Janet Reachfar and the Kelpie

C848857 Duncan Janet Reachfar and the kelpie 5

PUBLIC LIBRARY Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana ALLEN COUNTY EXTENSION DEPT.

«rr

Al.LEN

COUNTY HU

3 1833 01507 8063

Janet Reachfar

and the Kelpie by JANE

by Mairi Hedderwick

pictures ©

1976 by Jane Duncan copyright 1976 by Mairi Hedderwick American Edition 1976

Text copyright Illustrations First

DUNCAN

©

Printed in Great Britain All rights reserved

X^

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Duncan, Jane. Janet Reachfar and the kelpie.

"A

Clarion book."

SUMMARY: Despite a warning to stay away from a dangerous well, Janet peeks in and

sees a terrible

kelpie monster staring back at her. [i. Fairies

— Fiction]

I.

Hedderwick, Mairi.

II. Title.

PZ7.D899jan3

ISBN

[E]

75-44166

0-8 1 64-3 1 69-8

A Clarion Book The Seabury Press New York

-ri'^^'^ ig

^WNHuttt""*'

-^^V

X ',-?>t^

^^

'!Ka\1

y^ 'S5*

.«*

-^^

1 >/ /^

The Well was fence around "It

is

round hole

in the

so that the sheep

and

risk that

ground and

would not

Tom

fall

it

in

had

a

barbed wire

and be drowned.

would not go near Kelpie catching me even if you paid me in

a terrible place indeed,"

that fence solid

it

a

agreed. "I

gold money."

"What Kelpie?" George and has long

Janet asked.

Tom

began

to whisper. "His

wobbly arms and wobbly fmgers

and queer spiky horns on reach out and pull

you

his head. If

into the

name

all

is

Sandy, and he

slippery like seaweed,

you go near

that fence

Well and drown you."

he will

^'FK

^Hr\,

,H

n ;f

i

^W.

:,^

-..

^

J

//...;/'

Janet had been glad to run

And

she

had been glad

/

warm

I

to forget about

2

5

^^f^

„

..'A.jjjiii^^Mi

Black Rory and the Whig-

now

the sun

cave in the haystack and she did not

Instead she

5

home and have tea in the bright kitchen.

maleerie and Sandy the Kelpie. But the

Iff 'Hi

'>

was shining feel like

into

running.

was thinking hard about the Old Quarry, the East Bog,

and the Well.

Now the Old Quarry and the East Bog were ugly, eerie places that no

sensible person

would want

place that sent sweet fresh water

to

visit.

down

But the Well was to the

a

good

house and the farm-

yard for the Reachfar people and animals to drink.

If this horrible

Kelpie lived in the Well, Janet thought, the water would not be fresh

and

clear as

At

this

it

always was.

very

moment

over the fence from the

/.

Betsy, the big field to take a

brown mare, put

her head

drink from the water-trough

in the farmyard. Horses are very clean, very fussy animals

and Janet

knew that Betsy would not drink water that tasted of seaweedy Kelpie.

(/

V. *r.k

u^

I

^

i Vi

V

»

-.

_

.

l» S%fm

\

«.

N

\

*> -l-J

.

^i::/ fr

<J>m7tc

"There just a

is

not any Sandy in the Well!" Janet told Fly angrily. "It

pack of George and Tom's

Kelpies with horns

on

lies

is

about that Kelpie. There are no

their heads that pull people into wells

and

drown them." Fly blinked her golden eyes and cocked her ears as if she agreed.

am going up to that Well to see for myself if that Kelpie is in it," Janet said. And off she went with Fly following her. "I

She

began

felt

very disobedient, and

as she

came nearer

uncomfortable inside

to feel very

herself.

Mother was very

loving and gentle. She did not order people about did.

Granny could turn

Well she

This was because

her mother had asked her not to go near the Well.

mother

to the

as Janet's

into a very strict person

grand-

whom Tom

and George called "Herself," but Mother was always Mother. Herself

said,

said, "Janet,

because It

it is

was fun

fmding out fun to

tell

"Now I

am

don't

you

dare

go near

that

asking you, please, to stay

Well!" But Mother

away from

Well

dangerous." to disobey Herself if you could

that

it

was not fun

George and

Tom

to disobey

that she

manage

Mother.

had been

but Janet was

it,

Still, it

to the

a lot

of rubbish!"

And

so she

would be

Well and had

found no Kelpie. "You and your old Kelpie!" she would nothing but

the

walked on up

say. "It's

to the

moor.

It

was one of those summer days when the sun

moment and the clouds

cover

it

at the next.

is

bright at one

As Janet crawled through

the heather and under the barbed wire round the Well, the clouds

made

the sky quite dark. Flat

on her stomach, Janet pulled

towards the edge of the Well and Fly took the

hem ofJanet's

herself dress in

her strong white teeth. Fly was trying to pull her back but Janet held

on

to the

tough stems of the heather and went on pulling herself

forward. Her hands found the stone

at

the edge of the deep hole and

she pulled forward again and looked over.

^^1

Suddenly she statue.

felt as if

she

was turning into

a cold frozen stone

For there, just under the black surface of the water, was the

horrible face of the Kelpie, his

round eyes

staring

up and

his ghastly

horns sticking out from his head. Janet thought of his seaweedy arms

coming up

to catch her, but she could not

growling and wire

felt

move. Then she heard Fly

her tugging. Janet backed out under the barbed

as fast as she could,

stood up, and ran for her

life.

'^^'^I

^L

I

Back home, she did not

tell

anyone about what she had done, or

about the horrible creature she had seen. She went to her room, and for the

In

first

time in her

summer,

life

she

in the Highlands

felt afraid

of Scotland,

F'

but Janet could not bear to look

7

beyond. She was sure that the Kelpie after

^

of being alone. it

stays

window would come

at the

Hght

till

midnight

or the bright sky in

by the window

dark to take her to the Well and drown her because she had

looked into

his secret place.

She dived into bed without even brush-

ing her hair, pulled the covers over her head, and sobbed herself to sleep.

—

Then

she

had

a nightmare.

She dreamed that she was back

Well and Sandy's slimy hands were reaching up, coming

at the

nearer,

nearer, nearer

"Mother! Granny!" Janet screamed.

He is

going to catch

"It's

me and drown me!"

the Kelpie in the Well!

Suddenly the nightmare was gone and Mother and Granny and !jj

Tom

[l|

George and

I

Granny turned

all

her family were standing round her bed.

into Herself and

became very

George and Tom, "You two