourite pastime. The popular belief ascribes to
children born on Hallowe’en the possession of the mysterious faculty of
perceiving and holding converse with supernatural beings.

The following day, the first of November, according to the present
reckoning, is the church Festival of All Saints, _Laa’l Mooar ny
Saintsh_ “Great Festival of the Saints”, as it is called in Manx.

The twelfth of November is the general day for letting lands, payment
of rent, and for men-servants taking their places for the year. The
largest fair of the year is still held on this day. It is considered as
the beginning of the winter half of the year.

November 18.—_Laa’l Spitlin Geurey_, “Spitlin’s Winter Feast day”, the
second feast of this unknown Saint.

December 6th.—_Laa’l Catreeney_, “Catherine’s Feast day” (old style).
On, or about, this day possession must be taken on the South side of
the Island of lands, when there is a change of occupier. A fair was
held on this day in the Parish of Arbory, when the following curious
distich was repeated:—

  _Kiark Catreeny maroo,
  Gow’s y kione,
  As goyms ny cassyn,
  As ver mayd ee fo’n thalloo._

  Catherine’s hen is dead,
  Take thou the head,
  And I will take the feet,
  And we will put her under ground.

If any one got drunk at the fair he was said to have “plucked a feather
of the hen.”

December 11th.—_Laa’l Andreays_, “Andrew’s Feast day.” On, or before,
this day possession must be taken on the North side of the Island,
under similar circumstances.

December 21.—_Laa’l Thomase_, “Thomas’s Feast day, formerly _Laa’l
Fingan_, “Fingan’s feast day”, St. Fingan, or Finnian, was the first
of the great Irish scholars, being especially devoted to the study and
exposition of Scripture. The following saying has reference to the eve
of this day: _Faaid mooar son Oiel Fingan_, “A large turf for Eve of
Fingan’s Feast.” It probably means that, as the Christmas festivities
were drawing near, it was necessary to have an extra large turf to
cook the fare for that feast. There is a weather saying with reference
to this time of the year, that “if the frost will bear a goose before
Christmas, it will not bear a duck after Christmas.” _Ny nee yn
rio gymmyrkey guiy roish yn Ollick cha nymmyrkey e thunnag lurg yn
Ollick._[93]

December 24.—Christmas Eve, in Manx _Oie’l Verrey_, a corruption of
_Oie feaill Voirrey_, “Eve of Mary’s Feast.” It was the custom for
the people to go in crowds to the Parish Churches on this evening
to attend a service, the main feature of which was the singing of
Carols, called in Manx _Carvals_, many of which were of portentous
length. Each one brought his or her own candle, so that the Church
was brilliantly illuminated. The decorations were of a very primitive
kind, mainly consisting of huge branches of _hullin_ (holly), and
festoons of _hibbin_ (ivy). After the prayers were read, and a hymn
was sung, the parson usually went home, leaving the Clerk in charge.
Then each one who had a carol to sing would do so in turn, so that the
proceedings were continued till a very late hour, and sometimes, also,
unfortunately became of a rather riotous character, as it was a custom
for the female part of the congregation to provide themselves with
peas, which they flung at their bachelor friends. On the way home, a
considerable proportion of the congregation would probably visit the
nearest inn, where they would partake of the traditional drink on such
occasions, viz., Hot ale, flavoured with spice, ginger, and pepper.
After this, the parting song commencing with—

  _Te traa goll thie dy goll dy lhie,
  Te tayrn dys traa ny lhiabbagh &c._

  It is time to go home to go to lie down,
  It draws towards bed-time, &c.

would be trolled out, and the last of the revellers would depart. The
_Oie’l Verree_ services are still continued, but are entirely shorn of
all their riotous accompaniments, while ordinary hymns, or short carols
sung by the choirs, have taken the place of the lengthy solos of the
past. Carols are also sung by bands, who go from house to house during
the week before Christmas, and receive a small Christmas-box, or some
refreshment, in return for their entertainment.

It was formerly the custom for fiddlers to go round in this way before
Christmas. They stopped and played at the houses where they thought
they were likely to receive a fee, wished the inmates individually
“good morning”, called the hour, and reported the state of the weather.
The custom of mumming at this season, formerly common, is now almost
moribund. The mummers, or as they are called in Man, “The White Boys”,
perform the time-honoured legend of “St. George and the Dragon”, which
has, however, became considerably modified. Both in England, Scotland,
and Ireland, it has been from an early day amongst the most popular
amusements of Christmas, and, till recently, continued to be so in Man.
The plot everywhere seems to be pretty nearly the same, though scarcely
any two sets of performers render it alike, as they constantly mix up
extraneous matter, often of a local nature, and frequently allude to
the passing events of the day, making the confusion of character in all
the versions very great.[94]

In this Isle the _dramatis personæ_—St. George, Prince Valentine,
King of Egypt, Sambo, and the Doctor—are attired in white dresses,
showing their shirt sleeves, fantastically decorated with ribbons,
fancy-coloured paper, beads, and tinsel. They wear high caps or turbans
of white pasteboard similarly decked out, with a sprig of evergreen or
“Christmas” stuck in them, and each carrying a drawn sword in his hand.
The “Doctor” is in _full black_, with face and cap of the same, armed
with a stick, and a bladder tied to the end, with which he belabours
those who press too close upon the performers. He generally carries a
small box for the contributions, and is a kind of Merry-Andrew to the
play, which, if it happens to fall in the hands of a sprightly wag,
causes some amusement to the audience, who, somehow or other, generally
appear more frightened than pleased with the rest of the characters.
The performance is often wound up by a song. The following was taken
down by W. Harrison as it was recited in his house at Christmas,
1845.[95]


 THE WHITE BOYS.


 _Dramatis Personæ._

  ST. GEORGE.
  KING OF EGYPT.
  PRINCE VALENTINE.
  SAMBO.
  A DOCTOR.

 Enter SAMBO.

  It is here by your leave, Ladies and Gentlemen,
  We will act a sporting play;
  We will show you fine diversion,
  Before we go away.
  It is room, room, brave gallant boys!
  Give us room to rhyme,
  We will show you fine diversion
  In this Christmas time.
  It is room, room, give us room to sport,
  This is the place we wish to resort—
  To resort and to repeat our pretty rhymes,
  Remember, good folks, it is the Christmas times.
  This Christmas time as we now appear,
  We wish to act our merry Christmas here;
  We are the merry actors that travel the street,
  We are the merry actors who fight for our meat,
  We are the merry actors who show pleasant play;
  Enter in the King of Egypt—clear the way!

  Enter THE KING OF EGYPT.

  I am the King of Egypt, and so boldly do appear,
  And St. George, he is my son, my only son and heir!
  Step forth, my son, St. George! and act thy part with ease,
  Show forth to all the living company thy praise.

  Enter ST. GEORGE.

  I am thy son St. George, and from England have I sprung,
  Many are the noble deeds and wonders I have done.
  Full fourteen years in prison I was kept,
  And out of that into a cave I leapt,
  From thence I went into a rock of stone;
  ’Twas there I made my sad and grievious (sic) moan.
  Many were the lions that I did subdue,
  I ran the fiery dragon through and through;
  With a golden trumpet in my mouth
  I sounded at the gates divine, the truth.
  It’s here to England, right from Egypt’s station,
  It is here I draw my bloody weapon.
  Show me the man that dare before me stand;
  I’ll cut him down with my courageous hand!
  Or, who dare challenge me to fight, and I so great?
  I who have fought Lords, Dukes, and made the earth to quake!

  Enter PRINCE VALENTINE.

  ST. GEORGE—Who art thou? poor silly fellow?

  VALENTINE—I am a Turkish champion, from Turkish land I came,
  I came to fight that valiant knight, St. George they call his name;
  For it is hereby my name is written, Prince Valentine,
  Descended from a hardy race and of a noble line.
  And soon St. George I’ll make thy lofty laurels flee,
  It shall not be said by all that I did yield to thee!
  We’ll fight it out most manfully. Draw!

  _They Fight._

  ST. GEORGE—The point of my sword is broke.

  VALENTINE—It happens so indeed! this night
  St. George is beat, he dare not fight!

  ST. GEORGE—Beat by thee! thou poor silly rook!

  VALENTINE—Fall in, Prince Actor.

  _They fight; St. George falls on one knee._

  KING OF EGYPT—O mortal stars! and skies of heaven above!
  What a thing it is for a man to lose his love!
  To strike that val’rous champion from the helm,
  And cursed be he, that did him overwhelm.
  O Sambo! Sambo! help me now in speed,
  For never was I in a greater need.

  SAMBO—O yea, my master! I soon will thee obey,
  With sword in hand I hope to gain the day.
  Art thou the knave that singly standest there?
  That slew my master’s only son and heir?

  VALENTINE—He challenged me to fight, and why should I deny!
  He cut my coat so full of rents and made my buttons fly,
  And if the rascal had had the honour to obtain,
  Why, sir! he would have served you the same.

  SAMBO—I’ll try if thou art born of noble race;
  I’ll make thy blood come trickling down thy face;
  And if thou dost another word against my master say,
  Right through thy yellow body I’ll make an open way.

  _They fight; and Valentine falls._

  KING OF EGYPT—O guards! come, take this dismal corpse away,
  For in my sight it shall no longer stay,
  O Doctor! Doctor! is there a doctor to be found,
  Can cure St. George of his deep and deadly wound?

  Enter DOCTOR.

  Oh yes! master, yes, there is a doctor to be found,
  Can cure St. George, thy son, of a deep and deadly wound.

  KING OF EGYPT—From whence come ye?

  DOCTOR—From France, from Spain, from Rome I came,
  I’ve travelled all parts of Christendom.

  SAMBO—Well spoken, Doctor!

  KING OF EGYPT—What can you cure?

  DOCTOR—All sorts of diseases,
  Whatever you pleases.
  All pains within, all pains without,
  The plague, the palsy, and the gout.
  The itch, stitch, and molly-grubs.
  I can cure all these deeds.
  All big-bellied maids,
  And such like jades.
  Likewise, I will pledge my life,
  I can cure a scolding wife;
  Let them be curst or ever so stout,
  If the devil’s in, I’ll blow him out.

  KING OF EGYPT—What is your fee?

  DOCTOR—Twenty pounds down is my fee,
  But half of that I’ll take from thee,
  If it is St. George’s life I save,
  That sum this night from you I crave.

  KING OF EGYPT—What medicine do you carry, Doctor?

 DOCTOR—I carry a little bottle in my pocket of rixum-raxum,
 prixum-praxum, with I-cock-o’-lory—a little of this to his nostrils.

  Rise up St. George! and fight again!

  _The Doctor performs his cure, and St. George rises._

  ST. GEORGE—Oh horrible! terrible! the like was never seen,
  A man drove out of seven senses into seventeen,
  And out of seventeen into seven-score,
  Oh horrible! terrible! the like was ne’er before.
  It was neither by a bull, nor yet by a bear,
  But by a little devil of a rabbit there.

  _The Doctor performs the cure on Valentine, who rises._

  VALENTINE—It is a kind of rough tough, coming up like a fly,
  Up the seven stairs, and down the lofty sky.
  My head is made of iron, my body made of steel,
  My legs are made of pipe-shanks, I’ll cause you all to yield.

  _Valentine and Sambo fight, when the King of Egypt interposes._

  KING OF EGYPT—Oh! oh! we are all brothers,
  Why should we be all through others?
  Put up your swords and fight no more,
  No longer in this house adore.

  DOCTOR—My box it is dumb and cannot speak,
  Please give us something for Christmas sake.

  _Exeunt omnes._

It is said, that on this Eve, at midnight, all the bullocks of seven
years old or more fall on their knees and utter a sort of groan,
and, that at the same time, the myrrh plant bursts into flower and
so continues for one hour, when it disappears again. My informant is
positive that he saw this latter phenomenon last Christmas Eve (1890).

To the superstitious Manx, one pleasant feature of this sacred season
generally, and of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in particular, was
that they were able to pass any haunted glen or road in perfect safety,
as, owing to the beneficent influence of Christ, no Phynnodderee,
Buggane, Witch, or evil creature of any kind could harm them.

_Christmas Day_, called _Laa Nollick_ or _Laa Nullick_, in Manx,
where _Nollick_ is probably a corruption of the latin _Natalicium_
“birthday”, is observed in the Isle of Man in much the same way as in
England, Scotland, and Ireland.

It is interesting to note that the church festival of Christmas was
placed at the same time as the Pagan feast of the winter solstice,
which was called the _Saturnalia_ by the Romans, and _Yule_ by the
Scandinavian nations, with whom the Isle of Man was closely connected.
The meaning of the word _Yule_ has given rise to considerable
controversy, the most probable interpretation being that of Ficke;[96]
who explains it to mean “noise”, or “cry”, especially the loud noise
of revelry and rejoicing. The heathen _Yule_ was certainly a great
time of merrymaking, and lasted for thirteen days, inclusive of the
6th of January. This merrymaking was to express their joy at the days
having reached their shortest limit on the 21st of December, when the
sun recommenced his upward course. The Church attempted to change the
heathen ceremonies into the solemnities of the Christian festivals, of
which it put as many as possible at this season. The result was, the
strange medley of Christian and Pagan rites, especially with regard to
the mistletoe and the _Yule_ log, which contribute to the festivities
of the modern Christmas.

“As soon as the prayers at the _Oiel Verrey_ are over”, says Waldron,
“Christmas begins, and there is not a barn unoccupied for the whole
twelve days—every parish hiring fiddlers at the public charge; and all
the youths, nay, sometimes people in years, make no scruple to be among
these nocturnal dancers.”

Every family that could afford it, had a special brewing called
_Jough-y-Nollick_, “drink of Christmas;” and as one brewing kettle
generally served a whole neighbourhood, it was in great request at
this time, hence the Manx proverb, “To go about like a brewing pan.”
The weather saying for this season is: _Ollick fluigh, Rhullick vea_,
“Wet Christmas, rich Churchyard”, _i.e._, wet weather at this time is
considered unhealthy.

December 26.—_Laa’l Steaoin_, ‘Stephen’s Feast day.’ On this day
the cruel but curious custom of Hunting the Wren is kept up. The
unfortunate bird was stoned to death; and there is, therefore, an
appropriateness in the Church festival commemorating the stoning of
St. Stephen being on the same day. This stoning of the wren, however,
if Waldron is to be believed, seems to have taken place on Christmas
morning 160 years ago, as he says, “on the 24th of December, towards
evening, all the servants in general have a holiday; they go not to bed
all night, but ramble about till the bells ring in all the Churches,
which is at twelve o’clock; prayer being over, they go to hunt the
wren, and after having found one of these poor birds, they kill her,
and lay her on a bier with the utmost solemnity, bringing her to the
parish church, and burying her with a whimsical kind of solemnity,
singing dirges over her in the Manx language, which they call her
knell, after which Christmas begins.” A writer of the early part of
the present century gives the following account of the origin of the
hunting of the wren:—

“It has been a pastime in the Isle of Man from time immemorial to hunt
the wren. It is founded on a tradition that in former times a fairy of
uncommon beauty exerted such undue influence over the male population,
that she at various times seduced numbers to follow her footsteps,
till, by degrees, she led them into the sea, where they perished.
This barbarous exercise of power had continued for a great length of
time, till it was apprehended the Island would be exhausted of its
defenders, when a knight errant sprung up, who discovered some means
of countervailing the charms used by this syren, and even laid a plot
for her destruction, which she only escaped at the moment of extreme
hazard, by taking the form of a wren. But though she evaded instant
annihilation, a spell was cast upon her, by which she was condemned on
every succeeding New Year’s Day, to reanimate the same form, with the
definitive sentence, that she must ultimately perish by a human hand.
In consequence of this _well authenticated_ legend, on the specified
anniversary, every man and boy in the Island (except those who have
thrown off the trammels of superstition), devote the hours between
sunrise and sunset, to the hope of extirpating the Fairy, and woe be to
the individual birds of this species, who show themselves on this fatal
day to the active enemies of the race; they are pursued, pelted, fired
at, and destroyed, without mercy, and their feathers preserved with
religious care; it being an article of belief that every one of the
relics gathered in this laudable pursuit is an effectual preservation
from shipwreck for one year; and that fishermen would be considered as
extremely foolhardy who would enter upon his occupation without such a
safeguard.”—(_Bullock, History of the Isle of Man, 1816._)

Kelly’s description of this custom at about the same period is as
follows:—“It is the custom of the inhabitants of the several parishes
to catch a wren, on this day, and parade with flags flying and music,
with the wren fixen upon the point of a long pole; and they oblige
every person they meet to purchase a feather,[97] and to wear it in
their hats for the day; in the evening they inter the naked body, with
great solemnity; and conclude the evening with wrestling and all manner
of sports. This is supposed to be in memory of the first martyr.”

The manner of celebrating this custom 50 years ago was described by
William Harrison as follows:—“This custom is still kept upon St.
Stephen’s Day, chiefly by boys, who at early dawn sally out armed
with long sticks, beating the bushes until they find one of these
birds, when they commence the chase with great shoutings following
it from bush to bush, and when killed it is suspended in a garland
of ribbons, flowers, and evergreens. The procession then commences,
carrying that ‘King of birds,’ as the Druids called it, from house
to house, soliciting contributions, and giving a _feather_ for luck;
these are considered an effectual preservative from shipwreck, and
some fishermen will not yet venture out to sea without having first
provided themselves with a few of these feathers to insure their safe
return. The ‘dreain,’ or wren’s feathers, are considered an effectual
preservative against witchcraft. It was formerly the custom in the
evening to inter the naked body with great solemnity in a secluded
corner of the Churchyard, and conclude the evening with wrestling and
all manner of sports.”[98]

Barrow gave the music of the song which follows in his _Mona Melodies_,
published in 1820, and the words were taken down by William Harrison
from a company of “Wren boys”, in 1843:—

[Illustration: HUNT THE WREN MANX AIR.]


