For more than two centuries before Moore's time, the family at Ballafletcher, in Braddan, kept a fragile crystal goblet. It was said to belong to the Lhiannan-Shee, the "fairy sweetheart", who in this case acted as the protecting spirit of the house. Some said it had come from Magnus, the Norse King of Man.
Every Christmas the lord of the manor drank from it to the spirit. As long as that was done and the glass survived, the house would have peace and plenty. If it were ever broken, the spirit would stop protecting the family and start haunting it instead.
The goblet went with the estate. When Robert Caesar bought Ballafletcher in 1778 the cup went to him, and it later passed to Colonel Wilks, who took the tradition seriously enough to have it mounted in silver and kept in an oak case so that it could not be broken by accident. Moore also mentions a Major Bacon as a later owner.
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