The Banshee and the Bees

By Aideen Mooney

You are about to read a highly enjoyable, absorbing, vibrant and original children's story. Prepare to enter the world of the Irish Fae at a place where it meets the Human world. That place is Ballynoosle, a small lakeside village in the west of Ireland which receives government funding to help Faeries and Humans live together in harmony.

Four children have arrived in Ballynoosle and are living on an old barge moored outside the village. They are all dyslexic. They may not be good at reading and writing but they are good at plenty of other things. Sam is courageously tackling the problem of how to save the bees; Danny is supporting his neighbour, BombAlong, in his time of need; Amber is caring for the school goat and is an example of how to relate to an enchanted community that you might not fully understand. Anika Das is the protagonist of the story and steps up in a time of crisis when commanded to by the Faery Queen. She is also helping her friend Felim in his struggle to accept his two sides, for he is meascán which means half and half. His mother being a Lake Maiden and his father a Human eel fisherman.

This is an adventure with a moral heart which subtly guides. Young readers will love the colourful characters with their mischief and magic. And they will learn a great deal about the environment along the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9798350938937

Book preview

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Copyright

First published in 2023

A Ballynoosle Book

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Text © Aideen Mooney, 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or by an information storage or retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used ficitiously.

eBook ISBN: 979-8-35093-893-7

To Hope

As sweet as honey

Contents

1 The Real Ballynoosle

2 Inishbach

3 The Comb

4 Knocking on Doors

5 The Wailing in the Wood

6 Lake Maidens

7 The Birthday Party

8 Water Horses

9 The Fight

10 A Strange House

11 The Wake

12 Tread Softly

13 No Antidote

14 Where is Kilter?

15 Digging in the Forest

16 OllSpiorad

17 The Banshee and the Bees

18 The Ball

19 A Solemn Day

About the Author

Once upon a time when the banshee was supposed to be about, there were two men passing by one night, and they took her comb. They ran home as quickly as they could and the banshee after them. She stayed outside all night – crying for her comb.

National Folklore Collection UCD

1

The Real Ballynoosle

Anika ran up on deck when she saw Nan and Grandad’s car coming down the lane. It pulled up beside the barge. She called to the others, ‘Mam, Sam, Danny, Amber! They’re here!’

Anika went to hug Nan and Grandad.

‘How are the ponies?’ was the first thing that she asked them.

‘The dogs woke me up this morning with their barking,’ Grandad said. ‘When I looked out, I saw Biscuits in the hay barn helping himself to breakfast. He was taking big bites out of the bales. He had got in through a hole. Chandra was too big to follow so she had the long face on her, moping in the corner of the field, and paying no heed to me.’

‘I love it here in Ballynoosle, but I do miss them,’ Anika said.

‘They’ll still be there when you come back.’

‘I can’t wait for a hug from Chandra.’ Then seeing Danny’s sceptical face, she added, ‘Yes horses can hug. She curls her neck around me and then squeezes me to bring me close to her.’

Her mother, Lori, introduced twelve-year-old Danny and seven-year-old Amber Rivers to Nan and Grandad. They were staying with them on the barge for a few weeks, and were dyslexic like Anika and her brother, Sam. Every morning the children worked on improving their reading and writing. The afternoons were for having fun and sailing on the lake in their dinghy, Swift. Although Danny often chose to go to BombAlong O’Leary’s cottage instead. BombAlong and his father, James, lived in the Chestnut Wood that surrounded the jetty where the family had moored their barge.

‘Grandad, you used to keep bees, didn’t you?’ Sam said.

‘I did,’ he replied. ‘Then after one cold winter I opened the hives, and all the bees were dead. I was so disheartened I gave it up.’

‘Don’t be sad Grandad. BombAlong will be here in a while and we are going to take you out to that island over there. It’s called Inishbach and it’s where he keeps some of his hives.’

‘They belong to his father,’ Danny added. ‘But James hasn’t been well recently, so BombAlong is looking after them.’

‘And The Bee is the name of your barge,’ Nan pointed out with pleasure.

‘And she has three sisters,’ Sam explained, ‘The Ant, The Fox, and The Bat. But we haven’t met them yet.’

‘When Vijay gets his holidays we’ll go upriver,’ Mam said. ‘We may see them then.’ Vijay was Anika and Sam’s father who worked in the UK during the week and came home at weekends.

‘And guess what,’ Anika added, ‘Inishbach is Irish for Island of the Bees.’

The others went below for coffee and lemonade but Danny and Anika stayed on deck. They had their jobs to do and they wanted to get them done before heading out to Inishbach with BombAlong.

‘Your shoelaces are undone,’ Anika said to Danny as he went to get the hose.

‘I don’t know why Mam bought me shoes with laces because I can’t tie them. They’re new.’

‘Come here,’ Anika said and knelt to do it. ‘Double knot or single?’

‘Single.’

Danny hosed the deck while Anika scrubbed it with a long-handled brush. Then they polished the windows and made faces at everyone inside.

Amber brought them up their biscuits. ‘We’re meeting BombAlong in an hour,’ she said.

‘Let’s go and see if he needs any help carrying his bee equipment,’ Anika suggested to Danny and the two of them headed off down the winding path to the O’Leary’s cottage.

‘Have you ever climbed that tree?’ Anika asked him. ‘It’s quite an easy one. Do you want to give it a go?’

‘I’ll try but I’ll take my shoes off first,’ Danny said. ‘My feet don’t feel right in them for climbing.’

