Latest / Manx Fairy Tales / 041 - Caillagh-ny-Faashagh or the Prophet Wizard

Transcript

041 - Caillagh-ny-Faashagh or the Prophet Wizard · Manx Fairy Tales

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty of Manx Fairy Tales. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All libriuvox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: by Jillian Henry. Manx Fairy Tales by Sophia Morrison. Calliak
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Nefache or the Prophet Wizard. In the old days, when
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: there were wizards and witches in the Isle of Man,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the greatest wizard of all was calliak Nefachha. He did
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: not live above ground, but in a quarry, in a
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: hole under the rock on the lonely mountain side, and
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: that is why the people called him the prophet Wizard
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: of the wilderness. At dark, he would roam over the mountains,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and people walking there when night was drawing on would
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: hear him crying out ho ho ho, like the bellow
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of a goat, in a voice so terrible and strong
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: that the earth and all who heard it trembled with fear.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: He could change himself into any shape he liked. Sometimes
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: he would be a goat with big fiery eyes, at
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: other times a tall, tall man. Once, when he was
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: a goat, he followed a man that was walking along
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the mountain road, and that time he had eyes in
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: him as big as two dishes. The man was carrying
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: a lantern, and as he shifted it from one hand
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to the other, the goat followed it from side to side.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: The man was terrified and began to run. As soon
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: as he left the mountain road. The beast roared after him,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Ho hoo ho. Another time, in the shape of a tall,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: tall man, as tall as two men, he followed a
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: woman who struck across the mountain at gary Moore, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: he had great, big, burning eyes as big as two
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: plates in his head. The woman ran with all her
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: might for life or death, and he ran roaring after her,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: ho ho ho. But when she turned down from the mountain,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: he came no further. He was a great soothsayer, but
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: he would not foretell what was to happen unless some
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: person asked him. It seems that he must have lived
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: for hundreds of years, for he foretold a battle that
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: was fought in ten ninety eight. This was the Battle
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: of Santwat Sandford between the North and South Monks. He said,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the river neb shall run red from Glen Crew to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the sea, and gulls shall sip there full of the
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: blood of man and nie. It all came true. The
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Northmen sailed into Peel and ran their flat bottomed boats
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: up to Glen fabba Ford, where the south Men met
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: them to keep them from landing. They fought up the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: stream to Glen Crewe, where there was a great slaughter,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and the bodies of the slain dammed the stream and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: turned the little glen into a pool. The waters of
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the neb were reddened by man's blood when they ran
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: into Peel Bay. The south Side women had followed the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: men and were watching the battle from a little distance,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: But when they saw that the north people were winning,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: they rushed down and into the heart of the fight
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: with bratfuls of stones and with hacks, and won the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: day for the South. And a law was made that
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: henceforth the widows in the south of the island should
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: get half of their husband's estate, but the north Side
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: women who stayed at home were to get only one third.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: The prophet Wizard told too the finding of Foxdale lead mines.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: A man came to him and asked, how will I
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: get rich o caliohni fasha, and the wizard answered, there's
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: a butt in Balifesen Worth the whole of Belladoul, but
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the riches of the Isle of man Lie hid behind Barroul.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: He also gave this prophecy to Old Juan the weaver,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: who asked him for one. At the foot of Baroul,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: there will be a market town mullani Clay with blood
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: for twenty four hours will turn round. Now the village
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: of Foxdale stands at the foot of Baroul. And it
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: is said that in the old times a great battle
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: between the Manx and the Irish was fought by the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: stream above Mullini Clay, the mill by the hedge to
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: appeal man. He foretold there will be a battle between
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the Irish and the Manx at Kreegma, and the old
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: fishermen say that that battle took place two hundred years ago.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: It was a Sunday when the irishman came in the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: bay and they found no place to beach their boats.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: So they turned the Manx boats adrift and thought they
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: had the place for themselves. But they soon found their masters.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: The manxmen came after their boats, and there was a battle,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: red blood running like water. And the battle was not
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: over that day, but they fought round into Douglas and
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: finished at last in Darby Haven. So the old fishermen say.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Then there was an old maid that had a crescid
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: a melting pot, and she went from house to house
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: making lead spoons. She was a bit queer. She would
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: not smoke a mold on a sunny day, nor a
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: misty day, nor a wet day, nor a windy day.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: She must have a day to fit herself. She met
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the Calliak when he was in the shape of a goat,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and she asked him to foretell when would be the
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: end of the world. He said that before the last
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the mountains of Man will be cut over with roads,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and iron horses will gallop over them, and there will
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: be an inn on the top of Snaefell. That has
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: all come true. Trains rush over the island, and for
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: sure there is the inn on the top of our
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: highest mountain. He said, too, Man in Scotland will come
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: so close that two women, one standing in Man and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: another in Scotland, will be able to wring a blanket
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: between them. But that has not come true yet. Though
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the Sandy point of Air is stretching farther and farther
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: towards the mull of Galloway, and another of his prophecies
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: has not come to pass yet. The chief rulers of
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: man will be compelled to flee, but it will all
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: be before the end end of chapter forty