The Legend of the Irish Castle Read online

  THE LEGEND OF THE IRISH CASTLE

  created by

  GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER

  Illustrated by

  Anthony VanArsdale

  ALBERT WHITMAN & Company, Chicago

  Contents

  1. The Bad Omen

  2. A Sound of Wailing

  3. New Guests

  4. An Unwelcome Gift

  5. The Familiar Figure

  6. A Creature in the Forest

  7. The Inscription

  8. The Famous Face

  9. The Man in the Picture

  10. Forgiveness

  About Ireland

  About the Author

  CHAPTER 1

  The Bad Omen

  Henry Alden pushed a cart full of luggage through the bustling airport of Dublin, Ireland. All around him, people were walking very fast and pulling large suitcases. A pilot and two flight attendants wearing navy blue uniforms passed by, their shoes clicking on the tile floor. On the public address system, a voice said, “Last call for flight two-seventeen!” Airports always made the Alden children feel very excited. They loved traveling to new places.

  “I wonder how long it will take to get to the castle,” said twelve-year-old Jessie Alden. She looked at her watch and reset it to the local time, six hours later than in their home in Greenfield. Between the time change and the long flight, the children were feeling tired. But they had been looking forward to their vacation in Ireland for a long time and couldn’t wait to explore the castles and the beautiful countryside.

  Grandfather glanced at the map in his hand. “According to the map, it should take about two hours to get to where we’re staying.”

  Grandfather was also carrying Benny, who at six was the youngest Alden. Benny had been asleep when the plane landed and was just starting to wake up. His head rested on Grandfather’s shoulder. “Erin, the owner of the castle, said she would pick us up right outside the airport.”

  Ten-year-old Violet walked ahead of the other children and snapped a picture of a sign that read “This Way to Dublin” with an arrow pointing toward the doors. Violet was planning to make a scrapbook of this adventure when the Aldens returned home, and she thought a picture of the sign would be perfect for the cover.

  The automatic doors opened with a whoosh, and the Aldens walked out into the sunshine. Taxis were lined up along the curb.

  “What a beautiful day!” Violet said, snapping another picture.

  “We’re lucky the sun is out,” Henry said. “I’ve read that it rains a lot in Ireland.”

  “We don’t mind a little rain,” said Violet. She took off her purple sweater and tied it around her waist. “We always found fun things to do on rainy days when we lived in the boxcar!”

  After their parents died, the Alden children had run away. They were afraid of their grandfather because they thought he was mean and they wouldn’t like living with him. In the woods, the children had found an abandoned boxcar and made it their home. They had lots of adventures, and even found their dog, Watch, in the woods. He became part of their family too. When their grandfather found them, they realized he wasn’t mean at all. Grandfather Alden took the children to his home to live with him and his housekeeper, Mrs. McGregor. Grandfather brought the boxcar to his home, and put it in the backyard to use as a clubhouse.

  “That must be our ride,” Jessie said, pointing to a white van that said “Duncarraig Castle” in green letters on the side.

  Grandfather and the children walked toward the van just as a woman got out. She had a long red braid that hung down over her shoulder. “Céad míle fáilte!” she said. “That means ‘a hundred thousand welcomes.’ I’m Erin.”

  The children introduced themselves, and Henry and Erin loaded the luggage into the van. Grandfather helped Benny get buckled in. Benny tried to wake himself up, but as soon as they started driving, he closed his eyes again.

  “Poor Benny,” said Violet. “He seems so tired.”

  “You all must be tired after that long trip,” Erin said. “And hungry too. Let’s stop for lunch when we get to Howth.”

  Benny sat up and opened his eyes. “Did someone say ‘lunch’?”

  Everyone laughed. “I thought lunch might wake you up,” Grandfather said.

  Erin took the scenic route toward the seaside village of Howth. The tall cliffs alongside the road were bright green and towered over the ocean below. White seagulls sailed through the air hunting for fish. Erin told the children about the sights. “Down there is Dublin Bay,” she said, pointing to the water. “And that’s Baily Lighthouse.”

