Before we begin, a short note on the research and stories you’ll find here each week. You’d think for such an vital piece of work we’d have a crack team in the field - after all, what is more important than avoiding the life-threatening dangers of the wild places teeming with folklore creatures? Unfortunately (budget cuts and all that) what we have is Edith.
Edith does her best - she occasionally falls prey to the tricks and vagaries of the Folk, but she’s proven surprisingly resilient at getting out of scrapes. I sometimes think she may be partly of the Folk herself - not that I’d discuss it with her. When Edith isn’t running around the wilds, sharing stories with the people she meets in old farmhouses and mills, or falling into suspicious lakes*, she can be found reading. She’s particularly fond of the Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, & Other Supernatural Creatures by Katharine Briggs (1976), but will work her way voraciously through anything she can find about the folklore of the British Isles and surrounds.
*Edith would like it to be known that she’s only fallen into one suspicious lake. The other one was a loch. And there might’ve been a river one time.
The merpeople of the Isle of Man can be as dangerous and deadly as any other, but there are also stories of their softer sides and even the close relationships they may have with some humans - especially fisherman and their families - and with each other. The Ben Varrey is the Manx name for a mermaid, the Dinny Mara is the Manx merman.
Below you’ll find
Where you might encounter the Ben Varrey or Dinny Mara
How to identify them
Are they dangerous?
How to survive (or even benefit from) an encounter
Story time!
Where you’ll find the Ben Varrey or Dinny Mara
You might find the Ben Varrey or the Dinny Mara in the seas around the Isle of Man. The intrepid adventurer might be aware that some mermaids in other places have been found in inland lakes or even up rivers, however, there is nothing in Edith’s reports so far to suggest the Manx merfolk ever finds their way inland.
How to identify them
Unlike some, such as the merrows, the Ben Varrey and Dinny Mara don’t have any distinguishing features to tell them apart from other merfolk. They’re reported to be beautiful - as are most mermaids, the better to lure humans into the water - and of course have the traditional fish tail and human upper body. (Edith is sceptical about the beauty aspect - she notes that the Folk are frequently described as either incredibly beautiful or hideously ugly, and has strong thoughts about this just being human nonsense).
Are they dangerous?
There is every chance that if you meet a mermaid she will want to draw you under the waves - whether by temptation or by force - and you will not make it back alive. However, it is possible that some of them simply cannot comprehend that humans can’t survive underwater, and are not driven by a murderous intent. For example, a Ben Varrey once fell in love with a human sailor and nearly succeeded in luring him into the sea (he was fortunately saved by the quick thinking of his crew mates), but it is doubtful she intended to kill him. It’s possible that the Ben Varrey may also raise a storm like any other mermaid, but they have also on occasion warned of them, rising among a fleet of fishing boats and calling ‘shiaull er thalloo’ - sail to land - before a storm arrives.
How to survive (or even benefit from) an encounter
As with all of the Folk, the first protection against an encounter with the Ben Varrey and Dinny Mara is a healthy respect and a safe distance. It is important to heed their warning about storms if you hear it. If you find yourself tempted to jump overboard and join one in the water, the story above about the sailor suggests there is a counter charm (however, Edith is yet to discover its nature). If you find a stranded or trapped mermaid, it is always wise to free her - if you are fortunate, you may be rewarded (of course, as the rewards of the Folk usually go, there may be a catch).
Evan Sayle and the Ben Varrey
STORY TIME
Evan Sayle and the apples
Once upon a time there lived a prosperous fishing family called the Sayles. Old Mr Sayle, the father, would take a basket of apples with him when he went fishing and everyone assumed he had a real fondness for apples. Well, one day it came time for him to retire and when he did the fortunes of his family took a drastic shift – fewer and fewer fish were caught, and the cold, hungry winters loomed darkly. One by one, all the family’s sons up and left to become sailors rather than fisherman leaving only poor Evan Sayle, the youngest son, to stay behind and look after their parents.
Evan was a good man and every day he was out climbing on the rocks, checking the lobster pots and scaling the cliffs searching for birds’ nests from which to take the eggs. One day he heard a call below him and came down to find none other than a Ben Varrey sitting on the rocks. She was ever so sweet and asked kindly after his family, particularly his father, and Evan told her all their troubles. When he went home his father was pleased with him and suggested he take some apples with him the next day. Sure enough, the mermaid was delighted to get the apples, which she called her ‘sweet land eggs’. From that day on, the Sayles’ fortunes took a turn for the better and soon Evan was able to bring in help for his old parents.
But Evan was very fond of the Ben Varrey and the Ben Varrey was very fond of Evan, and soon Evan was spending all his time on his boat out to sea so that he could talk to the Ben Varrey. The villagers began to talk behind his back and call him lazy and lovestruck, and this sat very poorly with Evan. After all, he had been the only one of his brothers to stay behind when times were tough and take care of his parents. Eventually he could take the whispers no more and he decided to leave and become a sailor like his brothers.
Before he left, he planted an apple tree on the cliff above the Ben Varrey’s bay. He told her that once the tree grew it would drop the ‘sweet land eggs’ straight down into the water for her, then off he went. And because he had taken care of the mermaid, the Sayles’ good fortune continued. But the Ben Varrey missed Evan Sayle and apple trees take a long time to grow, so she went off to look for him. And no story tells whether or not she found him, but certainly neither of them ever came back for the apples.
mermaid treasure
Two shorter accounts of the Ben Varrey.
Once there was a fisherman’s young daughter who loved to play by the sea. A Ben Varrey girl would watch her sometimes, and coveted her favourite doll. One day the doll was left close to the water and the Ben Varrey stole the doll. She was delighted with it and took it down underwater to show her mother, but her mother rebuked her for the theft and sent her back to the surface to give the fisherman’s girl her own necklace of pearls to atone.
Once a fisherman found a stranded Ben Varrey and kindly carried her back to the sea. For this, the Ben Varrey rewarded him with information about where to find treasure. Once he found it he realised it was antique Spanish gold coins that he and his wife had no way to spend. However, one can hardly expect the merfolk to keep abreast of what treasure is currently in vogue among the land folk.