The Curious Tale of DR Heidh

The Curious Tale of Dr Heidh …… © Jemma Castle
The Curious Tale
of Dr Heidh
Byy Jemma Castle
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Also by this author:
Applestalk
Tower Princess
Children of Lochlann Part 1
Cockleshell Pony
Skith
Apple-Stalk
Talent Show
Local Horseshow
Warticah
The Grey Knight
The Ancient Button
A Horrid Faerie Tale
The Magic Carpet
Girl and Catteratta
Eternal Spring
Ngeba’s Story
The Genie
The Magic Banana Tree
Tiny and Bozo
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AGES 9 up
For Young readers
Written and illustrated by Jemma Castle
This book is a work of fiction. Any reference to historical events, real people, and real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and
incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events of locales or persons, living or dead, is purely co-incidental.
Copyright © 2009 Jemma Castle
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means or manner
whatsoever (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of author. Except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in articles and reviews.
The moral right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with relevant Copyright, Designs and
Patents Acts.
This book is available subject to the condition that is shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the
author’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the
subsequent purchaser.
Summary
Dr Heidh and his love buy a small Island and start their family. Things don’t turn out exactly the way they planned.
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O
company.
ver a decade ago, a young Dr and his love, Miss Hilda Music decided that they
would like to leave the hustle and bustle of the city for a house in the country.
They longed to be far from the city lights with only the birds and bees for
After searching the newspapers, they found a tiny advert which read:
Small Island for sale

