Kelpies in the dishwasher
May. 28th, 2009 10:39 pmBear's post about centipede powered dishwashers spurred a sudden memory: that dishwashers aren't powered by centipedes but by dangerous kelpies that lurk in the depths.
Initially, I couldn't remember where this fact had come from. But after dredging around in my memory, I managed to come up with a book and a few half remembered characters — a hero called Coriander, a dangerous but lazy cat called Mistigris and something about a furnace dragon. With these, I was finally able to trace the story to The Kitchen Warriors by fabulous Joan Aiken.
And now, thinking about it, I can remember more and more of the details of the stories. Something about Coriander having to pick a flower that puts people to sleep, confronting a vacuum cleaner monster determined to swallow him whole, diving into the freezer and pulling the nose off a troll — because everyone knows that it is a troll's nose that prevents him from feeling the cold — and accidentally waking the kelpies sleeping in the dishwasher.
I wonder if I still have my copy somewhere. I probably do. I'll have to search for it when I next visit my parents, to see if it's still as wonderful as I remember...
Initially, I couldn't remember where this fact had come from. But after dredging around in my memory, I managed to come up with a book and a few half remembered characters — a hero called Coriander, a dangerous but lazy cat called Mistigris and something about a furnace dragon. With these, I was finally able to trace the story to The Kitchen Warriors by fabulous Joan Aiken.
And now, thinking about it, I can remember more and more of the details of the stories. Something about Coriander having to pick a flower that puts people to sleep, confronting a vacuum cleaner monster determined to swallow him whole, diving into the freezer and pulling the nose off a troll — because everyone knows that it is a troll's nose that prevents him from feeling the cold — and accidentally waking the kelpies sleeping in the dishwasher.
I wonder if I still have my copy somewhere. I probably do. I'll have to search for it when I next visit my parents, to see if it's still as wonderful as I remember...