For school, one of my assignments was to write a "short" story. I chose the topic of leprechauns (don't ask me why, I just started writing and leprechaun popped out on the page). Any way... Here it is!
True Wealth
“There!” Tiki, the leprechaun let out a satisfied sigh as she packed the last bag of gold onto the wagon. Giggling, she climbed up, and urged the pony forward. The leprechauns were moving away. A human town had been growing and squeezing their space, until finally, Berry, Tiki's daughter, had been seen by a farmer. It wasn't safe anymore. The network of caverns beneath the forest was completely cleared out. No gold was being left behind.
As the journey began, Tiki glanced over at her unusually quiet daughter.
“It wasn't your fault the farmer saw you, but, out of curiousity, why were you in his barn?” Titti inquired gently. Berry let out an enormous woosh of air.
“I wanted to see the animals.” She mumbled.
“What! Why? Animals are dangerous, and it is our job to stay out of the human's sight.”
“The farmer looked friendly enough.” Berry defended herself.
“The farmer looked frien-... do you mean you said, 'Hello' to him?”
“No. I said, 'Hi'”
Tiki was silent. If the rest of the leprechauns discovered that Berry had introduced herself to a human, they would banish her.
“Daughter, do you not understand that our goal is to find and keep as much gold as possible, and humans interfere with that, because they want the gold too?”
“What if I don't like gold?” Berry blurted. Quickly, she slapped a hand over her mouth. “I'm sick of it mom.” She whispered, “I-I just, want to be a human.”
Tiki's lips were pressed in a firm, worried line. She glanced around. No one had heard. Yet. She said nothing to Berry. She knew of nothing to say. Was it possible for a leprechaun to hate gold? She shuddered at the thought of parting with her precious gold. It was their life.
“Tiki!” A call arose from behind them, “Your gold's about to fall out of the wagon!”
Tiki yanked on the reins. With her heart thumping she leapt down and raced to the back of the cart. Sure enough, the latch on the back had come loose and the gold balanced precariously. She wiped the quickly gathering sweat from her brow. Her gold was safe. She looked up. Her daughter stared at her from the seat of the wagon, Berry hadn't even moved at the thought of losing gold. Sucking up her fear and worry, Tiki fixed the latch and trudged back to the front glancing nervously back to see if her handiwork was holding.
“Berry?” A small voice sounded from the side. The girl looked over to see her best friend, Munchkin, trotting along, “Do you want to play a game at the back of the caravan? All the children are back there. We're playing Go'n'Stop.”
“I guess,” she smiled at Munchkin's flushed face.
Jumping out of the seat she followed her friend through the wagons. At the back kids laughed as they ran to catch up than ran back. One by one, they caught sight of Berry and stopped to stare.
“H-hi guys!” She plastered a smile onto her face. Voices mumbled and whispered, then the children slowly left and made their way back to their wagons. As two boys passsed, one whispered to her.
“This is all your fault.”
“S-sorry 'bout that Berry.” Munchkin stuttered, “I didn't know they would leave when they saw you. Uh, you wanna play Go'n'Stop with me?”
“No, Munchkin. I think I'll go back to our wagon. Thanks for asking.” With a heavy heart, Berry trudged away.
“Kixy! Kixy!” Tiki raced through the sleeping caravan. Finally, she came to a bluish-grey wagon and shook a snoozing form.
“What is it Tiki?” the leprechaun yawned.
“Berry's gone! We need to look for her!”
“Wait 'till morning, maybe she went to sleep with Munchkin somewhere.”
“No you don't understand!” Tiki gave up. She couldn't tell Kixy of her daughters lack of love for gold. Berry must've run away.
Berry trudged across barren wasteland. Nobody wanted her, nobody understood. All they cared about was gold. Why couldn't they get along with humans? Gold wasn't that important. She looked back at the caravan, tiny on the horizon. Pulling a map from her pocket, she decided to go back to Shrewbuck town and talk to the farmer. Berry licked her lips nervously, she checked the compass and headed east.
Tiki raced across the dusty flat ground towards the wagon of Munchkin, Berry's friend. Munchkin was sitting on the tail end of the cart gulping down water, and washing her dirty face.
