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?).”]
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