Liam and The Leprechaun

Once, a long time ago, in Ireland, two friends named Neil and Liam caught a Leprechaun in the forest as he was sitting under a tree mending, as Leprechauns do, an old shoe and they were both very excited because they knew that if you catch a Leprechaun and hold onto it, it has to take you to where its crock of gold is buried.

Unfortunately, they did not have shovels for digging up a crock of gold and so Neil went away to get the shovels saying to his friend,

"Now, mind you do not take your eyes off of the Leprechaun for even a single moment for if you do it will vanish into thin air. Don't even blink, I tell you, or it will be gone and we'll never get that crock of gold".

And so, heeding his friends words, Liam sat and stared intensely at the Leprechaun, trying not to blink.

But the Leprechaun was a cunning little devil and he tried lots of tricks to make Liam look away, for example, puffing upon his Leprechaun pipe, he said,

"Your friend has been away a long time hasn't he? How long has he been gone now, exactly?".

And, instinctively, Liam thought to look at his pocket watch but then he remembered what his friend Neil had said, that he must not take his eyes off of the Leprechaun, not even for an instant.

"Oh-ho, you'll have to try better than that", he said, smiling, "I'm not taking my eyes off of you. Not even if the ground shakes and the sky falls down. Not till I see that crock of gold".

But then, after the Leprechaun had tried to trick Liam a dozen times, the fairy creature asked Liam if he could play a little tune on his penny whistle just to pass the time while they were waiting and because it was very boring just waiting and watching the Leprechaun, Liam agreed.

"But, remember none of your fairy tricks", he said.

"Oh, I swear by all the Leprechauns in Ireland", said the little fairy.

But then the Leprechaun started to play an old irish lullaby, the kind that mothers would sing to their babies and because his penny whistle was a magic penny whistle made by a fairy tinsmith and because the Leprechaun played it so well Liam started to get sleepy and his eyelids grew heavy so that, before long, they were starting to close.

And Liam may well have closed his eyes and never seen the cunning little Leprechaun again if it had not started to rain just at that moment.

Then, the icy cold rain waking him with a start and, realising what the Leprechaun had tried to do, the young man snatched away its penny whistle and put it in his breast pocket.

"None of your tricks, I said", said Liam, angrilly, buttoning up the pocket.

Just then, however, and much to Liams relief, his friend Neil returned, walking through the woods, carrying two shovels.

"Good job", said Neil, seeing that the Leprechaun was still there; then, grabbing hold of the little fairy, said to it, "Now then, lead us to where your crock of gold is buried".

So, sighing, the Leprechaun led them both to a bent old oak tree deep within the forest and then, pointing to the tree said, "Its buried under that oak tree over there".

The moment the two men looked at the tree, however, as fast as a bubble bursting, the Leprechaun vanished completely out of sight.

"Oh no", despaired Liam to his friend, "I took my eyes off of him for no more than a glance and when I looked back he was gone".

And, what was worse, when the men dug under the oak tree they found nothing there except the old shoe the Leprechaun had been mending.

The next day however, feeling sorry for himself and stupid for having lost the Leprechaun, Liam was walking through the forest again when, to his astonishment, he saw an enormous Paiste or Irish Dragon who was guarding a cave in which a beautiful young maiden with long, flowing red hair and eyes of emerald green was being held prisoner and the instant that Liam looked at the young woman he fell hopelessly in love but he did not know what to do.

Just then, however, he remembered the Leprechauns little magic penny whistle that he had put in his breast pocket and then, taking it out, just as the Leprechaun had done, he started to play a lullaby upon it and, when he did, amazingly; its scaly eyelids starting to close, the dragon began to fall into a deep, deep sleep.

So deep infact that it snored little jets of fire from its nostrils.

And as soon as he saw the dragon was fast asleep, seizing his chance, Liam leapt over its long, scaly tail and took hold of the young womans hand and led her from the cave.

Now, it turned out that the young woman was, in fact, Princess Siobahn, the daughter of the King of Ireland who, earlier that day, had offered her hand in marriage to any man who could rescue her from the dragon so, only days later, Liam and the Princess were married in a big, royal wedding in the Kings castle and they lived happily ever after.