0:00:08 > 0:00:11# Katie Morag
0:00:11 > 0:00:13# Run away across the ocean
0:00:13 > 0:00:15# Katie Morag
0:00:15 > 0:00:17# Over the sea to Struay
0:00:17 > 0:00:19# Katie Morag
0:00:19 > 0:00:22# Run away across the ocean
0:00:22 > 0:00:24# Katie Morag
0:00:24 > 0:00:26# Over the sea to Struay. #
0:00:32 > 0:00:37'My name is Katie Morag McColl and I live on the island of Struay.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40'I suppose it's quite wee but it's ginormous to me
0:00:40 > 0:00:42'and everyone looks out for me
0:00:42 > 0:00:46'when I'm out and about having my adventures.'
0:00:46 > 0:00:48This is where I live with my family.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51My mum and dad run the shop and post office.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54This is the bedroom I share with my brother Liam.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57My mum says it's an absolute midden.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01This is the croft where Grannie Island lives,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03with her animals and hens.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05This is the village where Neilly Beag lives.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Hello!
0:01:09 > 0:01:13And I think it's the best place in the whole entire world,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21# Katie Morag. #
0:01:24 > 0:01:27All the seasons are beautiful here on Struay.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29And every one of them is somebody's favourite!
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Mum loves the summer,
0:01:31 > 0:01:36and the feeling of the sun on her face. Some of the time anyway!
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Grannie Island likes the winter
0:01:38 > 0:01:41cos she can cosy-up by the fire with a good book.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Though she never gets past the first chapter!
0:01:44 > 0:01:47And Liam can't wait for autumn, cos that's Halloween,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50and he loves scaring people. Especially Dad!
0:01:50 > 0:01:53But my favourite season is the spring,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56cos that's when all the baby lambs are born.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58I love all the animals here on Struay,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01but baby lambs are absolutely, definitely the cutest!
0:02:06 > 0:02:07Hello.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Katie Morag! What a nice surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Mum said you had something to show me.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Really? I can't think what.
0:02:19 > 0:02:20Unless it's this. Come on!
0:02:23 > 0:02:24Down there. On you go.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Alecina's new lamb! She's beautiful!
0:02:36 > 0:02:39SHEEP BLEATS
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Right, in you go. Sit yourself down on that bale.
0:02:52 > 0:02:53She's so tiny.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57- Would you like to feed her?- Yeah.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Shouldn't Alecina be feeding her?
0:03:17 > 0:03:22She should, aye. But she's a wee bit poorly.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24What's wrong with her?
0:03:24 > 0:03:29Well, Alecina's a fair age to be lambing.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31I think it just took it out of her.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Is she just having a wee rest?
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Grannie Island?
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Aye. Now watch what you're doing.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Oh, my goodness! I've never seen her like this before.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Aye. It's not like her.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04Poor Alecina.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Will she get better soon?
0:04:08 > 0:04:10It's hard to say.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12She will get better though...
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Animals can't live forever, Katie Morag.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18This might just be her time.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23'Grannie Island was always reminding me that farm animals weren't pets.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27'They were there to do a job, and we shouldn't get too fond of them.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30'But I'd known Alecina my entire life.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33'She was almost a member of the family!'
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Isn't there something we can do?!
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Well, I called the vet on Tiree.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41He's sending some medicine over on the boat this morning.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43Neilly Beag will be picking it up.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45- I'll go and get it!- Katie Morag!
0:04:45 > 0:04:47The vet...
0:04:48 > 0:04:50..he didn't sound too hopeful.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Alecina's the toughest sheep on Struay.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58He just doesn't know her like we do!
0:05:07 > 0:05:11I cycled all the way to Neilly Beag's and all the way back,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14without even stopping to catch my breath.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21SHE SINGS SOFTLY
0:05:38 > 0:05:40KATIE MORAG CLEARS THROAT
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Oh, you're back!
0:05:44 > 0:05:47I was just...checking on her.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51- I got the medicine.- Oh, good girl!
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Right, let's have a wee look.
0:05:56 > 0:05:57OK.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Right, that seems straightforward enough.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Now, you hold the bottle.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Thank you, hold it tight now.
0:06:08 > 0:06:09That's it.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Right, now...
0:06:25 > 0:06:27You love her too, don't you?
0:06:27 > 0:06:29She's not a pet, Katie Morag.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31But you do, don't you?!
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Hush now. I'm trying to concentrate.
0:06:36 > 0:06:37There.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39Right.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44All we can do now is wait.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01- Grannie Island?- Uh-huh?
0:07:01 > 0:07:03What happens when animals die?
0:07:03 > 0:07:05What do you mean?
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Well, people have funerals.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Like old Mrs Eckersley, and the ladies came over
0:07:11 > 0:07:14from the bowling club in Oban and we planted a tree.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17But what do animals have when they die?
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Well, it depends.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25If it's a family pet, you might put it in a nice wee box
0:07:25 > 0:07:27and say a few words.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30If it's a farm animal, not so much.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Probably just bury it.
