TCMC Folklore Society

rc
sluggo
and
the
isleofman

Meows kitties. We are Sluggo and RC, and we welcome mew to our Manx Heratige page.
Check back often as we will be updating this page frequently
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"Nagh insh dou cre va mee, agh insh don cre ta mee".
"Don't tell me what I was, but tell me what I am".

(Take a man for what he is himself worth.
Don't consider his origin.)

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HOW THE MANX CAT LOST HER TAIL

WHEN Noah was calling the animals into the Ark, there was one cat who was out mousing and took no notice when he was calling to her. She was a good mouser, but this time she had trouble to find a mouse and she took a notion that she wouldn't go into the Ark without one. So at last, when Noah had all the animals safe inside, and he saw the rain beginning to fall, and no sign of her coming in, he said: 'Who's out is out, and who's in is in!' And with that he was just closing the door when the cat came running up, half drowned-that's why cats hate the water and just squeezed in, in time. But Noah had slammed the door as she ran in and it cut off her tail, so she got in without it, and that is why Manx cats have no tails to this day.

That cat said:

"Bee bo bend it, My tail's ended, And I 'll go to Mann And get copper nails, And mend it. "

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/manx/fulltext/sm1911/p014.htm

Here is another tale of how the Manx lost her tail:

During the Roman occupation of Britain, momma cats on the Isle of Man bit off their newborn kittens' tails so that the Roman soldiers wouldn't kill the kittens and use their tails to make plumes for their helmets.

Background and some graphics by

Celtic Web Art

Manx proverbs and storys
© F.Coakley , 2001
http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/manx/index.htm
How the Manx lost their tails © F.Coakley , 2001 [From Manx Fairy Tales, 1911] http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/manx/fulltext/sm1911/index.htm

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