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She rolled over and pressed her face into the cool grass. First she tried to block out all the sunlight by wrapping her arms around her head. When she had done that she looked closely lit the grass, trying to see if there were any insects crawling there. After some time a small beetle made its way between the forest of blades and she caught it on her good hand. She held it up in the sunlight and watched in scurry along her arm, then she dropped it back on to the soil.

She looked down at the farm and saw that Paul was waving to her to come for supper. She pushed herself to her feet and began to make her way back down the hill.

In the kitchen an extra place had been laid for Siân who was given the privilege of holding a spoon of the broth over the fire until it sizzled away. After the meal the table was pushed to one side and the family gathered around the fireplace.

'How have the children been, my dear?' Father asked Siân.

'Oh, they have been as children always are when I come to teach them things. A lot of daydreaming, wandering minds and bored faces.'

Father laughed. 'I was probably the same with your grandmother. '

'Yes, you were,' Mother told him.

There was a long silence, finally broken by Siân. 'I see you have some books. May I look at them?'

'I'll get them,' shouted Priss and ran over to the shelf. She jumped up and down trying to reach them until Gabby went and laughingly lifted her so that she could gather them up into her arms. She carried them over and dropped them into Siân’s lap. She picked them up one by one and flicked through them.

Then she looked up disappointed.

'It's all strange words,' she said, 'no pictures.'

'I could read something from them if you like,' suggested Father.

'Would you?' Siân asked gratefully.

Aquila shouted out, 'Let Basheba! Let Basheba!'

Siân raised an eyebrow at this. 'Bathsheba can read this?'

'My grandfather taught me how to read it,' Father told her, 'and I taught Bathsheba. It's been passed down ever since we came to Tír na n-Óg.'

He picked up one of the books and opened it. 'This is the most interesting one. It contains stories about the other world.' He leafed through it as though he was looking for something, then he handed the book to Bathsheba. 'Here you are, read this.'

Bathsheba looked at the story that Father had chosen for her to read and her face fell slightly, for it was about a man who had been possessed by demons. She began to read, stumblingly at first, but then with increasing confidence. It quickly dealt with how the main character drove the demons out but then went on to a long wordy bit.

'The um, the council of elders said, "It is only by Beelzebub" - he's a demon - "that this fellow drives out demons." But he knew their thoughts and said back to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined and every city divided against itself will not stand." ‘

Bathsheba carried on reading the tale, which on the whole was a rather dull affair, while Siân listened intently. When it was finished Siân was silent for a short time.

'Is it a book of wisdom in the other world?' she finally asked.

'I usually just read the exciting bits in the first half,' Bathsheba told her. Actually she liked it most because it was a book about the other place and she liked to imagine what it was like.

‘I don't know really,' said Father. 'My grandfather told me that his grandmother considered it a very important book. There's a lot of stuff about their god so maybe it's a religious book. '

Suddenly this discussion was interrupted by Priss shouting, 'Daddy, can I show Siân my whistle?' and then all the children were asking to show Siân something they had made or could do.

After a short time Father glanced out of the window and saw that it was dark outside.

'Right, everyone,' he said, 'it's time to get to bed. Siân, I've made you a place to sleep by the children's bedroom, if that's all right?'

'Oh yes, that'll be fine, thank you.'

All of the family made their way to their beds.