  She pointed to a narrow white building perched on the edge of a cliff. It was a steep drop down to the ocean, where the waves crashed against the rocks.

  Erin continued. “The village of Howth has been a busy fishing port for hundreds of years, but the fog can make it dangerous. The lighthouse shines to warn the boats when they are getting too close to these cliffs.”

  Violet shivered thinking about how scary a shipwreck would be. “I’m so glad we traveled by plane instead of boat!” she said.

  “I think a ship would be exciting!” Henry said. He was fourteen and liked adventure. “As long as the captain knew what he was doing.”

  “Don’t worry, Violet,” Grandfather said. “Ships don’t rely on lighthouses anymore. Now they use computers to navigate the ocean, so sailors always know when they are close to land.”

  Erin parked the van in front of a row of very old buildings painted bright colors. “Let’s have lunch on the pier. How do you feel about fish and chips?” she asked Benny.

  Grandfather explained, “In Ireland, chips are what we think of as french fries back in the U.S. Fish and chips is a dish of fried fish with fried potatoes on the side.”

  Benny rubbed his stomach. “I don’t mind if they call them fries or chips, as long as they come with ketchup!”

  The Aldens sat down at a table covered in a red-checkered cloth, and Erin ordered their food. From where they sat they could watch the boats coming in and out of port. Some raised big nets full of fish onto the pier.

  While the Aldens and Erin waited for their food, Jessie pulled out the book she had been reading on the plane.

  “That’s a good one!” Erin said, looking at the cover. The book was called Irish Fairy Legends. “Maeve Rowe McCarron is very famous. She writes about Irish culture and history. I loved her books when I was younger.”

  “Until I read this book, I never knew there were so many kinds of fairy creatures in Irish folklore,” Jessie said.

  “We knew about leprechauns,” Violet pointed out. “They’re the ones who wear green and hide a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.”

  “Mhm,” Jessie said. “But we had never heard about the goblin that disguises itself as a chained black horse—the one called a pooka.”

  “And the creature called a merrow,” Henry added. “It lives in the sea like a mermaid, but instead of a fish tail, it wears seal skins.”

  Grandfather noticed that both Benny and Violet were looking nervous. They weren’t sure whether they wanted to meet creatures like these on their trip. “But remember,” Grandfather said, “these creatures are part of myths. Myths are stories, but not everything in them is real.”

  “Just like ghosts,” Henry said. “We know from solving mysteries that when we think we see a ghost, there’s always another explanation.”

  Just then, the waitress brought their food. All the children had ordered fish and chips, which came in wicker baskets lined with waxed paper. Grandfather and Erin had ordered mussels, and those came in bowls full of broth. They also had brown bread and fresh butter. The food smelled delicious.

  “I
don’t know,” Erin said, as she used a fork to pull a mussel from its black shell, “in Ireland, lots of people believe in banshees.”

  Jessie took a bite of fish and flipped a few pages in her book to the paragraph she was looking for. “A banshee is a female spirit,” she read aloud. “Her cry can sound like a woman wailing or an owl moaning. She is often depicted wearing a gray hooded cloak. The presence of a banshee is known to be a bad omen.”

  “What’s a bad omen?” asked Benny. “It sounds…bad.”

  “I think it means bad luck,” Henry said.

  “Some of the old Irish families had their very own banshees,” Erin said. “Like the family that once owned Duncarraig Castle. Their banshee warned them when something bad was about to happen.”

  “Do you think we will see the banshee?” Benny asked.

  Erin laughed. “Let’s hope not!”

  But Violet couldn’t help noticing that Erin’s fork was trembling when she took a bite. Talking about the banshee seemed to make her awfully uneasy.

