Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/233

 Water and Well-Worship in Man.. 225

He had then to walk three times round each pool sunways, sa}'ing in Manx, ''Ayns aiynn yn Ayr, as y Vac, as y Spyrryd Noo" (" In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"), and to apply the water to his or her eyes. A well on Slieau Maggie, in the parish of Kirk Michael, had the same property and required the same observances.

On Corrin's Hill, to the south of Peel, is Oiibbyr Noo Pherick (" St. Patrick's Well"), which is said to have first sprung forth where St. Patrick was prompted by divine inspiration to impress the sign of the cross on the ground. He blessed the well, and its water is consequently supposed to be efficacious in all sorts of diseases, and as a preserva- tive against the wiles of witches and fairies. According to another account of this well, when St. Patrick first came to the Isle of Man, he crossed the channel on horseback, and, being pursued by a sea-monster, he put the horse up the steepest part of Corrin's Hill. On reaching the top the horse stood still, and a beautiful spring of water, at which both the saint and the horse refreshed themselves, sprang up at their feet. This spring was consequently called CJiibbyr Shceant ("Blessed Well"), and at it the first Christians in the island are said to have been baptised by St. Patrick.^ It is also called CJiibbyr yn Argid (" Well of the Silver"), from the silver coins which were thrown into it as offerings. There is another CJiibbyr PJiericJc (" Patrick's Well") near Laxey, where the saint is said to have stopped to drink on account of his horse having stumbled there. It is supposed to be just as efficacious as its namesake. If people passed this well and left nothing there, it was supposed that they would not be able to find their way home. There is a well without a name on South Barrule,of marvellous health-giving properties, but they can only be enjoyed once in a lifetime, as tradition has it that the well cannot be found when sought a second time. A story is told of a man who left a stick at the well to mark the place, but on returning he could not find either the well or the stick. The stick, 1 W. Cashen, Peel.

VOL. V. Q