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025 - Kitterland · Manx Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four of Monk's Fairy Tales. Thiscessar LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Monk's
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  Speaker 1: Fairy Tales by Sophia Morrison Kitterland. It was more than
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  Speaker 1: eight hundred years ago, in the days of Olah Goddardsn,
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  Speaker 1: that Baron Kitter, the Norwegian lived in Man. He had
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  Speaker 1: his castle on the top of Barux, and he spent
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  Speaker 1: all his time in hunting the bisons and elks that
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  Speaker 1: were on the island then, until he had killed them all.
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  Speaker 1: Then the people begun to be afraid that he would
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  Speaker 1: chase their cattle and the purrs of the mountains and
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  Speaker 1: leave them no beasts at all. So they went to
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  Speaker 1: the wisest witches of the island to see what they
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  Speaker 1: could do. One day, Baron Kitter had gone over to
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  Speaker 1: the calf to hunt the red deer there, leaving his cook,
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  Speaker 1: Ayok of the Loud Voice, in the castle to cook
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  Speaker 1: his dinner. Ayok set the pot on the fire and
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  Speaker 1: then fell asleep over his work. While he was sleeping,
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  Speaker 1: the witch wife Ada put a spell on the pot,
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  Speaker 1: and the fat boiled over into the fire. Soon the
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  Speaker 1: house was in flames. Ayok woke and shouted for help
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  Speaker 1: at the top of his voice, and his cries were
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  Speaker 1: so loud that they reached the ears of Kitter and
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  Speaker 1: his fellow huntsmen, ten miles away on the cof When
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  Speaker 1: Kitter heard the cries and saw the flames on the
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  Speaker 1: top of Baru, he made for the beach as hard
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  Speaker 1: as he could, and put out in a small curragh
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  Speaker 1: for the island with most of his friends. When they
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  Speaker 1: were in a strong current about half way across the channel,
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  Speaker 1: the boat struck on a rock and they were all drowned,
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  Speaker 1: and the rock has ever since been called Kitterland. The
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  Speaker 1: rest of Kitter's friends, who had stayed on the cloth
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  Speaker 1: and so saved their lives, believed that Aok the cook
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  Speaker 1: had made a plot with the witches of the island
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  Speaker 1: to do away with all the Norwegians in Man. So
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  Speaker 1: they brought him before King Olaf to be judged, and
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  Speaker 1: he was condemned to death, but according to the custom
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  Speaker 1: of Norway, he was allowed to choose how he would die.
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  Speaker 1: Then he said, I wish Mada to be led across
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  Speaker 1: one of your Majesty's legs, and there cut off by
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  Speaker 1: your Majesty's sword Macabwein, which was made by Lone Macliboun,
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  Speaker 1: the dark Smith of Drontheim. It was known to every
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  Speaker 1: person there that the king's sword could cut the hardest
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  Speaker 1: granite only by touching it with its edge, and they
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  Speaker 1: all begged Olaf not to do as crafty Eog asked,
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  Speaker 1: But the King would not break his word and gave
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  Speaker 1: orders that all should be done as the cook had said.
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  Speaker 1: But the witch Ada was there, and she told them
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  Speaker 1: to take toad's skins, twigs of the currant tree, and
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  Speaker 1: others eggs nine times nine of each, and put them
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  Speaker 1: between the king's leg and the cook's head. They did this,
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  Speaker 1: and then the great sword Macaboein, made by Lorn Machliboein,
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  Speaker 1: was lifted with the greatest care by one of the
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  Speaker 1: King's faithful servants and led gently on the cook's neck.
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  Speaker 1: But before it could be stopped, Eyok's head was cut off,
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  Speaker 1: was cut from his body, and the other's eggs and
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  Speaker 1: the crom twigs were also cut through. Only the toad's
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  Speaker 1: skins saved the king's leg. When the dark smith heard
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  Speaker 1: how the power of the great sword Macabowin had been
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  Speaker 1: stayed by witchcraft. He was very angry and called for
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  Speaker 1: his hammerman, Hyalus nan Wood, who had lost one leg
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  Speaker 1: when he was helping to make the sort. He sent
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  Speaker 1: him off at once to Peel Castle to challenge King
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  Speaker 1: Olaf or any of his men to weigh a walking
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  Speaker 1: rays from Peel to Drontheim. King Olof himself took up
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  Speaker 1: the challenge, and off they set, over mountains and through gales.
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  Speaker 1: They walked as fast as they could go, and one
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  Speaker 1: leg men as fast as the king. When they had
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  Speaker 1: crossed the island, they each put out to sea in
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  Speaker 1: a sailing boat, and each came in sight of Drowntime
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  Speaker 1: at the same moment. When they drew near to the smithing,
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  Speaker 1: the hammerman, who was ahead, called out a loan to
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  Speaker 1: open the door, and Olaf called him to shut it,
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  Speaker 1: and then, pushing past, Hyaouls got into the smithy first,
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  Speaker 1: to show that he was not at all weary after
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  Speaker 1: his walk. Olaf took up the great hammer of the
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  Speaker 1: forge and struck the anvil such a mighty blow that
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  Speaker 1: he split it through and the block beneath it too.
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  Speaker 1: When Emergad, the daughter of Ian saw the strength and
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  Speaker 1: power of Olaf, she loved him, And while her father
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  Speaker 1: was putting back the block and angy, she whispered to
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  Speaker 1: the king, my father is doing that so that he
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  Speaker 1: may finish the sword he is making. It has been
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  Speaker 1: foretold that the first blood it shall shed shall be
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  Speaker 1: royal blood, and he has worn that that blood shall
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  Speaker 1: be yours. But it is not your father, the seventh
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  Speaker 1: son of Old Windy Cap, King of Norway, cried Olaf.
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  Speaker 1: He is, said Amargad. Then the prophecy shall be fulfilled,
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  Speaker 1: said Olaf, and he thrust the sword into the heart
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  Speaker 1: of Lorn, and afterwards slew with it the hammerman. Also
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  Speaker 1: he made Emergade his queen, and they ruled together, and
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  Speaker 1: from them came a long line of kings of Man.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter twenty four Kitterland