  CHAPTER 2

  A Sound of Wailing

  After lunch, the Aldens piled back into the van and Erin drove along the coastal road and through the countryside for more than an hour. They passed through a few small villages with fenced cottages and churches covered in ivy, and the van bumped over the cobblestones of the old roads. Finally, Erin turned down a long, narrow lane that led through the trees. The sun had gone behind the clouds and it was starting to sprinkle.

  “Now this is the Irish weather I was expecting,” Henry said. “But maybe after the rain we’ll see a rainbow.”

  “I’d sure like to get a picture of one for the scrapbook!” Violet said.

  They came into a clearing, and up ahead was an enormous gray stone castle. Fuzzy green moss was growing on some of the stones. Off to the side was a garden full of climbing vines and lush flowers, with a bench where you could sit and admire the view. Behind the castle was a soft meadow of yellow and green grass, and a deep woods with a single path cutting through.

  “Welcome to Duncarraig Castle!” Erin said. “The most beautiful castle in Ireland!”

  The children got out of the van and stretched their legs.

  “That’s funny,” Benny said, looking around. “I don’t see any dunes around here.”

  “Duncarraig is an Irish word,” Erin said. “Dun means fort, and carraig means a rocky headland, like the rocks along the coast. Castles were usually named for their locations, so Duncarraig means the fort by the rocky headlands.”

  “We could call the boxcar Fortfence,” Benny said. “Because it is kind of like our fort, and it’s near the fence in the backyard.”

  Henry laughed. “That’s true, Benny. Now, let’s carry in the bags,” he said.

  Jessie zipped the book about fairy legends back into her bag and joined Henry. “I’ll help you.”

  Violet took Benny’s hand, and Grandfather followed as they walked up the path, gravel crunching under their feet. Erin opened the heavy wooden door of the castle by pulling on the iron ring. It looked very old and creaked on its hinges.

  The children entered the dark front hall, where woven tapestries hung on the walls. A long wooden table held flickering candles.

  “We’ve spent the last few years fixing up this place,” Erin told them. “It seems like a fun idea to stay in a hotel in an old castle, until you realize that people who lived in castles didn’t have plumbing or electricity! So we made the rest of the rooms modern for the hotel guests. But we decided to leave the front hall just as it had been for hundreds of years. A little piece of history.”

  Violet pointed her camera at the iron chandelier hanging far above them from the high ceiling and took a picture. “Just think how many people have walked through this hall in all that time!” she said.

  “And how tall the ladder must be for changing the light bulbs!” Grandfather said.

  This made Erin laugh. “That’s my Uncle Fergus’s job,” she said. “You’ll meet him soon.” She pointed to the carved wooden staircase. “Your room is this way.”

  Benny and Violet rushed up the stairs and everyone else followed. They walked down a long hallway on the second floor. On one side was a dark wood balcony that looked down over the main hall downstairs. On the other side were windows so deep, you could sit inside the windowsill.

  Benny climbed up into one and looked out at the woods behind the castle. “I don’t see any banshees,” he said.

  As they walked, Erin pointed to a room with an open door. Inside was a small sofa and a desk overflowing with paper. A butterfly made of different colored glass hung in the window and when the sun shone through, it cast the colors on the floor. “That’s my room. Feel free to knock on my door any time.”

  They walked on. Henry and Jessie moved more slowly than the others, since they were carrying the luggage. Jessie glanced into a few of the guest rooms they passed. The beds were neatly made with colorful quilts, and many of the rooms had fireplaces.

  “All these rooms are empty, Henry,” Jessie said. “I expected more guests.”

  “Me too,” Henry said. “It must have cost Erin a lot of money to fix up this old castle. I hope she is booking enough rooms to keep it in business!”

  One door on the right was closed. “Looks like someone’s staying in that room,” Jessie said. “At least that’s something.”

  At the end of the hallway, Erin led them into a large double room joined by a bathroom in the middle. They decided Grandfather would take the big bed on one side, and the children would share the two beds on the other side. Erin said she would give them time to get settled, and left to go back downstairs.

