Alvin wasn’t your typical leprechaun.  Actually, he wasn’t a real leprechaun.  Well, he was a real leprechaun he just hadn’t earned his buckles yet.  You see, Alvin was a very young leprechaun and Alvin wasn’t in Ireland anymore.

The leprechauns that people see fleetingly out of the corner of their eye are leprechauns that have earned their buckles.  It takes many years to earn a buckle and even more years to earn two.  The leprechauns of myth and story are older leprechauns who have done deeds worthy of remembering, and they are worthy of wearing buckles on their shoes, nice shiny black buckles.  They also have quite a talent for mischief.  But young leprechauns are still children; they have no skill at the mischief and at near invisibility.  So it is exceedingly rare for anyone to ever see a young leprechaun.

Alvin was in the New World by accident.  Like many young children he didn’t do what he was told to.  He was told to go home and go to bed for something he had not done, or something he had done that he was not supposed to do.  He didn’t really remember.  But Alvin was playing and he decided to sneak a nap inside a very big trunk that belonged to the homeowners who lived in the big House on the Hill.  Because Alvin was a very deep sleeper he didn’t hear the moving trucks, he didn’t hear the workmen complaining about all the trunks they had to move, and he didn’t hear anybody calling his name.  What he did hear, many hours later, was his tummy rumbling.  Alvin was hungry.  He was also stuck in a trunk.  Fortunately, some cookie crumbs were found at the bottom of a pocket.  So when Alvin finally reached the New World he wasn’t hungry anymore.

But now his adventures are about to begin.  Alvin has no other leprechauns to teach him what he needs to know to keep up the traditions of the leprechaun folk or to help him earn his buckles.  No, Alvin is truly alone.  Hopefully his good nature and willing spirit will help him in the months and years to come.

Throughout Alvin’s short life, he was after all only 71 years old, he had been told that humans no longer believed.  They no longer believed in leprechauns, or fairies, or unicorns or all the other mystical beasts that reside just this side of whimsy.  And that’s the one thing above all else that they need to survive:  they need someone to believe.  When everybody stopped believing, the numbers of the unicorn’s and the fairies and leprechauns would all dwindle.  Unless there was a great change, they would one day no longer exist.  And that will be a sad day for the world.  Because then there would be no more whimsy.

Alvin looked around and saw lots of people, so he prayed desperately that somewhere in the midst of all those people there were just a very, very few who did still believe.  Maybe it was only in the Old World that they stopped believing.  So, he decided that he needed to help people to believe.  He hadn’t earned his buckles yet and he really shouldn’t be playing mischief on humans but he felt it was his duty to ensure that whimsy didn’t die. So, Alvin set about doing just that. The one good thing in his favour was that his new homeowners were the same people that lived in the House on the Hill in Ireland.

Alvin didn’t really know where he was, it was a different house but everything looked a little similar but not quite.  The grass was still green, the sky was still blue, the clouds were still a fluffy white and he still had his humans.  So maybe there was still hope.  Maybe he would find other leprechauns or fairies or unicorns or perhaps other of the mystical folk to help him on his quest to ensure that whimsy did not die.

With a sigh Alvin lay back in the grass and inhaled deeply.  It felt good to be here and it felt good to have made up his mind.  Yes, he had a mission now, the next step was to figure out just how he was to go about accomplishing his mission.  That would take a little more thought.  So Alvin breathed deeply once more, he settled his shoulders just a little bit better in the grass, and he set about thinking.  Which of course, as you know, usually leads to sleeping.

TWEET, TWEET, TWEET.  Alvin sat bolt upright! He had heard something! He was a little bit curious and he was a little bit afraid.  But he straightened his jacket, put his hat back on his head and looked straight ahead.  What he saw were two pretty, little yellow birds who had come to welcome him to their yard.  They had brought him some lovely, blue flowers as a welcoming gift.  Alvin smiled and took their offering.  With that the pretty little yellow birds flew up and away, but they circled back and flicked their little wings as a greeting to Alvin.

Alvin had a plan. It was a very good plan, at least he thought it was a very good plan.  He believed that if he could quietly sneak up to the corner of a window when the family was having a meal he could wait until someone looked out the window, jump out to be seen and jump back all in a split second. What was going to make this so difficult was that Alvin hadn’t quite worked out how his elders used their skills to make themselves nearly invisible.  He knew it had something do with light and shadows and moving very, very quickly.  He figured he was just going to have to learn as he went along.

So, Alvin climbed up on to the windowsill. He used the vine to climb up and then hoisted himself on to the windowsill. He looked in the window to see what he could see and he saw just what he was hoping to see:  The human family was having a meal, the man and woman and three children. It was just about dusk when the light was perfect for a mischievous leprechaun. The light was going dim but it wasn’t exactly dark.  It was just the way he wanted it.

With great care Alvin peered into the window. He didn’t want to be seen until he did want to be seen so he had to take all the precautions.  Slowly, very slowly he inched his way further along the windowsill.  He may not have been a leprechaun of myths and stories but he still knew how to be careful.  Eventually he reached the middle of the window where he could look inside and at the same time he could also hide behind a crossbar. And now he waited.  It didn’t take too long before the little girl raised her head and looked out the window.  Very quickly Alvin moved into her field of view, waved, smiled, clicked his heels and then moved back into the shadows. He was pretty sure he had been seen.

The little girl’s face lit up immediately, her eyes got very round and her mouth kept opening and closing as she tried to speak.  She pointed at the window.  No intelligible words came out of her mouth just sounds, excitable sounds.  She kept pointing at the window, and pointing at the window, and pointing.  And making a sound over and over and over again: it’s a…! it’s a . . .!  it’s a . . . ! The rest of the family of course turned and looked. Alvin thought he would risk a quick peek to see what everybody was doing.  What he saw gave him a great fright.

Everyone was coming to the window! Alvin had to do something quickly or he would be caught!  So he did the only thing he could think of: he jumped. The time of year was late spring and the flowers were blooming and the bushes were reasonably full.  While Alvin’s landing wasn’t exactly soft, he did have some flowers and bushes to cushion his fall.  All he did was rip his pants just a little bit. As he limped away he thought that perhaps his planning methods needed a little more work.  Having a quick escape plan seemed rather important now.  But the seeds of his mission had been sown: he had been seen.

The end

This image was found on the Internet many years ago. I have no idea where I got it. Thank you and apologies if this is your image.