THE HUNTING OF THE WREN.


  We’ll away to the woods, says Robin to Bobbin,
  We’ll away to the woods, says Richard to Robin;
  We’ll away to the woods, says Jack of the Land,
  We’ll away to the woods, says every one.

  What shall we do there? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  We will hunt the wren, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  Where is he? where is he? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  In yonder green bush, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  I see him, I see him, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  How shall we get him down? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  With sticks and stones, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  He is dead, he is dead, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  How shall we get him home? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  We’ll hire a cart, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  Whose cart shall we hire? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  Johnny Bill Fell’s, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  Who will stand driver? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  Filley the Tweet, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  He’s home, he’s home, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  How shall we get him boil’d? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  In the brewery pan, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  How shall we get him in? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  With iron bars and a rope, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  He is in, he is in, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  He is boil’d, he is boil’d, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  How shall we get him out? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  With a long pitchfork, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  He is out, he is out, says Robbin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  Who’s to dine at dinner? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  The King and the Queen, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  How shall we get him eat? says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  With knives and forks, says Robbin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  He is eat, he is eat, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  The eyes for the blind, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  The legs for the lame, say Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  The pluck for the poor, says Robin to Bobbin.
                            Repeat, etc.

  The bones for the dogs, says Robin to Bobbin;
  The bones for the dogs, says Richard to Robin;
  The bones for the dogs, says Jack of the land;
  The bones for the dogs, says every one.

  The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
  We have caught, St. Stephen’s Day, in the furze;
  Although he is little, his family’s great,
  I pray you, good dame, do give us a treat.

And so on, always chorusing with affected labour and exertion, “Hoist!
Hoist!”

Colonel Vallancy, in his _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, says, “The
Druids represented this as the king of all birds. The superstitious
respect shown to this little bird gave offence to our first Christian
missionaries, and by their commands _he is still hunted and killed by
the peasant on Christmas Day_, and on the following (St. Stephen’s
Day) he is carried about hung by the leg in the centre of two hoops,
crossing each other at right angles, and a procession made in every
village of men, women, and children, singing an Irish catch, importing
him to be the king of all birds. In several European languages his
name imports the same—as, Latin, _Regulus_; French, _Reytelet_; Welsh,
_Bren_, king; Teutonic, _Konig-Vogel_, king-bird; Dutch, _Konije_,
little king.”[99]

This kingly dignity is accounted for in the following curious
traditional tale, which is current in the West Highlands and in
Skye, and is also related in Grimm’s story of “King Wren”:—“In a
grand assembly of all the birds of the air, it was determined that
the sovereignty of the feathered tribe should be conferred upon the
one who would fly highest. The favourite was, of course, the eagle,
who at once, and in full confidence of victory, commenced his flight
towards the sun; when he had vastly distanced all competitors, he
proclaimed with a mighty voice his monarchy over all things that had
wings. Suddenly, however, the wren, who had secreted himself under the
feathers of the eagle’s crest, popped from his hiding-place, flew a few
inches upwards, and chirped out as loudly as he could, ‘Birds, look up
and behold your king;’ and was elected accordingly.” The meaning of the
Manx, _Dreain_, is uncertain, though Kelly[100] boldly derives it from
_druai-eean_. “the druid’s bird.”

Aubray relates in his _Miscellanies_ that, after a battle in the north
of Ireland, “a party of the Protestants had been surprised sleeping by
the Popish Irish were it not for several wrens that had just wakened
them by dancing and pecking on the drums as the enemy were approaching.
For this reason the wild Irish mortally hate these birds to this day,
calling them the devil’s servants, and killing them wherever they can
catch them: they teach their children to thrust them full of thorns;
you’ll see sometimes on holidays a whole parish running like madmen
from hedge to hedge a _wren-hunting_.” This is not the case in England,
where a kind of reverence is paid to these birds, for it is considered
unlucky to kill them or to destroy their nests, and it is supposed
that anyone doing so would infallibly, within the course of the year,
meet with some dreadful misfortune. This feeling is expressed by the
distich:—

  A robin and a wren,
  Are God Almighty’s cock and hen.

and an old poet says:—

  I never take away their nest, nor try
  To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die;
  Dick took a wren’s nest from his cottage side,
  And ere a twelvemonth past his mother dy’d!

W. Harrison, who gives the above quotations, adds:—“In the version as
printed of this song, it is given as recited at the time, but evidently
there are several expressions not in unison with the Manx idiom, which
only shows the difficulty of preserving in their original purity these
orally delivered songs, for each batch of minstrels are constantly
introducing something of their own. Thus, ‘Robin _to_ Bobbin,’ and
‘Jack _of the_ Land,’ should certainly be ‘Robin _the_ Bobbin,’ and
‘Jackey _the_ Land,’ being the particular designation by which they
were known, similar to what may be met with in many instances at the
present day, as ‘Billey the Bo,’ ‘Jackey the Cook,’ ‘Tom the Rock,’
etc. Other minor expressions might be noticed as ‘he is’ for ‘he’s,’
but the last verse is evidently belonging to an Irish version. The Manx
song terminates generally after ‘The bones for the dogs’ with—

  He’s eat, he’s eat, says Robin the Bobbin,
  He’s eat, he’s eat, says Richard to Robin,
  He’s eat, he’s eat, says Jackey the Land,
  He’s eat, he’s eat, says every one.

I have never met with a copy of dirges in the Manx language, said
to have been sung over the body at the interment, as is recorded in
Waldron’s History.”[101]

In Essex, the wren was killed and carried about in furze bushes, the
boys asking a present in these words:—

  The wren! the wren! the king of birds,
  St. Stephen’s Day was killed in the furze;
  Although he be little, his honour is great,
  And so, good people, pray give us a treat.

The following wren song is also met with at Waterford:—

  On Christmas Day I turned the spit,
  I burned my fingers—I feel it yet;
  Between my fingers and my thumb,
  I ate the roast meat every crumb.
      Sing, hubber ma dro my droleen.

  We were all day hunting the wren,
  We were all day hunting the wren;
  The wren so cute, and we so cunning,
  She stayed in the bush while we were a-running.
                      Sing, &c.

  When we went to cut the holly,
  All our boys were brisk and jolly;
  We cut it down all in a trice,
  Which made our wren boys to rejoice.
                      Sing, &c.

This custom is also found in Pembrokeshire, where it is practised
on 12th day, and at several places in the south of France on the
first Sunday in December. It is very remarkable that though in many
counties it was reckoned unlucky to kill the wren, yet it was killed
ceremonially once a year. This, taken into connection with the value
set upon the possession of a feather from the slain bird, points to a
sacrificial custom.[102]

In Man at the present day the bush decorated with ribbons and flowers
still survives, and the wren is occasionally found ensconced within it,
but the song has dwindled to a mere fragment.

December 27th, _Laa’l Eoin Nollick_, “John’s Christmas Feast day”,
and December 28th, _Laa’l ny Macain_, “Feast day of the Children (or
Innocents)”, are Church Festivals.

December 31st.—On the Eve of New Year’s Day it was a custom to fill
a thimble with salt and upset it on a plate, one thimble for every
one in the house. The plate was then carefully put by and examined
next morning; if any of the little heaps of salt had fallen or looked
untidy, then the person whom it represented would die during the year.

“In many of the upland cottages”, writes Train, “it is yet customary
for the housewife, after raking the fire for the night, and just before
stepping into bed, to spread the ashes smooth over the floor with the
tongs, in the hope of finding in it, next morning, the track of a foot;
should the toes of this ominous print turn towards the door, then, it
is believed, a member of the family will die in the course of that
year; but, should the heel of the fairy foot point in that direction,
then, it is firmly believed, that the family will be augmented within
the same period.” Another means of prying into futurity made use of on
this evening was to put the leaves of _hibbin_ or ivy in water. Each
of these leaves were marked by a member of the family, and, if any one
of the leaves was withered in the morning, it would mean death to its
owner during the year. It would seem probable, however, that the chance
of any of the leaves withering under the circumstances was a very
remote one. (see November 11th.)

It may be mentioned here that Tuesdays and Thursdays were considered
lucky days, and Fridays unlucky. A search through the Parish Registers
will show that weddings usually took place on Tuesday or Thursday, and
hardly ever on Friday. Nothing would induce the fishermen to go to sea
on Friday.

[Footnote 59: The meaning of this is, probably: may death, when it
comes upon you, find you as happy and comfortable as a mouse in a
well-stocked barn.]

[Footnote 60: Literally “without.”]

[Footnote 61: This, we hope, will shortly be published by the Manx
Society.]

[Footnote 62: This was probably a harvest custom, originally. See p.
122, also Chapter VII., where an attempt is made to explain the origin
of all customs connected with the animal or vegetable kingdom.]

[Footnote 63: The word _laa’l_ appears to be a contraction of
_Laa-feaill_ ‘feast day.’ F is a weak consonant in Manx, and when
aspirated it loses all its force. Phillips, in his Prayer book of the
early seventeenth century, spells this word _lail_, which shows its
origin more distinctly.]

[Footnote 64: Western Isles, p. 119.]

[Footnote 65: See Chapter VII.]

[Footnote 66: It will be seen that these tenures are not peculiar to
the Isle of Man from the following:

‘Grant of lands in Free Alms in the Isle of Lismore, with the custody
of the Staff of St Moloc.’


DEED OF CONFIRMATION.

To all and singular, etc. We, Archibald Campbell, feudatory, Lord of
the lands of Argyle, Campbell, and Lorn, with the consent and assent
of our most dear father and guardian, Archibald, Earl of Argyle ...
have granted, and as well in honour of God omnipotent, of the Blessed
Virgin, and of our holy Patron Moloc, and have _mortified_, and by
this present writing have confirmed to our beloved John McMolmore, and
the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten or to be begotten, all
and singular our lands ... in the Isle of Lismore ... with the Custody
of the Great Staff (Baculi) of St Moloc, as freely as the ... other
predecessors of the sd John had from our predecessors ... in pure and
free alms.’ (Dated 9th April, 1544).]

[Footnote 67: See Chapter VII.—Similar cakes were made in the little
island of St. Kilda, but on “All Soul’s Day”, November 2nd not Good
Friday.]

[Footnote 68: See Chapter VII.]

[Footnote 69: Kelly: Manx Dictionary, p. 15. Manx Society: Vol. XIII.]

[Footnote 70: See Chapter VII.]

[Footnote 71: Kelly’s (see Manx Dictionary) notion of a connection with
the Phœnician God _Baal_ is an evident absurdity.]

[Footnote 72: These extracts about Perambulations were taken from the
Ballaugh _Parochialia_, by the permission of its compiler, the late
Rev. W. Kermode.]

[Footnote 73: See Chapter VII.]

[Footnote 74: Cleasby and Vigfusson, Icelandic Dictionary.]

[Footnote 75: See story of “Origin of Arms of the Island.” Chapter III.
This custom of rolling down wheels was formerly practised in Bohemia
and central France.]

[Footnote 76: See Chapter VII.]

[Footnote 77: The date of this Court has only been changed to the 5th
of July since the alteration of the Calendar. For a full description of
it see “Manx Names”, pp. 261‒66.]

[Footnote 78: Manx Names, p. 210.]

[Footnote 79: See Chapter I.]

[Footnote 80: The Hibbert Lectures, 1888, p. 149.]

[Footnote 81: See Chapter VII.]

[Footnote 82: i.e., after the change of the calendar to the first
Sunday after the 12th of August.]

[Footnote 83: Kelly, Manx Dictionary, p. 129.]

[Footnote 84: See Chapter VII.]

[Footnote 85: Rhys’ Hibbert Lectures, 1886; p. 16‒17.]

[Footnote 86: This looks like some reminiscence of sacrifice and
feasting. See Chapter VII.]

[Footnote 87: Kelly, Manx Dictionary, p. 24.]

[Footnote 88: Kelly, Manx Dictionary, p. 14.]

[Footnote 89: Nuts.]

[Footnote 90: Lovingly.]

[Footnote 91: Watchful eye.]

[Footnote 92: Chimney.]

[Footnote 93: This is identical with an English proverb.]

[Footnote 94: This play is mentioned by Davies Gilbert, F.R.S., as
being popular in the West of England in his _Ancient Christmas Carols_,
London, 1822.]

[Footnote 95: Manx Society, Vol. XVI., p. 166‒171.]

[Footnote 96: Indogermanischen Sprachen, Vol. III., p. 245.]

[Footnote 97: See Chapter VII., and Manx Dictionary, p. 116.]

[Footnote 98: Mona Miscellany, Manx Society, Vol. XXI.]

[Footnote 99: Indeed the wren was called “King of birds” by almost
every European nation.]

[Footnote 100: Manx Dictionary, p. 67.]

[Footnote 101: Mona Miscellany, Manx Society, Vol. XVI.]

[Footnote 102: See Chapter VII.]

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER VII.

SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE SUN, ANIMALS, TREES, PLANTS,
SACRED EDIFICES, &C.


THERE is but little trace of superstitions connected with the great
objects of Nature, the mountains, rivers, glens, sea, &c., which were
probably regarded by the ancient inhabitants of Man merely with dumb
awe and reverence. But of their adoration of the Heavenly Bodies which
supplied them with light, and of the animals, trees, and plants, which
supplied their daily needs, there are significant traces.[103] Their
religion, like those of all primitive races, was, in effect, a vague
worship of the phenomena of nature, which they regarded as living
powers. Now, of all the phenomena which are visible to man, the Sun is
at once the most awful, beneficent, and mysterious. It is the source of
light and warmth, and, when it departs, darkness and cold follow. With
darkness, fear and death are associated, and with light, joy and life.
And as the sun is the source of light, it was considered the originator
and generator of life. The worship of the sun was a very widely
extended cult, a cult of which we have remains, even at the present
day, in the ceremonial observances at no less than four festivals
during the year. Of these, the one perhaps most distinctly connected
with solar adoration is the procession to the tops of the highest hills
on _Laa Lunys_ (the first of August, see p. 120); and as the connection
between the sun and fire is naturally intimate, so it is not improbable
that the fires called bonfires, which still light up the hill-tops
on the eves of the great festivals of _Boaldyn_, of Midsummer, and
of _Sauin_, have some connection with sun worship. A further reason
in support of this contention is afforded by the undoubted fact that
the practice of lighting these fires at such a time is evidently a
very ancient one, as in the eighth century, when the Christian synods
vainly endeavoured to put it down, it is described as having been in
vogue from a remote period. We have (in Chapter VI.) also referred to
the practice of leaping over these bonfires, and of driving cattle
through them; of rolling the fire-wheels, and of lighting fires to
the windward of fields. We have given the popular notion that these
ceremonies were performed with a view to driving away Fairies, Witches,
and all evil influences; and have alluded to the wide-spread notion
of the purifying power of fire. But, as we have just indicated, it is
probable that their object, in the earliest times, was the worship of
the sun; and it would seem that primitive man imagined that he could
thus influence or charm the sun into providing him with a due amount
of sunshine for his own welfare and that of his animals and crops; and
it would seem, also, that as the flames of these bonfires mimicked the
sunshine, they were supposed to promote fertility, for, as we have
already seen (in Chapter VI.) the crops were supposed to flourish
only as far as the bonfires were visible. These bonfires, according
to the testimony of Julius Cæsar, were used by the ancient Celts for
sacrificing human beings; and from another source we learn that it was
considered that the fertility of the year would be in accordance with
the number of victims. The funeral pyre of Balder, himself the sun-god,
being lit on Midsummer-eve, is significant of the same custom among the
Scandinavians; and, when we remember that the Gaelic Highlanders, as
late as the middle of last century, pretended to burn a man on their
_Need_-fires, a sign of the reality of the burning at an earlier epoch,
we may conjecture that a similar practice once prevailed in Man.

The Moon and the Stars, as mitigators of darkness, were also recipients
of adoration, but in a much less degree. As regards the moon, with
the exception of the belief that too much gazing at it would deprive
those who did so of their senses, the only superstitions left are in
connection with amatory questions. For it was supposed that, if the new
moon were invoked in due form, the applicant would learn in a dream the
identity of his or her future partner. But it was absolutely necessary
that this invocation, the words of which are unfortunately lost, should
be addressed to the moon in the open air, as, if it passed through
glass, there would be no response. It was also supposed that the best
time for marrying, or engaging in any important undertaking, was when
the moon was full.

As regards Animals, Trees, and Plants when, in previous chapters, any
mention has been made of the superstitions connected with them, we have
for the most part merely given the popular explanation of the sacrifice
of the former, and the use of the latter, on such occasions as the eves
of _Boaldyn_, _Sauin_, and Midsummer, _i.e._, as being charms to ward
off the influence of Fairies and Witches, or to expel disease; and,
in the absence of such explanation, we have refrained from giving one
of our own. But in this chapter, where all the superstitions on this
subject have been brought together, we propose to briefly investigate
their true primary connection, which, as already stated, is probably
with the earliest known form of religion, _i.e._, that of the worship
of the phenomena of nature.

