LEPRECHAUNS
The Irish people tell stories about tiny people
no bigger than your little finger.
These little people are called leprechuns.
Leprechuns are very smart. They are full of tricks.
They live in the wood, where they gather gold and bury it.
It is very hard to see leprechuns
because they run and hide when humans are around.
The Irish say that if you can catch a leprechaun,
you can make him tell you where his gold is buried.
Then you will be richer than all the kings on the earth.
But watch out for tricks!
Jack was a boy who wanted to be rich.
He was sure be could catch a leprechaun and
find out where his gold was.
Jack waited and watched, and watched and
waited ever so quietly in the woods.
Day after day, he watched and waited.
At last, one day he saw a tiny man with long white hair and
a long white beard.
He swooped his hand over the leprechaun and zap!
The leprechaun was caught!
"Let me go , human!" shouted the leprechaun in a tiny voice.
Jack held him safely inside his two hands.
The leprechaun struggled and kicked furiosly.
"First, tell me where your gold is buried," said Jack
"Yes,yes. I will tell you," said the little man.
"It is buried under a tree.
Just walk where I tell you and I will show you."
So Jack walked deep into the woods with the leprechaun.
They came to a place where the trees were very close together.
The leprechaun pointed to a tree and said,"Here.
My gold is buried under this tree."
Now Jack knew that this was true, because leprechauns never tell lies.
But it was a very plain tree.
It looked the same as all the other trees around it.
"I will have to go home to get a shovel," said Jack,"
but I don"t want to forget which tree the gold is under."
He had a yellow scarf around his neck. He took the scarf off and
tied it around the tree.
"You must promise me that you won"t take my yellow scarf off this tree,"
Jack said to the leprechaun.
"I promise," said the leprechaun." Now let me go."
Leaprechauns are tricky,
but Jack knew that they always keep their promises.
So he knelt down to the ground.
He opened his hand and let the little fellow go.
The leprechaun ran off into the woods and was quickly out of sight.
Jack ran as fast as he could to get a shovel.
He was very excited and happy.
He found a shovel and ran back with it into the woods.
Soon he would be richer than any king on earth,he thought.
But when he got to the deep part of the woods
where the trees were close together, what do you think he saw?
Every tree had yellow scarf tied around it,
exactiy like his own scarf.
Hundreds and hundreds of trees. Thousands of trees.
As far as he could see,
every tree had a yellow scarf tied around it.
Jack"s mouth hung open. Tears came to his eyes.
Which tree was the gold buried under?
There was no way that he could dig under all of those trees.
So Jack very sadly went home.
He was one more person who had been tricked by a leprechaun.
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