Grannie Island's Ceilidh - The Big Smelly Goat 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 bedtime,

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?

MUSIC PLAYS

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Right!

Whose turn is it now to Pin the Tale on the Island?

Me, me, me, me, me!

No, Agnes, not this time.

No, I think you'll find it's Katie Morag!

You might have played Pin the Tale before,

but the Struay version is different.

It's not the type of tail you get on a donkey,

it's the type of tale someone tells you when they read you a story.

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

Then one of the grown-ups tells a tale

about that part of the island.

I love it when it's my turn.

Oh! It's the Wild Goat Place.

Now, does anyone have a story about the Wild Goat Place?

No? Well, in that case, I'll tell one myself.

The story I'm going to tell you happened a long,

long time ago. Around this time of year, as it happens. Harvest time.

When the berries are ripe and the land is brown from the sun.

And this was a time when folk lived in the deserted village.

It was a friendly place,

and they were always ready to lend a hand when a neighbour needed help.

Now, one of the people who lived in the deserted village

was my own great-great-grandmother.

In later years, everyone knew her as Grannie Two Teeth,

but back then she was just a young woman, so folk called her Morag.

Now, Morag lived with her husband, James,

and two young children in a little house in the middle of the village.

She had a very dear friend, a lady called Nessa Campbell,

who lived over by the Heron Road, with her husband, Ruaridh,

and eight children.

Seven sons and one wee baby girl.

The Campbells were poor, as most folk were,

and their house was an even smaller one.

Oh, poor Nessa did her best to keep the place clean and tidy,

but with all those people living there, it wasn't easy.

In fact, it was a midden!

One day, Nessa dropped by Morag's house, looking miserable.

Oh, her boys were growing bigger every day,

and as they grew bigger, the house seemed to shrink.

And the noise, it was more than a person could bear.

Morag felt sorry for Nessa, but the only help

she could offer was to listen and give her a hot cup of tea.

It so happened that the very next day, a wise woman,

or cailleach, which is the Gaelic word for her, was on her way

to collect some special plants which grew on the shore.

The cailleach always stopped by Morag's for a chat.

And as they chatted, Morag mentioned Nessa's problem.

The cailleach nodded wisely,

and asked Morag to take her to Nessa's house.

Well, Morag and the cailleach could hear the din

from the little house before they could see it.

The boys were yelling and running around,

and the baby was crying for the fun of it.

And all of this in a house smaller than the wee croft

that we're sitting in right now.

Yet as bad as the noise was, the mess was even worse!

No sooner had Nessa tidied something,

than three more things were scattered.

Now, what does that remind me of, Katie Morag?!

Eventually, she just gave up and sat miserably at the kitchen table,

which is how Morag and the cailleach found her when they arrived.

Nessa put on her best smile and offered them a cup of tea.

Oh, but the cailleach said no!

She wasn't there to drink tea, she was there to help.

The cailleach stepped into the kitchen,

looked around, then closed her eyes.

And when she opened them again, she nodded,

and said the solution was obvious.

Nessa needed a goat. A big, smelly goat.

Well, Morag frowned.

Of all the things Nessa needed,

a big, smelly goat was not the most obvious.

But the cailleach didn't have the slightest doubt.

This goat was to live in the house with the family for seven days

and seven nights.

And that was that.

That same afternoon, the cailleach accompanied Nessa

and Morag across the island

to the Wild Goat Place, where there was a tiny hut.

And the kindly old shepherd loaned Nessa one of his goats.

It was a very large and very smelly goat.

Not like the Lady Artist's lovely wee thing.

It was also the most cantankerous animal Morag had ever met.

But this seemed to please the cailleach.

And so began the longest week of poor Nessa's life.

Hard as things had been before, now they were a hundred times worse.

The goat gobbled their food and scratched the door,

chewed up their boots and left them unwelcome surprises on the floor.

And the noise!

The goat bleated and brayed from morning till night,

stopping only to sleep.

And then it would snore like a boat full of sailors!

By the third day, their little house smelled so badly, it was said

that folk living on Phoay could tell when they opened their front door!

Oh, the others begged Nessa to get rid of the goat, but she refused.

The cailleach had spoken, and who were they to disagree?

Eventually, the long week came to an end,

and as the sun went down on the seventh day,

Nessa's husband and her oldest son

loaded the reluctant goat - because you can imagine

he enjoyed living in that house - onto the back of their cart.

And with a sigh of relief, took him back to the shepherd's hut.

Well, Morag passed by the next morning, unsure what to expect.

And what she found was the happiest family she had ever seen!

That obnoxious, food gobbling, door scratching, boot chewing,

floor peeing, stinky old goat was finally out of their lives!

As Nessa poured Morag a cup of tea,

she spoke in wonder at the magic the cailleach had performed.

Where once the house seemed cramped, now it felt like a palace!

And those children that once seemed so noisy

now appeared like quiet little angels!

Morag was delighted for her friend,

but she had a wee concern.

What if the magic began to wear off, and Nessa became unhappy again?

Nessa smiled and looked over at her sons.

The boys had promised to help around the house from now on.

They would tidy up and wash the dishes,

they would even make their own beds!

And if by any chance things did turn bad, she would simply take

a walk up to the Wild Goat Place

and borrow the shepherd's goat again.

Only next time, it might have to stay for an entire month!

Well, that's it, you can clap now!

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

But Grannie Island says the same thing over and over again.

"Time for another tune!"

Time for another tune!

MUSIC PLAYS

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

we're usually fast asleep.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd