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

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
    A fter 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.