Katie Morag and the Carrot Competition Katie Morag

# Katie Morag

# Run away across the ocean

# Katie Morag

# Over the sea to Struay

# Katie Morag

# Run 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.'

# Katie Morag. #

'Last time Mum and Dad went to Oban,

'they brought me back a box of magic tricks.

'I practised and practised, till I was absolutely brilliant.'

Magical glitter, magical hat,

tap with my wand and how about that.

'Neilly Beag said you don't need a box of tricks to see real magic.

'All you need is a teeny wee seed.

'Neilly Beag loves growing veggies in his garden,

'but he usually plants way too many,

'so he's always bringing boxes round to the shop.'

You've done it again, Neilly Beag. Finest carrots I've seen all year.

What have you got there, Katie Morag?

Uncle Matthew gave me sunflower seeds to plant.

Those ones last month,

those ones last week

and I'm planting these ones today.

And all from such tiny wee seeds.

That's real magic.

It sure is.

Now, I hope you're talking to them, because plants need love

just like the rest of us.

Would you please stop filling her head with all that nonsense!

I beg your pardon?

Gardening is a science.

It's knowledge and know-how.

Not talking to plants as if they understood English...

or Gaelic!

Anyway, what have you got there?

Carrots. You're not the only one to grow them, you know.

What? Those teeny, radish-like articles?

That's not a carrot...

THIS is a carrot!

You're talking nonsense, as usual.

'Grannie Island and Neilly Beag were always bickering about something.

'This time it was about vegetables.'

It's no mystery why I have the better vegetables.

'The reason was that the Three Island Festival was coming up,

'and the highlight was a contest between Struay, Coll and Tiree

'to see who could grow the biggest carrot.'

Your garden is more sheltered than mine, and your soil...

'And, of course, the two of them both wanted the Struay entry

'to be one of their carrots!'

You just need to deal with them properly...

Ha, vegetables don't have a language!

Correct.

See! That attitude right there!

That's why it's one of MY carrots that'll win the trophy this year!

Face it, Neilly Beag. If my soil was half as good as yours,

my carrots would be twice the size.

It's easy to say. I'd like to see you prove it!

'And, yep, you guessed it,

'that's when I had one of my nearly world-famous magnificent ideas.

'Grannie Island said Neilly Beag's carrots were bigger

cos his garden had better soil than hers.

'So, I said they should both grow their carrots in our garden.'

Which side?

BOTH: That one!

Why don't you do rock, paper, scissors?

Fine by me!

One, two, three!

-Scissors cuts paper!

-Yes!

'That way they could see who really was the best.'

Enjoy your victory.

It'll be your last!

'Grannie Island came by first thing the next morning.

'She couldn't wait to get her patch ready for planting.'

She's here!

Stop!

Jumper.

You're fine.

What's in that milk carton?

Have a sniff.

Oh!

Yuck.

What stuff have you got there?

Tea.

Tea?!

Compost tea!

It's full of good stuff for the soil.

Not the kind of tea you'd be wanting to dunk your porridgies in.

Well, I've tasted your porridgies.

A good soaking in this stuff would be an improvement.

'Grannie Island said gardening was a science,

'so while those two were digging and raking,

'me and Liam tried some more planting experiments.'

What would you like want to plant first? A Jelly Baby?

I suppose it might grow into a Jelly Man.

'By the time the others had got their vegetable patches ready,

'me and Liam had planted four peanuts, some porridge oats,

'six raisins, two apple cores and a dinosaur leg.'

'Next, Liam wanted to plant his pocket money

'to see if it grew into a hundred pennies.

'Mum said no, but Dad said he liked the way Liam was thinking.'

Katie Morag! We're needing our seeds.

OK!

There we go!

Half for Grannie Island...

..and half... for Neilly Beag.

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks Dad!

'On the way back, though, I had a teeny-weeny setback...'

MAGICAL TINKLING Oh!

'..but I couldn't let it get in the way of the plan.'

We're going to need those pennies, Liam.

Excellent!

Perfect!

Got them!

Right, now...

You make a nice neat wee trench.

You space the seeds evenly.

And last but not least...

A scientifically-devised formula of my own.

Carrots love it!

Well, what are you waiting for?

