Kirsty Breeks

Kirsty Breeks from the Little Horrors series Character Post 15

Kirsty Breeks is a water hag originating, (no surprises) in

Kirsty and her friends on Vetch

Scotland. In her heyday, Kirsty haunted the loch, but at some point progress caught up with the place and it was drained. Kirsty moved out, with her loch monster, Vetch, and, needing occupation, became a cleaner at Miss Kisses' Academy for Little Fairies. The position didn't suit her, but a hag's gotta do what a hag's gotta do. One day, Kirsty discovered a young bad fairy had turned up at the academy. Miss Kisses did her best to pinkify, frillify and sweetify young Flax and eventually Kirsty just had to step in. She got together with two hag friends, Auld Anni and Maggie Nabbie to rescue Flax. Together, they established the Abademy of Badness for the care and training of bad fairies.
Kirsty is a somewhat tart-tongued person. She wears tartan tatters, and has big bare feet. She tends to attract puddles of water wherever she goes. She's devoted to Vetch, to her friends and to the young bad fairies in her care. She believes in justice, but since she's a Scottish water hag, no one knows exactly how she might perceive that quality.

In her younger days, Kirsty was somewhat scarier than she is now. Here's a description of her wiles (not to speak of her penchant for porridge), told in acrostic form by a young ghost who happened to encounter her.

Kirsty Breeks, the water hag,
In aulder days does haunt th' burn,
Reviled by some yet much admired,
Sought by lads; by lassies, spurned.
Twa sides o' Kirsty so required,
Young lassie, barefoot in the grass,

Bride o' heather, bracken's child,
Recked by me, a bonnie lass.
Eve in tartan, shawled wi' wool,
Eschewing boots or slippered state,
Kirsty knows me for a fool
Shot wi' flints o' arrowed fate,

An' havered by th' peaty spots;.
Never call guid Kirsty, ghoul,
Describe, instead, her porridge pots

Heather fuelled, to tempt a taste,
Enspelled wi' hunger, steamin' strong,
Rare to sup, I'll dare no' waste.

Pride o' Kirsty's, lingered long
Oats for all her guesties' fare,
To sniff, to eat, does me nae wrong,

Oft though my heart shall cry, "Beware!"
Fool am I for Kirsty's charm,

Porridge-fed, so I am hers,
Oats steeped i' salt shield me fra' harm,
Regretful as I prowl the furze,
Ripe for mischief; hag's delight,
I sieve the clay an' harvest burrs,
Drawn by oats towards the night...
Grim, the dreams ma lassie seeks
E'en as habit draws me back.

Oh, laddie lo'ed by Kirsty Breeks!
And hers I am, and naught I lack,
To clinging shadows shall I gang...
So says the shade o' Gordon Mack.

ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)

The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. 2017 is now behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of February 18th 2018 I STILL haven't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books to come, and I'll certainly showcase those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, just for a change. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far!