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022 - The Little Footprints · Manx Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one 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 Jillian Henry. Manx Fairy Tales by Sophia Morrison,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one, The Little Footprints close to the Niarbil,
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  Speaker 1: the great tale of rock that stretches into the sea
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  Speaker 1: at Dolby, is a little house on the strand. It
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  Speaker 1: is sheltered behind the high rock which rises above its
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  Speaker 1: thatched roof. Before it lies Bay More, the great bay,
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  Speaker 1: held by a chain of mountains, purple with ling. Standing
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  Speaker 1: before its door and looking to the west, you may
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  Speaker 1: see the sun set behind the distant Morn mountains. At
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  Speaker 1: dawn you may see him rise over coronkin Erie La,
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  Speaker 1: the hill of the Rising Day. Here lived Juan, the fisherman.
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  Speaker 1: He knew as well as any person that the little
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  Speaker 1: people were all around. When he was a boy, he
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  Speaker 1: had many a time looked out of the door on
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  Speaker 1: moonlight nights to try if he could put sight on
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  Speaker 1: them dancing on the lonely shore. He had not seen them.
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  Speaker 1: They make themselves invisible when they know that mortal eyes
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  Speaker 1: are on them. But he had seen the tiny riding
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  Speaker 1: lights of their herring fleet in the bay, and had
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  Speaker 1: helped his father to draw in the nets full of
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  Speaker 1: good fish which were sure to be caught the night.
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  Speaker 1: After many a time he had wakened from his sleep
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  Speaker 1: in the dark, and in the pauses of the wind
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  Speaker 1: and the lull of the great breakers, he had heard
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  Speaker 1: the sound of hammering. He knew it was the little
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  Speaker 1: people hammering at their herring barrels in Oiknisyr, the Cooper's
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  Speaker 1: cave under the hills, and that as the chips flew
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  Speaker 1: out onto the waves, they became ships. He had heard
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  Speaker 1: the story of the fisherman, a friend of his father's,
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  Speaker 1: who was fishing one night at Lagnikey when a dense
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  Speaker 1: gray mist rolled in. He thought he had best make
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  Speaker 1: for home. While the footpath above the rocks was visible.
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  Speaker 1: When he was getting his things together, he heard what
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  Speaker 1: sounded like a lot of children coming out of school.
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  Speaker 1: He lifted his head and behold there was a fleet
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  Speaker 1: of fairy boats each side of the rock, the riding
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  Speaker 1: lights shining like little stars on a frosty night. The
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  Speaker 1: crews seemed busy preparing to come on shore, and he
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  Speaker 1: heard one little fellow shout, harareen bocht as erich Broi
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  Speaker 1: sked indeed leer eck in mouner say hill show hanniel
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  Speaker 1: wegen poor times, dirty weather. Hearing enough at the people
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  Speaker 1: of this world, nothing at us, then said the fisherman.
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  Speaker 1: They dropped off and went agate of the flitters. When
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  Speaker 1: Juan was a big boy, he himself saw a thing
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  Speaker 1: which he never forgot. One day he left a boat
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  Speaker 1: over at the farther side of Bay More, and at
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  Speaker 1: night he had to go over to fetch it. It
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  Speaker 1: was a moonlight night, and the bay was as smooth
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  Speaker 1: as glass. As he rowed across, there was no sound
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  Speaker 1: but the lapping of the little waves on the shore,
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  Speaker 1: and now and again the cry of a gannet. Joanne
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  Speaker 1: found his boat on the strand where he had left her,
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  Speaker 1: and was setting to work to launch her when he
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  Speaker 1: thought he saw a glimmering light which was not the
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  Speaker 1: light of the moon, in one of the caves near him.
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  Speaker 1: He stood where he was and listened, and he heard
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  Speaker 1: the sound of faint music. Then he went as silently
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  Speaker 1: as he was able to the cave and looked in.
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  Speaker 1: No light was there but the dim light of the moon.
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  Speaker 1: The shadows in the corners of the cave were as
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  Speaker 1: black as pitch. Joanne was trembling all over, and at
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  Speaker 1: first he was blinking his eyes and could see nothing.
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  Speaker 1: But after some minutes he saw a great stone in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of the cave, and the floor of fine
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  Speaker 1: white sand. And on the sand around that stone there
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  Speaker 1: were little footprints, marks of tiny clogs. They were no
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  Speaker 1: bigger than his thumb. End of Chapter twenty one