They both got onto one of the lower branches and sat there with their legs dangling.

‘Look, Marigold has followed us,’ Anika pointed out as the calico cat came walking down the path. ‘Here Marigold!’ Marigold stood at the bottom of the tree beside Danny’s shoes meowing.

But Danny wasn’t listening, he had seen something in the distance. ‘Oh no!’ he said. ‘He’s by himself. That means there is going to be trouble.’

Anika watched the big shaggy black goat that had strolled into the Chestnut Wood. He was wandering from tree to tree nibbling around the base of the trunks.

‘Puc!’ she exclaimed. ‘Where’s Kilter? He should be with you.’

Puc only seemed to be a goat. It was a shape that he took on during the day. At night he became his real self, the Pooka, a shapeshifter.

He lived at the school in a purpose-built stall with his own private shower and hairdryer. Kilter, who was the school caretaker and a Leprechaun, looked after him and it was part of his job description to accompany him during daylight hours.

This was part of the Bridging the Dimensions Agreement that Puc had signed. Or rather, he had dipped one of his hooves in ink and then had stamped it on the paper.

The director of the Bridging the Dimensions scheme was Mr Tuttle who was also the school principal. Through this scheme the government gave Ballynoosle funding to help the Human and the Fae population live together in harmony.

‘Be careful what you say Danny,’ Anika warned.

Both knew that the Fae did not like to hear people talking about them. And that the Fae were to be feared if they were roused to anger.

Puc had trotted up to their tree and was now looking up at them with blazing yellow eyes.

‘He doesn’t look very friendly today,’ Danny said.

‘Shh!’ Anika warned.

But it was too late, too late for Marigold anyway. The goat had nosed the cat with an angry bleat and flipped her over. Marigold screeched and clawed at the tree trunk trying to reach Anika.

‘You hairy leotard!’ Danny shouted.

‘Poor Marigold! Come here pet!’ Anika called.

Marigold had reached their branch and was shivering. Anika stretched out and managed to get the cat into her arms. She glared down at Puc. Then said, as quietly as she could to Danny, ‘He is not allowed out by himself. Someone needs to show him who’s boss.’

In response, Puc bit into one of Danny’s shoes. He had sharp horns and he flipped the shoe up onto one of them. Then he whirled it around his head until it came off and flew into the bushes.’

‘Your new shoes!’ Anika exclaimed. ‘I’ll go and get them,’ she said, putting Marigold into Danny’s lap.

‘No don’t Anika,’ he said trying to hold her back.

But she was down on the ground in an instant, fighting over the remaining shoe with Puc. He had the toe of it gripped between his teeth. Anika could see the teeth marks on the leather. She grabbed a lace and pulled. Puc pulled back. He was a large male goat and he was very strong. She did not stand a chance, not in a tug-of-war.

‘Stay away from his horns,’ Danny was shouting from the tree. ‘Leave it Anika, it doesn’t matter.’

Anika knew the goat was winning and dropped the lace. ‘At least I’ll get the one out of the bushes,’ she said so as not to lose face.

She ran over to the undergrowth, searched hurriedly, and found it. She climbed back up the tree with it.

Puc had been watching her while chewing on Danny’s shoe. Now that she was back on the branch, he came over to the tree to investigate. He stood up on his hind legs and pawed at the trunk. He locked eyes with them and mesmerised them with his yellow stare. He had wide rectangular-shaped pupils. He pulled the lace out of Danny’s shoe and swallowed it whole.

‘Anika!’ Danny whispered. ‘Goats can climb trees. I’ve seen pictures of them doing it in North Africa.’

Puc pricked up his ears.

‘Shh!’ Anika said again, ‘Don’t give him ideas.’

Danny was getting jumpy. ‘What’s he doing now?’

Her heart sank. Puc was examining his front hooves. He flexed and spread his two toes. He dug them into the trunk of the chestnut tree and tried to lever himself up it. He was enjoying the challenge.

Anika breathed a sigh of relief when he walked away. But she should have known better. This wasn’t to be the end of it. Suddenly Puc jumped in mid-air, turned, and ran full pelt back towards them. He leapt up and found a foothold where a new branch was sprouting out of the trunk.

Danny and Anika screamed. They started climbing higher which was difficult for Anika who now had Marigold. The cat hissed and spat down at Puc. They reached the next branch and looked down at the goat who was still balanced on the sprouting branch.

Then he jumped back down.

But he had not given up. He took another run at it. And this time as he landed on the sprouting branch, he managed to take two more steps up the trunk. He got himself onto the branch where they had been sitting.

Danny couldn’t stop himself now and shouted, ‘Mrs Das! Mr Fahy! Sam! Help! Help!’

Anika snapped off a thin branch beside her and leant down to try and poke Puc off.

His yellow eyes flashed up at her.

‘Don’t! Don’t Anika! You’re making him angry.’

Amber, Danny’s little sister, came into view. She was calling, ‘Danny! Danny! Are you alright?’

She saw them and came up to the tree as if there was nothing unusual about a black goat halfway up it. ‘Clever Puc,’ she said, ‘climbing trees. What would you like to eat today?’ She looked around her. ‘I can see honeysuckle and wild roses. I’ll pick you some.’

She started picking, talking out loud about the flowers and plants and herbs that he might like.

Puc hesitated. He was watching her. When she came back with an armful of honeysuckle, ivy, brambles, and roses he jumped down