It seems highly probable, indeed, that the belief in the efficacy of
such charms against Fairies and Witches, was encouraged by the early
teachers of Christianity as a means of diverting the minds of their
converts from their worship of nature or its spirit, personified by
animals and trees. Animal worship was at one time prevalent in every
part of the world; and it is clear that man considered some animals at
least superior to himself. A mild and distant reflex of this opinion
may possibly be found in the popular modern belief that some animals
“are wiser than Christians.” Dogs, for instance, are supposed to be
able to forecast a coming death, to recognise Witches, when men cannot,
and to understand human speech; and horses are accredited with seeing
ghosts when invisible to men. The luckiness or unluckiness connected
with certain animals is also possibly a remnant of this belief. It was
unlucky to meet a cat on New Year’s morning, but on other occasions
there seems to have been no particular significance attached to
this animal, though there was a hazy notion that it was, especially
if black, the companion of Witches. Magpies were lucky or unlucky,
according to the number of them that were seen. The popular distich on
this subject is:—

  One for sorrow, two for death,
  Three for a wedding, and four for a birth.

Ravens, too, had an uncanny reputation, but this may have been,
originally, because they were supposed to be Odin’s messengers; while
to see a hare cross a road was deemed very unlucky.

It is also possible that a survival of a belief in animal superiority
may have originated the confidence which still exists in their weather
wisdom (see p.148). After what we have stated with reference to the idea
of the superiority of some animals entertained by primitive man, the
undoubted fact that he sacrificed them will seem very curious at first
sight. But when we learn that this was thought to be the very highest
honour he could pay them, and the greatest kindness he could do them,
the aspect of the question is changed. It is true, of course, that
there were animals worshipped by some tribes which its members would
not venture to kill. This cult is called _Totemism_ as each tribe is
supposed to be of the kindred of its _totem_ or sacred animal, and to
kill, or kill and eat it, would be the height of impiety.[104] On the
other hand, there were animals which were worshipped on account of
their being killed and eaten. But they were not killed and eaten on
ordinary occasions, but only on certain festivals. And, as they thought
that all things must die, the gods included, they supposed that they
did particular honour to and conferred a benefit upon the victims they
sacrificed, by relieving them from the suffering and weakness attendant
upon old age; while the benefit to themselves was gaining a communion
with the Deity by eating his body and drinking his blood. A remnant
of this form of sacrificial worship perhaps occurs in the Manx custom
of “hunting the wren.” For we have seen that this bird was highly
honoured, being called almost universally the “king of birds”, and yet
once a year it was ceremonially slain, and its feathers distributed,
so that each might receive some benefit from its divine virtue. This
divinity of the wren is also indicated by the former practice of the
Manx fishermen not to go to sea without a dead wren to protect them
from storms (see p. 133).

The procession of the _laare vane_, “white mare”, on twelfth-night, and
at the harvest festival,[105] may also have some connection with animal
worship. For it seems probable that in Man as in St. Kilda, the “mare”
once possessed a hide, that pieces of this hide were plucked off like
the feathers of the wren, and that they were supposed to have similar
virtues. On Hollantide-eve, too, the last night of the old year, a
calf was sacrificed, as we have learned from the old ballad sung on
that occasion. And the bonfires at _Boaldyn_, Midsummer, and _Sauin_
formerly consumed sacrifices either of men or of beasts. But we have
not to go to tradition for instances of animal sacrifices, or even to
such ceremonies as the slaying of the wren, of which the symbolical
meaning has been lost; for we know, on the testimony of those now
living, that lambs were burnt in Man less than 50 years ago, and that
not even according to popular superstition for the discovery of Witches
or the expulsion of disease, but, in the words of the informants, _son
oural_, “for a sacrifice.” It seems possible, too, that the practice
of burning animals to discover Witchcraft, &c., really originated from
their being burnt for sacrificial purposes. In all these sacrifices
the notion of laying the sins of the people on the sacrificed was
probably present, and we have this more nearly represented in the
recent custom already alluded to,[106] of throwing diseased cattle,
like scapegoats, out to sea, so as to ward off the disease from their
fellows.

The curious superstition about the unluckiness of letting blood,
especially that of a king or person of high rank, fall on the ground,
may also have some sacrificial meaning. We have a historical instance
of this in Man, for it is remembered to this day that when _Iliam
Dhone_, William Christian, was shot at Hango Hill in 1662, blankets
were spread where he stood, so that not one drop of his blood should
touch the earth.

The equally curious notion that all nail and hair cuttings should be
carefully destroyed may have some connection with this species of
superstition, though the reason popularly assigned for this precaution
is that it is to prevent the Witches getting hold of them, and so
gaining power over their owners. Hair was formerly supposed to have
great sanative virtues, but why it was formerly considered obligatory
to hang a criminal by a hair rope, as the following story related to
Train will show, does not appear:—

“A malefactor, who had been condemned to suffer the extreme penalty of
the law, was taken from Castle Rushen to the place of execution, where
a great concourse of people were assembled from all parts of the Island
to witness a spectacle of rare occurrence. By an old customary law, it
was ordained that a person convicted of felony should be hanged by the
neck in a hair rope; but in the case alluded to one of the constituted
authorities had given orders privately that a hempen halter should be
substituted.... The innovation was discovered by some of the spectators
just as the convict was suspended from the fatal tree. The populace
instantly became so infuriated ... that they not only had well-nigh
killed the executioner for not publicly resisting such an infringement
of the ancient statute, but also, having cut down the felon in the
agonies of death, they even ... again hung up the dead body in a hair
halter.”

The prevalence of superstitions connected with Trees in past ages will
not be wondered at when we remember that Europe was formerly almost all
one vast forest. Its primitive inhabitants lived in small clearings
in this forest, and they must have been greatly impressed, not only
by the immensity of their surroundings, but by the great changes
produced in them by the seasons. The first approach of Spring, with
its budding leaves, must have filled them with wonder and joy, and the
approach of Winter, and the consequent decay of vegetation, must have
inspired them with equal wonder and sorrow. We cannot be surprised
then if they adored their mighty surroundings, and attributed their
natural changes to the agency of Deities or Spirits. In the Isle of
Man, trees seem always to have been rare, and perhaps this is why there
are so few tokens of any tree worship, though there are some signs of
an adoration of the reproductive power of Nature. Thus the invitation
to Bridget, on the first of February, to repose upon a rush or straw
couch,[107] is probably the remains of some ceremony connected with
the first revival of vegetation in Spring. On May-Day,[108] as we have
seen, branches of trees, especially of the Mountain-Ash, were strewed
upon the thresholds, a custom which is now supposed to be practised
as a protection against Fairies and Witches, but which was probably
formerly a method of invoking the reproductive power of Nature. For
trees were supposed to produce fertilising effects on both women and
cattle, and, according to Camden, the Irish “fancy a green bough of
a tree fastened on May-Day against the house will produce plenty of
milk that summer.”[109] We have already seen that the _Cuirn_ tree, or
Mountain-Ash, was regarded with special veneration. It was planted,
in common with the Thorn and the Ash (_unjin_), by the sacred wells
in Man. Some of these trees are still to be found in these positions,
and votive offerings have, within living memory, been placed on them.
The _Cuirn_ tree was considered an antidote to witchcraft, though this
scarcely explains why a stick of it was substituted, on Good Friday,
for the ordinary iron poker. Another significant ceremony, as showing
the adoration of nature, was the combat between winter and summer
which took place on May-Day (_Laa-boaldyn_); the latter, which was
represented by a young girl, decorated with leaves, being victorious,
and thus typifying the victory of Nature’s reproductive power.[110] In
the Isle of Man winter was represented by a man in winter garb, but in
some countries the defeated champion was dressed to represent death,
so that the contest was still more significant of the triumph over
decay. The Midsummer celebrations seems also to have been connected
with Nature as well as Sun worship, being intended as charms to promote
the fertility of the crops. The sacrifice of Balder, too, who was both
Oak-god and Sun-god, as typified by the bonfires which were formerly
made of oak wood, is significant of this connection; as is also the
probability that this was the day on which the _Druadh_ cut the
mistletoe, and thus enabled Balder to be slain.[111] For the oak which
was thus burned was universally considered the noblest of trees, and we
have seen that the object of ceremonial sacrifice received adoration.
But it is in our harvest festival that we have retained the most
characteristic survival of the adoration of the reproductive power of
nature, or of its spirit. For the last sheaf,[112] called the maiden,
and the little sheaf taken from it, called the harvest doll, were the
objects of much ceremony, and the fact of their being preserved till
the following harvest would seem to indicate a belief that the corn’s
life could thus be continued from one harvest to the next, and so
ensure lasting fertility. It may be noted, too, that the ceremony of
the _laare vane_, or white mare,[113] may have had some connection with
the last sheaf, as this sheaf is in some counties in England and Wales
to this day called “The Mare.”

The following superstitions about Animals and Plants are probably not,
except as regards the Weather-Lore to be derived from them, connected
in any way with Nature worship, so that the popular explanation of
their origin will suffice:—

The Hedge-hog and the Hare were tabooed, from their supposed connection
with Witches, who took their forms upon them. The former animal
was supposed to draw milk from cows, and the latter had a very bad
reputation, though no specific misdeeds were attributed to it.

Mr. P. M. C. Kermode writes as follows concerning superstitions about
the Hare:—“Here, as elsewhere, it is the object of superstition, and
seems to be a favourite form to be assumed by a Witch. Thus, while
labourers have been at work in a field they would see the dogs pursuing
a hare which would presently be lost to sight, in a few moments the
dogs would be observed to bark and whine around a man well-known to all
and suspected of being a Witch. Of course it was he who was pursued,
and, being hard-pressed, was forced to assume his normal form, to the
mystification of the dogs. Again, a man whose cattle were suffering
from some unknown cause would learn that a hare might be seen at a
certain hour every day in a particular spot. Suspecting the meaning
of this he would load his gun, having as the only sufficient bullet a
broken silver coin, and go in pursuit. Having shot the hare, he would
follow his dogs, and find them howling by the side of a stream, while
an ugly old crone would be seated on a boulder in the midst of it
nursing her broken leg and muttering curses. Again, dogs will give
chase to a hare, and, upon approaching it, stop suddenly and refuse
to go further, even though encouraged to do so. This, of course, is
because they recognise a Witch.”[114] This belief that a Witch when she
had turned into a hare could only be shot with a silver bullet was very
general. The following incident, which is said to have occurred about
30 years ago, will illustrate this:—A suspected Witch was successfully
convicted in the parish of Andreas by a sportsman, who, seeing a hare
crossing a field, fired and wounded it, and, when getting over a hedge
to secure his prey, he found that he had shot an old woman, who was a
reputed Witch.—_Oral._

At table, no one will turn a Herring; but, when one side is eaten,
the bone is taken away, so that the rest can be eaten: for to turn
the Herring would be tantamount to overturning the boat into which
it was drawn from the ocean if it then chanced to be at sea. When a
Cow had newly calved, she was driven over a burning turf to protect
her from evil influences. Anyone removing into a new house formerly
put in a Cock before taking possession, in order to thwart any bad
wishes that may have been expressed by the last inhabitant. There was
a superstition to the effect that the cross-bone of the head of a
_Bollan-fish_ would prevent anyone from straying from the most direct
road to any place to which he wanted to proceed, either by day or
night. Manx sailors seldom went to sea without one of these bones in
their pocket to direct their course at night or in hazy weather.

There is a firmly-rooted belief in the weather wisdom of animals; and,
apart from superstition, there is some reason for supposing that their
faculties in this respect are more acute than men’s. It is said that,
during the earthquake in the Riviera, in 1887, animals—especially dogs
and cats—were seen stealing out of the towns before the first shock
was felt. But, on the other hand, they frequently make mistakes, as,
for instance, when birds nest in an inclement spring, and consequently
lose their offspring. The following weather prognostics from animals
are still esteemed in the Isle of Man.[115] We may divide them into
prognostics of Storm, Rain, and Fine weather. _Storms_ will ensue when
Seagulls come inland and Rooks fly to the mountains; when Cattle and
Sheep seek shelter, and when the Porpoise,[116] or Herring-hog, is
seen gambolling round ships at sea. _Rain_ will follow when Sparrows
chirp, when Rooks and Herons[117] fly low, when Rats and Mice are
restless, and when many Bees return to the hive and none leave it.
_Fine weather_ is certain when Bats fly about at sunset, when Rooks,
Herons, and Larks fly high, when Seagulls fly out to sea, when Bees
are seen far from their hives, and Spiders spin their webs in the open
air. The few remaining weather prognostics from other sources may be
also conveniently discussed here. If the Hawthorn and Blackthorn have
many berries the ensuing winter is expected to be severe. Clover is
supposed to close up its leaves at the approach of a storm. A clear
Sunrise betokens fine weather, and so does a red Sunset; but a pale
Sunset is a sign of rain. The old Moon in the arms of the new is a
certain forerunner of storms. A Halo round the moon means rain. When
the Cumberland mountains are clearly seen, rain is expected.[118]

The following quaint tales about animals, though they do not
come strictly under the head of Superstitions, may certainly be
considered as belonging to Manx Folk-Lore:—The _Ushag-reaisht_, or
Mountain-plover, is a favourite both in song and legend. The following
ballad about it has been sung by Manx nurses as a lullaby, to the
same tune as that of “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush”, for many
generations:—

  1  _Ushag veg ruy ny moanee doo[119]
    C’raad chaddil oo riyr syn oie?
    Chaddil mish riyr er baare y dress,
    As ugh my cadley cha treih!_

    Little red bird of the black turf ground,
    Where did you sleep last night?
    I slept last night on the top of the briar,
    And oh! what a wretched sleep!


  2 _Ushag veg ruy ny moanee doo
    C’raad chaddil oo riyr syn oie?
    Chaddil mish riyr er baare y crouw,[120]
    As ugh my cadley cha treih!_

    Little red bird of the black turf ground,
    Where did you sleep last night?
    I slept last night on the top of the bush,
    And oh! what a wretched sleep!


  3 _Ushag veg ruy ny moanee doo
    Craad chaddil oo riyr syn oie?
    Chaddil mish riyr er baare y thooane,[121]
    As ugh my cadley cha treih!_

    Little red bird of the black turf ground,
    Where did you sleep last night?
    I slept last night on the ridge of the roof,
    And oh! what a wretched sleep!


  4 _Ushag veg ruy ny moanee doo
    Craad chaddil oo riyr syn oie?
    Chaddil mish riyr eddyr dad guillag,
    Myr yinnagh yn oikan[122] eddyr daa lhuishag.
    As o my cadley cha kiune!_

    Little red bird of the black turf ground,
    Where did you sleep last night?
    I slept last night between two leaves
    As a babe ’twixt two blankets quite at ease.
    And oh! what a peaceful sleep!

We have also a legend about this bird in connection with the _Lhondoo_,
or Blackbird;—

It is said that once upon a time the haunts of the _Lhondoo_ were
confined to the mountains, and those of the _Ushag-reaisht_ to the
lowlands. One day, however, the two birds met on the border of their
respective territories, and, after some conversation, it was arranged
to change places for a while, the _Ushag-reaisht_ remaining in the
mountains, till the _Lhondoo_ should return. The _Lhondoo_, finding the
new quarters much more congenial than the old, conveniently forgot his
promise to go back. Consequently the poor _Ushag-reaisht_ was left to
bewail his folly in making the exchange, and has ever since been giving
expression to his woes in the following plaintive querulous pipe:
_Lhondoo vel oo cheet, vel oo cheet?_ “Blackbird are you coming, are
you coming?” The _Lhondoo_, now plump and flourishing, replies—_Cha-nel
dy bragh, cha-nel dy bragh!_ “No never, no never!” The poor
_Ushag-reaisht_, shivering—_T’eh feer feayr. t’eh feer feayr!_[123]
“It’s very cold, it’s very cold!”

Another form of the same story is as follows:—The _Ushag-reaisht_
complains _giall oo dy horagh oo reesht_ “you promised you would come
back”; _ta’n traa liauyr, as cha vel oo ayns shoh_, “the time is long
and you are not here.” But the _Lhondoo_ replies _Cha jig dy bragh_,
“Will never come.”

The following is a quaint fancy derived from the notes of the
Blackbird’s and Thrush’s songs. The blackbird whistles _Gow as smook_,
which is Anglo-Manx for “go and smoke.” The thrush replies _Cha vel
thumbaga aym_ “I have no tobacco”, or literally “There is no tobacco
at me.” To whom the blackbird again—_kionney, kionney_, “buy, buy.”
The thrush is then forced to confess—_Cha vel ping aym_ “There is not
a penny at me”, and receives very bad advice—_Gow er dayl_, “Go on
trust”, but he closes the controversy by saying, _Cha der ad dou er_,
“They won’t give it me!”

The following tale is told of the Herring:—


HOW THE HERRING BECAME KING OF THE SEA.

