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042 - The City Under Sea · Manx Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty 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: The City under the sea, now where Langness runs its
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  Speaker 1: long nose into the sea, and on a place now
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  Speaker 1: all was covered by the waves. There was once a
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  Speaker 1: fine city, with many towers and gilded domes. Great ships
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  Speaker 1: went sailing from its port to all parts of the world,
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  Speaker 1: and round it were well grassed lands with cattle and sheep.
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  Speaker 1: Even now, sailors sometimes see it through the clear deep waters,
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  Speaker 1: and here dimly the bleating of sheep, the barking of dogs,
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  Speaker 1: and the muffled chiming of bells. Nay jyes, three kia quigg.
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  Speaker 1: But no man can walk its streets. For once upon
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  Speaker 1: a time, in the days when there were giants in
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  Speaker 1: the Isle of Man, Finn mac cool had his home
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  Speaker 1: near this city. He lived at the sound to keep
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  Speaker 1: his eye on Erin and to watch the sea. But
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  Speaker 1: he was very seldom in Man, and whenever he was,
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  Speaker 1: he was always doing some mischief, so that his enemies
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  Speaker 1: were many. One day he was in such a hurry
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  Speaker 1: to reach his home that he jumped from Erin and
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  Speaker 1: landed in the island on the rocks above the sound.
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  Speaker 1: He came down with such force that he left his
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  Speaker 1: footmarks in the hard stone, and the place has been
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  Speaker 1: called ever since fleu aired Nikassen, or the mountain of
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  Speaker 1: the place of the feet. His first act when he
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  Speaker 1: reached home was to get in a red rage with
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  Speaker 1: the people of the city close by. His next act
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  Speaker 1: was to turn them all into blocks of granite. In
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  Speaker 1: his passion, he struck the ground so hard with his
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  Speaker 1: club that he made a great dent in it. The
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  Speaker 1: waves rushed into the deep hollow, and the roaring sea
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  Speaker 1: drowned the din of the city. Its towers and domes
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  Speaker 1: were covered by the green water. Its streets and market place,
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  Speaker 1: its harbor, and its crowded keys disappeared from sight. And
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  Speaker 1: there it lies to this day. But there is a
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  Speaker 1: strange story told of a man that went down to it.
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  Speaker 1: More than two hundred years ago. A ship was searching
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  Speaker 1: for sunken treasure in those parts, and this man was
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  Speaker 1: let down to the bottom of the sea in a
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  Speaker 1: kind of ancient diving bell. He was to pull the
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  Speaker 1: rope when he wished to be let down further. He
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  Speaker 1: pulled and pulled till the men on the ship knew
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  Speaker 1: that he was as deep down in the sea as
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  Speaker 1: the moon is high up in the sky. Then there
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  Speaker 1: was no more rope, and they had to draw him
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  Speaker 1: up again. When he was on deck, he told them
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  Speaker 1: that if he could have gone further, he would have
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  Speaker 1: made the most wonderful discoveries. They begged him to tell
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  Speaker 1: them what he had seen, and when he had drunk
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  Speaker 1: a cup of wine, he told his story. First he
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  Speaker 1: had passed through the waters in which the fishes live.
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  Speaker 1: Then he came into the clear and peaceful region where
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  Speaker 1: storms never come, and saw the bottom of the world
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  Speaker 1: under sea, shining with coral and bright pebbles. When the
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  Speaker 1: diving bell rested on the ground, he looked through its
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  Speaker 1: little windows and saw great streets decorated with pillars of
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  Speaker 1: crystal glittering like diamonds, and beautiful buildings made of mother
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  Speaker 1: of pearl, with shells of every color set in it.
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  Speaker 1: He longed to go into one of these fine houses,
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  Speaker 1: but he could not leave his diving bell. Or he
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  Speaker 1: would have been drowned. He managed to move it close
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  Speaker 1: to the entrance of a great hall with a floor
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  Speaker 1: of pearls and rubies and all sorts of precious stones,
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  Speaker 1: and with a table and chair of amber. The walls
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  Speaker 1: were of jasper, and strings of lovely jewels were hanging
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  Speaker 1: on them. The man wished to carry some away with him,
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  Speaker 1: but he could not reach them. The rope was at
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  Speaker 1: an end. As he rose up again towards the air,
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  Speaker 1: he met many handsome mermn and beautiful mermaids, but they
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  Speaker 1: were afraid of him and swam away as fast as
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  Speaker 1: they could. That was the end of the man's story.
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  Speaker 1: After that, he grew so sad with longing to go
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  Speaker 1: back to the world under sea and stay there forever,
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  Speaker 1: that he cared for nothing on earth, and soon died
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  Speaker 1: of grief. End of chapter forty one.