Katie Morag Delivers the Mail Katie Morag

# Katie Morag

# Far away across the ocean

# Katie Morag

# Over the sea to Struay

# Katie Morag

# Far away across the ocean

# Katie Morag

# Over the sea to Struay... #

'My name is Katie Morag McColl, and I live on the island of Struay.

'I suppose it's quite wee, but it's ginormous to me, and everyone

'looks out for me when I'm out and about having my adventures.'

This is where I live, with my family.

My mum and dad run the shop and Post Office.

This is the bedroom I share with my brother Liam.

My mum says it's an absolute midden.

This is the croft where Grannie Island lives,

with her animals and hens.

This is the Redburn Bridge where I play Poohsticks.

'And I think it's the best place in the whole entire world,

'and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.'

# Katie Morag... #

'Every day's busy here on Struay,

'but Wednesday's the absolute busiest,

'cos that's the day parcels come over on the ferry!

'Mum and Dad run the Post Office, so they have to sort the mail out

'and deliver it all around the island,

'and they get VERY tired.

'So I always make sure that I'm extra helpful round the house!

'I just wish my cat, Fabbydoo, would help sometimes too.'

Och, Fabbydoo, what did I say about getting up to mischief?!

'It looked like this particular Wednesday,

'things weren't going very well at all.

'My wee brother Liam was awake all night feeling poorly,

'so everyone was tired and cranky.

'And to make things worse,

'Dad's bean shelf had fallen down again!

'And it looked like all our customers were cross

'cos the ferry was late and all their parcels hadn't arrived!'

They're putting me through to the harbour master.

-SIGHING:

-I'm sorry...

but they haven't a CLUE when the ferry will get here.

We'll bring the parcels out to you as soon as they arrive!

Oh, no!

Could today get any worse?!

KATIE GROANS

DAD SIGHS

I'll help!

Ah, that's kind of you, Katie Morag,

but I think we should leave it to someone who knows what he's doing!

I'll tell you how you could help...

'Dad said the most important thing was that the ferry

'came in with everyone's parcels.

'He couldn't think of a better person for the job than me!'

Morning, Katie Morag!

Can't stop, Neilly Beag! I've got an important job to do!

'I felt bad not stopping for a chat, but Dad was relying on me.'

# Run, run as fast as your legs can carry you

# And run, run till the cows come home

# So the prettiest girl will marry you... #

'There's no sign of the ferry.'

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Your first mistake was trying to do it all by yourself.

This here is a two-man job.

'Sometimes helping can be very tiring.'

Pass me up that hammer.

HONK!

HONK!

Oh, no!

HONKHONK!

The ferry's in!

We know.

-Do you need a hand?

-We're fine, thanks.

-Has anyone seen my mother's...?

-Big red label.

Right! I'll get these out and sort the rest later.

-LIAM CRIES

-Oh...!

On you go... I'll manage.

I fell asleep.

Don't worry. We're all a bit tired.

Now, that's what I call a shelf!

Maybe it was a three-man job, after all.

Just as I thought.

'And that's when I had one of my helpful ideas.'

-I'm nipping over to Grannie's.

-OK, love!

'Grannie Island said I'm the best helper on the whole of Struay!

'Sometimes that means helping people when they haven't even asked you!'

'But I couldn't cross the bridge without

'stopping for a game of Poohsticks,

'so helping would have to wait a wee minute!'

Poohsticks!

This one's mine.

And this one's Liam's.

Yes!

'I love playing Poohsticks... especially when I win!'

'Looking back, I think it was the geese who startled me.'

GEESE SQUAWK

Oh, my!

'Luckily, the burn was very shallow, so I could get the bag out easily.

'But the water had smudged all the names, and that wasn't so lucky!

'I decided to guess which parcel belonged to which person.

'If I guessed right, no-one would ever know what had happened!

'But thinking about it now, it was a really, really silly thing to do!'

'It took me ages to deliver all the parcels.

'But finally I got to Grannie Island's.

