Free The Legend of the Irish Castle by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

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