No inhabitants.
All yours!
Call: Mrs Wendy I’ll 018171345
Island & Country Planning Department
Fieryfurness
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Dr Heidh called up immediately and arranged to see the island and within a few days both he
and his love were sailing into the sunset to view their new home.
After a full nights travel they reached the island on first light. The dawn chorus of the birds was
music to their ears and the hills were alive with deer and bunnies.
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D
own by the shore was the only dwelling on the island, a sweet house, just big enough
for the small family they planned. The house was called ‘Frillaggie’.
After a whirlwind day tour by Mrs Wendy I’ll, who kindly provided some Wellington boots for
each of them, they felt truly satisfied that this was their paradise that they had dreamed of.
They sailed back that evening and the next morning travelled together with Mrs Wendy I’ll to
her offices in Fieryfurness. There and then they signed the papers and paid over the money
they had saved for this momentous occasion. After a short wait they were give the title deeds
of the Island. It was all theirs.
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They drove home from Fieryfurness, a beautiful scenic route to pack up their belongings and
say goodbye to friends and family.
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D
r Heidh made arrangements with the harbour to buy a boat big enough to hold their
belongings and with just enough spare space to board his trusty 4x4 as well.
At the harbour where they were boarding their new boat, a young boy in rough, torn clothes
was going from person to person showing them the contents of a small Hessian bag. Each
person would look, a glimmer would cross their features and then they would shake their heads
and say no thank you.
Miss Hilda Music felt drawn to the young boy and even took off her gloves and handed them to
him in sympathy. She asked if she could look into his bag and with a puzzled look, he opened
it for her.
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“Dr Heidh, Dr Heidh come quickly, bring your purse” she shouted loudly to her love. There in
the bag were the two most glorious grey and white little puppies. On the boat they decided to
call them Rhythm and Blues.
Following the map drawn by Mrs Wendy I’ll they had little difficulty reaching the island, their
own island, even though they were not seasoned sailors. They pulled up on the sandy shore
and let down the small ramp. Dr Heidh reversed his trusty 4x4 off onto the beach and hitching
up the winch, dragged the boat up, high on the beach. Then they collapsed together on the
golden sand beside it, laughing with uncontained joy.
Leaving their goods in the boat they rushed up the narrow path to their house and danced
around the room, a joyous jig, full of life. Dr Heidh grabbed Miss Hilda Music up in his arms
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and together they spun round and round before they brought their furniture in and no longer
had enough space to do that.
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S o it came to pass that they were very happy there on their island. Their two puppies
grew up to be fine dogs. Dr Heidh and Miss Hilda had a new child each year. They
called their children as follows “Do, Ray, Me, So, Far, La and Tee” and all the
children looked the same, a perfect combination of their parents.
They loved the company of the deer and bunnies and the birds. They discovered that there
was a small herd of wild ponies in the hills and they visited them, taking them carrots and
apples. They sat on the rocks down by the shore and watched the seals and the otters. The
dolphins came to play in the bay, performing for them.
Miss Hilda Music taught her children in their little house and Dr Heidh made sure that they had
enough to eat and that they were safe and sound.
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From time to time they went off in their little boat with their trusty 4x4 and visited the mainland
for necessary supplies, medicines and for a bit of company. But it was a long, long trip and
they did not make it often.
They sometimes spoke of how they would like to have some company on the island but no one
they knew was interested in living so far away from the cities.
One day, when Do was seven years old, they heard the unexpected sound of a boat landing on
the shore and the voices of at least two strangers.
Dr Heidh was thrilled to have visitors for company first carefully checking to confirm if they were
friendly by watching them for a time from behind the foliage. Then the family made their way to
the beach to greet their first visitors.
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The two men’s names were Mr Kneel Loud and Mr Donald Lean. They were fishermen and
were looking for a place to stay as their island had grown too small and no longer had good
fishing around it.
After a knowing look between them, the happy couple agreed. It would be perfect, some
healthy and hearty friends to help Dr Heidh with looking after the island. What a co-incidence
that they had on occasion felt a bit lonely and now they had someone who was offering to
catch fish for their meals.
The children danced little dances on the beach and Do and Ray fetched their fiddles and
played a little jig. It was a glorious occasion and they laughed and chatted late into the night
before falling asleep in hammocks on the beach.
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The next day after taking the men on a quick day tour of the island, Dr Heidh returned home for
it was nearly night time. They had seemed to know exactly where they wanted to build their
houses, one for each and he had readily agreed. Early the next morning he set off to meet with
the men again, only to find that there was no sign of them. Curious? The family felt ill at ease
and disappointed. Perhaps the men had not liked them or perhaps the island was indeed to far
away from everything. They felt sad and had been longing for people to share their island
paradise. Time passed extra slowly as it does when one is worried about something:
Two days later the two men returned with a group of men. It turned out that these men were
their cousins and upon hearing of the wonderful island they had wanted to come and see it for
themselves.
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A t first Dr Heidh and Miss Hilda Music were quite anxious and more than a bit
annoyed to have so many uninvited guests on their island, still upset at the sudden
unexplained disappearance of their new tenants but they soon forgave them and
warmed to their hearty seafaring talk. Upon assurance that their cousins would not be staying
they agreed to allow their two tenants to show their cousins, (Who curiously all had the same
names) the island and went back to their daily business of teaching the children and tending
their food garden.
Early the next morning Dr Heidh set off to chat to the men as he needed their help to move
some stones to his house. He wanted to make his house a bit bigger to accommodate his
growing brood and low and behold the men were nowhere to be found?
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Curious and curiouser.
Again two days later they returned, this time with more people, it seems that each of the men
and each of their cousins had brought their girlfriends to show them the island and so it came
to pass that the two men and their 10 cousins and all their girlfriends came to live on Dr Heidh's
island. Dr Heidh all the while was thinking of how quickly he was going to get his house
extensions built and how much bigger he could make it with all the extra help. He was
trembling with excitement and the sheer luck of it all.
After a day of no word from the men and their wives, Dr Heidh and Miss Hilda and their
children decided to go and visit the woman. It turned out that the women were hard at work as
their men had gone to sea for fishing and left the women alone to build their own houses. The
woman were quite fit and healthy and well able to build their traditional island homes. Hilda
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and Dr Heidh learnt quite a few tricks from them during the days that their men were away at
sea and the Heidh family abandoned their usual daily tasks to lend a hand and help build their
tenants homes.
Then in the morning some time later there was a loud commotion on the beach and looking out
of their house window, they saw that there were fluffy white bundles hopping down from the
boats onto the beach and Dr Heidh set off with his big dogs, Rhythm and Blues to investigate.
It turned out that the little fluffy white bundles where month old lambs brought from their old
island. Apparently the animals were very useful. They kept the grass around your house
