"Where on earth are you going?" asked my father.
"To the place where the rainbow ends!" I hastily replied. "See you in
about three days!"
I had packed already, so was eager to be off. "You'll never find it!
Even if you do, it…" he shouted, but I wasn't really listening, the last
few words faded into the back of my mind. After all, that was just the
kind of negative retort I expected from him.
I arrived at exactly 1500 hours, on the 6th day of the 2nd month, of the
year '03. My first port of call was the river valley; I had been told
that it was the best place to find the beginning of the rainbow;
therefore, I thought it wise to start there, to find the end, that is!
It was a strange place, where the rainbow began. As soon as I arrived,
it started raining, the sun shining through the clouds. Suddenly, there
it was, the beginning of the rainbow. I couldn't believe my eyes, what
luck to have come at just the right time.
"Oi, you! What do you think you're doing?"
The voice startled me. I
looked over my shoulder to see a little man with a green face and
clothes to match. I believed it to be the first leprechaun I had ever
had the misfortune to encounter. I had heard about the little fellows,
how conniving they were, how they could get you to believe the sky was
made from cotton wool.
I must admit, I was a little worried; after all,
I had travelled a long way to find that pot of gold and didn't want
something as obtuse as a leprechaun getting in my way.
I conjured up a plan, a quickly thought out one, mind you; so, there was
a huge chance it would not work, but I was willing to take that chance.
I told the leprechaun, "Oh, so you've found me out! There was I,
believing I had done what no leprechaun had done in all his years of
trying. Finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, first time."
I could see from the look on his face, he was taken in. he believed
every word of it.
"Ay, lad. I have at that. Ye'll never pull the wool over the eyes of old
shamus O'Leary, by god, you won't. Now shift ye self out there an' let
me see!"v
I slowly moved forward, towards him, dropping coins out of my pocket,
that my master had given me. "Ok! I'll do what you ask, but you must
promise to let me go free from harm."
Shamus laughed, a yawning, self-aggrandizing laugh. "Ay, lad. I'll do
that all right, so I will. I'll definitely do that." his short legs and
long arms, his over-exaggeratedly pronounced belly slowing and wobbling
him, as he waddled towards me. "What's that you're droppin' there then
mi lad? Already stole some of the money did you?" "Yer won't pilfer from
me, yer little runt! 'And it over ere!"
As I bent over to pick up the
coins I had dropped, I leant out my hand and grabbed his trouser bottom.
I tugged, he fell onto his back; feet in the air, his little legs
kicking like flies legs when they die; his arms flapping in the air. Now
was my chance to escape; I figured it would take him an hour, or two to
roll onto his belly and get up from the floor. "Come back you scrawny,
pathetic devil! Does you 'ere me? Come back 'ere!" I was off in a flash,
up the side of the rainbow.
As I reached the end of the rainbow, I could not believe my eyes. There,
right in front of me, was the pot of gold. I had made it, without much
of a hitch. My master said I would never find it, what a fool he was.
Now I could buy back my freedom and return home.
I extended my hand to the rim of the pot, swooped it up in a second and
was off. But, wait a minute! I noticed my hand turning green, my legs
shortening. "Oh, no! It can't be!" I yelled, realising what a fool I had
been. My father had warned me, before I left, but I was too arrogant to
believe. I thought back to him shouting, "you'll never find it!" then I
realised his warning that I tried to ignore, "even if you do, it will
turn you into a leprechaun, the instant you touch it!"
I ran as fast as my shrinking legs would take me, to the beginning of
the rainbow. The leprechaun was still there, still trying to get up off
the floor.
" Please, help me! How can I stop it?" I screeched at him.
" Oh, but lad, you thought I was funny, made a fool outa me. How do you
expect me to help you?" he still couldn't get up, but now it was because
he was laughing at me; the same yawning, self-aggrandizing laugh.
"Anyway, there is no helping you, as your father knows well."
" How do you know my father and what he tried to tell me?" I snapped.
" Take a look at my shoes. There lies your answer." He said.
I ogled those shoes, as if they were monsters; with the realisation that
the leprechaun was my father. He knew what would happen and couldn't
bear the thought of me, alone, transformed, so he decided to be here
first.
What a huge price I had paid for my greed, not only my own life, but my
father's.
Take heed young man, before you climb over, heed the reason I am sitting
guarding the rainbow, why I am telling you this tale! (If you believe
that crock of codswallop, you'll believe anything. I'll do whatever it
takes to keep my gold!)
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