Long ago the fish bethought themselves that it was time for them to
choose a king in case there might be disputes among them, for they
had no Deemster to tell them what was right, so they came together to
choose a king. No doubt they all tried to put on their best appearance.
It is said that the Fluke in particular spent so much time in putting
on his red spots, that when he arrived he found the election was over
and that the Herring had been made king of the sea. Upon hearing this,
he curled his mouth on one side and said, “A simple fish like the
Herring, king of the sea!”; and his mouth has been on one side ever
since. It is perhaps on account of this importance of the herring that
the Deemsters, in their oath, swear to execute the laws of the Isle “as
indifferently as the herring’s backbone doth lie in the midst of the
fish.”

There is a curious tradition that _all_ the following creatures pass
the winter in a torpid condition. They are seven in number, (though,
as will be seen, some of the names vary), and they are consequently
called _ny shiaght cadlagyn_, “the seven sleepers”, having, however,
no connection with the more famous seven of Ephesus. They are
_Craitnag_, “the Bat”; _Cooag_, “the Cuckoo”; _Cloghan-ny-cleigh_,
“the Stone-chat”; and _Gollan-geayee_ “the Swallow”; which are found
in all the lists; the others being _Crammag_, “the Snail”; _Doallag_,
“the Dormouse”; _Foillycan_, “the Butterfly”; _Shellan_, “the Bee”;
_Jialgheer_, “the Lizard;” and _Cadlag_, “the sleeper”, a mythical
animal.

We now come to the superstitions about Trees and Plants. The _Cuirn_
has already been discussed. The Thorn tree also, especially when it
grew to a large size, was regarded with veneration, there being a very
strong prejudice against cutting it down. It was supposed to be a
favourite haunt of the Fairies, and there are numerous anecdotes still
current of their being seen dancing in its branches.

The Elder tree, or _Tramman_, was vulgarly supposed to have been the
tree upon which Judas Iscariot hanged himself, and it was possibly on
this account that great reliance was formerly placed on its sanative
and mystical virtues. It was used as a charm for protecting houses and
gardens from the influence of Sorcery and Witchcraft, and, even at the
present time, an Elder tree may be observed growing by almost every
old cottage in the Island. Its leaves, like those of the _Cuirn_, were
picked on May-eve, and affixed to doors and windows to protect the
house from witchcraft.

It was supposed that if you trod on the _Luss-y-chialg_,[124] “Plant
of the prickle”, or St. John’s wort, after sunset, on St. John’s Eve,
a fairy horse would rise out of the earth and carry you about during
the whole night, only leaving you at dawn. The _Luss-ny-tree duillag_,
“Plant of three leaves”, or Shamrock, was said to be a cure for
toothache, and the _Luss-ny-ollee_,[125] “Plant of the cattle”, was
efficacious for sores in the mouths of cattle, as well as for toothache.

The _Luss-yn-aacheoid_, “Plant of the sickness”, or Purple
Meadow-button, was reckoned a preservative against the “Evil Eye.”

The _Luss-y-chellan_ is an herb which was said to keep milk from
turning sour, and butter from being discoloured.

The _Luss-ny-kiare-duillag_, “Four-leaved clover”, was efficacious
against the wiles of Fairies or of Witches, and so was the
_Bollan-feaill-Eoin_, “John’s Feast day plant, or Mugwort.”[126] This
yellow weed was gathered on Midsummer-eve, and made into chaplets,
which were worn on the heads of man and beast, who were then supposed
to be proof against all malign influences. Of the metals, Iron was the
only one invested with magical power. This notion probably took its
rise from a dim tradition of the period when the people who had iron
weapons overcame the earlier people of the stone and bronze ages. The
Fairies, as should be noted in this connection, were always supposed
to have used stone-headed arrows, the numerous flint arrow heads which
are found being supposed to be their weapons. The magical power of
iron, referred to above, is demonstrated in some of the legends already
given about the virtues of magic swords, and it will also be remembered
that an iron tongs sufficed to protect a newly-born baby from the
Fairies. In the days when iron was rare, it would either be an object
of veneration, or be viewed with suspicion. Mysterious virtues are, in
fact, attributed to it in the popular stories of many nations. Even at
the present day, a horse-shoe is hung up over the entrance door of a
house, a stable, or a cow-house, as a protection against the powers
of evil. We have already referred to the strange superstition against
using an iron poker to stir the fire on Good Friday. It is remarkable,
in this connection, that iron knives were never made use of by savages
in their sacrificial ceremonies, because they supposed that the spirits
objected to this metal. But for this very reason that the spirits
objected to it, it was used, as we have already seen, as a protection
against them. It is possible that the superstition against cutting a
child’s nails during the first year of its life may be connected with
this objection of spirits to iron.

The virtues of Salt[127] as a protection against Fairies, Magicians,
&c., were universally recognised. If milk were taken from a house, it
was considered necessary to put a pinch of salt in it, and this must
be done by the mistress to prevent the luck of the house going with
it. Fishermen will not lend any salt out of their boat, as to do so
is considered unlucky. Salt was also strewed about the threshold if
a woman were approaching her confinement, in order to drive away the
fairies. It was put into a child’s mouth at birth, and laid on the
breast of a corpse.

A white Stone was considered very unlucky, and nothing will induce the
fishermen to use one as ballast.


SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH SACRED EDIFICES.

In the first part of this chapter we have discussed the superstitions
which probably originated in the primitive Nature religion, and we
may now briefly refer to those which have had their origin in other
religions, especially the Christian. They are, for the most part,
connected with churches and _keeills_, and all ancient monuments
supposed to have been used for religious observances, which have
always been regarded with superstitous awe. Any sacrilege against
such edifices has always been considered by the Manx people as a most
serious sin which would bring certain punishment on the offender.

In the words of Bishop Wilson, “They have generally hated sacrileges
to such a degree that they do not think a man can wish a greater curse
to a family than in these words:—_Clogh ny killagh ayns corneil dty
hie mooar_, i.e., ‘May a stone of the church be found in the corner of
thy dwelling-house.’” Many stories might be told to illustrate this
feeling, but we must content ourselves with a few specimens.

About one hundred years ago a farmer, in the parish of Jurby, during a
violent storm of thunder and lighting, drove his sheep into one of the
ancient _keeills_. It was afterwards observed that he lost all the
lambs of that flock in the ensuing spring, and that many of them were
born monstrosities.

Not long ago a small windmill was erected for driving a threshing
machine, a portion of which was built of stones from an adjacent
_keeill_; but immediately it was set to work it went with tremendous
fury, and shook the whole of the premises, and had in consequence to be
taken down. The owner of the farm on which this windmill was situate
lost four head of cattle and three horses by disease within a very
brief period. All these calamities were attributed to the use of the
stones from the sacred edifice.

A portion of the roof of the _keeill_ on the Rhyne farm in Baldwin was
removed to a farm-house, but such unearthly noises resulted that it was
soon restored. A somewhat similar story is told of a stone which was
taken from St. Luke’s Chapel in the same neighbourhood to a farm-house,
but it had to be taken back, as those who lived in the house could not
sleep at nights for noises, sometimes resembling a calf bleating, and
at other times like a cart of stones being upset. At one time it was
placed on the earthen fence of an adjoining field, but the fence would
never stand, and the stone had to be removed again to the chapel.

Some years ago a farmer began levelling the _keeill_ on Camlork farm,
but he at once “took a pain in his arm, and had to stop work some
days.” Afterwards he continued his task, assisted by his wife and
daughter, the consequence was the two latter died soon after, and the
man became insane, and expired after living in that state for some time.

About thirty years ago a farmer put his sheep to graze in a field in
which there was a stone circle, the result in the following spring
being the same as in the case of the man who drove his sheep into a
_keeill_. About the same period two men were employed to remove the
stones from the circle at The Braid, in the parish of Braddan, in order
to build a wall with them. No sooner had they commenced operations than
one of them was seized with a terrible pain in one of his legs, and the
other was similarly afflicted in one of his arms. They at once desisted
and went home, but the leg of one and arm of the other were crippled
and useless for the rest of their lives. Stories are also told of
ploughs being broken without any apparent cause, when they were driven
too close to one of these circles. Even to appropriate a portion of
an old cist was sacrilege, as the following tale will show:—A man had
been tempted to take a large stone slab that formed the top of an old
cist for a lintel. No sooner had he done this than his cow sickened and
a calf died, and, more curious still, one of his hens was found dead
on her nest. He at once recognised that this was a just punishment for
the sacrilege he had committed and restored the slab to its original
position. After this, of course, all went well.

Even sacrilege of a milder kind was resented, as will appear from the
following show:—Some thirty years ago the churchwardens of Maughold
decided to put two steps to the communion rails of the church, instead
of one, which was very high. The labourers in taking away the old steps
disinterred a number of bones, which were left exposed during the time
that two of them were absent at dinner. The third, who remained and
took his mid-day (_munlaa_) dinner in the church, distinctly heard
sounds of whispering or murmuring (_tassaneagh_) all over the church.
When his fellows returned, they at once re-interred the bones, when the
whispering ceased.

But in the following, on the contrary, which is of quite recent origin,
there seems to be no resentment at all:—There was an old Roman Catholic
Chapel at the south end of Douglas, near the Castletown-road. When
this chapel was pulled down, a house was built on its site. The woman
who occupied this house with her husband, and who often used to sit up
waiting for him to return home till a very late hour, declared that
every night when the clock struck twelve she distinctly heard the
tramp of many feet entering the room where she sat. Then there was
silence, and after a time the sound of feet again. Doubtless this was
the arrival of the ancient worshippers at midnight mass, and their
departure from it.

As a proof of the simplicity and piety of the Manx, Vicar-General
Wilks, writing in 1777, states that they do not usually reckon the time
“by hours of the day, but by the _traa shirvaish_, i.e., the service
time, viz., nine in the morning, or three in the evening, an hour, two
hours, before service time, &c.”

Other superstitions connected with religion have already been
mentioned. They are the bowing of the sun on Easter Sunday morning; and
the lowing of the cattle and blooming of the myrrh plant at midnight on
Christmas Eve; the making of the branches of the _cuirn_ into crosses
on May-eve; the notions that the influence of Christ is a protection
from Fairies, &c., at Christmas time, and that children were more
especially liable to evil influences before baptism.

[Footnote 103: The question of the real origin and significance of
the ideas of primitive Man on these subjects is still obscure, and
the views given must be regarded as merely tentative. For an able
account of this question see “The Golden Bough”, by J. G. Frazer, M.A.
(Macmillan & Co.), from which the writer has derived some valuable
hints.]

[Footnote 104: Thus it was taboo for Cuchullin to eat his namesake, the
dog.]

[Footnote 105: Footnote missing in original.]

[Footnote 106: See p. 92.]

[Footnote 107: See p. 106.]

[Footnote 108: See p. 110.]

[Footnote 109: It seems probable that the practice of making these
branches into crosses is probably of Christian origin, and, therefore,
comparatively speaking of recent date, though it must be remembered
that the symbol of the cross was known before Christianity existed.]

[Footnote 110: See p. 112.]

[Footnote 111: According to the well-known myth, the beloved Balder was
invulnerable till pierced by the mistletoe.]

[Footnote 112: p. 122.]

[Footnote 113: pp. 104, 122.]

[Footnote 114: Manx Note Book. Vol. I., pp. 126‒7.]

[Footnote 115: NOTE.—It will be noticed that most of them are
common to many countries.]

[Footnote 116: _Yn Pherkin vooar_ in Manx.]

[Footnote 117: _Coar-ny-hastan_—“Crane of the eel” in Manx.]

[Footnote 118: There are some other bits of weather Folk-Lore which
have become proverbial, and will be found under the heading of
Proverbs.]

[Footnote 119: The first and third lines in the first three verses are
repeated three times, but in the last verse the first line only is
repeated.]

[Footnote 120: _Crouw_, “a bunch growing on one stem or
stalk.”—_Cregeen._]

[Footnote 121: _Thooane_, “a rib or lath on the roof of a house, under
the scraws.”—_Cregeen._]

[Footnote 122: _Oikan_, “The gradations from infancy to manhood are
marked by a copious variety of terms: _Oikan_, _Lhanoo_, _Paitchey_,
_Poinnar_, _Stuggyr_, _Scollag_, _Dooiney_.”—_Rev. W. Gill._ _Oikan_ is
the first stage of all.]

[Footnote 123: These words “_T’eh feer feayr_” exactly represent the
Plover’s shrill and piteous whistle.]

[Footnote 124: Hypericum perforatum.]

[Footnote 125: Pinguicola.]

[Footnote 126: Artemisia Vulgaris.]

[Footnote 127: See stories of “Fairy Dogs”, ch. III.; “Magician’s
Palace”, ch. V. and “New Year’s Eve”, ch. VI.]

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER VIII.

CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND
DEATH.


In the Isle of Man, as elsewhere, a number of curious customs and
superstitions have naturally grouped themselves about the important
events of Birth, Marriage, and Death.


BIRTH

From the birth of a child, till after it was baptised, it was customary
to keep in the room where the woman was confined, a _peck_, or wooden
hoop, about three or four inches deep, and about twenty inches in
diameter, covered with a sheep’s skin, and resembling the head of
a drum, which was heaped with oaten cakes and cheese, of which all
visitors may freely partake, and small pieces of cheese and bread,
called _blithe meat_, were scattered in and about the house for the
Fairies. The woman who carried the infant to church for baptism, was
also supplied with bread and cheese, to give to the first person she
met on the way, in order to preserve her charge from evil influences.
After returning from church, the remaining part of the day, and often
a great part of the night, was spent in eating and drinking, to which
“the whole country round” was invited, and they, in return, gave
presents to the child. If, after child-birth, a woman did not recover
her usual strength as soon as expected, she was then declared to be the
victim of an “Evil Eye.” (see p. 78.) Some neighbour is soon suspected
of having given the envenomed glance; and to counteract its malignancy,
a square piece was secretly cut out of some part of her garment, and
burnt immediately under the nose of the afflicted woman. This was
considered an infallible cure.—_Train._

The baby, also, was supposed to be especially liable to be affected by
the “Evil Eye” before baptism, and it was considered that the best
way to prevent this was to keep it constantly within the same room in
which it was born. Children were also supposed to be much more liable
to abduction by Fairies before the same ceremony. (see p. 34.) From the
time that a woman was delivered of a child, till thanksgiving for her
safe recovery was offered up by some divine, or until the consecrated
candle[128]—which was kept in her room at this time—was burnt, it was
deemed requisite, as a protection for herself against the power of evil
spirits, that she should keep her husband’s trousers beside her in the
bed, to prevent her infant being carried off by the Fairies, before
being secured from their grasp by baptism. A person was invariably
appointed for its special protection, and when she had occasion to
leave the child in the cradle she would place the tongs, which must be
made of iron, across it till her return.

Another specific to ward off evil from babies was to put salt in their
mouths as soon as possible after their birth. In connection with this
it may be noted that, as it was once the custom to expose infants in
order that they might die, this practice may have been resorted to
as a means of prevention. For, if the child had once partaken of any
food, it could not be exposed. It was deemed most unlucky to cut their
hair or nails before they were a year old, and, if it was done, the
fragments were carefully burned. A posthumous child was supposed to
have the gift of second-sight (see p. 162.); and the seventh son of a
seventh son, and a child born on Hallowe’en had powers of intercourse
with the unseen world.

A child born with a caul—a thin membrane covering the head—would
probably be notorious in some way. This caul was supposed to be
a preventive against shipwreck and drowning, and was accordingly
purchased by sailors. This idea of the value of a caul was wide-spread,
as would appear from numerous advertisements in the newspapers. One of
these, which appeared in the London _Times_ in 1835, was as follows:—“A
Child’s Caul to be disposed of, a well-known preservative against
drowning, &c., price 10 guineas.” And a caul has been advertised for
sale in a Liverpool paper in this year (1891).


MARRIAGE.

Waldron describes a Manx Wedding in his time, 1726, as follows:—“The
match is no sooner concluded than besides the banes (sic) of matrimony
being publicly asked in the Church three Sundays, notice is given to
all friends and relations, tho’ they live ever so far distant. Not one
of these, unless detained by sickness, fail coming, and bring something
towards the feast; the nearest of kin, if they are able, commonly
contribute most, so that they have vast quantities of fowls of all
sorts. * * *

They have Bride-men, and Bride-maids, who lead the young couple, as in
England, only with this difference, that the former have ozier-wands
in their hands, as an emblem of superiority, they are preceded by
musick, who play all the while before them the tune _The Black and the
Grey_,[129] and no other ever is used at weddings. When they arrive at
the Churchyard, they walk three times round the Church, before they
enter it. The ceremony being performed, they return home and sit down
to the feast; after which they dance in the Manx fashion, and, between
that and drinking, pass the remainder of the day.” This Marriage-Feast
was a lavish if not a sumptuous repast, and is described by the same
writer as follows:— “Broth is served up in wooden piggins, every man
having his portion allowed him. This they sup with shells called
_sligs_, very much like our mussel shells, but larger. I have seen a
dozen capons in one platter, and six or eight fat geese in another;
hogs and sheep roasted whole, and oxen divided but into quarters.”
These customs have now fallen into disuse. But the blowing of horns,
the day before and the morning of the wedding, is still continued.
It was formerly usual for the lover to employ a go-between called
a _dooinney-moyllee_, “a praising man,” to court and win over his
mistress to accept his addresses. It was also part of his duty to
get the parents to consent to the match, and to arrange the marriage
portion with them.