short, their fleece would be used to make wool and then clothes and they were pretty tasty too
if the fishing was bad, especially in the winter when it was not safe to go out fishing for the bad
weather.
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Looking at the cute little bundles of wool dancing about on the beach, each and every member
of the family decided that there was no way they could possibly eat such a cute adorable
animal but that they might have a go at learning to spin their wool on the curious spindles their
tenants had showed them.
Two days later the men returned with some large brown and black fluffy animals but these
ones made loud moaning noises and had sharp horns.
Dr Heidh was beginning to wonder at their queer folk and just how much they intended to bring
to his island but when they explained that these animals were also very useful and provided
milk which could be turned into butter, cheese and yogurt they relented and allowed them to
bring them ashore.
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It began to be so busy in their settlements around the island that the family rarely saw them for
they were busy building, milking and spinning and the men were away fishing and so they
seldom provided Dr Heidh with the help he wanted. So Dr Heidh and his family went back to
their old ways and forgot about the tenants.
4 times that year they came to see Dr Heidh and brought him, spun wool, knitted garments,
cheese, dried meat and this supplemented their grains and nuts and honey that they had
concentrated on before the tenants came.
In time there were other children running about on the many beaches and in the hills but they
were not a friendly sort and threw stones at Do, Ray, Me, So, Far, La and Tee. This was sad
as they would have liked to play with the children. Miss Hilda Music found too that the woman
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were not very kind and talked too much about each other and also about her. It was hurtful the
stories they told and she wanted nothing to do with them. But their sheep kept the grass
around the house short and when lambing season came, the men came down to the house
and asked Dr Heidh to please keep his dogs inside his garden for they were interfering with
their lambs and he did this although the arrangement it did not seem right.
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M ore and more it seemed that they were living inside their house and not
enjoying the whole island like they used to.
Still they concentrated on teaching their children and growing their plants and relied less and
less on what their tenants brought them for they preferred their own food.
Over time they learnt that each of the men were called by the same names as the first two
men. Curious and curiouser. They were all cousins and their wives were the only ones who
had different names. Soon each family had given a name to the area they had claimed as their
own and so they learned that the wives were called, Sarah Sleet, Mary Margaret Minge, Ellie
Ersa, Tarryn Travour, Catie Castle, Hettie Hore, Annie Ardmore, Tina Tanga, Gretta Green,
Glenda Glen, Lettie Leachack, Norma North. Girls were named after their mothers and boys
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after their fathers and so there were many people with the same names and it was all very
confusing for the Heidh family who each had their own name.
As time passed the Heidh children grew up and soon Do was nearly as tall as his father. At
that time there were so many people on their island that they noticed that it was starting to sink.
Obviously it could no longer stand the weight pressing down on it, all the people, their houses,
their animals and their boats and it was getting wetter and wetter.
Miss Hilda Music could no longer stroll about singing and enjoying the fresh air on the hills for
she would sink into the mud up to her calves and soon all her favourite long dresses had
permanent brown stains upon them.
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Live became dreary for the family and the tenants had brought rules and fences. The dogs
could not even go on walks with their children anymore and the children did not feel safe with
out the dogs warning them of the other children. No longer could they enjoy their adventure
games and they felt sad and unhappy.
Miss Hilda Music and Dr Heidh spend long hours after the children had gone to bed discussing
how things had turned out badly and if only those 2 men had not landed on their beach and if
only they had not allowed them to stay but it seemed there was no way to turn back the clock.
Dr Heidh had called a meeting to discuss things but no one turned up for the meetings.
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T
he people on the island had started a shop as there were so many of them and each of
them sold their goods to the shop that increased the price and resold them in a central
place. But because the Heidh family were not related to their tenants they were not
allowed to buy from the shop.
Of course the 4 times a year offerings had stopped and very few indeed only one or two ever
brought anything to Dr Heidh as a gift or payments for living on his island.
He grew thinner and thinner form all the worry and his family felt ill from the whole situation.
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O ne day, they all went off in their boat and went to visit Mrs Wend I’ll. She was
horrified to hear of their troubles and lamented that if only they had told her
sooner, she could have helped them. It turned out that many years back, some
pirates had lived on their island but these pirates had been caught and their families had been
chased off the island together with their animals. Their houses had been demolished and after
some years it had returned to a natural environment. Deer and bunnies and some wild ponies
had been put on the island and the one remaining house had been restored. The island had
then been put up of sale to keep these stay smugglers from settling there again.
Dr Heidh had been the new owner but the 2 men who had landed on the beach had been
relatives of the original pirate families and they had moved back. Their treatment of Dr Heidh
and his family was due to the fact that they considered the island their own personal property
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and the initial niceties had been for show only. In the end it seems that they had got what they
had wanted, their island.
Well, what was the Heidh family to do? They held the title deeds but clearly it was not their
island anymore. They could not even sell it to someone else as it had so many people and
sheep and cows on it, nobody their right mind would buy it.
Oh dear, oh dear.
Well Mrs Wendy, I’ll went to take the matter to her superiors and they came up with a plan,
they had an old house in the country far north where few people lived. It was a big house,
quite big enough to comfortablly house Dr Heidh's large family and more and it had an area of
land around it just big enough for the children to enjoy. There were long walks about and even
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a long path that lead to the sea and the beach. It would be far better than what their island had
become and it would be small compensation for what had become of their island. The
superiors agreed that they were partly to blame for they had not notified the Heidh's of the pre-
existing situation in their hurry to sell the island and that they should have set up a closer watch
to assist the Heidh's when trouble had come to call.
In the mean time Island & Country Planning Department would retain the title deeds of the
island but they could still visit whenever they wanted, although they had somewhere else to go.
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A fter a quick chat between themselves they all reasoned how unhappy they were on
their island and they though it best to take up the offer by Mrs Wendy I’lls' superiors.
A night’s journey back to their sinking island and a few days spent packing their belongings into
their boat and their 4x4 and they were ready to go. It was very squashed as Rhythm and Blues
were now fully grown and the children did not all really fit in the car with the other things in
there but they managed and luckily the sailing was not too bad. Dr Heidh left his boat
anchored in the mainland bay and they drove off to their new house in the country.
It was awesome and it was huge. The garden was much bigger than the fenced off area the
tenants of the island had allowed them and the dogs and children went off to explore.
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Miss Hilda Music went in to her new nest to make ready for the birth of her new baby, just in
time too and they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
Words: 3468 words
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The Curious Tale of DR Heidh

