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030 - The Moddey Doo or the Black Dog of Peel Castle · Manx Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty nine of Manx Fairy Tales. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Larry Wilson, The Manx Fairy Tales by Sophia Morrison.
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  Speaker 1: The Mahdi Dew or The Black Dog of Peel Castle.
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  Speaker 1: In the days when Charles the Second was King in
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  Speaker 1: England and Charles Earl of Derby King in man, Peel
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  Speaker 1: Castle was always garrisoned by soldiers. The guard room was
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  Speaker 1: just inside the great entrance gate of the castle, and
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  Speaker 1: a passage used to lead from it through one of
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  Speaker 1: the old churches to the captain of the guard's room.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, one of the soldiers
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  Speaker 1: locked the castle gates and carried the keys through the
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  Speaker 1: dark passage to the captain. They would take it in turns.
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  Speaker 1: About this time, one and another began to notice, some
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  Speaker 1: times in one room, sometimes in another, a big black
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  Speaker 1: dog with rough, curly hair. He did not belong to
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  Speaker 1: any person there, and nobody knew anything about him. But
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  Speaker 1: every night, when the candles were lighted in the guard
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  Speaker 1: room and the fire was burning bright, he would come
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  Speaker 1: from the dark passage and lay himself down by the hearth.
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  Speaker 1: He made no sound, but lay there till the break
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  Speaker 1: of day, and then he would get up and disappear
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  Speaker 1: into the passage. The soldiers were terrified of him at first,
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  Speaker 1: but after a time they were used to the sight
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  Speaker 1: of him and lost some of their fear, though they
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  Speaker 1: still looked on him as something more than mortal. While
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  Speaker 1: he was in the room, the men were quiet and sober,
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  Speaker 1: and no bad words were spoken. When the hour came
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  Speaker 1: to carry the keys to the captain, two of them
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  Speaker 1: would always go together. No man would face the dark
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  Speaker 1: passage alone. One night, however, one fool fellow had drunk
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  Speaker 1: more than was good for him, and he began to
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  Speaker 1: brag and boast that he was not afraid of the dog.
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  Speaker 1: It was not his turn to take the keys, but
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  Speaker 1: to show how brave he was, he said he would
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  Speaker 1: take them alone. He dared the dog to follow him.
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  Speaker 1: Let him come, he shouted, laughing, ha, I'll see whether
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  Speaker 1: he be dog or devil. His friends were terrified and
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  Speaker 1: tried to hold him back, but he snatched up the
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  Speaker 1: keys and went out into the passage. The black dog
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  Speaker 1: slowly got up from before the fire and followed him.
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  Speaker 1: There was a dead silence in the guard room. No
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  Speaker 1: sound was heard but the dashing of the waves on
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  Speaker 1: the steep rocks of the castle islet. After a few
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  Speaker 1: minutes there came from the dark passage the most awful
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  Speaker 1: and unearthly screams and howls. But not a soldier, But
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  Speaker 1: not a soldier dared to move to see what was
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  Speaker 1: going on. They looked at each other in horror. Presently
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  Speaker 1: they heard steps, and the rash fellow came back into
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  Speaker 1: the room. His face was ghastly, pale, and twisted with fear.
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  Speaker 1: He spoke not a word then, nor afterwards. In three
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  Speaker 1: days he was dead, and nobody ever knew what had
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  Speaker 1: happened to him that fearful night. The black Dog has
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  Speaker 1: never been seen again. End of chapter twenty nine.