0:07:34 > 0:07:35That's sad.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37Like I said, you shouldn't...
0:07:37 > 0:07:39You shouldn't get too fond of them! I know!
0:07:39 > 0:07:41But it's still sad.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Right, you follow me.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46- Where?- I want to show you something.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58See all these pebbles and shells?
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Have you ever wondered why I put them there?
0:08:01 > 0:08:02Cos they're pretty?
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Oh, they are. But that's not the real reason.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12You see, when one of my animals dies,
0:08:12 > 0:08:17I find a nice pebble or a shell and I put it on the cairn.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21That way, whenever I pass it, I remember them.
0:08:21 > 0:08:22You do?
0:08:22 > 0:08:23I do.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28See that big white one there, that was Alecina's grandmother.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31A ewe by the name of Matilda.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37Oh, she was a fine old beast. Oh, but what a temper she had on her!
0:08:37 > 0:08:39And that brown one there...
0:08:39 > 0:08:43scraggy wee goat by the name of Benjamin.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Well, he died when you were a baby.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50That goat was smarter than most humans!
0:08:50 > 0:08:52I do believe he understood English.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Though he never quite got the hang of speaking it!
0:08:56 > 0:08:57What about that one?
0:08:59 > 0:09:01A goldfish.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03You had a goldfish?
0:09:03 > 0:09:05It was your mother's.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07What was his name?
0:09:07 > 0:09:08Jaws.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11What was he like?
0:09:11 > 0:09:16He was a goldfish! Not much to say in the personality department.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19But he always seemed very fond of Grandad Island.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22He used to swim over and say hello whenever he walked in.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25You know what you are?
0:09:25 > 0:09:27What am I?
0:09:27 > 0:09:28A big softie.
0:09:28 > 0:09:29I am not!
0:09:29 > 0:09:34- You are! A big softie! - I am no such thing!
0:09:34 > 0:09:38And don't you go breathing a word of it to anyone.
0:09:38 > 0:09:39I'd never live it down!
0:09:45 > 0:09:49I couldn't get to sleep that night, no matter how hard I tried!
0:09:49 > 0:09:53I even tried counting sheep, but that just made me
0:09:53 > 0:09:56think of Alecina and I'd get all worried again!
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Hi, Dad.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12What are you doing still awake?
0:10:12 > 0:10:14I'm thinking about Alecina.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Why do animals have to die?
0:10:26 > 0:10:29It's just the way the world works.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33They're born, they grow up, they grow old, and then they die.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36But it's so sad!
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Aye. It is.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42It's not a very good system.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Let me show you something.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56You know who that is?
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Your dad. Grandpa Mainland.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01That's right.
0:11:01 > 0:11:02Now what was he like?
0:11:02 > 0:11:04He was funny!
0:11:04 > 0:11:06What makes you say that?
0:11:07 > 0:11:09What was that poem he used to sing?
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Remind me.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14On yonder hill there stands a coo
0:11:14 > 0:11:17It's gone away, it's not there noo
0:11:17 > 0:11:20The farmer kept it in a dookit
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Now that's gone too cos someone took it!
0:11:24 > 0:11:26Yeah, he was funny.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29How did you know that? He died before you were born.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Cos you and Grandma always talk about him.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35That's right.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37We still remember him and talk about him.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41And we still love him. So even though he's gone,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45in a funny kind of way, it's as if he's still here.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48And that's the same with everyone we love.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52So long as we think about them and remember them.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57I will always remember Alecina, no matter what.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12'The next day I got up bright and early
0:12:12 > 0:12:15'and ran straight round to see how Alecina was doing.'
0:12:15 > 0:12:16Alecina?
0:12:18 > 0:12:20THUNDER RUMBLES
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Grannie Island!
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Katie Morag. What on earth's wrong?!
0:12:27 > 0:12:30I don't want Alecina to be dead.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33I know she's still with us and we love her and remember her,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36but I still don't want her to be dead.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Well, that's lucky then...
0:12:38 > 0:12:40SHEEP BLEATS
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Alecina! I thought you were gone!
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Her? Och, she'll outlive us all!
0:12:47 > 0:12:52In fact, I think she faked it, just to get a wee rest!
0:12:52 > 0:12:56And I don't blame her. Wee ones can be hard work!
0:12:56 > 0:12:58What was the shell for then?
0:12:58 > 0:13:02This?! Oh, it's the goldfish!
0:13:02 > 0:13:06I thought the shell was looking a wee bit manky.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08So I decide to give it a good scrub!
0:13:08 > 0:13:11You really are a big softie.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31I know Alecina won't be with us forever,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35but I'm so glad she's with us now. And one day, when she is gone,
0:13:35 > 0:13:39I'll put a beautiful white stone on the cairn to remember her by.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Cos it's just like Dad said -
0:13:43 > 0:13:48when someone's in your heart, they will never be all that far away.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Good night, Grannie Island.