Animal Lore
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The White Cat
One night in the back-end of the year, when the dim was coming on middling early, my father was going to shut the door, when he noticed a thing like
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The country Manx folk of not so long ago lived very much by the seasons and knew the ways of birds and beasts much better than we do now. They knew how to interpret the weather from watching the skies and believed that horses and dogs could see the Little People.
Isle of Man animal folklore is rich with stories of people experiencing - first hand - the wonders of the animal kingdom both in this world and the Other, as the veil between the two is ever shifting to claim our attention.
Goats in Isle of Man Folklore
The practice of letting a goat accompany flocks and herds at pasture was favoured in the Isle of Man. It
The Hare
The animal most intimately allied with magic in the Isle of Man is the hare, whose shape is often assumed
The People of Colby…
Tradition states that before there were any attorneys, the people of Colby used to adjust their differences over the dead
The Cormorant and The Bat
There was a time in the olden days when the cormorant and the bat took counsel together to do something
Manx Superstition
When the robin will not sing in churchyard trees, the place is said to be haunted. (source: photo; text from
Deodand
The ancient legal penalty of Deodand, well known in England, by which an animal or object causing a death was
To a Manx Kitten 0
Thou little tailless cat with coat of jet, Whose amber eyes with ecstatic dew are wet, As on my lap thy paws beat even tread, “In-out, in-out” – as though thou’rt making bread! “Alice” we called thee from the day
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Song of the Thrush
“Big Robin, big Robin, take a smoke, take a smoke, take a smoke.” “I have no smoke, I have no
The King of the Cats
There was a curious belief that the cats of the Isle of Man had a king of their own who
The Wisest Living Creature
And then there was the Miller’s Cat who seems to have had the power of human speech. By some mischance
Lament of the Old Horse’s Ghost
Ye horses all, who may pass by This spot where rest my bones, Behold my head, which once was high,
The Wonderful Goat of Laxey
There was once an old woman living in Laxey Valley that had a wonderful queer goat. White she was, with
How the Herring Became ‘King of the Sea’
The old fishermen of the Isle of Man have it to say that years and years ago the fish met
A Crow’s Wedding
A wedding with none of the bride’s relatives in attendance was called a ‘Crow’s Wedding’ and there is the following
The Tarroo Ushtey (Water Bull)
From ‘A HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN’ by Joseph Train (1844): A neighbour of mine who kept cattle, had
The Four ‘Moddey Dhoo’
The Moddey Dhoo is a black hound in Manx folklore that reputedly haunts a number of places on the Isle
Manx Lullaby – Ushag Veg Ruy
♫ Ushag veg ruy ny moanee doo, Ny moanee doo, ny moanee doo, Ushag veg ruy ny moanee doo, C’raad
