There was a man who lived not long ago near Port Erin who had a Lhiannan-Shee. “He was like other people, but he had a fairy sweetheart; but he noticed her, and they do not like being noticed, the fairies, and so he lost his mind. Well, he was quite quiet like other people, but at night he slept in the barn, and they used to hear him talking to his sweetheart, and scolding her sometimes; but if anyone made a noise he would be quiet at once.” Now, the truth of this story is clear enough. The man went mad, but this madness took the form of the popular belief, and that again attributed his madness to the fairy mistress. I am convinced that this was believed to be a case of genuine fairy intercourse, and it shows that the fairy creed still survives in the Isle of Man.—Campbell.
The Dooiney-oie, or night-man of the Manx peasantry, is reverenced as the tutelar demon of certain families, as it appeared only to give monitions of future events to particular persons. His voice was sometimes very dismal, when heard at night on the mountains, something like H-o-w-l-a-a, or H-o-w-a-a. When his lamentation in winter was heard on the coast, being a sure prediction of an approaching tempest, it was so awful that even the brute creation trembled at the sound.—Train.
Of late years there has been a disposition to confound the characteristics of the Dooiney-oie with those of the Phynnodderee and Glashtin, as he is supposed to do work, such as threshing corn, for those with whom he is connected.
Footnotes
[40] See Preface.
[41] Here we think Campbell’s informant was mistaken. (see p. 34,)
[42] Train was certainly wrong, as numerous flint arrow heads have been discovered both before and after his time. Campbell’s informant was also in error, as these flint weapons are certainly supposed by the Manks to have been used by the Fairies.