They say there be no such thing as a leprechaun lass, but I know the truth to be different.

It were many years ago, long afore any of ye were a babe in your mothers’ arms, I sat next to an enchanted pool, hand in hand with the most beautiful lass you ever did see. The light of the full moon illuminated her porcelain skin, making her look like a goddess of the night. There we sat, watching as a thick fog rolled in from the sea.

Already I’d spent too much time with her. I were powerless to resist the hold she had on me. I tell ye truly, I’d have given her the whole world that night if she’d asked for it, but all she were interested in were seeing the wee folk – fairies, leprechauns, and the like.

“Fiona, my storeen,” says I, “my little treasure, why would ye be wanting to see the wee folk. They’re a tricky lot, and would deceive ye as soon as look at ye.” Still she was determined to stay in that enchanted place until the witching hour.

After a long while she spoke. “Pray ye, love, give me the time.”

“If it’s the time ye ask for, it’s the time ye shall receive,” says I. I placed a solid gold pocket watch in her delicate hand. “Keep it as your own, my beauty. ‘Tis the first gift I’ve ever given ye, and it shall not be the last.”

“I didn’t want a watch. I only wondered at the time.” She seemed perturbed at my extravagant gift to her, but still she never let go of me hand.

There we sat, watching the hands on the watch tick round and round as the night wind blew a chill through our bodies. The long waves of her dark hair whipped out behind her, held suspended in the air by the relentless wind.  A shiver wracked her small body. “Oh how I wish this blight of a wind would die down,” said my Fiona.

I wondered if she felt the charge in the air as the wind died down and a warmth enveloped us. “This be the work of an enchantment,” said I. “This night seems to be full of gifts for you, dear one.”

“Maybe so, but they are none of them the gifts I truly wanted. I wish to see a leprechaun lass. I won’t leave this place until I do!”

Suddenly there were a green flash of light. It were the power of the wee folk at work—I knew the magic well.

“Look into the pool, my lovely. I think you’ll see what you’ve been waiting for.”

Still holding onto me hand, she cautiously peered into the still waters. A scream fit for a banshee escaped her lips when she saw her own reflection in the pool before us. She let go of me and threw her hands to her cheeks that now glowed with the magic of the wee folk. “Change me back. Change me back,” she cried with a loud voice.

“Ah, but that will be impossible, my darlin’,” said I. “I can’t be changin’ ye back now. That was your third and final wish.”