Nobody really knows what the floppy tartan cloth object that Emily has brought is, except Bagpuss. He says it is a small soft Hamish, a Highland beast that keeps its distance because it makes a terrible noise, like bagpipes being played bagpipes (it is bagpipes being played backwards). He tells a heartrending story of Tavish McTavish, who also made a terrible noise playing his bagpipes forwards, and his friendship with the Hamish
