CLOVER GREEN AND THE SEVEN LEPRECHAUNS
Adapted by William Slaght
Once upon a time . . . in a great castle, a Lord's
daughter grew up happy and contented, in spite of
a jealous stepmother. She was very pretty, with
fair skin and long black hair. Her eyes were pools
of delicate green, and because her eyes were so
striking she was called Clover Green.
Everyone was quite sure she would become very
beautiful. Though her stepmother was a wicked
woman, she too was very beautiful, and the magic
mirror told her this every day, whenever she
asked it. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the
loveliest lady in Ireland?"
The reply was always; "You are, your Majesty,"
until the dreadful day when she heard it say,
"Clover Green is the loveliest in Ireland."
The stepmother was furious and, wild with
jealousy, began plotting to get rid of her
rival. Calling one of her trusty servants,
she bribed him with a rich reward to take
Clover Green into the forest, far away from
the Castle. Then, unseen, he was to put her
to death. The greedy servant, attracted to
the reward, agreed to do this deed, and he
led the innocent little girl away. However,
when they came to the fatal spot, the man's
courage failed him and, leaving Clover Green
sitting beside a tree, he mumbled an excuse
and ran off.
Clover Green was all alone in the forest. Night
came, but the servant did not return. Clover
Green, alone in the dark forest, began to cry
bitterly. She thought she could feel terrible
eyes spying on her, and she heard strange
sounds and rustling that made her heart thump.
At last, overcome by tiredness, she fell asleep
curled under a tree. Clover Green slept
fitfully, wakening from time to time with a
start and staring into the darkness round her.
Several times, she thought she felt something,
or somebody touch her as she slept. At last,
dawn woke the forest to the song of the birds,
and Clover Green too, awoke.
A whole world was stirring to life and the little
girl was glad to see how silly her fears had been.
However, the thick trees were like a wall round
her, and as she tried to find out where she was,
she came upon a path. She walked along it,
hopefully. On she walked till she came to a
clearing. There stood a strange cottage, with a
tiny door, tiny windows and a tiny chimney pot.
Everything about the cottage was much tinier
than it ought to be. There were also several
rainbows all around the cottage. Clover Green
pushed the door open. "I wonder who lives here?"
she said to herself, peeping round the kitchen.
"What tiny plates! And spoons! There must be seven
of them, the table's laid for seven people."
Upstairs was a bedroom with seven neat little
beds. Going back to the kitchen, Clover Green
had an idea. "I'll make them something to eat.
When they come home, they'll be glad to find a
meal ready."
Towards dusk, seven tiny leprechauns marched
homewards singing. But when they opened the
door, to their surprise they found a bowl of
hot steaming soup on the table, and the whole
house was perfectly clean. Upstairs was Clover
Green, fast asleep on one of the beds. The
chief leprechaun prodded her gently. "Who are
you?" he asked.
Clover Green told them her sad story, and tears
sprang to the leprechauns' eyes. Then one of
them said, as he noisily blew his nose: "Stay
here with us!"
"Hooray! Hooray!" they cheered, dancing joyfully
round the little girl.
The leprechauns said to Clover Green: "You can
live here and tend to the house while we're down
the mine. Don't worry about your stepmother
leaving you in the forest. We love you and we'll
take care of you!"
Clover Green gratefully accepted their
hospitality, and next morning the leprechauns
set off for work. But they warned Clover Green
not to open the door to strangers. Meanwhile,
the servant had returned to the castle, with
the heart of a roe deer. He gave it to the
cruel stepmother, telling her it belonged to
Clover Green, so that he could claim the
reward. Highly pleased, the stepmother turned
again to the magic mirror. But her hopes were
dashed, for the mirror replied: "The loveliest
in Ireland is still Clover Green, who lives in
the seven leprechauns' cottage, down in the
forest."
The stepmother was beside herself with rage. "She
must die! She must die!" she screamed.
Disguising herself as an old peasant woman,
she put a poisoned apple with the others in
her basket. Then, taking the quickest way
into the forest, she crossed the swamp at
the edge of the trees. She reached the bank
unseen, just as Clover Green stood waving
goodbye to the seven leprechauns on their
way to the gold mine. Clover White was in
the kitchen when she heard the sound at the
door: KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Who's there?" she called suspiciously,
remembering the leprechauns advice.
"I'm an old peasant woman selling apples,"
came the reply.
"I don't need any apples, thank you," she
replied.
"But they are beautiful apples and ever so
juicy!" said the velvety voice from outside
the door.
"I'm not supposed to open the door to anyone,"
said the little girl, who was reluctant to
disobey her friends.
"And quite right too! Good girl! If you promised
not to open up to strangers, then of course you
can't buy. You are a good girl indeed!"
Then the old woman went on. "And as a reward for
being good, I'm going to make you a gift of one
of my apples!"
Without a further thought, Clover Green opened
the door just a tiny crack, to take the apple.
"There! Now isn't that a nice apple?"
Clover Green bit into the fruit, and as she did,
fell to the ground in a faint: the effect of the
terrible poison left her lifeless instantaneously.
Now chuckling evilly, the wicked stepmother
hurried off. But as she ran back across the swamp,
she tripped and fell into the quicksand. No one
heard her cries for help, and she disappeared
without a trace. Meanwhile, the leprechauns came
out of the gold mine to find the sky had grown
dark and stormy. Loud thunder echoed through the
valleys and streaks of lightning ripped the sky.
Worried about Clover Green they ran as quickly as
they could down the mountain to the cottage. There
they found Clover Green, lying still and lifeless,
the poisoned apple by her side. They did their
best to bring her around, but it was no use. They
wept and wept for a long time. Then they laid her
on a bed of Irish rose petals, carried her into
the forest and put her in a crystal coffin. Each
day they laid a flower there. Then one evening,
they discovered a strange young man admiring
Clover Green's lovely face through the glass.
After listening to the story, the Prince made a
suggestion. "If you allow me to take her to the
Castle, I'll call in famous doctors to waken her
from this peculiar sleep. She's so lovely . . .
I'd love to kiss her. . . !"
He did, and as though by magic, the Prince's kiss
broke the spell. To everyone's astonishment,
Clover Green opened her eyes. She had amazingly
come back to life! Now in love, the Prince asked
Clover Green to marry him, and the leprechauns
reluctantly had to say good bye to Clover Green.
From that day on, Clover Green lived happily in a
great castle. But from time to time, she was
drawn back to visit the little cottage down in
the forest.
THE END