Train, writing about marriages fifty years ago, says that “when two
persons agreed to become united in matrimony, and this had been
proclaimed in the parish church on three several Sundays, all the
relations and friends of the young people were invited to the bridal,
and generally attended, bringing with them presents for the ‘persons
about to begin the world.’ Their weddings, as in Galloway, were
generally celebrated on a Tuesday or a Thursday. The bridegroom and
his party proceeded to the bride’s house, and thence with her party
to church—the men walking first in a body and the women after them.
On the bridegroom leaving his house, it was customary to throw an old
shoe after him, and in like manner an old shoe after the bride on
leaving her house to proceed to church, in order to ensure good luck to
each respectively; and if, by stratagem, either of the bride’s shoes
could be taken off by any spectator on her way from church, it had
to be ransomed by the bridegroom. On returning from church, the bride
and bridegroom walk in front, and every man, with his sweetheart, in
procession, often to the number of fifty. The expenses of the wedding
dinner and drink are sometimes paid by the men individually. It was
formerly the custom after the marriage had been performed for some of
the most active of the young people to start off at full speed for
the bridegroom’s house, and for the first who reached it to receive a
flask of brandy. He then returned in all haste to the wedding party,
all of whom halted and formed a circle. He handed spirits first to the
bridegroom, next to the bride, and then to the rest of the company in
succession, each drinking to the health of the new-married couple.
After this, the party moved onwards to the bridegroom’s house, on their
arrival at the door of which the bridecake was broken over the bride’s
head, and then thrown away to be scrambled for by the crowd usually
attendant on such occasions. The girls present were especially anxious
to secure a piece to place under their pillows, that they might dream
of their future husbands, as this ceremony is supposed to strengthen
the dreaming charm.” The writer has heard this ceremony somewhat
differently related by men still living, who have taken part in it.
They say that there was a race among the young men from the church
to the house, and that the first to arrive got the cake, and broke a
portion of it over the bride’s head when she reached the threshold.

In his notes on Customs and Superstitions in Vol. XXI. of the Manx
Society, William Harrison adds the following particulars to Waldron’s
account of Weddings, which, he says, obtained about 20 years before the
time he wrote (_i.e._, about 20 years after Train’s account):—“After
the ceremony, on coming out of the church, money is thrown amongst
the idlers, who generally congregate about, for which they scramble.
This is also done in passing any public place on the way home. On
returning home, some of the most active of the young people start off
at full speed for the bride’s house, and he who arrives there first
is considered best man, and is entitled to some peculiar privilege in
consequence. Occasionally, when the wedding party is attended by their
friends on horseback, some severe riding takes place, and it is well if
all ends without an accident. After the feast the remainder of the day
is spent with the utmost hilarity in dancing and other amusements.”


DEATH.

Many were the omens which preceded the solemn event of death. If
the dogs howled more loudly than usual, if the deathwatch[130] was
distinct in the sick person’s room, if his or her wraith was seen
by anyone, and if the strains of the funeral psalm were heard, then
death was near. When death ensued the corpse was laid on what was
called a “straightening board”, a trencher with salt[131] in it and a
lighted candle were placed on the breast, and the bed, on which the
straightening board lay, was generally strewed with strong scented
flowers. It was then waked, as we shall see, and carried to the grave,
wrapped in a winding-sheet and on an open bier (_carbad_, in Manx).
With regard to this winding-sheet, Merick, who was Bishop of Man from
1577 to 1600, and who supplied Camden with a brief account of the Isle
for his _Britannia_, made the extraordinary statement that the women
of the Island wore them during their lives to remind them of their
mortality. This was contradicted by later historians, who pointed out
that these so-called shrouds were merely the blankets, plaids, or
shawls which the women habitually wore. Waldron wrote about death and
funerals in Man 160 years ago as follows:—

“When a person dies, several of his acquaintances come and sit up with
him, which they call the Wake[132] (_Farrar_, in Manx). The Clerk of
the Parish is obliged to sing a Psalm, in which all the company join;
and after that they begin some pastime to divert themselves, and
having strong beer and tobacco allowed them in great plenty.... As to
their Funerals, they give no invitation, but everybody, that had any
acquaintance with the deceased, comes either on foot or horseback. I
have seen sometimes at a Manks burial upwards of a hundred horsemen,
and twice the number on foot: all these are entertained at long tables,
spread with all sorts of cold provision, and rum and brandy flies about
at a lavish rate. The procession of carrying the corpse to the grave is
in this manner: When they come within a quarter of a mile from Church,
they are met by the Parson, who walks before them singing a psalm, all
the company joining with him. In every Churchyard there is a cross
round which they go three times before they enter the Church. But these
are the funerals of the better sort, for the poor are carried only on
a bier,[133] with an old blanket round them fastened with a skewer.”

There were formerly crosses on the roads leading to the Parish
Churches. When funerals passed, “the corpse”, says Train, “was usually
set down at these stones, that all the people attending might have an
opportunity of praying for the soul of the deceased.” He also tells us
that “one of this description was lately to be seen at Port-y-Vullin,
on the wayside leading from Ramsey to St. Maughold, and another near
Port Erin.” It would seem that before 1594, when it was forbidden
by Statute, it was customary to carry bells and banners before the
dead. Colonel Townley, who visited the Island towards the end of the
eighteenth century, describes a funeral entertainment as follows:
“The concourse of people, upon the occasion, was wonderful, and the
quantity of provisions prepared ... was as wonderful; but not more so
than the speedy mode of dispatching them; for the people of this Island
(I mean the country farmers and their good wives, together with many
handicraft-people) esteem a funeral attendance as one of their very
first entertainments.”

Lord Teignmouth, when in the Isle of Man in 1835, was informed that
persons walking in the neighbourhood of a Churchyard sometimes found
themselves entangled in a crowd, which suddenly vanished—a sign that
foreboded a funeral. It was supposed that when the funeral hymn was
sung in a low key that it was a sign of another death.

It is a practice at the present day for the relatives of the deceased
to attend the parish church the next Sunday but one after the funeral
and to sit down throughout the service.


SECOND-SIGHT.

Closely connected with death is the curious superstition about
_Second-sight_, because it is with reference to death that its visions
almost always occur. It may be defined as the faculty of seeing future
events by means of a spectral exhibition of the persons to whom such
events relate, accompanied with signs denoting their fate. This
superstition is more prevalent among Gaelic peoples than others. Dr.
Johnson, when on his tour in Scotland and the Western Isles, remarks
upon it as follows:—“Second-sight is an impression made either by
the mind upon the eye, or by the eye upon the mind, by which things
distant or future are perceived and seen as if they were present....
Things distant are seen at the instant when they happen. This receptive
faculty, for power it cannot be called, is neither voluntary nor
constant. The appearances have no dependence upon choice; they cannot
be summoned, detained, or recalled—the impression is sudden, and the
effect often painful.” People who have a hairy cross on their breasts,
or whose eyebrows meet, often have the faculty of _Second-sight_, and
so, as we have already seen, had those of posthumous birth. Such people
if they go into a Churchyard on the Eves of the New Year, of St. Mark’s
Day and of Midsummer Day can tell who will be buried in it during the
ensuing year. A child whose eye touches water in baptism has no chance
of becoming second-sighted.

The belief in the faculty of _Second-sight_ was formerly very prevalent
in the Island. According to Higden, it was the reputed prerogative of
Manxmen, for he says, “There, ofte by daye time, men of that Islande
seen men that bey dede to fore honde, byheeded or hole, and what dethe
they dyde. Alyens setten there feet upon feet of the men of that
londe for to see such syghts as the men of that londe doon.”[134]
Sacheverell, who was Governor of the Isle of Man from 1692‒1696, says
that this power was sometimes derived by inheritance, and transmitted
from father to son, and he remarks that there were people who would
attest to having seen apparitions of funeral solemnities on the
large barrow called “Fairy Hill” in Rushen. He does not altogether
believe in this, however, “but as to the light being generally seen
at people’s deaths, I have some assurances so probable, that I know
not how to disbelieve them; particularly an ancient man, who has been
long clerk of a parish, has affirmed to me that he almost constantly
sees them upon the death of any of his own parish; and one Captain
Leathes, who was chief magistrate of Belfast, and reputed a man of
great integrity, assured me that he was once shipwrecked on the
Island, and lost the greater part of his crew; that when he came on
shore the people told him he had lost thirteen of his men, for they
saw so many lights going toward the church, which was the just number
lost. Whether these fancies proceed from ignorance, superstition, or
prejudice of education, or from any traditional or veritable magic,
which is the opinion of the Scotch divines concerning second-sight; or
whether nature has adapted the organs of some persons for discerning of
spirits, is not for me to determine.” This belief is not yet extinct,
for “corpse-lights” seen about the bed of the patient are still
supposed to be the certain forerunners of death.[135]

Bishop Wilson gives, in his Pocket-Book, the following instance of a
supernatural warning:—“Mar., 1721. Two boats of Ballaugh, being at sea,
but not any distance without hearing each other, y^e men in each boat
heard a voice very distinctly repeating these words—“Churr hoods,” a
term used by fishermen to raise the anchor. They immediately did so,
and well it was for them, for a violent storm arose in half-an-hour’s
time, so y^t as it was they had enough to save their boat and their
lives. This is well attested. N.B.—Mr. Corlett assured me y^t the very
same thing happened once to the boat he was in, only with the addition
y^t y^e master of y^e boat saw y^e appearance of a man.”[136]

It was formerly supposed, as already stated, that families had
_Second-sight_ by succession, and it was also supposed that the only
way to be freed from it was by a man who had it marrying a woman
affected in the same way. Waldron, who gives several instances of the
possession of this faculty, was evidently much impressed by them, as
he declared himself “positively convinced by many proofs.” He stated
that the Manx consider that the warnings caused by these mock funerals
were the work of friendly demons, who even condescended to warn a host
of the arrival of an unexpected guest, and servants of the return of
a master who had not been expected. “As difficult as I found it”, he
says, “to give any faith to this, I have frequently been very much
surprised, when, on visiting a friend, I have found the table ready
spread and everything in order to receive me, and been told by the
person to whom I went, that he had knowledge of my coming, or some
other guest, by those good natured intelligencers. Nay, when obliged
to be absent some time from home, my own servants have assured me they
were informed by these means of my return, and expected me the very
hour I came, though, perhaps, it was some days before I hoped it myself
at my going abroad.”

He then gives the following account of


MOCK FUNERALS.

“The natives of this Island tell you that before any person dies, the
procession of the funeral is acted by a sort of beings which, for that
end, render themselves visible. I know several that, as they have been
passing the road, one of these funerals has come behind them, and even
laid the bier on their shoulders, as though to assist the bearers. One
person, who assured me he had been served so, told me that the flesh of
his shoulder had been very much bruised, and was black for many weeks
after. There are few or none of them who pretend not to have seen or
heard these imaginary obsequies (for I must not omit to say that they
sing psalms in the same manner as those do who accompany the corpse of
a dead friend), which so little differ from real ones that they are not
to be known till both coffin and mourners are seen to vanish at the
church doors.”

[Footnote 128: The churching of a woman, in the Manx language, is
called _lostey-chainley_, from the practice of burning a candle, in
former times, during this service.]

[Footnote 129: This was a popular tune in the time of Charles II., and
it continued in vogue till the end of the last century.]

[Footnote 130: This sound was really produced by a small wood-moth.]

[Footnote 131: Sometimes earth as well as salt was laid on the corpse,
the former being an emblem of the corruptibility of the body, the other
of the incorruptibility of the soul.]

[Footnote 132: Watching with the dead was an ancient custom of the
Church. Pennant, in his _Tour of Scotland_, speaks of it as follows:
“The evening after the death of any person, the relations or friends
of the deceased meet at the house attended by bag-pipe or fiddle; the
nearest of kin, be it wife, son, or daughter, opens a melancholy ball,
dancing and greeting (_i.e._, crying) at the same time.”]

[Footnote 133: Burial in coffins, as a universal custom, did not begin
in England before the end of the seventeenth century.]

[Footnote 134: Polychronicon, A.D. 1482, Rolls series.]

[Footnote 135: Its frequency in earlier times may be reasonably
attributed to the greater prevalency of marshy ground over which such
phenomena as the _ignis fatuus_, or Will-o’-the-wisp, would often be
seen.]

[Footnote 136: Manx Note Book, Vol. II., p. 87.]

[Illustration]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER IX.

CUSTOMS FORMERLY ENFORCED BY LAW.


It may possibly be considered that the above heading is a contradiction
in terms, for, as Dr. E. B. Tylor remarks, “the distinction between a
law and an authoritative custom may be best drawn with reference to the
manner in which Society compels obedience to it. If a judge or tribunal
declares the rule, and punishes its infraction, it is a law; if it is
left loosely to public opinion to practically accept the rule, and to
visit those who disobey with blame, insult, and social exclusion, it is
a custom.”[137] But many of the following customs originated in popular
usage long before there was any law to enforce them; and they could
only have continued, without being enforced by law, as long as popular
opinion was unanimously in their favour. When a majority only favoured
them, there would have been a difficulty in compelling obedience to
them without law, and, when popular opinion had pronounced against
them, no law would have availed to put them in force. They are now,
though some of them still remain unrepealed in the Statute Book, all
obsolete.


WATCH AND WARD.

One of the duties most strongly enforced by law was that of keeping a
look-out for the approach of enemies, or of _Watch_ and _Ward_, as it
was called. We find the Deemsters, in 1417, informing Sir John Stanley
that it was one of the constitutions “of old time” that every man was
liable to perform the duties of “Watch and Ward” upon pain of life and
limb, “for whosoever fails any night in his ward forfeiteth a wether to
the warden;[138] and to the warden the second night a calve; and the
third night life and lymb to the Lord.” In 1594 the duty of “Watch and
Ward” was the subject of the following strict orders:—“Whereas the safe
keeping of this Isle consisteth in the dutiful and careful observance
of Watch and Ward, without which the Lord can never be well defended,
nor the people live in safety; therefore, be it ordained that all Watch
and Ward be kept according to the strict order of the law; and that
none be sent thither but such as are of discretion, and able to deserve
(sic) to be careful; and that the night watch shall come at the sun
setting, and not depart before the sun rising; and that the day watch
shall come at the sun rising, and not depart before the sun setting.”
This “Watch and Ward” was kept on various points of vantage round the
coast, where the existence of watch stations is still recorded by such
names as _Cronk-ny-Arrey_, “Hill of the Watch”, and _Cronk-ny-Arrey
Laa_, “Hill of the Day Watch.”


CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH LAND TENURE.

We have already mentioned the Tenure by the presentation and custody
of a Saint’s Staff under St. Patrick’s Day (see p. 108.); the following
customary payments are also noteworthy: An ox was formerly exacted
from the tenants of the Bishop’s Barony on the installation
of each Bishop, as will be seen by the following extract from the
ecclesiastical records:—

“1646. At this court it was most graciouslie offered by the right
Hono^{ble} the Lord of the Island that for as much by antient custome
the tenants of the B^{ps} Lands were accustomed to pay at the change of
euery B^{op} an oxe or fortie shillings in money out of every quarter
land that now such y^e tenants shall have twentie yeares term from y^e
death of y^e last Lord B^{op} for their payings of y^e said dutie of
one oxe or xl^s out of every quarter land unto his L^{op.} Provided
that if there shall happen to bee any B^{op} enstalled in this Island
w^{th} in the said tearme such their paym^{ts} shall be & stand during
y^e life of that B^{op} & his Lo^{rp} & his heyres shall free them of
the said duties from that B^{op.} Which motion was consented unto by
such of the said tenants whose names are under written that they will
pay xl^s out of every quarter.” This exaction was not confined to the
Barony, as there are other estates which formerly made the same payment.

A portion of the estate of Kirby, in the parish of Braddan, was
formerly held on the tenure of lodging the Bishop whenever he left the
Island or came to it. This was commuted about two hundred years ago
for the very moderate sum of ten shillings. All rents and tithes were
formerly paid in kind, the apportionment of which often occasioned
considerable difficulty. An amusing case with reference to this appears
in the records two hundred years ago:—A portion of a farm had been
washed away by the Sulby river, and, consequently, the rent was reduced
by one-fourth, which, as the report of the proceedings informs us,
resulted in “great inconvenience in making allowance of the fourth part
of a goose or hen.” Labour rents, called _Boons_, are still legal, but
are not enforced. It may be mentioned that there are traces of the
_Open Field_ system in Man, but the elucidation of this would be out of
place in a book devoted to Folk-Lore.


JURY FOR SERVANTS.

There was a rural tribunal called the “Jury for Servants”, which
possessed the power of compelling the service in agriculture of persons
whom they considered as unemployed. In 1577, the Deemsters gave as
the customary law “that, if any of the Lord his tennants be destitute
of servants, and come and make his complaint to the Deemster that he
can get none to occupy my Lord his land withall, then the Deemster is
to send to the Coroner and to the Lockman of every parish, and then
to swear four honest men in every parish to enquire first of vagrant
servants.” These juries were to “be impannelled all times in the yeare
as often as there will be just cause for the same; and that the vagrant
servants by the said jurors found be first made liable and put to
service, otherwise to suffer punishment till they submitt.”


CUSTOM ABOUT SERVANTS GIVING NOTICE.

By customary law, servants wishing to leave their masters at the
expiration of their agreement were required to give notice of their
intention on a certain day; “but lest the master might happen to be
from home, or might absent himself in a deceitful manner, to take
advantage of the servant; in either case the servant may repair with
a competent witness to the place where the master usually sits, at
the hearth or at meat, and there make a nick with his knife in such
master’s chair; or, if the door should be shut against him, he may make
a nick in the threshold, which shall be authentic in law against such
master.” A similar law was put on record in the Statute Book, in 1665;
but without the obligation of making the “nick.”


