Katie Morag and the Seals Singing Katie Morag

# Katie Morag Ran away across the ocean

# Katie Morag Over the sea to Struay

# Katie Morag Ran 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.

'I reckon people make far too much fuss about clothes.'

Don't open them.

I won't.

-'So long as you have a nice, warm jumper...'

-Left hand.

-Other left hand.

-'..and a good pair of wellies, what else do you need?

'Course, once in a while, it's fun to try something different.

'And today was one of those days.'

-Keep them shut!

-They're shut.

'My class was going to the beach,

'and we all had to wear a very special outfit.

OK. And...

open them!

-What do you think?

-I'm supposed to be a seal.

-You ARE a seal.

I look like a collie dog.

You do not!

Mmmfff...

Better?

SHE SIGHS

Children, I must say, you all look absolutely splendid

in your seal costumes. There's a good reason for this.

I'm going to read you a bit from one of the legends of Struay.

It's a legend about seals and selkies.

"The boys and girls all ran together holding hands in one big line."

Now, what do you think they could hear?

I know! I know!

The sea!

Very good. They could hear the sea, like we can now.

What else could they hear?

I know! I know! The seagulls.

Excellent. Now, listen very carefully.

"The children stood and closed their eyes.

"And they heard the sea and the seagulls.

"They heard a ship's horn in the distance.

"But, if they listened the best they could,

"they could hear something else as well, far away in the distance.

"The sound of seals singing.

"It was the song of Struay. The most beautiful sound they had ever heard.

"And after that, whenever they heard the seals singing,

"they knew their island would be safe."

All right, children, stop! Stop!

Stop, come here. Come here. Listen.

Shh. Listen. Can you hear them?

-Mmmm?

-I can hear them singing!

-Can you hear them?

-I can hear them!

What about you? Katie, can you hear them?

'Even though my costume had bigger ears than everybody else's,

'I couldn't hear them.'

Och, it doesn't look too bad, Katie Morag.

Everyone else looked like a seal and I looked like a collie dog.

You must remember how busy your mum is.

What with you and Liam, and the new baby now.

Right. Stand there and let me see you.

Oh, that's a seal if ever I saw one.

All my other friends said they heard the seals singing.

Oh, did they now?

And I closed my eyes tight but I still couldn't hear a thing.

Well, of course you couldn't.

If you want to hear the song of Struay,

that is, if you REALLY want to hear it, you have to take your time.

-And be very patient.

-But they heard it.

Well, sometimes people think they hear things

that aren't really there.

But the more we listen, the better chance we have of REALLY hearing.

'The next day I tried very hard to hear the seals singing.

'I listened and I listened.'

Please sing for me!

'And I really took my time.'

PLEASE SING!

'I was the most patient-est person in all of Struay.'

NOW SING!

'But I still couldn't hear the seals singing.

'I don't know if I've mentioned it before,

'but from time to time I get some really fabbydoo ideas.

'And right then, I had one of the fabbydoo-est ones ever.'

-What are you doing?

-Writing a letter.

-Oh! Who to?

The seals.

Of course.

What does it say?

"Dear seals. I'm Katie Morag. I would very much like to hear you sing."

Oh! Well, it's straight to the point, that's for sure.

I thought I told you to be patient.

I was! I waited all day.

-Well, you'll be needing an envelope.

-So I will!

-Oh, it won't work.

-Why not?

It'll get all wet and they won't be able to read who it's for.

Ah, that's true.

Ah! I've got an even better idea.

'Sing...for...me.'

Not giving up already, are you?

-The seals have read it. I wrote it so big.

-Aye, big right enough.

There's probably astronauts singing for you up in space right now.

Well, why can't the seals sing for me down here?

Right, let's have a think.

-You wrote...?

-'Sing...

'for...me.'

Ah. There's a magic word missing.

What magic word?

The magic word that helps when you ask somebody to do something.

'Grannie Island was right. How could I forget the magic word?'

'Sing...for...me...PLEASE!'

'I'd written the seals the biggest message ever,

'and I'd even used the magic word.

'And they still wouldn't sing for me.'

Well, well, Neilly Beag!

Now, who's going to help us

gather all that rubbish from the beach today?

It's full of litter and... You look all fed up.

I've been trying to hear the seals singing the song of Struay

but I can't hear a thing.

Oh, it takes a lot of patience to hear the seals singing.

-We talked about that, didn't we, Katie Morag?

-I HAVE been patient!

I've done all I can. I even wrote an ginormous note in the sand.

And what did your note say?

"Please sing for me."

Ah! I see what the problem is.

You see, the Struay seals prefer to read Gaelic.

They do?

'Neilly Beag speaks two languages.

'Gaelic is the one that everyone spoke in Struay years ago.'

And then a gap, and then E at the end there.

And now, just a wee full stop there at the end.

"Seinnibh dhomh mas e ur toil e."

"Seinnibh dhomh mas e ur toil e."

Good.

Do you think it'll work?

We'll just have to wait and see.

'Oh, I forgot about the tide coming in.'

They'll never read it now!

Och, they'll have read it already, Katie Morag.

So, I thought, "I just need two minutes to myself.

"Two minutes, that's all I'm asking for!"

Peter said I should come down here.

-Of course.

-I haven't stopped all day.

Between serving customers, sorting the mail, doing paperwork,

changing nappies, keeping an eye on Liam.

You just sip your tea now and relax.

-It's three full-time jobs!

-Isobel!

-I haven't even thought what we're going to have for dinner.

-Izzy!

You haven't called me that in a while.

You arrived here like a gale force wind, do you know that?

-Did I?

-Mm-hm. You've drunk your tea at 100mph.

And you're blethering on without even stopping for breath.

Come on.

Now, I want you to close your eyes and listen.

Do as your mother says.

What am I listening for?

Peace.

And quiet.

Can you hear it?

Absolute peace.

-And qu...

-ISOBEL SNORES LOUDLY

-Hear anything?

-No.

Me neither.

Sorry. I must have fallen asleep.

Well, you obviously needed it.

-Another job well done(!)

-Now, look here.

You're a good person, an excellent postmistress

and a wonderful mother who loves her children dearly.

Is it really that important if making a seal costume

isn't one of your many talents?

Look, we all need help sometimes. But you have to ask.

And when you do, I'll be here.

Thanks, Mum.

Right. Come on, let's see if the seals have sung yet.

No woman is an island. Not even Grannie Island.

Och, well. Time to be getting back, I think.

It's a shame about the seals, eh? Maybe next time, Katie Morag.

I can hear something! SOFT FOLK MUSIC

-Where?

-Is that the seals?

No, that's not the seals. That's a fiddle.

And seals don't play the fiddle.

Well, not that well, anyway! But I know someone who does.

Grannie Island!

-Well, there's no fooling you, Neilly Beag.

-What were you doing, Grannie?

Well, I had a wee feeling.

Maybe the seals were tired of entertaining us.

Maybe it was time we entertained them,

with our very own song of Struay.

-That was a good idea.

-Oh, well, I'm glad you approve.

'We stayed on the beach for a little while,

'listening to stories by the lovely fire.

'Course, it would have been nice if the seals HAD decided to sing.

'But you can't always get everything you want.'

SEALS SING

'But then, that night, just before I went to bed,

'I heard the strangest noise.

'I'd never heard it before, but I knew right away it was the seals.

'They were singing the song of Struay for us.

'It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard.

'And best of all, I knew that Grannie Island was hearing it too.

'All the way across the bay.'