The Witch Of Kilmara And Other Stories

Author : Dermot O'Hanlon
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781520730219
Total Pages : 88 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (32 download)

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Download or read book The Witch of Kilmara written by Dermot O'Hanlon and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-03 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tales in this book are mainly about children and some as remembered by themselves as adults. They are varied in nature and comprise many strange constituents:1. 'The Witch of Kilmara': a supposed witch and a prophetic dream.2. 'Red Wheels': blemished bicycle wheels viewed from different perspectives.3. 'Jimmy the Hammer'': a macabre experience in a riding school.4. 'The Crock of Gold': an Irish exile with a unique plastic leprechaun.5. 'Cissie Mac and the Pope': an imaginative little miss with a hierarchical ambition.6. 'After the Races'; a man on the road to ruin and a betting dead certainty.7. 'Rope!': an unusual talisman against a bossy older brother.8. 'The Ball Alley': a treasured marble and a living corpse.9. 'Pairc na nGirseach': a demented old lady and a healing vision. 10. 'The Hollow': two boys with a rare but rather dubious gift.11. 'The Sharpshooter': a marksman with a moral dilemma that is tantalizingly left unanswered.Three short excerpts from the tales will give a certain taste of their diversity:'Looking back, there was nothing particularly macabre about the Riding School, at least on the outside, being a long, lowish, wooden building, half-open at the sides, with a curved, corrugated roof. But the inside was a different matter. It was always dark and gloomy in contrast to the outside, even in bright weather, and sunlight never seemed to have much of an effect on this, casting slanting beams of light within which were usually visible from the dust rising from the peat flooring. The soft peat also had the effect deadening the rhythmic hoof beats of horses being put through their paces and almost silencing human footsteps or obliterating them altogether. Even sounds from outside, such as the bleating of sheep or the shouts and laughter of children at play, became indistinct and muffled and seemed to come from far away as if filtered through some semi-insulating material. To young imaginations, such effects often bordered on the creepy side . . .( 'Jimmy the Hammer').'Since Billy's resentment of young Trevor was so multi-faceted, perhaps another reason for it was trichological. Trevor's hair was cut in a neat, page-boy fashion, which was rather unique in our town at the time. Our hair was never allowed to overflow our ears or obscure our vision, locks being summarily dealt with by the local barber who had his shop midway between the church and the newsagent's. Billy's style was also unique. Native stubble-field might best describe it - spikes of hair like wire all over his bullet-shaped head ('The Ball Alley). 'It is a beautiful field, untouched by plough or harrow and remains as nature has fashioned it over the centuries. It is even a magical place. It is softly carpeted with a variety of intermingled grasses and mosses and clovers, and in the summer, daisies, buttercups and cowslips, and a host of other pretty little wildflowers, form a colourful and variegated pattern as they poke their gay little blooms up between their greener neighbours. Four old chestnut trees occupy the corners of the field and their spreading branches provide shade and protection for the delicate complexions of the more beauty conscious among the little girls when the sun is either too hot or too high in the sky. ('Pairc na nGirseach)'.