Page 85 - Unit 4 - Exercise 1A

Page 84 - Unit 4 - Exercise 1A

Cutty Sark

If you ever go to London, you can visit a fam ous ship, called Cutty Sark. W here does this strange nam e come from? It comes from an old Scottish story about a man called Tam O’Shanter.

One night, Tam was on his way home on his old horse. He decided to go through the forest. It w as quicker than the road, and there was a full moon, so he could see very well.

As he was riding through the forest, he heard some music and saw a light between the trees.

When he got closer, he could see a group of witches. They were dancing around a fire.

One of the witches was younger than the others and she was very beautiful. Her name was Nannie, and she was wearing a short, white nightdress. In the old Scottish language this was called ‘a cutty sark’. Tam got off his horse and watched the witches. He fell in love with the beautiful young Nannie. When the dance stopped, Tam shouted: ‘Well done, Cutty Sark!’ That was a silly thing to do. The witches turned and saw Tam.

And they were very angry. Tam immediately jumped on his horse and galloped away through the trees. ‘Stop him!’ shouted the witches, and they ran after him. They were very fast, and Nannie was the fastest. Tam looked round and saw her in her white cutty sark.

She didn’t look beautiful now.

She looked like an angry devil, and she was faster than Tam’s poor old horse.

Then Tam remembered that witches can’t cross a river, so he turned and galloped towards the River Doon. When Tam finally reached the bridge over the river, Nannie was just behind him.

She jumped forward to grab him, but she only grabbed the horse’s tail. Tam shouted: ‘Come on, old horse! Don’t stop!’ Nannie pulled the horse’s tail hard. But the horse didn’t stop. Its tail cam e off an d Tam crossed the bridge safely.

When he looked round, Nannie was standing on the other side of the river with the horse’s tail in her hand. Tam and his poor old horse walked slowly home, and Tam never rode home through the forest at night tim e again.

If you ever go to see Cutty Sark. look at the front of the ship. There you will see Nannie in her white nightdress. Look closely at her hand an d you’ll see she’s holding a horse’s tail.