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036 - The Old Christmas · Manx Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five of Man's 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 Man's Fairy Tales by Sophia Morrison.
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  Speaker 1: The Old Christmas in the days of our grandmother's Old
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  Speaker 1: Christmas Day, the fifth of January was believed to be
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  Speaker 1: the true Christmas. On Black Thomas's Eve, which was the
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  Speaker 1: first day of the Christmas holidays, the spinning wheels all
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  Speaker 1: had to be put away, the making of nets ceased,
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  Speaker 1: and no work of any kind must be done until
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  Speaker 1: the twelfth day. But there was once an old woman
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  Speaker 1: named Peggy Shimmin Ablacoil, and she was bent on finishing
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  Speaker 1: some spinning that she had begun. So on Old Christmas
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  Speaker 1: Eve she said to herself, the New Christmas is pass
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  Speaker 1: and surely it's no wrong to do a bit of
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  Speaker 1: spinning to night, though she doubted in her heart if
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  Speaker 1: she were not sinning. So when himself and the rest
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  Speaker 1: were in bed, she called her young servant girl, Lil Margot,
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  Speaker 1: and said, mar God me and you will finish the
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  Speaker 1: spinning to night. Margot was frightened terrible, but she got
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  Speaker 1: out her wheel and sat beside her mistress. The two
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  Speaker 1: began to spin, and they were spinning and spinning till
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  Speaker 1: near midnight. And behold ye, just before midnight, Old Peggy
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  Speaker 1: saw the flax she was drawing from the distraft grow
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  Speaker 1: blacker and blacker till it was as black as tar.
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  Speaker 1: But Margot's flax did not change color, because she had
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  Speaker 1: only done what her mistress bade her. Peggy dropped the
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  Speaker 1: flax quick, put away her will, and crept in fear
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  Speaker 1: to bed. She knew now which was the true Christmas Day,
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  Speaker 1: and never more did she spin. Old Christmas Eve. Mar
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  Speaker 1: God was left alone in the kitchen when her mistress
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  Speaker 1: had gone to bed, And at first she was trembling
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  Speaker 1: with fright. But she was a middling brave girl, and
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  Speaker 1: she took a notion, as there was no person to
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  Speaker 1: stop her, to see if all the things were true
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  Speaker 1: that she had heard about Old Christmas Eve. They're saying.
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  Speaker 1: She thought that the bees are coming out, and three
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  Speaker 1: year old bullocks going down on their knees, and the
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  Speaker 1: muhr coming up in bloom. Then she says to herself,
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  Speaker 1: I'm thinking I'll go out and watch the muhr. So
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  Speaker 1: she put on a cloak round her and crept out
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  Speaker 1: at the door into the cold, frosty, moonlit night, and
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  Speaker 1: midnight had just struck. As she put her foot outside,
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  Speaker 1: she stooped to look on the spot where the muhr
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  Speaker 1: root was buried. And as she was looking, the earth
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  Speaker 1: began to stir and to crack, and soon two little
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  Speaker 1: green shoots pushed up to the air. She ran closer
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  Speaker 1: to see what would happen, and to her great wonder,
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  Speaker 1: the leaves and stalks grew big and strong before her eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and then the buds began to show, and in a
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  Speaker 1: few minutes the lovely white flowers were in bloom, and
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  Speaker 1: the garden was sweet with their fragrance. Margot could do
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  Speaker 1: nothing but stare at them at first, but at last
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  Speaker 1: she dared to gather one small piece of the blossom,
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  Speaker 1: and she kept it for luck all her life. Then
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  Speaker 1: she went to the cow house and peeped through the door.
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  Speaker 1: She heard a groaning sound, and there were the young
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  Speaker 1: bullocks on their knees, moaning, and the sweat was dropping
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  Speaker 1: from them. Margot knelt down too, and put up a
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  Speaker 1: bit of prayer to the Holy Child that was born
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  Speaker 1: in a stall. But the wonders were not over yet,
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  Speaker 1: for as she went silently back to the house, she
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  Speaker 1: noticed that the bees were singing and flying round the hive.
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  Speaker 1: They were inside again when she shut the door of
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  Speaker 1: the house behind her. Always after that, when the neighbors
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  Speaker 1: would ask if she believed in the wonders of old
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  Speaker 1: Christmas Eve, she would say, I know it's true, for
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  Speaker 1: I've seen it myself. End of Chapter thirty five