Boys Beware

By the side of the loch some boys at play, when into their midst there came A beautiful white and riderless horse with a long and flowing mane A redheaded boy jumped up on its back, a daring young sprite was he And the other bold lads, as lads often do, followed in his lee The boys they ranged from the head to the tail, and more clung to the side And the pure white horse cantered along, with the boys enjoying the ride But one boy recalled an ancient tale, and wished he had paid more heed, How the slimy Kelpie could change its shape and become a shining steed Then the Kelpie, in this fine disguise, would trot by the loch or mere And the humans foolish enough to ride, would be doomed to disappear This unhappy boy had a grip on the tail and he was running last But when he tried to let it go, he found his hand stuck fast He twisted and turned, he tossed and thrashed, but all to no avail ‘til he pulled out a knife, from the top of his boot, and slashed the creature’s tail Up rose the Kelpie from out of his guise, and flew with brimstone and fire Out over the loch and down in the deep of the boggy marsh and mire The boy left behind stood on the sand and gazed where his friends been And though the men searched for many a night, they never again were seen And the mothers came to sit by the loch, to keen, to moan and cry And in their grief they failed to see, a pale horse was trotting by. Linda Marie’s ‘Creatures of the Night’ contest Margaret Foster 29th August 2011 ‘each uisge’ Gaelic—Water horse—Kelpie mere—archaic, dialect. a lake or marsh.