“Munchkin! Do you know where Berry went? I can't find her anywhere!” The color from the little girl's face drained.
“I don't know. I think she felt guilty for causing us to move. None of the kids would play with her anymore.”
Tiki sniffed. Berry was nowhere! She was afraid that Berry had left. She had wanted nothing to do with gold anyway. Kixy walked up to the crying leprechaun.
“I'm so sorry about Berry. We've looked in every cart and wagon, but can't find her.”
Tiki nodded and walked back to where her cart was tied to a tree. Hooking up the ponies, the hundreds of wagons lurched forward, “Please come back,” she whispered.
Three days had passed, and Berry stumbled upon a quaint cottage set on the outskirts of Shrewbuck. Sneaking into the yard, she grabbed a blue gingham dress hanging on the clothes line. She slipped it on over her forest green outfit, to cover the leprechaun look.
“There!” She thought satisfied, “I look like a little human girl!” She raced off towards the village, her joy brimming at the thought of finally being “human.”
The sun was peeking over the horizon as she entered the town. Just a few men walked along the road. They stared at her as she skipped past toward the cluster of houses.
“I like the look of that one,” she mused, as she spotted a log cabin with ivy crawling up the walls. A thin tendril of smoke curled up from the chimney. Waltzing up to the door, she knocked loudly. The door opened and there stood a little boy in his pajamas staring at her.
“Hello!” she called cheerfully. A woman at the stove looked up slowly.
“What are ya doin' here li'l girl?” she inquired.
“Ummmn...” Berry had never thought of what she was going to say, “I-I don't know, you're house looked cozy.”
The lady gazed at her incredulously, “Where did ya come from? I never seen you around Shrewbuck afore.”
“I came from lepre-” she stopped herself and pondered, “I- ummn... don't know where I came from. Yeah, that's right! Just dropped out of nowhere it seemed like.”
“Well, ya cain't be more'n three years old,” the woman stated.
Insulted, Berry glanced down at her pettite ten year's old body, “That's not true I'm ten years old, and my name's Berry, and I'm a leprechaun, that came from Leprevillage!” she gasped and covered her mouth. Had she really said that? Wheeling, around she raced for the woods.
“A leprechaun?!” the woman shouted as she lunged for the girl. She managed to grab Berry's dress, that tore down the back, revealing the green outfit of a leprechaun. Berry glanced back to see the enraged human glaring at her, holding a piece of the blue cloth. Tears ran down her cheeks as she dove into the woods out of sight. Humans weren't as nice as she'd expected. All they wanted was leprechauns and their gold. She peeked over the shrubbery to see the woman out in the yard. Berry gasped as she saw a brown bundle laying in the grass. She had dropped her money pouch! Holding her breath, she watched as the woman walked over to it and opened it. The look of malice and greed on the woman's face was unbearable. Turning away, she shinnied up to the very top of a maple, hiding herself in the green leaves. Why had she ever left? Berry started to think leprechauns weren't so terrible after all. Except for their lust of gold. Berry wished gold had never been discovered. Sighing, she lay down, strapping herself to the branch and fell asleep.
“Johnny!”
Berry woke up to a screech from the woman, whom she now called 'Greedy.'
“Yes mum,” a boy mumbled.
“You go out into them woods, 'n' search till ya find that slickery li'l leprechaun.”
“But them woods are government property, I cain't go there!”
“You do as I say if you don't want a whoppin'!” Greedy marched back into the house. Her son advanced toward the woods with a gun, and a net. Berry scrambled down the maple and ran farther into the woods. She crouched down behind a bush and waited. A rustling and snapping indicated that the boy was approaching from the left. He appeared from behind a tall tree and warily looked around, his eyes wide with fear. Then he spotted her. First, the gun went to his shoulder, but then he lowered it. He advanced toward her. Standing up, Berry began backing away. What did he plan to do? She glanced from the rifle to the net, then back again. Suddenly, her foot slipped and she found herself falling down a hole. Thump! Berry landed on the ground. She looked up towards the fading sunlight, the boy's face appeared over the hole. His hand stretched out and he sprayed something smoky into the cavern. Berry didn't know what it was, but it looked scary enough. She picked herself up and ran down the tunnel. The fog followed her. Her short legs couldn't carry her fast enough. The fog was catching up.
