Grannie Island's Ceilidh - Little Izzy 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

# Katie Morag. #

LAUGHTER

'I love parties.

'And I reckon Grannie Island's are the best in the whole wide world.

'They go on way past our bed time.

'But as long as we've brushed our teeth and put on our jammies,

'we're allowed to stay up.

'Grannie Island doesn't call them parties,

'she calls them ceilidhs.'

Right then, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen,

let's gather round.

Who's ready, tonight,

for some real entertainment?

APPLAUSE

I love it when my big boy cousins come to visit,

especially when they're here

for one of Grannie Island's ceilidhs.

# Donald, where's your troosers? #

Right, everyone, it's story time.

And whose turn is it

-to pin the tail on the island?

-Me! Me! Me!

Me! Me! Me!

Not this time.

Jamie, I think it's your turn. Eh?

We always play Pin The Tail at Grannie Island's ceilidhs.

The children take turns sticking a wee pin onto the map of Struay.

Then, one of the grown-ups tells us a tale about that part of the island.

It's the Blue Eye Lighthouse.

Now, who knows a story about the Blue Eye Lighthouse?

-I've got one.

-Granma Mainland it is, then.

This is a story about a wee girl called Gertrude Isabel Tyldesley,

who was born right here on the island of Struay.

Back in those days, folk knew her as Little Izzy,

though it's been a good few years since anybody called her that.

Nowadays, she's better known by another name -

Grannie Island.

Now, Izzy loved going to school.

But she loved the summer holidays even more.

The days seemed to go on for ever

and Izzy would be out from morning till night

playing with the other children.

Then one day disaster struck.

The summer holidays had just begun

and little Izzy was looking forward to all the fun

she was going to have,

when all of a sudden she fell ill.

And her face broke out in bright red spots.

Now, Mrs Tilsley called the doctor

and he came over from the mainland right away.

He took one look at Izzy, gave her some horrible-tasting medicine

and said that she had to stay in bed for the next three days.

Poor Izzy.

She was so bored. But the medicine worked

and by the end of the week she was up and about again.

But though she felt better, the spots were still there.

Now, most folk didn't realise it,

but Izzy was a shy girl.

And sometimes she felt like the odd one out.

Now, usually when she felt that way

she just gritted her teeth and got on with things.

But after a while the feeling would go away.

But that was before her face had become covered in bright red spots.

Now that it was, she worried that the others might tease her.

So she kept herself hidden away inside the house,

wishing those stupid spots would just hurry up and disappear.

Now, she was bored and, oh, she was miserable.

All they had in Izzy's house were dozens and dozens of books

and most of them weren't even the type of books Izzy liked.

Normally she'd help her mum feed the sheep and cut the peats,

and in the evening they'd stroll along the beach

collecting firewood and looking in the rock pools.

But Izzy didn't even want to do that.

Izzy's mum was beside herself.

Children need fresh air and exercise.

But Izzy point-blank refused to leave the house.

She just lay in her bed getting paler and paler

and more and more miserable.

By the third day she was even off her food

and this was a child who could eat five porridges

and still have room for dinner!

Yet, try as she might, Mrs Tilsley couldn't cheer Izzy up.

Then one day Mrs Tilsley came in carrying a mysterious wooden casket

about the size and shape of a shoe box.

Izzy was extremely curious and asked her what it was for.

"Oh, this is a very special box," her mum replied. "In fact...

"it's a magic box.

"It contains a secret that will make you feel a whole lot better."

"Oh, well hurry up and open it," Izzy said.

But it wasn't as easy as that.

You see, the box was locked and no-one knew where the key was.

But underneath this magic box somebody had written

a set of directions.

And if you followed them you would find where the key was hidden.

Best of all, the directions pointed away from the village,

so if Izzy went looking,

there wasn't much chance of her bumping into any

of the other children.

By now the wee girl was desperate to feel better.

So she got out of bed, put on her wellingtons,

slipped the box under her arm, and set off to find the key.

The directions sent Izzy on a long, long walk.

All the way over the Hermit's Hut.

Along the Boorachie Bog.

Then up into the Fossil Cave.

When she finally got there she started searching around

and after a minute or two she found a rickety old wicker basket.

Inside the basket there was a large glass bottle.

And inside the bottle there was a tiny metal key.

Izzy was so happy.

But when she slipped the key into the box and opened it,

she found that inside there, there was another slightly smaller box.

And it was locked, too.

Izzy turned it upside down and discovered that this box

had a whole new set of directions written on it.

The wee girl was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

So she set off again right away.

This time the instructions sent her past the Standing Stones,

through the Windy Gap,

and all the way up to Sir Robert's Folly.

Where she found yet another glass bottle

containing yet another key.

She opened the second box.

And you've guessed it - there was a third, even smaller box.

Izzy couldn't believe it.

But there was no way she could give up now.

So she read the instructions and set off on journey number three.

This time, the directions sent her past the Heron Wood,

all the way up to Spider Gully along the Sea Bird Cliffs,

until finally she arrived at the Blue Eye Lighthouse.

When she got there she found a third bottle and a third key.

Izzy opened the lid nervously, peeked inside and was overjoyed

to discover a roll of paper tied up with a tiny red ribbon.

She quickly untied it, unrolled the paper,

and found a message written in very neat handwriting.

It said,

"To the finder of the secret,

"you are invited to a picnic behind the Blue Eye Lighthouse.

"Dress casual."

And then she heard the unmistakable sound of her mum

chuckling to herself.

Izzy sprinted round to the other side of the lighthouse

and found Mrs Tilsley sitting on a big tartan rug

with a spread of delicious-looking sandwiches

and the yummiest cream cakes she had ever seen.

You might think Izzy would have been cross at being tricked like that,

but she wasn't.

Her mum knew that fresh air and exercise

was what Izzy really needed.

And this wild goose chase all around the island

had been her way of making sure she got it.

The two of them sat and ate until there wasn't a single crumb left.

Then walked slowly back to the house.

And as Izzy lay in bed that night, tired but happy,

she had to admit that her mum had been right.

The magic box really had contained the secret

that would make her feel better.

In fact, she felt so much better,

that the following morning she went out

and played with the other children until the sun went down.

And you know what?

They didn't mention her spots once!

Who would have thought that Grannie Island was a shy wee girl.

Well, I'm still shy but I hide it well.

Alistair and Jane, time for some music.

'We loved the ceilidh stories and always want to hear more

'but Grannie Island always says the same thing - "Time for some music."

'And by the time the grown-ups have finished dancing

'we're usually fast asleep.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd