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035 - The Witch of Slieu Whallian · Manx Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty four of Manke's Fairy Tales by Sophia Morrison.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. The Witch of slew Wallion. It
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  Speaker 1: was midsummer day, and the peel herring fleet, with sails
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  Speaker 1: half set, was ready for sea. The men had their
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  Speaker 1: barley sown and their potatoes down, and now their boats
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  Speaker 1: were rigged and nets stowed on board, and they were
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  Speaker 1: ready for the harvest of the sea. It was a
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  Speaker 1: fine day. The sky was clear, and the wind was
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  Speaker 1: in the right airt being from the north. But as
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  Speaker 1: they say, if custom will not get custom, custom will weep.
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  Speaker 1: A basin full of water was brought from the Holy
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  Speaker 1: Well and given to the wise woman that sold fair winds.
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  Speaker 1: As she stood on the harbor side with the women
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  Speaker 1: and children to watch the boats off, they told her
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  Speaker 1: to look and to tell of the luck of the
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  Speaker 1: herring fleet. She bent over the water, and as she looked,
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  Speaker 1: her face grew pale with fear, and she gasped, Horus, Horus,
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  Speaker 1: and do ye know what I'm seeing? Let us hear?
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  Speaker 1: Said they I'm seeing the wild waves lashed to a
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  Speaker 1: foam away by the great bratta head. I'm seeing the
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  Speaker 1: surge round the Chicken's Rock, and the breaker lip is red.
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  Speaker 1: I'm seeing where corpse is tossing the sound with nets
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  Speaker 1: and gears and spars, and never a one of the
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  Speaker 1: fishing fleet is riding under the stars. There was a
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  Speaker 1: dead hush, and the men gathered close together, muttering till
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  Speaker 1: Gory the admiral of the fishing fleet, stepped forward, caught
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  Speaker 1: the basin out of her hands, and flung it out
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  Speaker 1: to sea, growling, sure as I'm alive, Sure as I'm alive, woman,
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  Speaker 1: I've more than half a mind to heave you in
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  Speaker 1: after it. If I had my way, the like of
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  Speaker 1: you and your crew would be run into the sea. Boys,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to lose a shot for that bleb. Come on,
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  Speaker 1: let's go and chance it with the help of God. Aye, no, Harry,
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  Speaker 1: no wedding. Let's go and chounce it, said young Cash.
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  Speaker 1: So hoisting sails, they left the port, and when the
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  Speaker 1: land was fairly opened out so that they could see
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  Speaker 1: the calf, they headed for the south and stood out
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  Speaker 1: for the shoulder. Soon a fine breeze put them in
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  Speaker 1: a fishing ground, and every man was looking for signs
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  Speaker 1: of harrying perkins, gannets, fish playing on the surface, oily water,
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  Speaker 1: and such like. When the sun was set and the
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  Speaker 1: evening was too dark to see the admiral's flag, the
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  Speaker 1: skipper of each lugger held his arm out at full length,
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  Speaker 1: and when he could no longer see the black and
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  Speaker 1: his thumb nail, he ordered the men to shoot their nets.
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  Speaker 1: And as they lay to their trains, it all fell out,
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  Speaker 1: as the witch said, Soon the sea put on another face.
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  Speaker 1: The wind from westward blew a sudden gale and swelled
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  Speaker 1: up the waves with foam. The boats were driven hither
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  Speaker 1: and thither, and the anchors dragged quickly behind them. The
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  Speaker 1: men hoisted sail before the wind and struggled to get
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  Speaker 1: back to land. And the lightning was all the light
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  Speaker 1: they had. It was so black dark that they could
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  Speaker 1: see no hill, and above the uproar of the sea
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  Speaker 1: they could hear the searches pounding on the rocky coast.
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  Speaker 1: The waves were rising like mountains, breaking over the boats
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  Speaker 1: and harrying them from stem to stern. They were dashed
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  Speaker 1: to pieces on the rocks, of the calf, and only
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  Speaker 1: two men escaped with their lives. But there was one
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  Speaker 1: boat that had got safe back to port before the storm,
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  Speaker 1: and that was the boat of the seven Boys. She
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  Speaker 1: was a dolby boat and belonged to seven young men
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  Speaker 1: who were all unmarried. They were always good to the
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  Speaker 1: dow any merry the merman, and when they were hauling
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  Speaker 1: their nets, they would throw them a fishful of herring,
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  Speaker 1: and in return they always had good luck with their fishing.
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  Speaker 1: This night, after the fleet had shot their nets some time,
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  Speaker 1: the night being still fine and calm, the seven boys
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  Speaker 1: heard the voice of the mermaan hailing them and saying,
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  Speaker 1: it is calm and fine. Now there will be storm
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  Speaker 1: soon enough. When the skipper heard this, he said, every
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  Speaker 1: herring must hang by its own gills, and he and
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  Speaker 1: his crew at once put their nets on the board
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  Speaker 1: and gained the harbor. And it was given for law
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  Speaker 1: ever after that no crew was to be made up
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  Speaker 1: of single men. Only there was to be at least
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  Speaker 1: one married man on board, and no man was bound
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  Speaker 1: by his hiring to fish in the same south sea,
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  Speaker 1: which was called the Sea of Blood from that day.
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  Speaker 1: As for the witch, they said that she had raised
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  Speaker 1: the storm by her spells, and they took her to
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  Speaker 1: the top of the great mountain slew Wallien, put her
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  Speaker 1: into a spiked barrel, and rolled her from the top
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  Speaker 1: to the bottom, where the barrel sank into the bog.
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  Speaker 1: For many and many a long year, there was a
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  Speaker 1: bare track down the st steep mountain side, where grass
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  Speaker 1: would never grow, nor laying nor gorse. They called it
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  Speaker 1: the Witch's way, and they said that her screams are
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  Speaker 1: heard in the air every year on the day that
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  Speaker 1: she was put to death. End of Chapter thirty four.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Ancho Calvio