YARDING.

A curious privilege, called Yarding, was conferred by an ancient
customary law on the Deemsters, Moars, Coroners, and Serjeants of
Baronies, which enabled them to compel people to enter into their
service at a trifling fee, fixed by law. The ceremony was performed
by an officer called the Sumner, who laid a straw over the shoulder
of the person so required, and said, “You are hereby Yarded for the
service of the Lord of Man, in the house of his Deemster, Moar,
Coroner, or Serjeant of Barony;” at the same time repeating the name
of the person requiring such servant. Persons refusing to comply
with this requisition were committed to prison, and there kept on a
daily allowance of one barley cake and a pint of water, “till they
yielded obedience to perform their service.” Such Yarded servants
were “proclaimed and made known at the parish church or cross ... the
Sunday next after the day of Yarding aforesaid, whereby the farmers
may the timelier know to provide themselves with other servants.” All
vicars and members of the House of Keys were allowed their “bridge and
staff”, which implied that their servants should not be taken from
them by Yarding. It was a customary ordinance that the porridge or
_sollaghyn_ of Yarded servants should be so thick that the pot-stick
would stand upright in the centre of the pot immediately before dishing
the porridge; and the cakes given to them were required to be as thick
as the length of a barley-corn.

The law instituting Yarding has long since been repealed.


THE DEEMSTER’S OATH.

It is well known that the Celts formerly reckoned not only the night
with which the week or any period began, but also the night with which
it ended. A curious instance of this method of reckoning occurs in the
Deemster’s oath, in which the six days of creation have been made into
six days and seven nights. It runs thus: “By this book, and by the holy
contents thereof, and by the wonderful works that God hath miraculously
wrought in heaven above and in the earth beneath in six days and seven
nights, I, A.B., do swear that I will, without respect of favour or
friendship, love or gain, consanguinity or affinity, envy or malice,
execute the laws of this Isle justly, betwixt our Sovereign Lord the
King, (or Lady the Queen), and his or her subjects within this Isle,
and betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring backbone
doth lie in the midst of the fish.” Of late years it has been the
practice to make the ‘six days and seven nights’ into ‘six days and six
nights.’


LEGAL PURGATION.

By the statute of 1665 we learn that the Manx Legislators encouraged
legal purgation in general, especially that form of it which is thus
described in the tenth ecclesiastical customary law:—“He that enters
his claim within the year and a day after the probate of the Will ...
without bill, bond or evidence, shall prove the same upon the grave
of him or her from whom the debt was due, with lawful compurgators
according to the ancient form; that is to say, lying on his back
with the Bible on his breast, and his compurgators on either side.”
This compurgation seems to have been only prescribed in default of
documentary evidence. In 1609 it had been denounced by the temporal
authorities as “not fitting nor Christian-like”, but the then bishop,
Phillips, vigorously protested against this view in a letter written in
that year to the Earl of Salisbury, who was then one of the guardians
of the Island, in which he says—“one of our best lawes (the nature of
that people considered), vizt., the oath for swearing on the grave, in
case where there is not specialty he (The Governor) hath abrogated,
and prescribes us some others not so convenient nor with so good a
conscience to be used of us, seeing they want their due allowance
and forme, vizt. generall consent upon good advice and the Lord’s
approbation.” To this the Governor and Legislature replied that “the
swearing of and upon the grave of the dead was unfitting and caused
much wrong to be done to poor orphanes and simplest of friends.”
Nevertheless the Bishop’s view was to prevail for sometime longer, for
we find the following case in 1616:—“M^d that M^r Christopher Younge
chaplaine of the Castell of Rushen left in his last will that M^r
Thomas Samsburie Demster did owe unto him The sum of sevene pounds
and M^{rs} Jaine Samsbuerie weiff to the said Tho Samsbuerie twelve
shillings neine pence The said Thomas and Jaine came to the Grave of
the forsaid Christopher and die lie upon theire backes w^{th} y^e bibel
on their brest w^{th} theire compurgatours and did sweare that they
ought (_sic_) him nothinge when they did recken w^{th} the Executore
and immediately the same daye being the second of July Ano 1616 they
did recover of the Executore vij^s ij^d after the accounte was made by
me Ed^w Caloe Vic^r (of Malew);” and, as we have seen above, purgation
was included in the ecclesiastical laws in 1665. Moreover, as we shall
see below. Bishop Wilson, in the eighteenth century, approved of it and
quoted Exodus xxii., 11., and Leviticus v., 1., in its favor.


THE STOCKS.

The Stocks were in vogue in the Isle of Man, as elsewhere, and we find
that in 1610 it was “by generall consent as aforesaid proclaimed,
that as oft as any man or woman shall be found drunk hereafter, the
Party soe offending, if not of ability to pay a fine, shall be for the
first time punished in the Stocks, the second time to be tyed to the
Whipping Stocks, and the third time to be whipped therein.” By another
law passed in 1655 it was enacted that, “If any servant hire more
than twice, he shall be whipped at the parish church on Sunday, or at
the market in the Whipping Stocks.” This punishment, though long since
obsolete, was not legally abolished till 1876.


THE PILLORY.

The Pillory was also an Insular institution. So late as 1757 it was
ordained by the Marriage Act that any stranger convicted of having
solemnized marriage without licence or previous banns was to “be
publickly exposed with his ears nailed to a Pillory to be erected for
that Purpose at Castletown Cross upon the next Court Day of General
Gaol Delivery after such conviction at twelve o’clock at noon, and
there to remain for the space of one hour, when his ears are to be cut
off and remain on the said Pillory”, &c. This was repealed in 1849. By
the 72nd ecclesiastical law “whosoever shall swear an oath (by taking
the name of God in vain) shall for the first time pay 12 pence, and
sit one hour in the Stocks; for the second time two shillings, and so
double to be for every such offence, to be levyed by the churchwardens
and afterwards disposed of by the ordinary to pious uses.”


THE WOODEN HORSE.

Another curious punishment was being whipped on the Wooden Horse. Thus
we find among the laws passed in 1629: “Whosoever shall be found or
detected to pull Horse Tayles shall be punished upon the Wooden Horse,
thereon to continue for the space of two hours and to be whipped naked
from the waist upwards.”


BISHOP WILSON ON PECULIAR LAWS AND CUSTOMS.

Bishop Wilson tells us in his History of the Isle of Man that “there
are a great many laws and customs which are peculiar to this place and
singular” in his time (1697‒1755), and he proceeds to enumerate them as
follows:—

“The eldest daughter (if there be no son) inherits, though there be
more children.”

“The wives, through the whole Island, have a power to make their wills
(though their husbands be living) of one-half of all the goods movable
or immovable; except in the six northern parishes, where the wife, if
she has had children, can only dispose of a third part of the living
goods; and this favour, tradition saith, the south-side women obtained
above those of the north for their assisting their husbands in a day of
battle.” (This is said to be the battle of Stantwat, in 1098, between
the north and south Manx.)

“A widow has one half of her husband’s real estate, if she be his first
wife, and one-quarter if she be the second or third; but if any widow
marries, or miscarries, she loses her widow-right in her husband’s
estate.”

“When any of the tenants fell into poverty, and were not able to pay
their rents and services, the sitting quest, consisting of four old
moars or baliffs in every parish, were obliged to find such a tenant
for the estates as would secure the lord’s rent, &c., who, after his
name was entered in the court-rolls, had an unquestionable title to the
same.”

“A child got before marriage shall inherit, provided the marriage
follows within a year or two, and the woman was never defamed before
with regard to any other man.”

“Executors of spiritual men have a right to the year’s profits if they
live till after twelve of the clock on Easter Day.”

“They still retain a usage (observed by the Saxons before the Conquest)
that the Bishop, or some priest appointed by him, do always sit in the
great court along with the Governor, till sentence of death (if any)
be pronounced: the Deemster asking the jury (instead of ‘Guilty or not
guilty?’) _Vod fir-charree soie?_ which, literally translated, is ‘May
the man of the chancel, or he that ministers at the altar, continue
to sit?’ If the foreman answers in the negative, the Bishop, or his
substitute, withdraws, and the sentence is then pronounced on the
criminal.”

“When any laws which concern the Church are to be enacted, the Bishop
and the whole clergy shall be made privy thereunto, and join with the
temporal officers, and have their consents with them till the same
shall be established.”

“If a single woman prosecutes a single man for a rape, the
ecclesiastical judges impannel a jury; and if this jury find him
guilty, he is so returned to the temporal court, where, if he be found
guilty, the Deemster delivers to the woman a rope, a sword, and a ring,
and she has it in her choice to have him hanged or beheaded, or to
marry him.”

“If a man get a farmer’s daughter with child, he shall be compelled
to marry her, or endow her with such a portion as her father would
have given her. No man could dispose of his estate unless he fell into
poverty; and, at this day, a man must have the approbation of the
Governor and Officers before he can alienate.”

“The manner of calling any person before a magistrate, spiritual
or temporal, is pretty singular: The magistrate, upon a piece of
thin slate or stone, makes a mark, generally the first letters of
his christian or surname. This is given to the proper officer, the
summoner, if it be before an ecclesiastical magistrate; or the lockman,
if before a temporal, with twopence, who shows it to the person to be
charged, with the time when he is to appear, and at whose suit; which,
if he refuses to obey, he is fined or committed to prison, until he
give bonds to appear and pay costs.”

Bishop Gibson (1695)[139] says that “This stone, so marked is called a
_Token_, which, being given to the plaintiff, he delivereth it to the
Coroner of the place where the defendant resides, and the defendant,
having received it, is bound to appear and answer. It has been an
ancient custom in that Island, that if the plaintiff find his adversary
present in the Court while the Court is sitting, he may take him by
the arm, and bring him before the Governor, and set his foot upon his
adversary’s foot, and there plead his cause against him without the
formality of summoning him with a token.”

The following laws, taken from the Statute Book, may also be mentioned:
All goats belonged to the Queen of Man. In case of people removing
from one parish to another, “if the cock crow trice, they remaining
there three nights and three days after removing, that then the person
departed shall pay all spirituall dutyes to that same Church within the
same parish he doth remove to.” One of the duties of the Sumner was to
stand at the chancel door of his Parish Church “at time of service, to
whip and beat all the doggs.”

“All Scotts avoid the land with the next vessell that goeth into
Scotland, upon paine of forfeiture of his goods, and his body to
prison.”

“That whensoever any theef shall be found to steal either mutton,
sheep, lambe, goate, kidd, swine, or pigg, the same shall be found to
be Fellony in like manner to death, without valuing the same.”

“That the stealing and cutting of bee-hives in gardens shall be Fellony
in like manner to death, without valuing the same.”

The Manx Ecclesiastical Law is also responsible for many curious
enactments, by which the Church enforced its discipline. Bishop Wilson
writes of this ecclesiastical discipline as follows:—“There is nothing
more commendable than the discipline of this church.... Offenders of
all conditions, without distinction, are obliged to submit to the
censures appointed by the church, whether for correction or example
(commutation of penances being abolished by a late law), and they
generally do it patiently. Such as do not submit (which have hitherto
been but few) are either imprisoned or excommunicated; under which
sentence if they continue more than forty days, they are delivered over
to the Lord of the Isle, both body and goods.... The manner of doing
penance is primitive and edifying. The penitent, clothed in a sheet,
&c., is brought into the church immediately before the Litany; and
there continues till the sermon be ended; after which, and a proper
exhortation, the congregation are desired to pray for him in a form
provided for that purpose; and thus he is dealt with, till by his
behaviour he has given some satisfaction that all this is not feigned,
which being certified to the bishop, he orders him to be received by a
very solemn form for receiving penitents into the peace of the church.
But if offenders, after having once done public penance, relapse into
the same or other scandalous vice, they are not presently permitted to
do penance again, though they should desire it ever so earnestly, till
they shall have given better proofs of their resolution to amend their
lives; during which time they are not permitted to go into any church
in time of divine service, but stand at the church door, until their
pastor and other grave persons are convinced by their conversation that
there are hopes of a lasting reformation, and certify the same to the
bishop. There is here one very wholesome branch of church discipline
... namely, the injoining offenders’ purgation by their own oaths, and
the oaths of compurgators (if need be) of known reputation, where the
fame is common, the crime is scandalous, and yet not proof enough to
convict them; and this is far from being complained of as a grievance:
for if common fame has injured any person, he has an opportunity of
being restored to his good name (unless upon trial the Court find just
cause to refuse it), and a severe penalty is laid upon any that, after
this, revive the scandal. On the other hand, if a man will not swear to
his own innocency, or cannot prevail with others to believe him, it is
fit he should be treated as guilty, and the scandal removed by a proper
censure.”[140]


EXCOMMUNICATION.

The following was the form of Excommunication:—“For as much as your
crimes have been so great repeated and continued in so long as to
give offence to all sober Christians, and even to cry to Heaven for
vengeance. And you having had sufficient time given you to consider of
the consequence of continuing in them without any visible or sincere
remorse or probability of a future reformation. Therefore, in the name
of our Lord Christ and before this Congregation, we pronounce and
declare you, A.B., Excommunicate and shut out of the Communion of all
faithful Christians. And may Almighty God who by His Holy Spirit has
appointed this sentence for removing of scandal and offence out of the
Church and for reducing of sinners to a sense of their sins and danger
make this censure to all the good ends for which it was ordained.
And that your Heart may be filled with fear and dread that you may be
recovered out of the same and power of the Devil and your Soul may be
saved, and that others may be warned by your sad example not to sin nor
continue in sin so presumptuously.”

By the 3rd accustomed law of the Church “excommunicated persons
persisting irregularly are to be imprisoned and delivered over, body
and goods, to the Lord’s mercy.”

By the 20th ecclesiastical law any one “that strikes a minister
shall be excommunicated (_ipso facto_) and to do penance and after
satisfaction given to the Law to receive absolution, and to be received
at the church stile into the church by the minister’s reading before
him the 51st Psalm and before the congregation to repeat his schedule
after the minister.”


PENANCE.

The penalty of Penance was inflicted for a variety of offences. It
consisted in standing in a sheet at the Parish Church, or several
Parish Churches, on Sunday during service, or at the Market Cross
on Saturdays during market time. The number of days’ penance was
regulated by the seriousness of the offence. According to an entry
in the Episcopal Records, dated 1623, a malicious slanderer was “to
remain a Lyer of Record, and do open penance ... putting his finger
on his mouth, and confessing a Lye in saying ‘Tongue, thou Lyed,’
and so publickly to ask the party offended forgiveness.” By the 23rd
accustomed law “Whosoever commits Fornication shall make three Sundays’
pennance, and if they marry that they go from the Sheet to the Ring;”
and by the 34th “All offenders censured to Pennance are to perform
their censures and satisfy the Law before they be admitted to the
Holy Communion, and to pay 3d to the minister for every day’s Penance
for writing certificates, and to the Sumner 2d, and if the offender
bring not a sheet he is to pay the Sumner 4d for furnishing him, and
no appeal be from the Church, and none offending be privileged from
censures.” The 5th ecclesiastical constitution, passed under the
superintendence of Bishop Wilson in 1703, makes the punishment of
Penance and Excommunication still more severe. It runs as follows: “For
the more effectual discouragement of Vice, if any Person shall incurr
the censures of the Church, and, having done Penance, shall afterwards
incurr the same Censures, he shall not be permitted to do Penance
again (as has been formerly accustomed) untill the Church be fully
satisfied of his sincere repentance; during which time he shall not
presume to come within the Church, but be obliged to stand in a decent
manner at the Church Door every Sunday and Holy Day the whole time
of morning and evening service, untill by his penitent behaviour, and
other instances of sober living, he deserves and procures a certificate
from the Minister, Churchwardens, and some of the soberest Men of the
Parish, to the satisfaction of the Ordinary, which if he does not so
deserve and procure within three months, the Church shall proceed to
Excommunication; and that during these proceedings the Governor shall
be applied to not to permit him to leave the Island; and this being a
matter of very great importance, the Ministers and Churchwardens shall
see it duly performed, under penalty of the severest Ecclesiasticall
Censures; and whenever any daring offender shall be and continue so
obstinate as to incurr Excommunication, the Pastor shall affectionately
exhort his Parishioners not to converse with him upon peril of being
a partaker with him in his Sin and Punishment.” In 1737 the following
civil law was passed with reference to excommunicated persons: “Be
it further ordained and enacted ... that the custome and practice of
delivering over persons excommunicated in the Spirituall Court, body
and goods to the Lord of the Isle, shall entirely cease, and that such
persons excommunicated continuing obstinate for the space of three
months under censure, shall, upon application by the Governor to the
said Court, be confined three months in one of the Castles, instead of
the rigorous Punishment and forfeiture aforesaid: But this shall not be
construed or understood to take off his censure, any Law, Custome, or
Usage to the contrary notwithstanding.”

The following is a story about a Penance which the Nuns of St.
Bridget’s Nunnery, near Douglas, were said to have been compelled to
perform:—


THE NUNS’ CHAIRS.

