Once upon a time there was a little leprechaun. Only he wasn’t very little. Oh, he was a young leprechaun, only about 100 years old, but he wasn’t little. In fact he was almost three-and-a-half feet tall, which is really very tall for a leprechaun. All of the leprechauns lived under a hill in a rural part of Ireland. This den was meant for people who were no taller than two-and-a-half feet and so had very low ceilings. This poor leprechaun who was so much taller kept bumping his head against the ceiling. He could not sit on the toadstools like all the other leprechauns and he could not prance and dance as gaily – his long limbs would not allow it.
Because he could not stand up inside, the other leprechauns put him to work making gold to put in pots at the end of the rainbow. It was boring work, and the tall leprechaun hated it. He wanted to be out in the open with the other leprechauns; playing tricks on humans, dancing with the other wee creatures, and singing to the brook. He longed to go out where he did not bang his head on everything. But the other leprechauns were afraid that the tall leprechaun would not be able to hide from humans, and so kept him in the dark, busy making gold.
One day, while he was stuck making gold, he got so tired that he fell asleep in one of the gold pots. Not noticing him in the pot, the other leprechauns put more gold on top of him and took the pot to the end of a rainbow for somebody to find. When the very tall leprechaun woke up, he found himself buried. He dug his way out of the gold pot, and found himself outside, at the end of a rainbow. He was so happy that he danced and pranced and capered about. He danced so much, that he didn’t see the poor Irish boy had come upon him.
“One of the Little Folk! If I capture him, he will give me three wishes! I can be rich and happy forever!” So the little boy thought. So he crept up behind the capering leprechaun, who still didn’t see him. The little boy leapt, and reached out for the leprechaun. It was at that moment the tall leprechaun noticed the human boy, but it was too late, the boy had grabbed him.
But the boy could not hold on – for this leprechaun was so much bigger than others. He kicked and struggled, and the boy could not keep his hands on the leprechaun. The leprechaun danced and pranced out of the boy’s reach. The boy stood up and chased after the leprechaun, but his long legs meant he stayed far out of reach of the boy. The leprechaun raced back to the den of his family.
As he ducked inside, all the other leprechauns were startled to see their tall brother come from outdoors. As he related his adventures, they were very impressed. No leprechaun, having been caught in that manner, had ever been able to get away. They realized they were wrong to keep the very tall leprechaun locked up – he may not be able to hide like the others, but he was strong and could run faster than all of them. So the tall leprechaun got what he always wanted – to dance and sing, and play pranks, and he only occasionally had to make gold. Since he proved so useful, he even got his own room where he didn’t have to crouch down, and he lived happily ever after.
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