kelpiestory

With the Kelpies

     Children, the next story is going to be only for the older children! There is some sidewalk chalk over there, in the bucket. All of you little guys go get a couple pieces and take it out to the driveway. You can draw some hopscotches! I always loved playing that game when I was a young girl! I will call for you guys, to come back, once this story is over! The next story will be fun for everyone!

    Okie dokie, kids, this story is a scary one! Does everyone here like scary stories? Good! Is everyone comfortable? Since it has warmed back up, we can fold up those blankets. Just place the blankets over on the corner bench. Everyone bring your chair in really close, so I do not have to talk very loud.

    This story is about a magical horse that is called a Kelpie! Have any of you guys heard any stories about Kelpies? No? That is quite alright! Not very many people know about the Kelpies! The Kelpies are wild, magical, water horses!!

    On a small island off the Rhinns of Islay, in

Scotland

, there is a huge field! This field is where cattle graze all day long. A man named Joseph and his wife, Hannah, bring all of their cattle here to eat fresh grass. One day Joseph goes into town to get some supplies. All of a sudden the weather turns bad! A huge storm is coming in and Joseph cannot make the journey back to Hannah. In order to get to Hannah, he would have to cross a river! This river runs too fast for anyone to cross during a storm.

    Meanwhile Hannah is in the cabin cooking some dinner. She was hopeful that Joseph would return. By now, however, it is very dark outside! DOOM, CRASH, BANG!!! Hannah rushes outside to check on the cattle, when what does she see!? Two creepy eyes staring back at her from the rising river! With a loud scream, she runs back to the cabin! Once back in the cabin, she locks the doors and windows! She grabs all of the firewood and builds a big fire! She starts hearing something outside the cabin! She looks out the window and sees those eyes again, but this time it is a beautiful white horse! At this sight, Hannah is extremely terrified! She knows of the great water horse!

    Suddenly, a man busts the door down and barges in! He is exceedingly large, tall, rough and hairy! More terrifying, he has no skin on his face! Kelpies can change into different creatures! Kelpies can even turn into a human form!

    Once inside the cabin, the strange man sits down and says “what is your name?” Hannah replies as calmly as she can and she tries to answer very confidently, “My name is Hannah!”

    Abruptly, the man grabs Hannah! Hannah reaches out and grabs a big pail of boiling water! Hannah throws the super hot water on the man! He screams in pain! All of a sudden, he turns back into a scary monster horse!! Hannah runs out of the cabin in terror! She runs to one of her sleeping cows, and pushes it over. Hurrying, she lies down in the cow's place. She stays there all night long! The cows are safe from the Kelpies when they are lying down, sleeping! There is a protective circle that forms on the ground anytime a cow lies down to sleep; the boundaries remain until daybreak! If she wakes the cow, the cow is at the Kelpie's mercy! However, once she wakes in the morning, she realizes that her poor cow is nowhere to be found!

Author's Notes:
This story was pretty difficult for me to write. I wanted it to be a little scary. However I did not to send the children home having nightmares! I kept the setting the same from the original story. I made the people in the story have names. I thought this would make it more personal and easier to relate to. I did not talk about how the Kelpie had a creepy laugh that was from beyond her cabin. I thought this might make it a bit too creepy for children. I tried to be quite descriptive with this story. I know the story of the Kelpie is not widely known. In a lot of Kelpie stories, humans are being eaten! Instead, I thought a cow would be better and less frightning, than having a human killed. I hope that by personalizing the human characters, it didn’t take way from the story being about the Kelpie. I do not want the story to be about Hannah! I want the story to be about the Kelpie! I hope that I put enough details about the Kelpie's appearance. If you are curious to learn more about the Kelpies, you can simply look back at the Introduction page!