Skeealyn Vannin, Disk 5 Track 05i: Speaker: John Crebbin, Port St Mary
Date(s): 1948
Creator(s): Irish Folklore Commission
Transcript: Spoot-Vane and the Moddey-Dhoo by ‘Juan Noa’
Houl on! till I tell ye of a moddey-dhoo
That gave a couple of fishermen stoo;
Not the fellas tha’s goin’ to sae,
An’ roughin it mos’ly every day,
An’ arnin’ theer bread an’buther that way;
But yanda fellas tha’ll go about
From dub to dub, an’ lout an’ linger,
An’ maybe land a birrov-a trout,
For size, no bather nor ye finger,
The wans prefarin’ a rock on the steep
Far before a rock on the deep.
On the rocks on Scarlett they war this night,
Fishin’ for callig in a half moonlight.
An’ the whole bay lay in a peaceful calm,
Like an innocent thing that could navar do harm;
An’ the moon was makin’ a silvery thrack
For the lil’ fellas to glide to the ’rizon an’ back.
No soun’ ‘but the murmurin’ of lil’ Spootvane.
Scurryin’ to meet his mermaid again,
An’ the soothin’ oom of the sae as it tips
The shaggy rocks wis’ a kiss on the lips,
Goin’ an’ comin’ wis kiss after kiss-
But everywan’s lovin’ owl’ Scarlett like this.
Ay, out on the rocks at Spootvane they war sittin’
But Danyal was narvus as a birrov-a kitten.
“Thubm,” says he, “d’ye think it’s thrue
This place is took wis’a moddey-dhoo?”
Says Thubm: “It’s a wondhar yer not ashamed
To talk like that - wis’ such a name:
Dar to be a Danyal, man;
An’ navar fear nawthin’ on sae, or lan’.”
Behind them somethin’ dropped with a pat.
“Goy-heigh!” said Tommie, “an’ what was that?”
They felt as if they war glued to the groun’,
But both of them ventured to turn aroun’;
An’ theer, bedad, to theer surprise,
A big black thing, wis’ glarin eyes,
Was up on top of the big stone wall.
Says Dan: “It’s the moddey-dhoo for all.”
Then up jumped Tommie, an’ up jumped Dan,
Lef’ all theer calligs an’ lines, an’ ran
Faster till avar theer’d run before,
On many a smoother place than the shore.
Away, like the very Jouyll, they fled,
Wis’ navar a soun’ comin’ out of theer head.
But Danyal said after he could feel
The breath o’ the cussard thing, right at his heel.
Nex’ day, I met Thubm out on the shore,
I thought he was lookin’ mighty sore.
“Hallaw!” says I, “can ye len’ me a hook?”
(He gave me a funny surt of a look),
“A’m towl theer was terrible good fishin’ las’ night.
Jus heave out the line, an’ ye got a bite.
Theer sayin’, indeed, theer was callig galore -
In fac’, they war findin’ them up on the shore!”
But Tommie wa’n for takin’ the bait,
says he: “I hav’n been fishin’ of late.”
“Thubm,” says I, “here’s yer line again -
Ye lef’ last night on the rocks at Spootvane;
An’ - (Here, Rovar!) - here’s the moddey-dhoo;
An’ here’s the birrov-a stick I threw,
An’ dropped it right at the back of you two,
When over after it Rovar flew.
Then another I flung right after yer thrack,
An’ Rovar went boundin’ to fetch it back.
My gough ! wa’n you two in a stew!”
Then Thubm got wild an’ the air got blue,
So, I says, “Good-mornin’, Tommie, me lad
It’s the aesies’ catch I’ve avar had.”
Language: Manx
Collection: Sound Archive
Level: WHOLE
ID number: SA 0579/5/5i