'So, that was the seeds planted.

'Now all we had to do was wait.'

'Grannie Island said I'd have to be patient though,

'and I really tried.

'I was patient for absolutely ages!

'But being patient is a funny thing.

'The longer you do it, the harder it gets.

'And, finally, I couldn't do it any more!'

Hurry up and grow!

No point in yelling, Katie Morag.

What they need is love and encouragement.

Do you really think they understand what you're saying?

Maybe it's the way I say it.

Maybe they can sense whether I'm in a good mood or a bad mood.

And if I'm in a good mood, they're in a good mood!

Or whatever the carrot equivalent of a good mood is.

You know, sometimes...

I even sing to them.

-Really?

-Yeah.

# Oh, the King of the vegetable race

# Is the one with the bright orange colour

# Boil them up with some peas for your lunch

# Or bite them with a crunch

# Now I'm reaching the end of my song

# Just a couple of lines left to go

# So we'll sing it again from the top

# Cos it helps my carrots to...

# GROW!

# Oh, the King of the Vegetable race

BOTH: # Is the one with the bright orange colour

# Boil them up with some peas for your lunch

# Or just bite them with a crunch

# Now I'm reaching the end of my song

# Just a couple of lines left to go

# So let's sing it again from the top

# Cos it helps our carrots to...

# GRO-O-OW! #

'I'm not sure it was the singing that did it,

but when I checked the next day, I had the best surprise ever!'

They've sprouted! The carrots have sprouted!

'Little green shoots were appearing in both of the vegetable patches.'

'After that, Grannie Island and Neilly Beag came by everyday

'to see how their carrots were doing.

'The carrot leaves were soon almost two inches high,

'but Grannie Island said we shouldn't get too excited yet.

'It was the bit underground that mattered.'

Don't be getting too downhearted.

Remember the acorn.

It's such an unimpressive wee thing at the start,

but what does it grow into?

A great big oak tree.

And you, each and every one of you, is as good as any old acorn.

Do they ever talk back?

Maybe not, but they listen very carefully.

Apart from Angus there, the wee rascal!

You've given them names?!

Of course I have!

That's Donald there, and there's Gerry, and that's Jonathan,

and there's Donnie Beag, and Donnie Mor.

And this one here's Fiona.

Oh, it's tough being the only girl,

but I keep telling her not to worry.

The finest carrot I ever knew was a girl.

The scary thing is, I think he actually means it.

'Me and Liam watered and weeded our special seed patch every single day,

'but there was no sign of any peanut bushes, Jelly Men,

'porridge plants OR dinosaur trees.'

'At long last, the big day came

'and everyone gathered round to see

'Grannie Island and Neilly Beag pull up their giant carrots.'

Right, folks. It's the moment of truth.

Right, stand back please.

Now, give me room!

Are you all right?

THEY LAUGH

-Where is it?

-Here it is!

-What's that?!

-Now let's see what a carrot's supposed to look like!

What kind of carrot is this?!

THEY LAUGH

Is this some kind of joke?

What type of seed did you give us, actually?

Erm... I think I might know what might have happened.

'I told everyone all about spilling the first seeds

'and having to buy a new packet with Liam's pocket money.'

These are the ones you must've grabbed second, Katie Morag.

Dwarf carrots are a particularly sweet variety

which remain tiny, even when fully-grown.

What a relief.

I thought I'd lost my touch.

'There was no point in even entering the Three Island Contest this year.

'And to make things worse, there was still nothing growing

'in mine and Liam's special seed patch.'

Come on, Liam. Dad's made carrot soup.

A very SMALL pan of carrot soup.

MAGICAL TINKLING What is it?

'When suddenly, for some reason,

'Liam had spotted something in the longer grass.

'The grown-ups couldn't believe it when we showed them.'

'One of the seeds I dropped in the bit of grass had somehow grown into

'the most unbelievably ginormous carrot anyone had ever seen,

'Which meant Struay won the trophy after all.

'Grannie Island looked through all her gardening books,

'but she's still not sure how the carrot managed to grow so big.

'I asked her if she thought Neilly Beag might be right.

'Maybe magic can happen.

'Of course, she didn't say yes.

'But then again, she didn't say no.'