'I didn't have to guess hers, cos it had a big red label on it!'

Hello, Katie Morag!

It wasn't raining, was it?

Maybe it was...but maybe the rain only fell on me today.

Well, these'll be dry in no time...

unlike my parcel!

At least I can mend my old tractor again.

Now, you dry yourself off, and then come out and give me a hand.

'Grannie Island said she hadn't seen any rain.

'She couldn't understand how I was wet.

'I wish I hadn't told a fib,

'but I didn't want Grannie Island to know

'how I'd messed everything up.'

Grannie Island...

There's something I need to tell you.

It wasn't really raining.

Well, you'd be very unlucky if you were the only one who was rained on!

There's something else I need to tell you...

PHONE RINGS

Hello? Yes, she's right here next to me.

Oh, dear...

Oh, dear.

'It was my dad on the phone

'and it turned out I hadn't guessed the names right at all!'

Oh, no!

'I'd mixed up the packages for Mr McMaster and the lady artist.

'It would take him ages to paint his byre!

'The brush I gave the lady artist was bigger than her painting!

Mrs Bayview got fish hooks instead of seeds.

And the holiday people got seeds instead of fish hooks.

Oh, dear!

Right...right, don't worry, Peter,

the two of us will sort it out!

Bye.

So...there was something you needed to tell me, Katie Morag?

'I told Grannie Island the whole story.

'How I'd tried to help Mum and Dad

'then dropped the mail bag in the water.

'She agreed that guessing the parcels wasn't the best idea...

'but everyone has silly ideas sometimes.

'I felt so glad that she was going to help me put it all right.'

Up you go now, there you go now.

-Thanks, Grannie.

-That's OK.

Now, the important thing is you wanted to help, and you tried!

Everybody makes mistakes.

The trick is to learn from them,

so you'll not make the same mistake again!

Now, what will you do the next time you try to help

and it all goes wrong?

Tell someone.

That's right. Because, a problem shared...

Is a problem halved!

That's my girl!

'Grannie Island took me around all the houses,

'and everyone was very kind.

'Some of them even said it was a blessing in disguise!

'Mr McMaster said it's much better to paint at the end of the day

'when the sun's not so hot.

The lady artist was happy too,

cos in the meantime she'd had a better idea about what to paint!

Mrs Bayview didn't mind her seeds being late,

cos she hadn't finished weeding!

And the holiday people were delighted,

cos Grannie told them the best place to get fish!

Hey there...everything all right?

Oh, everything's dandy. Katie Morag invited me for tea.

Well, hope you like baked beans!

What on Earth are you doing?

Well, if you think you can do any better...

be my guest!

And what's that for?

-Well, how else were you planning to put the nails in?!

-Oh!

Get me a Phillips screwdriver, three-inch crossheads,

a dozen Rawlplugs and a cup of strong coffee.

You don't like coffee.

It's not for me, it's for him... He's going to need it.

SHE SIGHS

How's Liam?

Much better. I think we'll all have a good night's sleep tonight!

What about those two?

-LAUGHING:

-I'm scared to ask!

It's actually holding!

All it needed was someone with an ounce of sense!

That's not fair!

The important thing is, he wanted to help and he tried!

That's right, Katie Morag!

Everybody makes mistakes.

The trick is to learn from them,

so you don't make the same mistakes again!

Very well put!

So it was.

You're a fast learner, Neilly Beag, I'll give you that.

Maybe there's hope for him yet!

'What a day it had been... I was absolutely exhausted!

'But the thing I remembered most was what Grannie said

'about learning from our mistakes.

'I had certainly made a lot of them.

'I'd probably make more, but if Grannie Island was right,

'I could learn from every single one of them.

'But there was one more thing I had to do.

'Grannie Island gave me a torch, and if I can,

'just before I go to bed,

'I flash it across the bay, to her croft, to say, good night!

'And then Grannie Island flashes her torch right back to me,

'and no matter how I'm feeling, it will always make me smile!'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd