This is a bonus episode.
In following months we’ll be moving on from “The Stories of a Chinese Studio” by Pu to “Manx Fairy Tales” by Sophia Morrison. Morrison is kind of like the Brothers Grimm for Manx fairy tales: if you’ve heard manx fairy tales, you have heard her work. She also acted as the editor for a magazine that and was a leading light in the Manx cultural revival movement, which led to the rescuing of the Manx language. I will be going through her journal, now that it’s available electronically, to look for the sort of material that hasn’t quite filtered into the role-playing sphere yet.
There have been several attempts to stat up the Isle of Man for Ars Magica because, from a very early edition, it was decided that there had been several attempts to put a covenant on Man and that each of them had failed. Whichever covenant could claim Man could decide which tribunal it would go into. I know I wrote up a very early version, using paper tourist sources which were available to me in the early 90s. There was a far more comprehensive version done by someone else in one of the other fanzines.
As it has already been done a couple of times I didn’t want this foundational myth to be your only episode this week: hence the bonus episode.
I will try stating up a version of Mannan MacLir however you will see that next month when, I’ll be telling you what he’s up to in 1220.
The following recording was released into the public domain through the Librivox Project by a reader called Sonia. Sonia has been reading for LibriVox forever. She’s got about 3,000 entries in the LibriVox catalogue and that’s not exaggerating for emphasis. Thank you so much to Sonia and all of the team at LibriVox.
For those of you who’ve heard this story before I do apologise, but I think it’s an important foundation before we go on with the rest of the folklore of the Isle of Man. Your saga of course may vary
Manannan Mac y Leirr, the Son of the Sea, was the first Ruler of Mann. He was a great Wizard, and he was so powerful that afterwards he was looked on as a god. He had a great stone fort on Peel Island, and he could make one man, standing on its battlements, seem to be a hundred. When he saw his enemies’ ships sailing, he would cover the island round with a silver mist so that it could not be seen; and if, in spite of the mist, his enemies came near, he would throw chips into the water and change them into ships. He was out walking one day on Barrule, when he saw the warships of the Northmen were in the bay of Peel. And with that he made himself into the shape of three legs and rolled like a wheel down from the mountain top as fast as the wind. It ]was about low tide in the harbour, and there ran a stream of sparkling water out to sea. Now the banks of the stream were marshy, and by the river-side grew a quantity of sedge with broad, green leaves. So Manannan made little boats of the sedge, a good number of them, and sailed his boats in the stream. And when the little fleet floated out of the harbour, he caused them to look like great ships of war, well manned with fighting men. Then terror seized on the Northmen when they saw the Manx fleet, and they cut their cables, hoisted sails, and cleared away as fast as they could, and Manannan and his island were left in peace. Thus did he keep Mann, and not with his sword, or his bow and arrows.
In his fort he had a great banqueting-hall, where handsome boys made sweet music, and others played games and did great feats of strength. He had a horse called Enbarr of the Flowing Mane, who could travel like the wind over sea as well as land, swift hounds that could catch any wild beast, and a sword called The Answerer,[173]whose wound was always fatal, besides his Magic Branch and his wonderful boat, Wave Sweeper.
He governed Mann well for long, long years. Manx people had the best of good treatment from him, and all the rent he wanted was that each one was to bring a bundle of green rushes to him on the Mountain of South Barrule on Midsummer Eve. The island was a happy place, full of sunshine and all pleasant things, and no person there was old or tired or sad.
Manx men have never forgotten Manannan, and this thousand years our fishermen have prayed to him the following prayer, as they have put out to sea. Even up to the days of our fathers it has been used:
Manannan Beg Mac y Leirr—
Little Manannan Son of the Sea,
Who blessed our island,
Bless us and our boat, going out well.
Coming in better, with living and dead in our boat.
Games From Folktales 