“I know this place!” Berry panted. She had fallen down right into the old leprechaun village! She began passing houses. Like a cat approaching a mouse, the fog crept closer. It envoloped her and she began to feel dizzy.
“Get some more rags, her forehead's as hot as a, as a... somethin'!”
The little leprechaun opened her eyes and stared confusedly into the face of a young lady leprechaun.
“Where am I?”
A gentleman came over and said, “Yer back home lassie. We's the folks that didn't go on the silly ol' leprechaun journey.”
Berry's memory slowly returned. Some of the leprechauns had stayed behind when they had all left, “We's treatin' you so's you can get back to yer family, you was in the fog. We all got out, but when we came back in, there was you on the floor, out cold!”
“B-but you don't want to treat me, I-”
“Shore's we do! Yer a leprechaun ain't ya? By the ways, my name's Daritt and dis is Crissa.”
“No, you don't understand! I'm the one, who started this whole mess! Including the fog.”
All was silent. Then the gentleman continued, “That's okay, all of us make mistakes, but out of curiousity, why was you in the barn that one day?”
Berry sighed. She rolled over and stood up, only to fall back onto the bed, crushed by a wave of dizziness. Immediatly, they were by her side.
“Are you okay?”
“Get some water!”
“You just stay right where you are.”
Berry happily consented, glad for the topic to have changed.
The leprechaun caravan moved sluggishly forward, dripping from a previous deluge.
“There it is!” called a leprechaun up front, pointing to a magnificent rainbow. Excited voices filled the air as all the ponies began galloping toward the colorful bridge. Soon the people at the front of the line reached the bottom of the towering rainbow. One by one, the ponies clip-clopped onto it beginning the strenuous journey to the other end. The travelers held high hopes that the magestic bridge would lead them to a new home (and more gold). However, one leprechaun was not enjoying the ride. Tiki forlornly glanced back at her cart of gold. Should she give it up, and go back to look for Berry? She shuddered at the thought. She had always thought of the gold as one of her children. All the leprechauns treated it that way. Was Berry really more important? Tiki was torn, she felt as if she had the two on a scale, and was weighing them.
“Your gold is more important,” she told herself.
“No it's not, Berry is!” the voice inside her fought back.
“But she doesn't even like gold, much less love it.”
“But she's your daughter.” a tear slipped down her cheek.
“No! She was the one who decided to run away.” With that, Tiki held her quivering chin up and continued forward. Slowly, her chin drooped lower and lower. Suddenly, she lept off of her wagon, hesitated, then grabbing a bag of gold, she raced back through the carts and wagons. Jumping onto the back of one of the hundreds of ponies trailing behind the caravan, she galloped back down the rainbow. Her eyes widened, the end was disappearing! She slammed her heels into the flanks of the pony. Squealing, it reared and charged forward. The wind stung her eyes, and the pony's mane lashed at her cheeks. Once a leprechaun has walked onto the rainbow, the end will begin to fade.
“I can't look back, I can't look back.” she repeated over and over again in her head. As she reached the end, the pony's legs sank through the disintigrating ribbons of color. Shrieking, they tumbled down and landed with a thud. For a moment, Tiki lay on her back sadly watching as the bridge between her and the other leprechaun's faded away.
Berry sat on a stump, with her chin on her hand in deep thought, “Why did I run away in the first place?” After a moment's pondering she resolved her question, “All my mom thinks of is gold, all Munchkin thinks of is gold, all leprechauns think of is gold! But I don't, I'm different. I hate not feeling loved and not loving anything, it's terrible. What if I could convince them to leave behind their passion for gold? No... not in a life time. I guess I'll just be a loner, and the odd one for... for a long time.”
She sighed. Having no friends, wasn't fun at all. She had wanted to be a human, but she just didn't fit in. After all, Berry was only two feet tall. Rolling, to the side, she landed in a clump of leaves. Suddenly, she sat up. Was that foot falls she heard? Crouching down, she covered herself in leaves.
