And he was right about another thing.
Everything really is on the verge of happening at once.
But you have to listen to the voices.
You have to Stop It and Pay Attention.
And you always have to leave the safe paths for it to happen.
Glossary
bile-sprite — a poison-spitting spirit of the air
bodge — [n] old timber; [adj] bodgey
boomers [Manx] — huge breaking waves
bootless — [adj] useless, pointless
brout[Manx] — beast
buggane — a degraded god, a malevolent spirit
clart — [n] hard-packed, smooth, slippery clay; [adj] clarty
cosset — [n] a shepherd’s favourite lamb; [v] to care for and protect in an overindulgent way
cronk [Manx] — a hill
dollop — a wet lump of something
dub [Manx] — a small pool
earwig — eavesdropping person
flark — [n] a thick growth of waterside weed and grass that breaks off and floats into the river or lake; [v] to float off frumenty
frumenty — [n] a medieval meal porridge to which meat or fish can be added
gormless — without sense, initiative, or backbone; dull, stupid
grog-blossom [Manx] — [n] a red nose from constant drunkenness
gruntle — [n] a nose or muzzle; [v] to nose about in something
hedge-pig — [n] a hedgehog
heishan [Manx] — [n] half-grown girl, hoyden
irrits, the — a bad case of irritation
kraken — [n] a sea-monster, something like a huge octopus
longtail [Manx] — a rat
merrow — a mermaid
moaney [Manx] — peatland, bog
moaney-fae — [n] the faeries of the bog
mooncalf — [n] a not-quite-right person/a deformed birth
piggin [Manx] — a jar, a pot
queach — [n] bog ground both slippery and sinking; [adj] queachy; [v] to slide and sink through such boggy ground
rick — [n] a flat wheelbarrow
scraw — [n] a brick of peat
scrofulous — [adj] diseased, or morally corrupt
slane — [n] a long-handled spade for cutting peat
stolch — [n] mud that contains lots of leaf litter and humus; [adj] stolchy
tardle — [n] a tangle; [v] to tangle
trepan — [n] a boring tool used for drilling circular holes in bone, particularly the skull, in medieval medicine
whirry — [n] a cross between a whirl and a flurry
wisp — [n] a small, fast-moving ghost
Insomnium, somnium & phantasma are Latin names for different types of dream or vision in Christian theory. Insomnium and somnium are relatively natural and harmless while a phantasma is a supernatural event, possibly brought about by demonic possession.
A note on ‘tantony’
The Old English word tantony comes from the story of St Anthony’s pig.
St Anthony (c. 251–356) was the first Christian monastic to go into the wilderness to meditate. The story goes, while St Anthony was at prayer in his Egyptian desert cave, Satan came to him in the shape of a vicious boar and attacked him. Though the boar was merciless, the saint refused to reciprocate and beat it to death. At this he was lit by a marvellous glow — and the vicious boar turned to a humble and gentle pig. In pictures of him, St Anthony is commonly shown with this pig companion.
To call somebody a ‘tantony pig’ was to insult them. It suggested you were a person who blindly followed others.
St Anthony started a monastic order which, among many other things, raised pigs. People would bring their runt piglets to the monks to care for. In time a ‘tantony’ came to mean a runt piglet.
It then went on to mean a swineherd’s favourite in a litter of piglets.
Acknowledgements
Some of the words in this book are Manx, the talk of the people of Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. This language nearly died out, but is now reviving. There are still only two thousand speakers of it in the world.
To the marvellous young people who posted extraordinary clips on YouTube talking about, and demonstrating, what it’s like to live with bipolar disorder — my deepest thanks for putting yourselves out there.
First published in 2011
by
an imprint of Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd
Locked Bag 22, Newtown
NSW 2042 Australia
www.walkerbooks.com.au
This ebook edition published in 2013
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Text © 2011 Ananda Braxton-Smith
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Braxton-Smith, Ananda, author.
Tantony [electronic resource] / Ananda Braxton-Smith.
Series: Braxton-Smith, Ananda. Secrets of Carrick; 2.
For young adults.
A823.4
ISBN: 978-1-922179-83-8 (ePub)
ISBN: 978-1-922179-82-1 (e-PDF)
ISBN: 978-1-922179-84-5 (.PRC)
Cover illustration © 2013 Emma Leonard
For Joan, my mother, who taught me to listen
to the voices — and who then weathered me stepping off
the safe paths to follow them.
Ghostheart Page 18