  The Aldens went into their room and started to unpack their suitcases. Benny took out a pair of shoes and put them on the table while he sorted his pants and shirts into two piles, and then put them inside the dresser drawer. When he looked up, a tall man with a gray beard and a blue denim work shirt was standing right next to him. The man was frowning.

  Benny jumped, surprised, but he didn’t want to be rude. “Oh, hello,” Benny said nervously. “Are you a guest at the castle too?”

  “Name’s Fergus,” the man said in a gruff voice. “I’m the caretaker.”

  Jessie stepped forward and offered her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, sir. Erin said that you’re her uncle. We’re the Aldens, visiting from America.”

  Fergus shook her hand, but he didn’t smile. He stared at Benny’s shoes, and Violet quickly moved them off the table and onto the floor.

  “I was coming in to fix the latch on the window,” he said. “The last guest told us it was stuck.” He went over to the window and examined the old iron latch for a moment. He tried twisting it, then sprayed some oil around the metal. It squeaked, but after a few more tries, he got the latch to twist and was able to open the window.

  “Well, now that’s done,” Fergus said. He brushed impatiently past the children on his way out of the room, but he stopped when he saw the contents of Jessie’s bag lying on one of the beds. On top was the book by Maeve Rowe McCarron that she had been reading at lunch. Fergus looked at the book and his eyebrows went up. Then he stormed off into the hallway.

  “I know one reason why Erin’s having trouble getting guests for the hotel,” Henry said. “Fergus is not very friendly.”

  After the children finished unpacking, they went downstairs. Erin was at the front desk with a calculator and a stack of papers. Her forehead was creased, but when she saw the Aldens coming, she broke into a smile. Jessie told her that they had met Fergus upstairs.

  “I’m sorry if my uncle seemed grumpy,” Erin said, setting down her pen. “He has always lived in the caretaker’s cottage out in the woods, but he just recently moved into the castle. It’s taking him a little time to get used to being around the people who work here in the hotel now—this year we hired a new kitchen helper and a full-time chef.”

  “That does seem like it would be a hard change,” Violet said, thinking about the days
when the children first moved in with their grandfather. The Aldens had had a very different childhood from other children they knew, and it took time for them to adjust too. Plus, Violet liked to try to see the best in people. “He seems like he’s very good at his job. It only took him a minute to fix our window.”

  “That’s true,” said Henry. “Maybe if I offer to help him with his work, it will cheer him up.”

  “That’s the spirit!” Erin said. “Fergus knows this place inside and out.”

  Just then, Benny yawned. “Could we start helping tomorrow?” he asked Jessie. “I am feeling a little sleepy.”

  “Of course!” Erin said. “You all must have jet lag! Even though it’s early evening here, your body is still on Boston time and thinks it’s time for bed. Best to get some rest.”

  The Aldens went back upstairs to their room and changed into pajamas. Violet went in to tell Grandfather that they were turning in, but he had already fallen asleep with his book on his chest. The children got under the quilts and even though the sun was still shining, they fell asleep.

  Several hours later, Jessie heard Benny say, “What’s that noise?”

  She opened her eyes. It was very dark in the room, and the digital clock on the nightstand said it was two in the morning. Violet sat up next to her. Henry was still asleep in the other bed next to Benny.

  “What noise?” Jessie asked.

  “I heard a…wailing sound,” Benny whispered. “I heard it too,” Violet said, sounding concerned.

  Jessie got out of bed and went to the window. Just as she had guessed, it was still open from when Fergus had fixed the latch. “It’s just the wind, blowing through this open window.” She pushed it closed and twisted the latch, and the wailing sound stopped.

  Benny and Violet joined Jessie at the window. “See,” Jessie said. “Nothing to be afraid of. I know it’s hard, but we should try to go back to sleep until morning so we can get over this jet lag.”

  But Benny was still looking out the window. “Look!” he said, pointing to the dark meadow behind the castle. Far away near the edge of the woods, a mysterious figure was moving through the grass, hunched over and carrying a lantern.