Week 13 Story: Leprechaun Gold

Leprechaun Gold

Leprechaun and His Pot of Gold

     Setting: Northern Ireland, 1788

     Peter was knitting in his farmhouse one Sunday. He didn't live with anybody and he enjoyed the 

constant peace and alone time he had to himself. That's why, when Peter heard a playful knock on his 

wooden door at precisely three o'clock in the afternoon, he started fuming. There were no other 

people within a few miles of Peter's home in any direction and he hadn't received a visitor in years. 

Just the way Peter liked it. He considered it useless to interact with other people unless one was 

wealthy because, he figured, wealth was the only thing people enjoyed. 

     Peter certainly had no intention of interacting with whoever stood on the cobblestone steps 

outside his farmhouse door. He threw down his knitting needles and stormed towards the door, 

prepared to ward off the stranger. Peter yanked the door open but nobody was there. Just a cold 

northern Irish breeze as he poked his head out and looked around for the perpetrator of his 

disturbance. Still, Peter's eyes met no living creature except the cows and sheep grazing in his hilly 

pastures acres away. 

     Peter grabbed his coat, threw it around his shoulders and went to search around the farmhouse. 

He could find nothing on either side of the home, but heard something rustling around in his toolshed 

in the back. Peter went to investigate. 

     As soon as Peter rounded the corner to the back of his house and peered into the toolshed, the 

rustling stopped. Peter saw nothing except some of his hung pitchforks swinging as if somebody had 

just run through them. 

     That's when the corner of Peter's left eye caught something racing off into the pastures. He 

jumped around to catch a glimpse of a little green thing sprinting down the hill at a swift pace. That's 

all Peter could make out of it before the little creature disappeared over the hill. 

     Peter ran to the edge of the hill, looked down into the pasture and couldn't believe his eyes! It was 

a little man! No more than 3 1/2 feet tall! The little guy was dressed all in green except for long 

white socks stretching out of little pointed black shoes. It was a Leprechaun! At least, that's what 

Peter assumed. He had heard all of the legends and fairy tales and couldn't believe he was seeing a 

creature fit of the description before his own eyes! From the old tales, Peter also knew that 

Leprechauns were supposed to possess vast wealths of gold! Peter, hungry for wealth and the chance 

to be somebody in this lonesome world, raced after the sprinting critter. 

     The little guy looked back and beheld the grunting Peter with a frightened face and almost tripped 

over a rock in the process. The Leprechaun was agile and this didn't slow him down one bit. The 

swift Leprechaun weaved through Peter's herds of cows and sheep. Peter barely managed to maintain 

the gap between him and the Leprechaun. 

     The chase led the two all the way through the cow and sheep herds, up a steep grassy hill, and out 

of Peter's pastures. Peter had now reached the end of his property but the little Leprechaun was still 

going. He was racing downhill towards a sizable field of cornstalks off in the distance. "I had better 

catch the lil' bugga' before he disappears into that bloody field," Peter thought. 

     Unfortunately, the Leprechaun reached it well before Peter did and sunk into the tall cornstalks. 

Peter, bent over and wheezing, was about to give up and turn back. However, his hunger for 

whatever wealth this creature may possess recharged his determination and he slipped into the field. 

Luckily, this field didn't belong to any landowner, so Peter didn't have to worry about trespassing. He 

was free to roam through the maze of cornstalks and hunt down the little creature.

     As soon as the ground crunched under Peter's tenth step into the field, he heard a rustling to his

front-left. There were cornstalks moving to and fro which was a sign that the Leprechaun was fleeing

in that direction. Peter waded through the field, towards the direction of the movement.

     He threw a thick grouping of cornstalks to the side as he reached a clearing. There he was! The

Leprechaun was on his haunches, crouched over a black pot filled to the brim with gold! The split-

second that Peter caught sight of him, a rainbow arced out of the pot and the Leprechaun put his right

hand in it. "He's gonna get away!" thought Peter. He lunged at the Leprechaun just as the rainbow

started pulling the creature in. Peter managed to grab the heel of the Leprechaun's black-shoe and

both of them were tugged through the rainbow.

     Everything went white for a fleeting moment as Peter raced through a bright winding vortex.

After an amount of time that Peter couldn't discern as a split-second or an unconscious few hours, the

blinding white light calmed to a stillness and slowly faded away. This receding white light gave way

to a new image as Peter was lying on his back, staring up at a thickly vegetated forest of trees.

     Dazed and light-headed, Peter sat up and popped his back. When his vision became slightly less

hazy, he beheld the little Leprechaun standing in front of him. He had a middle-aged face with a

curly ginger beard and golden-yellow eyes. "Why hillo there, stranger!" spoke the Leprechaun in an

Irish accent. "Me name's Sheamus! May I have the pleasure o' knowin' yer's?"

     In his confusion, Peter ignored Sheamus and looked around at the foggy lush-green forest

surrounding him. "Where am I?" he asked Sheamus. "Why, yer in St. Patty's Land!" shouted

Sheamus as he threw both his arms up. Peter paused. "You mean, THE St. Patrick? This place was

named after St. Patrick himself?" "The one an' only!" exclaimed Sheamus.