Over a place called The How of Douglas there is a rock, vastly high and
steep, about the middle of which is a hollow not very different from
the fashion of an elbow chair, and near the top another very much like
the former. Whether these are made by art or nature I cannot pretend
to determine, nor did I ever hear; but, on the slightest accusation,
the poor nun was brought to the foot of this rock, when the sea was
out, and obliged to climb to the first chair, where she sat till the
tide had twice ebbed and flowed. Those who had given greater cause
for suspicion, went up to the second chair, and sat the same space of
time. Those who endured this trial, and descended unhurt, were cleared
of the aspersion thrown upon them; but the number of fortunate could
not be great, for besides the danger of climbing the ragged and steep
rock (which now very few men can do above 30 or 40 paces), the extreme
cold when you come to any height, the horror of being exposed alone
to all the fury of the elements, and the horrid prospect of the sea,
roaring through a thousand cavities and foaming round you on every
side, is enough to stagger the firmest resolution and courage, and
without all question has been the destruction of many of those unhappy
wretches.—_Waldron._

Penance was done in Ballaugh Church 55 years ago, in Parson Stowell’s
time, according to information given by a man now living, who was one
of the chapter-quest at the time. During the time he was in office two
men and two women were brought to church for this purpose. They stood
in the “alley” of the church, and the Sumner threw white sheets over
them. This was for the first three Sundays; but on the fourth they
stood inside the chancel railing, and were addressed by the parson, who
“made them feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves.” A similar penance
was seen about the year 1825, also by a man now living, in the parish
church of Lezayre.


THE BRIDLE.

Among the accustomed unwritten laws of the Manx Church was the
following:—“That he or she that call a man a Dog or a woman a Bitch
shall wear the Bridle at the Market Cross or make 7 Sundays penance in
several Parish Churches.” This ordinance was freely put in force by
Bishop Wilson, who wrote in June, 1714, “I ordered a bridle to be made,
as a terror to people of evil tongues; and it is now brought about the
circuit by the General Sumner, and lodged in his hands for the time to
come.”

Waldron remarks upon this:—“If any person be convicted of uttering a
scandalous report, and cannot make good the assertion, instead of being
fined or imprisoned, they are sentenced to stand in the Market-place
on a sort of scaffold erected for that purpose, with their tongue in
a noose of leather, which they call a bridle, and having been thus
exposed to the view of the people for some time, on the taking off this
machine they are obliged to say three times, _Tongue thou hast lied_.”
A somewhat similar instrument was used in various parts of England; it
was called “the bridle” or “the branks.” In Scotland, too, it was used
for the correction of scolds and gossips. It was made of thin iron,
passing over and round the head, and fastened behind by a padlock. The
bit was a flat piece of iron, about two inches long and one broad,
which went into the mouth and kept the tongue down by its pressure.
A specimen of the “Bishop’s brank” is sketched and noticed in the
Abbotsford Edition of _The Monastery_.


THE PUNISHMENT OF BEING DRAGGED AFTER A BOAT.

The 26th ecclesiastical law was to the effect “that common w—h—r—s be
drawn after a boat in the sea during the Ordinaries appointment.” This
barbarous punishment was put in force by Bishop Wilson in at least one
case. The most notorious of which, that of Kathrine Kinred, is copied
from the Episcopal Registry, dated March 15th, 1713, _in extenso_,
as follows:—“Forasmuch as neither Christian advice or gentle methods
of punishments are found to have any effect on Kath: Kinred. of kk
Christ, a notorious str—m—p—t, who has brought forth illegitimate
children, and still continues to _strowl_ about the country, and to
lead a most vicious and scandalous life on other accounts. All such
tending to the great dishonour of the Christian name, and to her own
utter destruction, without a timely and _thorow_ reformation. It is,
therefore, hereby order’d (as well for the further punishment of the
said delinquent, as for the example of others) that the said Kath.
Kinred be dragged after a boat in the sea, at Peeltown, on Wednesday,
the 17th instant (being the fair of Saint Patrick), at the height of
the market. To which end a boat and boat crew are to be charged by the
General Sumner. And the constable and souldiers of ye garrison are, by
the Governor’s order, to be aiding and assisting in seeing this censure
performed. And in case any owner, master, or crew of any boat are found
refractory, by neglecting or refusing to perform this service for the
restraining of vice, their names are to be forthwith given in by the
Sumner-General, to the end that they may be severely fin’d for their
contempt, as the Governor’s order directs. Dated at Bishop’s Court,
this 17th day of March, 1713.” Signed, “Tho, Sodor and Man, Wm. Walker.”

The above is endorsed as follows:—“St. Patrick’s Day being _soe_ stormy
and tempestuous that _noe_ boate could performe the within censure;
upon St. German’s Day (July 13th), about the height of the market, the
within Kath. Kinred was dragged after a boat in the sea, according to
the written order, which is humbly certified by me.” Signed, “Thomas
Corlett, Generall-Sumner.”

Bishop Wilson has been the object of much obloquy for the severity of
his ecclesiastical discipline, and the above has been frequently quoted
to prove this reproach; but it must be remembered that this was an
exceptional case, and also that Bishop Wilson only administered a law
which he found in existence; and a reference to the records will show
how often he intervened to mitigate these punishments, which were, on
the whole, more severe before his episcopacy than during it.


BOWING TO THE ALTAR.

There was an ancient custom, long retained in the Island, of bowing
to the altar. The Manx people of two centuries ago, seem to have
been what would now be called “ritualists” in some of their acts of
worship. Indeed, there seems to have been but little change at the time
of the Reformation, and whatever changes took place afterwards were
gradual till the arrival of Wesley. With reference to this custom,
Bishop Wilson gives the following, among other instructions which he
received from Archdeacon Hewestone: That he should be careful “to make
obeisance at coming into and going out of the church, and at going up
to and coming down from the altar. All ancient, commendable, and devout
usages, and which thousands of good people of our Church practice at
this day.”


OBSERVATION OF SUNDAY.

The observation of Sunday was strictly enforced by civil as well as
ecclesiastical law. By the Statute of 1610, no one was “admitted to
fish from Saturday morning till Sunday at night, after sunset, upon
pain of forfeiture of his boat and netts.” In 1690, this period, by
the influence of Bishop Levinz, was extended till Monday morning. As
a consequence of this legislation and their custom of not going to
sea on Friday, the fishermen were formerly idle for three days out of
seven. It would appear, both from the above Statute, and from a number
of fines and other punishments recorded between 1600 and 1750, that
“Sunday” was the period from sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday.
For we find that, if those who were presented were able to prove that
they had done after sunset on Sunday what would have been breaking
the Sabbath before it, they were not punished. Similar offences on
Saturday night after sunset were severely punished till 1690, when, by
order in Convocation, Bishop Levinz extended Saturday till midnight.
For he ordained that “noe milner do suffer his milne to grind from 12
of the clock on Saturday at night till night-fall on Sunday”, under
penalty of “14 dayes imprisonm^t in St. German’s prison and penance in
every church of the Island for the first offence, and for every relaps
double punishment and £4 fine to the Lo: use without mittigacon.” He
did not, however, as we have already seen, permit the fishermen to set
sail till Monday morning. There is no legislation on record against
other occupations on Saturday evening, but it was the almost universal
practice to avoid any work then, as it was supposed to be displeasing
to the Fairies, though doubtless this idleness had originally the
sanction of customary law.


THE THREE RELIQUES.

Among “the constitucons of the ould tyme”, to be observed by the Lord
of the Isle at the Tinwald was, according to the Sloane M.S., of the
Acts of Sir John Stanley, in the British Museum, that “the 3 Reliques
of Man” should be borne before him by three “Clarkes ... in their
surplesses.” We nowhere learn what these “Reliques” were, but possibly
two of them might be the “hand” and the “bishop’s head”, which were
among the silver plate belonging to Rushen Abbey, sold by the Earl of
Derby to the Crown after the dissolution of that Monastery. This “hand”
and “head” seem to have been silver reliquaries which perhaps enclosed
reputed relics of some early Bishop of the See.


GAMES, ETC.

There is nothing peculiar about the outdoor games of either young or
grown-up Manxmen or Manxwomen, and they are, therefore, of little
interest from the Folk-Lorist’s point of view. Waldron remarks: “In
their sports they retain something of Arcadian simplicity. Dancing, if
I may call it so, jumping and turning round at least, to the fiddle
and base-viol, is their great diversion. In summer they have it in
the fields, and in winter in the barns.” Of the indoor games, at
Hollantide, Christmas, and Twelfth Night, we have already treated in
Chapter VI.

Horse racing and shooting with the bow and arrow seem to have been
the chief amusements of the Manx. Prizes for these were given by the
7th and later Earls of Derby, the first race under their patronage,
of which we have any record, having been in 1627. The racecourse was
on the peninsula of Langness, and the races took place on the 28th
of July, being the birthday of the 7th Earl. During the time of the
Commonwealth they fell into disuse, but they were continued after the
Restoration, as will be seen by the following order given by the 8th
Earl.—“It is my good will and pleasure y^t y^e two prizes formerly
granted (by me) for hors running and shouting shall continue as they
did, to be run, or shot for, and so continue dureing my good will and
pleasure.—Given under my hand att Lathom y^e 12 of July, 1669.” The
following were the chief conditions under which the race was run for a
plate of the value of five pounds:—“No horse, or gelding, or mair shall
be admitted to run for the said plate, but such as was foaled within
the said Island, or in the Calfe of Mann. That every horse, gelding,
or mair that is designed to run shall be entered before the 8th day of
July, with his master’s name and his owne, if he be generally knowne
by any, or else his colour, and whether horse, mair, or gelding....
That every person that puts in either horse, mair, or gelding, shall
at the time of their entering depositt the sume of five shill. a piece
into the hands of the cleark of the rolls, which is to goe towards the
augmenting of the plate for the year following, besides one shill.
a piece to be given by them to the said cleark of the rolls for
entering their names.... That every horse, mair, or gelding shall carry
horseman’s weight, that is to say, ten stone weight, at fourteen pounds
to each stone, besides saddle and bridle.”

As to the shooting, for which prizes were also given, Waldron tells us
that “the young men were great shooters with bowe and arrows. They had
shooting matches frequently, parish against parish, and wagers were
laid which side would have the better.” There are records of these
matches having taken place at the end of the last century.

The only indigenous outdoor game, properly so-called, is _cam mag_, a
sort of hockey.

There is a strange superstition among the Manx fishermen about being in
the third boat to go out of harbour, which is considered most unlucky.
After the first two boats have gone out, a number will follow as nearly
as possible in line, so that no one in particular can be said to be the
third. No reason is assigned for this curious notion.

[Footnote 137: Anthropological Notes and Queries—British Association.]

[Footnote 138: There were two of these officials in every parish, one
for the day and the other for the night watch.]

[Footnote 139: In Camden’s Britannia.]

[Footnote 140: History of the Isle of Man. Manx Society, Vol. XVIII.,
pp. 113‒14.]

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CHAPTER X.

PROVERBS AND SAYINGS.


No account of the Customs and Superstitions of the Manx would be
complete without touching upon their proverbs and characteristic
sayings. For nothing shows the peculiarities in the character and
prevailing habits of thought of a people more vividly than its
proverbs. Any one reading the Manx proverbs would at once say that
many of them were similar to those of other peoples, but this does not
necessarily show that they are not of native origin. It is, indeed, a
well-known fact that there is a remarkable similarity in the proverbs
of all peoples, _e.g._, our comparative philologists tell us of the
likeness between the proverbs of the Zulu and the Finn. Yet this
simply proves that human thought runs in a common groove, and does not
disprove the separate origin of the thoughts of each people. In fact
the proverbs of different peoples, which may be defined as the result
of their common-sense welded into trite sayings, are similar, because
their ordinary ideas and wants are sure to be much the same. Still,
national characteristics do appear in proverbs, and, as will be seen
from those which follow, the special Manx attribute, that of caution,
is no exception to this rule. These proverbs, which appear in the
various forms of Maxims, Axioms, or Precepts, are, for convenience,
classified under the following headings:—(1) Proverbs relating to
General Truths; (2) Proverbs inculcating Caution, Contentment, Thrift,
Independence, Industry, and Charity; (3) Proverbial Weather-Lore; (4)
Miscellaneous Proverbs and Sayings.

The following Proverbs are summary statements of _General Truths_:—

_Cha jagh moylley ghooinney hene rieau foddey voish e ghorrys._

“A man’s praise of himself never went far from his door”—_i.e._, “Self
praise is no recommendation.”


_Boayl nagh vel aggle cha vel grayse._

“Where there is no fear there is no grace.”


_Eshyn nagh gow rish briw erbee t’eh deyrey eh hene._

“He who will acknowledge no judge condemns himself.”


_Ta bee eeit jarroodit._

“Eaten food is forgotten.”


_Cha vel fee erbee cha bouyr, as eshyn nagh jean clashtyn._

“There is no man so deaf as he who will not hear.”


_Gowee bleb rish voylley, as gowee dooinney creency rish foill._

“A fool will receive praise, and a rich man will receive blame.”


_Ta fuill ny s’chee na ushtey._

“Blood is thicker than water.”


_Ta scuirrys y laue dy choyrt, scuirrys yn veeal dy voylley._

“When the hand ceases to give, the mouth ceases to praise.” James, the
7th Earl of Derby, made use of this proverb, in complaining of the
ingratitude of Captain Edmund Christian, whom he had made Governor of
the Island, and upon whom he had conferred many benefits.


_Caghlaa obbyr aash._

“Change of work is rest”—a very notable and true proverb.


_Ta ynsagh coamrey stoamey yn dooinney berchagh; as t’eh berchys yn
dooinney boght._

“Learning is fine clothes of the rich man, and it is riches of the poor
man”—_i.e._, It is of some value in the one case, but of much more
value in the other. The following Italian proverb conveys a similar
idea—“Knowledge is silver among the poor, gold among the nobles, and a
jewel among princes.”


_Myr sniessey d’an chraue s’miljey yn eill._

“The nearer the bone the sweeter the flesh.”


_Ta drogh hammag ny share na magher foshlit._

“A miserable bush is better than an open field.” This is similar to the
Scotch proverb, “a wee bush is better than nae field.” This imagery can
be well appreciated in a country so swept by the wind as the Isle of
Man. The meaning is, in effect, “Half a loaf is better than no bread.”


_Cha dooar rieau drogh veaynee corran mie._

“A bad reaper never got a good sickle”—_i.e._, “A bad workman quarrels
with his tools.”


_Cha deinee rieau yn soogh y shang._

“The greedy will never feel for the hungry.”


_Un eam gys bee, as jees gys obbyr._

“One call to meat, and two to work.”


_Obbyr dyn sharrey, obbyr dyn booise._

“Work without desire, work without thanks”—_i.e._, “Proferred service
stinks.”


_Sooree ghiare, yn tooree share._

“Short courting, the best courting.”


_Boayl ta gioee ta keck, as boayl ta mraane ta pleat._

“Where there are geese there is dirt, and where there are women there
is talking.”


_De ve aashagh ’syn oie, monney shibber nagh ee, er nonney nee oo
plaiynt er laccal dty laynt._

“To be easy in the night much supper don’t eat, or else thoul’t
complain at wanting thy health.”


_Myr sniessey da’n oie, slhee mitchooryn._

“The nearer to the night, the more rogues.”


_Cha row rieau cooid chebbit mie._

“Never were offered wares good.”


_T’an yeean myr e ghooie my vel clooie er y chione._

“The chicken is like its kind before down is on its head.”


_Ta fys ec dy chooilley ghooinney c’raad t’an vraag gortagh eh._

“Every man knows where the shoe hurts him.”


  _Oie mooie as oie elley sthie.
  Olk son cabbil, agh son kirree mie._

  “One night out and another in,
  Bad for horses, but good for sheep.”


_Ta greim ayns traa cooie, sauail nuy._

“A stitch in due time saves nine.”


_Foddee fastyr grianagh ve ec moghrey bodjalagh._

“A sunny evening may follow a cloudy morning”—_i.e._, _Nil desperandum_.


_My ta keim ’sy laair, bee keim ’sy lhiy._

“If there’s an amble in the mare, it will be in the colt.”


Though,


_Ta boa vie ny gha agh drogh lheiy ee._

“Many a good cow hath but a bad calf.”


  _Keeayl chionnit, yn cheeayl share
   Mannagh vel ee kionnit ro ghayr._

  “Bought wit, the best wit,
  If it be not bought too dear.”

The following are especially connected with _Morality_:—

_T’an aghaue veg shuyr da’n aghaue vooar._

“The little hemlock is sister to the great hemlock”—_i.e._, “The little
sin is sister to the great sin.”


_Ta cree dooie ny share na kione croutagh._

“A kind heart is better than a crafty (knotty) head.”


_Ta dooinney creeney mennick jannoo carrey jeh e noid._

“A wise man often makes a friend of his enemy.”


_Eshyn ghuirrys skeealley hayrtys skeealley._

“He who hatches tales shall be caught by tales.”


_Ta chengey ny host ny share na olk y ghra._

“The silent tongue is better than evil speaking.”


_Eshyn lhieys marish moddee, irrys eh marish jarganyn._

“He who will lie down with the dogs will rise up with the
fleas”—_i.e._, “Evil communications corrupt good manners.”


_Yiow moyrn lhieggy._

“Pride will have a fall.”


_Cha vel eh cheet jesh da moyrn dy jannoo red erbee ta laccal leshtal._

“It does not become pride to do what needs an apology.”


