CHAPTER II
SHAUNEEN AND THE LEPRECHAUN
"Can you not catch the tiny clamor, Busy click of an elfin hammer, Voice of the Leprechaun ringing shrill As he busily plies his trade?" --W. B. YEATS
We have been speaking of the fairies and how they love Ireland.
The fairies are divided into tribes just the way Ireland itself isdivided into many districts, counties, and provinces.
There are many tribes of fairies, and these tribes are all quitedifferent from one another.
There are those who dress like the flowers; and those that changethemselves into various shapes. There are evil fairies and solitaryfairies.
You must always call them the "Good People," for they are easilyoffended.
But if you believe in them and leave a bit of milk for them upon thewindow sill, they will bring luck and happiness to you.
Now the fairy that we are going to meet in this story is called theleprechaun, or fairy shoemaker. We are going to meet him, because if ithad not been for him, there would be no story at all.
The fairy shoemaker sits under a toadstool making tiny shoes. The word"leprechaun" comes from two Irish words meaning "one shoe." The reasonhe bears this name is because he is always working upon one shoe.
The leprechaun is quick and mysterious. He is also mischievous. And oneof his great pranks is stealing wee boys away.
He steals wee Irish boys away from their homes because they do work sowell. He makes them work for himself--this mischief-making fairy!
He will not bother with wee girls.
"Wee girls are not so strong as wee boys," says he.
So when you meet Shaun O'Day, you must not be surprised to find himwearing a petticoat! You must not be surprised, because it is the faultof the leprechaun.
You see, Shaun O'Day lived in a very western part of Ireland, inConnemara, where fairies abound.
And in the village where he lived, the boys were all dressed in redpetticoats! They were dressed in red flannel petticoats until theyreached a tall and manly age.
HE WORE A FLANNEL PETTICOAT]
This was many years ago. And though they would not tell you why theywore those petticoats, I am telling you 'twas because of theleprechauns.
Every wee boy's mother feared the leprechaun. And so she dressed her boyin the dress of the girl to trick that sly creature.
Boys were needed badly by the human folk. Why should the fairy folk betaking them away?
Shaun had a good, kind father. He was a fisherman. Shaun's mother wasdead.
But Shaun and his father lived happily enough until one day Shaun'sfather married again.
He married a woman who had four sons. Grown-up boys they were, and lazy.
Like the Queen in the story of Conn-eda, this woman was unkind. Littlelove had she for Shaun, and she made him work hard.
Poor little lad! He was very young when he had to labor like a fullgrown man, while the sons of his stepmother rested or played.
Shaun was always called Shauneen by his father, who loved him dearly."Shauneen" means "little Shaun." "Een" is the Irish for "little."
"Oh, Shauneen, lad," said the father, one night after his return fromsea, "'tis tired you look, and worn. Faith! Can the school work be sohard?"
Shaun did not tell his father that the wicked stepmother had kept himfrom school that day. He did not tell his father that she had made himwalk upon an errand, miles and miles away. He did not say that she hadbeaten him when he returned.
Shaun was often tempted to tell these things to his good, kind father.But he feared to cause the poor man sorrow.
"Sure, and 'twould be a pity to cause him grief, and he so good," thelad had often thought to himself. "And I can bear it all, for have I nothimself to love me?"
Shauneen was a brave boy and felt that to whimper to his father would beweak.
He was a sturdy little lad. His hair was Irish red and his cheeks werebright and rosy from the damp, rainy wind. He was strong and manly.
He hated the red petticoat he was forced to wear. Often he had thoughtof putting on the clothing of a real boy.
But always in his heart, as in the hearts of other village boys, therewas the fear of the leprechaun!
And if he were stolen away, what would his dear father do? His dearfather, who loved him!
It was only because of his father that Shauneen did not give himself tothe fairies.
He would not have been afraid of the fairies.
He would have liked them to take him away. They could not be so cruel ashis stepmother.
Sometimes Shaun's stepmother made him mind her baby. He had to carry itupon his back. Many of the village boys did this sort of thing, and soit was not the disgrace that it would be in a present-day city.
He often went down to the shore.
To-day as he approached the shore, he met a friend. This friend was agirl, the daughter of a neighbor. Her name was Eileen. But Shauneen didnot call her that.
She was his little schoolgirl sweetheart, and he called her Dawn. Hecalled her Dawn because he told her that she was the dawn of day to him.
"Some day," he said, "'tis myself, Shaun O'Day, will marry you. Then youwill be in truth my Dawn O'Day."
To-day they looked out across the great ocean and dreamed of a newworld out there. They dreamed of America.
THEY FANCIED AMERICA]
And Shaun said, "When I am tall and strong, I shall take you in a shipto America. Och, we'll be after building a houseen in the New Island!"
The New Island was their Irish name for America.
It was a rainy day, but they did not notice it. Rain is nothing to Irishchildren. And as they talked together on the shore in the drizzlingrain, they heard a strange cry.
THEY HEARD A STRANGE CRY]
Louder grew the cry, and suddenly they saw men and women running towardthe shore. They heard the women wailing. They heard the tramp, tramp ofmen's heavy boots.
Shaun stood up, with the baby on his back. He shaded his eyes andlooked.
SHAUN STOOD UP WITH THE BABY ON HIS BACK]
The girl stood, too. She gave a low cry.
"Och, Shauneen!" she moaned. "'Tis a fishing boat has been wrecked!Och, the poor wives and children of the men 'twere in it!"
And she moaned and rocked back and forth.
The waters made a roaring sound. The sky was leaden gray. The men wereworking, pulling in the wreck of the boat.
Shaun gave the baby to Eileen. Then the boy in his red petticoatstarted to run.
HE STARTED TO RUN]
His feet were bare, but he could skim over those rough rocks like a wildanimal. His feet never had known shoes.
His ruddy face had gone white. He reached the group of working men andmoaning women. Then he fell upon his face, and a great sob came from hisheart.
Among the lost men was his own father!
HE FELL UPON HIS FACE]