Grannie reached for the teapot and poured herself a cup of tea. As she
sipped it, she said to the twins, "Did you ever hear of the Leprechauns?
Little men they are, not half the bigness of the smallest baby you ever
laid your two eyes on. Long beards they have, and little pointed caps
on the heads of them.
"And it's forever making the little brogues (shoes) they are, and you
can hear the tap-tap of their hammers before you ever get sight of them
at all. And the gold and silver and precious things they have hidden
away would fill the world with treasures.
"But they have the sharpness of the new moon, that's sharp at both ends,
and no one can get their riches away from them at all. They do be
saying that if you catch one in your two hands and never take your eyes
off him, you can make him give up his money.
"But they've the tricks of the world to make you look the other way, the
Leprechauns have. And then when you look back again, faith, they're
nowhere at all!"
"Did Mary O'Connor catch one?" asked Eileen.
"Did she now!" cried Grannie. "Listen to this. One day Mary O'Connor
was sitting in her bit of garden, with her knitting in her hand, and she
was watching some bees that were going to swarm.
"It was a fine day in June, and the bees were humming, and the birds
were chirping and hopping, and the butterflies were flying about, and
everything smelt as sweet and fresh as if it was the first day of the
world.
"Well, all of a sudden, what did she hear among the bean-rows in the
garden but a noise that went tick-tack, tick-tack, just for all the
world as if a brogue-maker was putting on the heel of a pump!
"`The Lord preserve us,' says Mary O'Connor; `what in the world can that
be?'
"So she laid down her knitting, and she went over to the beans. Now,
never believe me, if she didn't see sitting right before her a bit of an
old man, with a cocked hat on his head and a dudeen (pipe) in his mouth,
smoking away! He had on a drab-coloured coat with big brass buttons on
it, and a pair of silver buckles on his shoes, and he working away as
hard as ever he could, heeling a little pair of pumps!
"You may believe me or not, Larry and Eileen McQueen, but the minute she
clapped her eyes on him, she knew him for a Leprechaun.
"And she says to him very bold, `God save you, honest man! That's hard
work you're at this hot day!' And she made a run at him and caught him
in her two hands!
"`And where is your purse of money?' says she.
"`Money!' says he; `money is it! And where on top of earth would an old
creature like myself get money?' says he.
"`Maybe not on top of earth at all, but _in_ it,' says she; and with
that she gave him a bit of a squeeze. `Come, come,' says she. `Don't
be turning your tricks upon an honest woman!'
"And then she, being at the time as good-looking a young woman as you'd
find, put a wicked face on her, and pulled a knife from her pocket, and
says she, `If you don't give me your purse this instant minute, or show
me a pot of gold, I'll cut the nose off the face of you as soon as
wink.'
"The little man's eyes were popping out of his head with fright, and
says he, `Come with me a couple of fields off, and I'll show you where I
keep my money!'
"So she went, still holding him fast in her hand, and keeping her two
eyes fixed on him without so much as a wink, when, all of a sudden, what
do you think?
"She heard a whiz and a buzz behind her, as if all the bees in the world
were humming, and the little old man cries out, `There go your bees
a-swarming and a-going off with themselves like blazes!'
"She turned her head for no more than a second of time, but when she
looked back there was nothing at all in her hand.
"He slipped out of her fingers as if he were made of fog or smoke, and
sorrow a bit of him did she ever see after." [Note 1.]
"And she never got the gold at all," sighed Eileen.
"Never so much as a ha'penny worth," said Grannie Malone.
"I believe I'd rather get rich in America than try to catch Leprechauns
for a living," said Larry.
"And you never said a truer word," said Grannie. "'Tis a poor living
you'd get from the Leprechauns, I'm thinking, rich as they are."
By this time the teapot was empty, and every crumb of the cakeen was
gone, and as Larry had eaten two potatoes, just as Eileen thought he
would, there was little left to clear away.
It was late in the afternoon. The room had grown darker, and Grannie
Malone went to the little window and looked out.
"Now run along with yourselves home," she said, "for the sun is nearly
setting across the bog, and your Mother will be looking for you. Here,
put this in your pocket for luck." She gave Larry a little piece of
coal. "The Good Little People will take care of good children if they
have a bit o' this with them," she said; "and you, Eileen, be careful
that you don't step in a fairy ring on your way home, for you've a light
foot on you like a leaf in the wind, and `The People' will keep you
dancing for dear knows how long, if once they get you."
"We'll keep right in the boreen (road), won't we, Larry? Good-bye,
Grannie," said Eileen.
The Twins started home. Grannie Malone stood in her doorway, shading
her eyes with her hand, and looking after them until a turn in the road
hid them from sight. Then she went into her little cabin and shut the
door.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. Adapted from Thomas Keightley's _Fairy Mythology_.