     Peter threw Sheamus a look that was meant to ask, "why did you bring me here?" "Oh, don't

gimme that look," retorted Sheamus. "I was just havin' a bit o' fun. I never thought you'd catch little

ol' me. Anyways, I haven't had a visitor in years! And never have I had a human visitor! This should

be exciting!" "You mean," asked Peter, "there are no humans here?" "None except the good ol' St.

Patrick himself," replied Sheamus. "He's the one who gave us this world as a gift!"

     Contemplating how in the bloody hell a world could be given as a gift, Peter flattened his hands

against the ground to stand up. He noticed that his hands were planted in a bed of thick, lush-green

grass that stretched out over the whole forest floor. Peter also noticed that, for practically every blade

of grass, there was a four-leaf clover. His eyes even caught a few seven-leaf clovers before his hand

was jolted by Sheamus, who started running with Peter in tow. "C'mon! Wer' goin' to me house! Stay

close. You don't want any goblins to snatch ya' up. They hide in the trees and bushes." Peter

immediately became unnerved and constantly glanced up, back, and side-to-side to make sure

nothing was going to get them.

     Peter and Sheamus came to a winding gravel path that led them to a clearing. Planted in the

middle of this clearing, in the midst of the dark, twi-lit green forest, was a two story house complete

with a garden, front door, door-steps, windows, shutters and an attic. Peter gasped when he saw an

upright, human-sized rabbit nibbling carrots in the front yard. He was floored when the rabbit spoke

to them as he and Sheamus passed through the garden on their way to the house. "Goo' day,

Sheamus!," the rabbit said as he looked at Peter. "I hope you weren't havin' too much fun!" "Oh, I

guess a lil'," answered Sheamus. "But look! I got me first human guest!" Sheamus raised up Peter's

arm as high as he could to show him off like a prize. Then he turned to Peter. "I never caught yer'

name, good sir." "Peter, it's... Peter," he answered still trembling while looking up at the rabbit,

which Peter now realized was much larger than human-size.

     "Oh!" answered Sheamus. Well, this'll be quite a lovely introduction then! Peter the human, meet

Peter the rabbit." "Goo' day, kind sir," the rabbit said as he bowed towards Peter the human. "Well,"

spoke Sheamus, "Peter the human and I are gonna go inside fer a cup o' tea. Let me know if the

garden needs more watering. You seem to have almost eaten all o' the carrots again!"

     Sheamus pulled at Peter's hand and brought him up three little doorsteps and into his house. The

house was peaceful, but somewhat dark and spooky. Furnished, but a creaking antique. Peter and

Sheamus sat in the kitchen, where the front door was located, and sipped out of little cups filled with

sweet hot tea. The only thing Peter didn't like about the tea, was that it was green. So was every other

food and beverage in Sheamus' house. Unless something was made from either carrots or cabbage. In

which case, the item was orange or purple, respectively.

     Peter lived with Sheamus and Peter the rabbit for a few days. He actually grew to like them and

their little world. They played fun games with him, fed him well, protected him from the goblins

lurking out in the dark forest and taught him better gardening techniques. They even had golden-

apples growing from trees in the backyard garden. They were much better than any apple Peter had

ever tasted. All of the food in St. Patrick's Land was fresh beyond compare. Peter never wanted to go

back home.

     But one day, after Sheamus had given Peter his fill of carrot cake, Peter went to take a nap in his

upstairs guest room. Sheamus, who had finally learned the true key to Peter's happiness over the last

few days, knew what he had to do. As Peter slept, Sheamus placed a giant gold-coin on his chest and

sent him back to the Earth and Ireland. Peter awoke in his regular bed to find the enormous gold-coin

sitting on his chest. He picked it up and flipped it over. The back of the coin read:

     "Me dear Peter. It has been a marvellous past few days gettin' to know ya' and make yer' acquaintance. But after those few days, I discovered why you weren't happy and knew what was best. Yer' a lonely man who hides himself from the world, because he feels that he does not possess enough wealth. Yer' problem is not wealth of gold or money, but wealth of enjoyment. I want you to enjoy yer' world as you have enjoyed mine. Yet, I know that, without significant wealth, you will not dare venture out and meet new people. So, I give you this coin made of solid St. Patty's Land gold. It should be enough wealth to boost yer' confidence to such a degree as to get yer' little hiny back out into the world. Go make friends, be merry, and spend yer' wealth wisely."

   - Good Luck to ya',
     yer' dear friend, Sheamus

Bibliography. Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source

*Author's Note: I got my inspiration for this story from Joseph Jacobs' The Field of Boliauns from the Celtic Fairy Tales unit. The story features a Leprechaun who leads a man out into a field to a spot where treasure can be found but tricks the man to where he can never relocate the spot. My story features a more kind-hearted Leprechaun who, not only doesn't get away with his playful antics, but actually makes the main character's life all the better for it. Sheamus, Peter the human, and Peter the rabbit are all original characters of mine. St. Patrick's Land is also an invention of my own that I adapted from medieval fairy tales about a world named St. Martin's Land where two little green children were said to hail from.