The Leprechaun and the Storyteller

by Bairbre McCarthy

Kieran O’Kelly was a wonderful storyteller. He was famous throughout the south of Ireland and many is the time he tramped the whole day long to get to a house where there was going to be a hoolie or a ceilidh* that night. You’d find Kieran over in the corner sitting on the hob by the fire, with a drink in his hand, and telling stories to delight everybody.

Wher­e­ver he went he was welcome, and there was al­ways a meal provided for him and a bed for the night. He never wanted for food, nor hospitality, but in­deed it wasn’t money that he had in his pocket, ever, and from all the walking he did through the roads and bohareens** and fields of Ireland, his shoes and boots were soon worn out. Many is the time he was forced to wear an old pair of boots, long after his toes were showing through.

One day, at the height of the summer, as he was tramping along the roads, he decided he stop for a rest by a stream. He took off his old worn boots and put his feet right into the stream to ease the pain of them. As he sat there with his two feet stuck in the stream, he heard a tapping sound coming from the bushes behind him. The tapping continued so he got up and looked over the bushes. What did he see but a little man sitting there on a stool, and he tapping away at some little boots with a hammer. Well Kieran could see right away that this little fellow was a fairy shoe maker, a leprechaun! Kieran could also see that the pair of boots that this leprechaun was working on were the most beautiful pair of boots that he had ever seen, tiny as they were.

Before long the leprechaun looked up and noticed Kieran and greeted him.

‘Well, is it yourself, Kieran O’Kelly. You’re a man I’m glad to see. Come over here and sit down and rest those poor feet of yours. My goodness Kieran, those feet look very tired. Where are your boots at all?’

‘I’m ashamed to tell you that my boots are so worn out that its hardly worth putting them back on,’ said Kieran, and he produced the same boots from the side of the stream and showed them to the leprechaun.’

‘Oh ’tis an awful shame,’ says the leprechaun, ‘that you haven’t a fine pair of boots to carry you throughout Ireland to tell your wonderful ­stories.’

‘’Tis,’ said Kieran. ‘I wonder is there anything you could do to help me?’

‘Well,’ says the leprechaun, ‘this pair of boots that I am working on now are for the king of the fairies and they’re a magical pair of boots, Kieran. I tell you that because who ever puts his feet into these boots they will fit like a glove and never again will that person’s feet feel tired.’

‘Oh they would be a wonderful thing to have,’ said Kieran.

‘Well, do you know,’ said the leprechaun, ‘because I’ve heard so much about you being such a great story-teller and the joy you bring to the ­people of Ireland, I’m going to make you a present of these boots. Don’t worry about the fact that they look tiny to you now. Take them, I’m just finishing them, and put your feet into them and they will grow to fit your feet.’

Indeed, that is exactly what happened. As Kieran was putting them on his feet and lacing them up the leprechaun said to him, ‘I’m warning you of one thing, Kieran, don’t ever tell anybody where you got these boots. That has to be a secret between yourself and myself because if ever you told anybody where you got them, the boots would disappear.’

‘Oh I promise, I promise,’ said Kieran, and he laced up the boots. My goodness, his feet felt so light that he was compelled to get up and start dancing around the field. A few minutes later, when he turned around to thank the leprechaun there was no sign of the little man.

But Kieran nearly danced all the way to Tipper­ary and ever after his feet felt as light as air and not only was he known as a great storyteller throughout the country but he was known as a dancer as well!

The years passed by and times were good for Kieran. The boots never wore out and he was a happy man, travelling about the country, telling his stories and dancing along in these wonderful boots. One summer day, he stopped for a rest by a stream on the side of the road and he thought since it was such a nice day that he would take off his lovely boots and wash his feet. As he sat there with his feet in the stream and his boots sitting beside him along came a man on a horse. He stopped by the stream to let his horse take a drink and he happened to let his eyes fall on Kieran’s wonderful boots.

‘Oh what a grand pair of boots those are,’ said the man.

‘They are indeed,’ said Kieran.

‘But isn’t it a strange thing now,’ says the man ‘that a person such as yourself, who doesn’t look like he has any great money to his name, should have such a wonderful pair of boots.’

‘It’s no mystery at all,’ says Kieran, ‘these boots were made for the king of the fairies and they were given to me by a leprechaun.’

‘Well, aren’t you the lucky man,’ said the man on the horse and off he rode down the road.

When Kieran turned around to reach for the boots, there was no sign of them, they had vanished, and it was then, too late, that he remembered the promise he had made to the leprechaun that he would never tell anybody who had given him the boots.

Oh Kieran was a sad man after that. He got himself another pair of boots but before long they were worn out and his poor old feet were tired. People used to wonder where was the spark of life that used to be in Kieran – it seemed to have somehow, disappeared. He wasn’t ­inclined to dance anymore and even his stories were tired. But still he tramped the roads, as goodhearted as he was, not wanting to disappoint people.

One day, when he was stopped by a stream to rest his poor old tired feet, didn’t he hear a tapping from behind the bushes and when he looked over the bush, there was the exact same leprechaun that he had met years before! The leprechaun was sitting there tapping on a beautiful pair of boots just like the ones Kieran used to own.

‘’Tis yourself, Kieran O’Kelly, and I’m happy to see you again,’ says the leprechaun.

‘’Tis,’ says Kieran, ‘but I’m not such a happy man this time. I made a big mistake. I forgot the promise I made to you and I told somebody where I got me boots and as you can see I no longer have them.’

‘Ha!’ says the leprechaun, ‘that’s the thing about magic Kieran, you have to be very careful how you deal with it. But sit down there and rest your poor old feet for a while. Do you know what it is I’m thinking ­Kieran? You're indeed a kind hearted and a good hearted man and I’m sorry for the condition that you’re in. Isn’t everybody entitled to make one mistake in their life? Do you know Kieran, all these years I have been going around the countryside bringing shoes to the fairies and mending shoes for the fairies and is there any chance now that you could teach me a story that I could take with me to share on my travels?’

Kieran was delighted and, sure with the wealth of stories he had, he was only too happy to share one of his stories with the leprechaun. So he sat down and he started off on the story about the Dagda and the great harp and how it had been stolen by the Fomorian giants but how the Dagda was able to get it back for the people of Ireland.

When he came to the end of the story the lepre­chaun said, ‘Kieran, it so happens that I just finished this pair of boots and they would be perfect for yourself. Would you try them on?’

When Kieran slipped his feet into those boots and did up the laces he had to get up and start dancing around the field. When he turned around the lepre­chaun was gone. But Kieran had his boots and the leprechaun had his story, and they both lived ­happily ever after.