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The Bollan Bane Tune
Folklore
Also known as: Bollan Bane
A melody the Manx people said had been learned from the fairies themselves. A farmer wearing mugwort for protection went into the hills and heard the fair folk playing music. He went back three times to memorise the tune, each time returning home later until finally arriving at sunrise to be met by an angry wife. But he had the tune, and it passed into the tradition of the island. Fairy music made safe by the protective herb, captured and carried back to the world of men.
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Sources
- Oral tradition
- Moore, Folk-lore (1891)