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024 - Ned Quayle's Story of the Fairy Pig · Manx Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three of Manx Fairy Tales. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All liberovox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Manx Fairy Tales by Sophia Morrison ned Quail's Story of
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  Speaker 1: the Fairy Pig. When I was a little boy, we
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  Speaker 1: lived over by Slock. One day, when I was six
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  Speaker 1: years old, my mother and my grandmother went up to
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  Speaker 1: the mountain to make hay, and I was left by myself.
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  Speaker 1: It was getting rather late and they had not come back,
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  Speaker 1: so I was frightened and started off up the mountain
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  Speaker 1: to try and find them. I had not gone far
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  Speaker 1: when I saw running before me a little snow white pig.
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  Speaker 1: At first I thought it was some neighbor's pig, and
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  Speaker 1: I tried to catch it, but it ran from me,
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  Speaker 1: and I ran after it. As it went, I saw
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  Speaker 1: that it was not like an ordinary pig. Its tail
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  Speaker 1: was feathery and spread out like a fan, and it
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  Speaker 1: had long lapping ears that sweat the ling. Now and again,
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  Speaker 1: it turned its head and looked at me, and its
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  Speaker 1: eyes were burning like fire. We went higher and higher
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  Speaker 1: up the mountain, and all of a sudden I found
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  Speaker 1: myself at the edge of a steep brow and was
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  Speaker 1: all but over. I turned just in time and ran
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  Speaker 1: as high as I could go down the mountain, and
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  Speaker 1: the pig after me. When I looked back over my shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: I saw that it was jumping over the big stones
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  Speaker 1: and rocks on the mountain side, as if there had
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  Speaker 1: been butts of ling. I thought it would catch me.
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  Speaker 1: It was close behind me when I ran in at
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  Speaker 1: our garden gate, but I was just in time, and
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  Speaker 1: I slammed the door upon it. I told my mother
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  Speaker 1: and my grandmother what had happened, and my grandmother said
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  Speaker 1: it was a fairy pig. I was not like myself.
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  Speaker 1: At night, I could not eat any supper, and I
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  Speaker 1: went soon to my bed. I could not sleep, but
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  Speaker 1: lay tossing about and was burning hot. After a time,
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  Speaker 1: my mother opened the door to see if I was asleep,
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  Speaker 1: and when she looked at me, her eyes were like
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  Speaker 1: the pig's eyes. I felt a sharp pain go through
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  Speaker 1: my right leg, like a stab. After that, the pain
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  Speaker 1: never left me. It was so bad that I could
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  Speaker 1: not bear to be touched, and I could eat nothing.
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  Speaker 1: I grew worse and worse, and after some days my
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  Speaker 1: father said he would take me to a charmer at Castletown.
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  Speaker 1: They lifted me in the sheet, four men taking the
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  Speaker 1: four corners, and carried me to a cart. Never will
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  Speaker 1: I forget the shaking and jolting our had in that cart.
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  Speaker 1: When we got to Castletown, I was more dead than alive.
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  Speaker 1: The charmer lived in Arbury Street, and they took me
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  Speaker 1: to his house. When he saw me, he said that
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  Speaker 1: they must all go away and leave me alone with him.
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  Speaker 1: So my father and my mother went to wait for
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  Speaker 1: me at the George. The charmer carried me to a
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  Speaker 1: room upstairs and sent his wife away, and laid me
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  Speaker 1: on the floor and locked the door. Then he took
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  Speaker 1: down a big book and placed it on the floor
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  Speaker 1: beside me. He opened it at the picture of a
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  Speaker 1: little plant. I could see the plant to this day.
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  Speaker 1: And he pointed with his left hand to the picture,
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  Speaker 1: and with his right hand he made the sound of
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  Speaker 1: the cross on my leg where the stab went through me,
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  Speaker 1: and said, ta me ski' ayi e'en guen shawl ains
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  Speaker 1: enien ain ere ask ivac as esprid nou ned quail ma.
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  Speaker 1: She gwen ain't any en i kia tami skiali a
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  Speaker 1: as een eel as naephien as as ni kray, which
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  Speaker 1: means in English, I spread this fairy shot in the
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  Speaker 1: name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
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  Speaker 1: the holy ghost ned quail. If it is a fairy
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  Speaker 1: shot in the name of the Lord, I spread it
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  Speaker 1: out of the flesh, out of the sinews, and out
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  Speaker 1: of the bones. That minute the pain left me. I
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  Speaker 1: felt very hungry, and the charmer's wife set me at
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  Speaker 1: a table and gave me dinner. The charmer went to
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  Speaker 1: fetch my father and my mother, and when they came in,
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  Speaker 1: I was eating like two. The charmer told my mother
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  Speaker 1: I must not go into the mountain alone between the
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  Speaker 1: lights again. The pain never came back. I have been
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  Speaker 1: sound from that day to this, but I had the
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  Speaker 1: mark on my leg where a stout went through, as
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  Speaker 1: clear as glass, to the bone. End of chapter twenty three.