“It ran down this here hole ma!”
It was the boy and Mrs. Greedy!
“Well sonny, I've heard from towns down south, dat redheaded shorties have been spotted about. They's found teensy feetprints and wagon treds across da plains. They's headin' south, but don't worry none. We'll catch 'em yet.”
Berry gasped. The humans had picked up the trail of the caravan. Jumping up, she slipped down the hole and raced to tell the others.
“Crissa! Daritt! The humans have gone after the caravan! They're going to capture the leprechaun's!”
“Aw, Honey.” Crissa smiled, “Don't you worry, our kin know how to protect themselves.”
“No! We have to do something!”
Crissa and Daritt smiled sympathetically, “I know how you feel, but it's okay. They were the ones that decided to leave anyway.”
“Because of me!” Berry shouted. Wheeling around, she raced out of the tunnel, heading south.
Berry had been traveling three days straight and was near tears. How would she reach them in time, when the humans would be traveling on horses? Then a horrid thought crossed her mind. What if they had already reached a rainbow? Then she wouldn't be able to find them at all! She gulped as she thought of the downpour that came about four days ago. Something in the distance caught her eye. On the horizon, she spotted the figure of a horse and rider. What if it was a human. Berry stopped in her tracks, should she continue? She was so dirty, they probably wouldn't notice the red hair anyway. But she still had shoes with pointed toes.
“What a second...” she breathed, “That's much to stocky to be a horse... it must be a pony!” She raced forward then stopped again, “What if it's a draft horse? Oh, don't be silly, no one would go on a hunt with a draft horse!” She ran towards the silhouette. They drew nearer and nearer, then it turned around and galloped away, “No! Wait!” Berry moaned. She stumbled, and lay on the dusty ground panting. What's the use?
After she lay there for quite some time she felt hands grab here and pull her into a sitting position. Dazed and dehydrated she gazed up into a familiar face.
“Mom? Is that you?”
“Yes, darling. Oh, I've missed you!”
“Where are the rest of the leprechaun's?”
“I left to come look for you.”
“You left your gold for me?”
“Yes, come quickly, I just spied humans. We need to travel back to the rest. They've already crossed the rainbow, so we'll have to wait for it to rain again.”
Berry nodded and glanced toward the clear sunny skies.
The next day, she woke up to a drop landing on her nose.
“Oh! Mother wake up! It's raining!” They both jumped to their feet and eagerly watched the skies. As the rain ceased a thin stripe of colors slowly began appearing in the angry clouds. Cheering, the raced to it and crossed the bridge. On the other side, they saw the caravan. Everyone was resting and gold overflowed from the carts.
“Munchkin!” Berry raced for her friend.
“My gold!” Tiki raced for her wagon. Hurt, Berry glanced at her mother as she sat amidst the brown bags. Suddenly, on the fading rainbow, she saw a mass of humans racing madly toward them, stumbling through the disappearing ribbons. Munchkin let out an ear piercing scream. Immediately, leprechauns ran in all directions. One, who was Munchkin's father, began hastily rigging an air balloon. Then he loaded all of his gold into the basket. Next, he raced over to grab Munchkin and his wife, Kixy. Tiki ran for the balloon dragging her cart. Berry was frozen in fear. A man jumped from the rainbow grasping Berry under his arm, he then picked up the scattered bags of gold while other air balloons began popping up. Titti stared at her struggling daughter, then at her gold.
“Come on! Or we'll have to leave without you!” came a shout from Munchkin's father. Tears slipped down Tiki's cheeks. Then, grabbing a bag of gold she raced toward the man. Flinging it upwards, it caught him on the jaw, forcing him to drop her daughter. She tugged Berry to her feet and raced toward the basket, which was lifting off of the ground. Leaping, she grabbed the edge and with the help from Munchkin's family was dragged aboard.
“Your gold.” Berry whispered.
“Aah,” Tiki answered, “It's just lumps of metal.” With that said, she wrapped Berry into the greatest hug ever recorded to this day.
