The Ribbajack
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| Author | Brian Jacques |
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| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fantasy |
| Publisher | Philomel |
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Publication date
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2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 168 pp (hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 54046189 |
The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns is a fantasy book by Brian Jacques, published in 2004. It was published the same year as the Redwall book (his more known fantasy series) Rakkety Tam. There are six tales in this book, all of them like the tales in Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales, by the same author. The titles are: "The Ribbajack", "A Smile and a Wave", "The All Ireland Champion Versus the Nye Add", "The Mystery of Huma D'Este", "Miggy Mags and the Malabar Sailor", and "Rosie's Pet."
The "Ribba Jack" is also an ancient term for a physical appearance of ones worst fear. The Ribbajack (in the story) is a grotesque animal that is summoned by a person's anger to kill another.
Archibald Smifft, who lives at a boarding school, torments anyone he can find with insults and the like. The matron and headmaster discover his practices of dark magic, and decide that something must be done. One day, when an old army veteran comes to lecture him about his horrible behavior, he is extremely displeased and searches for something to take revenge. Just then, the two boys that share his dormitory come in and one accidentally lets slip that he possesses a letter containing information on the Ribbajack. Archibald snatches the letter at once and attempts to conjure his own Ribbajack to destroy the man who lectured him - and succeeds. Fortunately for the monster's intended victim, the medal that he is wearing at the time, gifted to him by an Indian fakir, is enchanted to drive away Ribbajacks and turn them on their creators - thus, Archibald Smifft is gone from the boarding school forever.
Maggie would like to go to the ice-skating rink, but she must bring her coat with her if she is to go. The only problem is that she deliberately left the coat at school because of her dislike of it. Her mother orders her to go back to the school to retrieve the coat, despite Maggie's protests that the school is locked at night. Reluctantly Maggie revisits the school and finds her coat but comes upon a girl's strange apparition, holding a rose. The girl's face frightens Maggie enough to put on her coat and flee the school. Later, a school official finds some information in a book concerning the name of the school, the Leah Edwina Tranter School. Leah was a lonely girl with wealthy parents who did not spend much time with her. When she was fourteen years old, she disappeared and later turned up dead concealed behind a bookcase and holding a rose in one hand. Her father was devastated and sank into depression. His wife left him. Much later, he wrote in his will that a school was to be built on the site of his home, and that it was to be named the Leah Edwina Tranter School.
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