The Leprechauns and the Shoemaker
adapted by William Slaght
Once upon a time in a little town in Ireland
lived a poor shoemaker and his wife. The
shoemaker knew that because of his failing
eyesight and slow hands that he was losing
customers to his little shop. Soon they will
have no money to buy any leather. Without any
leather he couldn't make anymore shoes. And
if he couldn't make anymore shoes then his
wife and him would lose their shop and home
and have no money for food.
He spent all day working on a pair of shoes. He
look around and spotted the last piece of leather
on a nearby table. He stood up and cried in
despair. He look outside a window and saw a
rainbow. He whispered in a trembling voice to
the rainbow, "Please, oh please, may someone
help me tonight."
He left his workshop and went to his bed hunger.
He and his wife had no more food, since the day
before he had spent their last coins on a piece
of leather.
In the morning, the shoemaker cleaned his glasses
and threaded his needle and looked around for
that piece of leather. But something amazing had
happened. A finished pair of shoes stood in the
center of the table. The shoes were perfect to
the last shiny buckle. Someone had made those
shoes for him that night. He rapidly sold those
shoes at twice the usual price. And with that
money got a bit of food and some pieces of
leather. The next morning he had twenty shoes
which he sold in least than a hour. He then
purchased a several pieces of fine leather.
As he laid all those pieces of leather on the table
he was determine to see who was making all those
shoes. He and his wife stood in the next room and
spied through a little hole in the wall. Around
midnight they saw six naked leprechauns sneak into
the shoemaker's shop. It was winter and the
leprechauns shivered while they busily made two
hundred shoes.
"Poor fellows! They must be very cold," the
shoemaker's wife whispered to her husband.
"Tomorrow I will make them some beautiful
clothes to thank them for helping us. "
The shoemaker's wife search for the best material
to make their clothes. All she could find were
green colored silks, green tweeds and green
wools. She spend almost all the money they had
left buying the most expensive fabrics. She
worked all day making the clothes for the six
little leprechauns. She hoped that they wouldn't
be too disappointed that all their clothes were
green in color.
That night the leprechaun found a large pile of
leather. They magically created thousands of
pairs of beautiful shoes. The shoemaker and his
wife wouldn't need to worry about money anymore,
since they had now more shoes in the shop that
they could sell in a hundred years. After
finishing their job one leprechaun spotted a
large thank you note and a pile of very small
clothes. He called his friends over and they
found six elegant green jackets with gold
buttons, green tweed pants, green woolen socks,
a silk green vest, some green underwears and
silken green top hats. When the leprechaun saws
the clothes, they jumped with joy and danced a
jig. They shouted as they got dressed, "What a
beautiful color for these fine clothes and
we'll never be cold again."
They suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of
the shoemaker and his wife. The head leprechaun
smiled as them and said, "We give thanks for such
beauty clothes. We heard your cries for help and
came. But we are rarely if never given any thanks
for our efforts. Because of your gift we promise
not only to help you went you are in need but to
help every shoemaker in need in this land of
Ireland."
Then a wonderous rainbow appeared and the
leprechaun leaped on it and disappeared. And
this is why leprechaun always wear green and
the shoemakers in Ireland are the luckiest
people in the world.
THE END