_Cha bee breagery credjit ga dy ninsh eh y n’irriney._

“A liar will not be believed tho’ he speaks the truth.”


_Cha nee tra ta’n cheyrrey gee yn ouw te cheet r’ee._

“It is not when the sheep eats the march-penny it tells a tale”
(literally, “it comes to her”)—_i.e._, The result of evil-doing is not
always apparent at first. The _ouw_ is a slow poison.


_Tasht prughag, as ee lughag._

“Store miser, and eat mouse.”


_Ta un cheyrrey screebagh mhilley yn slane shioltane._

“One scabby sheep infects (or injures) the whole flock.”


_Ta keeayll ommidjys ny sloo my t’ee ee dooinney creeney dy reayll._

“Wisdom is folly unless a wise man keeps it.”


_S’mie ve daaney, agh s’olk ve ro ghaaney._

“How good to be forward, but how bad to be too forward.”


The following Proverbs appear to inculcate _Selfishness_:—


_Faggys ta my lheiney, agh ny sniessey ta my crackan._

“Near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin.”


_Cha stamp rieau yn dow doo er e chass._

“The black ox never stamped on his own foot.”


_Dy chooilley ghooinney er e hon hene, as Yee son ain ooilley._

“Every man for himself, and God for us all.”


_Baase y derrey voddey, bioys y voddey elley._

“The death of one dog is the life of another.”


_Ceau craue ayns beeall drogh voddey._

“Throw a bone into a bad dog’s mouth”—_i.e._, Give a sop to any one who
annoys you, though he does not deserve it.


_Sniessey yn ullin na yn cloan._

“Nearer the barn than the children”—_i.e._, Our own welfare is more
important than our children’s.


_Slaa sahll er toinn muck roauyr._

“Daub grease upon the rump of a fat pig”—_i.e._, Flatter the prosperous.


The following Proverbs illustrate one of the chief characteristics of
Manxmen, _i.e._, _Caution_:—


_Ta aile meeley jannoo bry millish._

“Slow fire makes sweet malt”—_i.e._, Don’t be in a hurry. Don’t jump to
a conclusion.


_Foddee yn moddey s’jerree tayrtyn y mwaagh._

“Perhaps the last dog may catch the hare”—This enforces precisely the
same conclusion as the previous proverb.


_Lurg roayrt hig contraie._

“After spring tide will come neap”—_i.e._, Don’t be elevated by present
good fortune, a reverse may come.


_Coontey ny hein roish ta ny hoohyn guirt._

“Counting the chickens before the eggs are hatched.”


_Myr smoo siyr, smoo cumrail._

“The greater hurry, the greater hindrance.”


_Leah appee, leah lhoau._

“Soon ripe, soon rotten.” This seems to carry much the same idea as
“Slow and steady wins the race.”


_Moyll y droghad myr heu harrish._

“Praise the bridge as thou wilt go over it”—_i.e._, Don’t be in a hurry
to praise a thing before you try it.


_Eddyr daa stoyl ta toinn er laare._

“Between two stools the bottom is on the floor”—or, you will fall on
the floor.


_Tra s’reagh yn chloie, share faagail jeh._

“When the play is merriest it is better to leave off.”


_Stiark keayrt ta dooinney siyragh ass seaghyn._

“Seldom is the time that a hasty man is out of trouble.”


  _Cha jean un ghollan-geayee sourey,
   My un chellagh-keylley geurey._

  “One swallow will not make summer,
  Nor one woodcock winter.”


_Mollee yn molteyr oo my odays eh._

“The impostor will cheat thee if he can”—_i.e._, A man of bad
reputation is never to be trusted.


_Share yn olk shione dooin, na yn olk nagh nhione dooin._

“Better the evil we know than the evil we do not know.”


_Tra ta thie dty naboo er aile gow cairail jeh dty hie hene._

“When thy neighbour’s house is on fire take care of thine own house.”


_Ta ashag ’sy laue chammah as jees ’sy thammag._

“A bird in the hand is as well as two in the bush.”


_Ta lane eddyr raa as janno._

“There’s much between saying and doing.”


_Ta lane caillit eddyr y lane as y veeal._

“There’s much lost between the hand and the mouth”—_i.e._ “There’s many
a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.”


  _Ec shibber Oie Ynnyd my vees dty volg lane,
  My jig Laa Caisht yiow traisht son shen._

  “At Shrove-Tuesday if thy belly be full,
  Before Easter Day thou mayst fast for that.”


_Eaisht lesh dagh cleaysh, eisht jean briwnys._

“Listen with each ear, then do judgment.”


The following may also be put under the heading of cautious proverbs as
their moral is “Do not be deceived by appearances”:


_Cha nee yn woa smoo eieys smoo vlieaunys._

“It is not the cow which lows the most will milk the most.”


_Siyn follym smoo sheean nee._

“Empty vessels will make the most noise.”


The following seem to inculcate virtues of _Contentment_ and
_Kindness_:—


_Tra hig yn laa, hig yn coyrle lesh._

“When the day comes, its counsel will come with it”—_i.e._, “Sufficient
for the day is the evil thereof.”


_Shegin goaill ny eairkyn marish y cheh._

“We must take the horns with the hide.”


  _Cha nee eshyn ta red beg echey ta boght.
  Agh eshyn ta geearree smoo._

  “’Tis not the man who has little that’s poor,
  But he that desires more.”


 _Eshyn nagh bee mie rish e gharran,
 Shegin d’an phollan y cur-lesh er e vooin._

 “He who will not be kind to his nag must bring the saddle on his own
 back”—_i.e._, Kindness is the best policy.


The following inculcate the virtue of Thrift:—


_Millish dy ghoaill, agh sharroo dy eeck._

“Sweet to take but bitter to pay”—_i.e._, When you are enjoying
yourself and spending money remember you will have to pay for it.


_Hig daill gys eeck._

“Credit will come to pay.”


_Roshee daill y dorrys._

“Credit will stretch the door.”

_Ta fooiliagh naareydagh ny s’messey na ee scammyltagh._

“Shameful leaving is worse than shameful eating.”


_Cha daink lesh y gheay, nagh ragh lesh yn ushtey._

“What did not come with the wind would not go with the water.”


_Dhaa ghrogh eeck t’ayn, geeck rolaue, as dyn eeck eddyr._

“There are two bad pays—pay beforehand, and no pay at all.”


_Share goll dy lie fegooish shibber na girree ayns lhiastynys._

“Better to go to bed supperless than to get up in debt.”


_Taa daa pharick[141] jannoo un ghimmagh._

“Two small lobsters make a big one”—_i.e._, “Many a little makes a
mickle.”


_Cha vel sonnys gonnys._

“Store is no sore.”


_Soddag cham, bolg jeeragh._

“Crooked bannock, straight belly.”
The meaning of this is probably that spare living will make strong,
able men.


The dignity of _Independence_ is the moral of the following:—


_Lhig dy chooilley ushag guirr e hoohyn hene._

“Let every bird hatch its own eggs.”


_Lhig dy chooilley vuck reuyrey jeh hene._

“Let every pig dig for itself.”


_Ta dty lhiasagh dty ghoarn._

“Thy recompense is thine own hand.”


A similar idea is conveyed by

_Lhiat myr hoilloo._

“To thee as thou deservest.”


The following proverbs inculcate _Industry_, _Promptitude_, and
_Thorough Work_:—


  _Litcheragh goll dy lie, litcheragh dy irree,
  As litcheragh dy goll dys y cheeill Je-doonee._

  “Lazy to go to bed, lazy to rise,
  And lazy to go to church on Sunday.”


_Cha vow laue ny haaue veg._

“The idle hand gets nothing.”


_Cadley ny moddee tra ta ny mraane creearey._

“Dogs sleep when the women are sifting”—_i.e._, sifting meal at the
mill.


_Bwoaill choud as ta’n yiarn cheh._

“Strike as long as the iron’s hot.”


_Jean traagh choud as ta’n grian soilshean._

“Make hay as long as the sun shines.”


_Lhig da’n innagh lhie er y chione s’jerree._

“Let the weft rest upon the last end.”—_i.e._, Finish your work. Do
what you have to do thoroughly.


The following charitable saying seems to be peculiar to the Isle of
Man:—


_Tra ta un dooinney boght cooney lesh dooinney boght elley, ta Jee hene
garaghtee._

“When one poor man helps another poor man, God Himself laughs.” The
poor in the Isle of Man are remarkably kind and helpful to each other.


The following proverb would seem to be a caution against permitting the
abuse of charity by unworthy objects:—


_Cur meer d’an feeagh, as hig eh reesht._
“Give a piece to the raven, and he’ll come again.”


WEATHER PROVERBS AND SAYINGS.

These are for the most part in connection with the seasons and certain
days, and have been given in Chapter VI.; but there are a few of more
general application, as follows:—


_Yn chiuney smoo erbee geay jiass sniessey jee._

“The greater the calm the nearer the south wind.”
A great calm is an almost certain token of coming storm. The worst
storms in the Isle of Man usually commence by blowing from the S.E. or
S., and take off when they reach the N.W.


_Giare sheear, liauyr shiar._

“Short west, long east.” Alluding to the wind. The west winds are much
the most common in the Isle of Man, but when the east winds set in they
last longer.


_My ta’n grian jiarg tra girree eh,
Foddee shiu jerkal rish fliaghey._

“If the sun is red when he rises, you may expect rain.”

A bright clear day coming in unsettled weather is called “a fox day”,
as it is not to be depended upon. Throughout the southern part of the
Island a cloud on South Barrule Mountain is considered a sure sign of
coming rain.


MISCELLANEOUS PROVERBS AND SAYINGS.


  _Myr sloo yn cheshaght share yn ayrn
  Myr smoo yn cheshaght s’raie yn chloie._

  “The smaller the company, the bigger the share,
  The larger the company, the better the sport (or cheer).”

_Cronk ghlass foddey voym; lhome, lhome tra roshym eh._

“A green hill far from me; bare, bare when I reach it.”
This would seem to mean that expectation is much better than the
reality. “Distance lends enchantment to the view.” Things toiled for
that seemed most desirable in the distance are found of little worth
when attained.


The following fine manly saying seems to be of purely native origin:—


_Nagh insh dou cre va mee, agh insh dou cre ta mee._

“Don’t tell me what I was, but tell me what I am”—_i.e._, Take a man
for what he is himself worth. Don’t consider his origin.


_Fuirree yn mwaagh rish e heshey._

“The hare will stop for its mate.”


_Brishys accyrys trooid voallaghyn cloaie._

“Hunger will break through stone walls.”


  _Raad ta jees ta reih,
  As raad ta troor ta teiy._

  “Where there are two there is a choice,
  But where there are three there is a pick.”


_Cha vel y Vanninagh dy bragh creeney dys y laa lurg y vargee._

“The Manxman is never wise till the day after the market” (or after the
fair).


_Cha jinnagh dooinney ta coyrt dy ve ry-akin dy bragh jeirk ’sy
dorraghys._

“A man that doth not give to be seen always give in the dark.”


_Yn oghe gyllagh ‘toyn losht’ da’n aiee._

“The oven crying ‘burnt bottom’ to the kiln”—_i.e._, “The pot calling
the kettle black.”


_Goll thie yn ghoayr dy hirrey ollan._

“Going to the goat’s house to seek for wool”—_i.e._, Going on a fool’s
errand.


_Myr s’doo yn feagh yiow eh sheshey._

“Black as is the raven, he’ll get a partner.”


_Ta sheshey chammah as ayrn._

“A companion is as good as a share.”


  _Guilley smuggagh, dooinney glen,
  Inneen smuggagh, trowse dy ven._

  “Snotty boy, clean man;
  Snotty girl, slut of a woman.”

The notion seems to be that a dirty girl will never improve, as she
is wanting in proper pride in her appearance, but that a dirty boy
will probably improve, as a boy who is too much concerned with his
appearance is not likely to do much good in after life.


_Stroshey yn theay na yn Chiarn._

“The Commons are stronger than the Lord”—_i.e._, The Lord of the Isle.
The Manx have always been noted for their ability to maintain their
independence when it was threatened.


_Share farkiaght er baare faarkey, ny er keim rullickey._

“It is better to be waiting on the top of wave than on the Churchyard
stile”—_i.e._, “A live dog is better than a dead lion.”


_Bioys da dooinney as baase da eeasi._

“Life to man, and death to fish.”
This was a regular toast at public dinners. Its meaning being of course
an abundant fishing, without loss of life to those engaged in it.


_Yn raad mooar Ree Goree._

“The great road of King Oree”; or, the Milky Way.
Tradition has it that when King Oree landed in Man he was asked whence
he came, upon which, pointing to the Milky Way, he said, “That is the
road to my country.” Hence the Manx name for it.


_Kione mooar er y veggan cheayley, as kione beg gyn veg eddyr._

“A great head with little wit, and a little head without any.”


It is said that as some farmers were cutting their yearly stock of turf
on the mountain side near Snaefell, they came upon a large block of
stone on which was engraved—

_Chyndaa us mish, as yiow us choyrle._

“Turn thou me, and thou shall get advice.”
On turning it after much labour, they found on the other side—


  _Ta brott cheh boggagh arran croie,
  Chyndaa us mish myr va roie._

  “Hot broth softens hard bread,
  Turn thou me as I was before”—
_i.e._, “A soft answer turneth away wrath.”


_Ny poosee eirey-inneen ny
ta’n ayr eck er ny ve craghit._

“Do not marry an heiress unless her father has been hanged.” She is
sure to be proud and difficult to manage.


_Mannagh vow cliaghtey cliaghtey, nee cliaghtey coe._

“If custom be not indulged with custom, custom will weep.”
Manxmen are very conservative and tenacious of old customs.


_Kiangle myr noid, as yiow myr carrey._

“Bind as an enemy, and you shall have as a friend.”


_Cre yiow jeh’n chayt agh y chrackan._

“What wilt thou get of the cat but the skin?”


_Ta lhane klinkyn ayns car-y-phoosee._

“There are many twists in the nuptial song”—_i.e._, Matrimony has its
hazards.


_Traa-dy-liooar!_—“Time enough”—is a phrase often on a Manxmen’s lips.
They are noted procrastinators. Gossips and tale-bearers are said “To
go about like a brewing pan”, because, as one brewing pan usually
served a whole neighbourhood, in the days when beer was home-brewed, it
went about constantly from house to house. Those who were wont to “draw
the long-bow” were said to be “Playing _Fodjeeaght_.” (_Fodjeeaght_,
according to Cregeen, being “the distance of the furthest arrow shot in
archery.”)


_Tra ta’n gheay sy villey yiow shiu yn Guilley-glass._—“When the
wind is in the tree you will get the Lockman.” There is no apparent
connection between the Lockman, who is a sort of under-Coroner, and
the wind in the tree, but possibly some of our readers may be able to
explain it.


_Ta airh er cushagyn ayns shen._

“There is gold on cushags there.”

_Cushag_ is the Manx name of the weed, Ragwort, which grows luxuriantly
in Man. The expression is an ironical one, and was used when people
spoke disparagingly of the Island, and boastingly of other places.

“No herring, no wedding.”

For, if the herring fishing was to fail, the young men would not be
rich enough to marry. The Manx were formerly largely dependent on the
fishing for subsistence, as Blundell remarked in 1648, “The sea feedeth
more of the Manksmen than the soil.” It was in recognition of this that
a special clause was inserted in the Litany by Bishop Wilson, _i.e._,
“That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly
fruits of the earth, _and to restore and continue to us the blessings
of the seas_, so as in due time we may enjoy them.”

The Manx language abounds in quaint figurative _Sayings_, of which the
following will serve as illustrations:—

The Zodiac is called _Cassan-ny-greiney_—“The footpath of the sun.” The
Rainbow _Goll twoaie_—“Going north.” The expression for “The perfect”
in the Bible is _Feallagh ny firrinys_—“People of the truth.” Of a man
who prospers it is said _Te cheet lesh_—“It comes with him.” When a
man is advised to rely on his own understanding he is told _Shass er
e chione hene_—“To stand on his own head.” A person who is failing in
health is said to be _Goll sheese ny liargagh_—“Going down the slope.”
Beggars are said to be _Shooyll ny thieyn_—“Walking (or, going) on the
houses.” For “the water is boiling”, they say _Ta’n ushtey cloie_—“The
water is playing.” Remorse is expressed by the phrase _Crane beg ’sy
chleeau_—“A little bone in the breast.” An impudent person is compared
to a white stone, thus: _T’ou cha daaney myr clagh vane_—“Thou art
as impudent as a white stone.” The white quartz stones are very
conspicuous objects on the hill sides. An inconstant person is said
to be _Lhiam-lhiat_—“With me, with thee”, or _Chengey lhiam, Chengey
lhiat_—“Tongue with me, tongue with thee”—_i.e._, “Blowing hot and
cold.” A Manxman calls his walking-stick _Bock-Yuan-Fannee_—“John the
Flayer’s pony”, because this John is said to have flayed his pony, and
to have been consequently obliged to travel on foot.

[Footnote 141: “Patricks”, a slang word for a lobster.]

[Illustration]


       *       *       *       *       *


TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES.

1. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
public domain.

2. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors. No attempt has been made to correct possible errors in the Manx
language.

3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.

4. On Page 143 the missing internal link has been identified by the
Transcriber and inserted—[weather wisdom (see p. 148.)].





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