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The Curious Tale of Dr Heidh …… © Jemma Castle

The Curious Tale

Byy Jemma Castle

Also by this author:

For Young readers

Written and illustrated by Jemma Castle

Copyright © 2009 Jemma Castle

Small Island for sale

of the Island. It was all theirs.

say goodbye to friends and family.

and say no thank you.

call them Rhythm and Blues.

golden sand beside it, laughing with uncontained joy.

had enough space to do that.

children looked the same, a perfect combination of their parents.

dolphins came to play in the bay, performing for them.

enough to eat and that they were safe and sound.

they did not make it often.

the shore and the voices of at least two strangers.

the beach to greet their first visitors.

fishing around it.

catch fish for their meals.

before falling asleep in hammocks on the beach.

their food garden.

Curious and curiouser.

trembling with excitement and the sheer luck of it all.

tenants had showed them.

ones made loud moaning noises and had sharp horns.

bring them ashore.

their old ways and forgot about the tenants.

concentrated on before the tenants came.

enjoying the whole island like they used to.

permanent brown stains upon them.

games and they felt sad and unhappy.

allowed to buy from the shop.

brought anything to Dr Heidh as a gift or payments for living on his island.

had wanted, their island.

to assist the Heidh's when trouble had come to call.

time too and they all lived happily ever after.

Words: 3468 words

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