Katie Morag and the Road to Grannie Island's 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. #

Let's go and find some socks.

'It was Saturday and we were going shopping.

'But you can't go shopping without getting dressed and you can't

'get dressed without a nice pair of socks inside your wellies.'

'But finding an actual pair can sometimes be a challenge.'

Perfect.

'Of course, socks aren't the only thing you need to go shopping.

'You've got to have the money too. This was a very special occasion.

'Grandmother's Day was coming up

'and we wanted to get a present for Grannie Island.'

'Grandma Mainland was away on a shopping spree

'to her wee flat in Glasgow

'so we already sent her the biggest, floweriest card we could make

'but we wanted to get something nice for Grannie Island too.'

You take the dinosaur and I'll take the piggy bank.

So far, we had a grand total of 8p,

that was a lot of money back when I was Liam's age.

But these days it doesn't seem to buy much of anything at all.

8p and a feather. I really don't think we've got enough.

There must be some more somewhere.

-Are they coming?

-I've called them twice.

Well, they'll just have to wait their turn.

(Morning.)

Grannie Island says,

"If you try hard enough you'll always find what you need.

"And if you don't, you'll find something you didn't know

"you needed but you're really glad you found."

We found all kinds of things except money

until we remembered the old magic set.

Liam tried the disappearing coin trick and, guess what?

A whole pound appeared.

He wanted to try again but I said, "No," cos what if it all went wrong

and it disappeared again forever?

Fabby-do, Liam!

One minute she was fine... It's so unlike her. Dear, yes.

She wasn't her usual chatty self at all.

Grown-ups really do pick the most inconvenient times

to stand around chatting.

-..demanding attention.

-Really?

Well, I'm so glad she's all right...

Cheery-bye!

So we had £1.08, a feather and a dinosaur.

-Sir, madam.

-What can we get for all this?

Well, why don't you start choosing and I'll stop you

when the money's used up?

Choosing presents is a much harder job than grown-ups realise.

You have to make sure that you fit the present for the person.

You can't just buy things that you would like to have yourself.

You have to take the job seriously and never, ever rush it.

Shall we have some strawberries, Liam? Erm, 12 strawberries, please.

We'll have a bit of Nanny Goat's cheese as well.

Grannie Island always wraps her presents nicely.

She says that it's important to spend a wee bit of care and time on it.

Perfect.

-Bye.

-Bye.

-Bye.

I forgot the toy I was taking to play with.

Now, go straight to Grannie Island's, she's waiting for you.

And Liam forgot his too.

Honestly, we'd forget our heads if they weren't screwed on.

Hello. It's me. Yes, they're on their way.

Yes, right.

OK, Peter, will do. Bye.

That's it. Oh, dear. Come on, then.

SHE CLICKS HER TONGUE

Bye.

SHE CLEARS HER THROAT

-What?

-That'll be 5p, please.

You're kidding?

You don't happen to...

-I'll pay you back later.

-I trust you.

Oi!

Liam only has little legs so he gets tired easily.

That's why it's a good idea to have a little rest every now and again.

Because when he gets tired, he gets grumpy and, believe me,

you wouldn't want to see him grumpy.

Oh. Liam...

..you've eaten one of Grannie Island's snakes.

Well...

..we had three snakes to begin with and that was an odd number.

Now we have two snakes and that's an even number.

So, if we only have one snake, that's an odd number again.

So I'll just have to eat one myself.

Are you hungry?

Do you think another little something will help us get there quicker?

I think you're right.

# Run, run through the grass as long

# As fast as your legs can carry you

# Run, run till the cows come home

# So the prettiest girl gonna marry you. #

SHE HUMS THE TUNE

Do you want something to eat?

SHE HUMS

GRANNIE ISLAND LAUGHS

Come on.

-Oh, dear.

-SHE LAUGHS

KATIE SIGHS

You know, Liam?

I don't think Grannie Island will eat all this goat's cheese,

it'll give her indigestible - tummy trouble.

'And that's when I realised...'

Oh, Liam, we've eaten all Grannie Island's presents.

What are we going to give to her? '..just exactly what we had done.'

We've nothing to give her now except the snake.

We'll have to think of something.

'We'd spent all that time choosing presents that Grannie Island

'would like and then we ate them all up ourselves.

'What on earth could we give her now?'

'Eventually it came to us.

'There really was only one thing we could do.'

-Happy Grandmother's day!

-Welcome, away in. Oh, what a lovely surprise.

-We've brought you some presents, Grannie Island.

-Oh, how wonderful.

Let's see, now.

Oh.

What a smart tractor.

And what's this?

Oh, a lovely wee horse.

-And a lovely worm.

-A snake.

Oh, of course it's a snake.

I should have realised. And what else is in here?

A wee candle.

Oh, and a lovely flag. Oh, thank you.

Mmm.

Mmm!

Hmm!

Now, do you know what? That's enough for me.

I can't eat very much of those, you know.

Now, Liam, would you show me how that tractor goes?

Oh, look at that. That's a grand tractor.

Liam, do you think you would maybe look after it for me?

Because I've got my own old Grey Lady to look after.

Will you do that for me? Good boy.

And, Katie Morag, that's a grand wee horse and it reminds me

of something I've wanted to show you.

But before any of that, let's have tea.

-Porridgies, anyone?

-No, thanks.

-What?

After that long walk are you not very hungry?

I've got a bit of tummy trouble.

Grannie Island told me that she

wanted to get the shelter ready for a new animal coming to the croft.

I wasn't sure what animal she meant but I did the best job I could.

HORSE NEIGHS

And that was the moment I met Eriskay, Grannie Ireland's new horse.

And I knew we were going to be great friends for a long time to come.

I was so excited about Eriskay that night, I didn't feel tired at all.

I still felt terrible about eating Grannie Island's present

but Grannie Island didn't seem to mind only having one sweetie.

It was almost as if she knew what had happened.

That's the thing about grannies,

they really do know everything about everything.