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"Entranced I heard the Banshee's wail, 
 And breathless saw the spectre pale 
 Move slow and stately down the vale." 
 
 Page 5 
 
THE 
 
 LEPRECHAUN 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES T. GALLAGHER 
 
 [Author of *• At the Gates of Noon," etc. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY 
 
 1912 
 

 copybight, 1912 
 Sherman, French & Company 
 
 CC1,A330775 
 
TO 
 
 MICHAEL J. JORDAN, ESQUIRE 
 
 PATRIOT AND SCHOLAR 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 In this age, with its over-emphasis upon ma- 
 terial success and its frenzied speed, too fast for 
 observation or meditation, it is a real public 
 service to fling open the doors of Fairyland once 
 more and summon men to play. Since "Peter 
 Pan," we all believe in fairies, — sometimes, at 
 least; and Puck, Robin Good- fellow, Oberon, 
 Brian Connors, the Leprechaun himself, are 
 jolly comrades, ready for a frolic when we will, 
 dancing across the printed folios so merrily 
 that when we lift our eyes they seem still before 
 us. Nay, the latest scientific treatise on such 
 things (Mr. W. Y. Evans' Wentz's "Fairy- 
 Faith in Celtic Countries") accumulates evi- 
 dence and arguments through five hundred 
 pages to prove that the Daoine Sidhe are a 
 veritable people, manifesting themselves to 
 clairvoyant eyes, and that the legends of the 
 Tuatha de Danann are much more history than 
 fiction. Be it so, for all I care! The great 
 thing is an illuminated imagination which 
 knows how to see the invisible, to people soli- 
 tudes, and to appreciate beauty everywhere. 
 
 Dr. Gallagher has made all who love Innisfail 
 his debtors by these vivid verses in praise of 
 Connemara. The music of fairy bells is heard 
 even in the lists of Irish place-names, each one 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 melodiously significant ; and his pictures of 
 mountain and lough and promontory, heath- 
 clad upland and green meadow, are as beauti- 
 ful as true. 
 
 They tell a tale that, when the best of the 
 fallen angels were doomed to exile on earth, 
 S. Michael, compassionate, allowed them to 
 choose their habitation where they would, with 
 all its conditions as they wished. It must be 
 an island, they agreed, with purple hills and 
 verdant valleys, crystal springs and mighty 
 rivers, gallant men and stainless women in 
 whom wit and wisdom and courage and piety 
 all combined. "Granted!" said the Archangel. 
 "Then there must be a good government too," 
 the exigent exiles went on. "Ah, be off with 
 you," the Prince of Sabaoth exclaimed: "Ire- 
 land's your place; but if you had the good 
 government too with all the rest, you wouldn't 
 be missing Heaven." 
 
 With all true sons of leme, Island of Saints 
 and Fairies, I rejoice that even this last crown- 
 ing gift seems impending above the dear coun- 
 try, no longer to be "most distressful," and 
 "The Leprechaun" may serve as guide to^ 
 Americans visiting a free Ireland, self-governed 
 and at peace. 
 
 William Harman van Allen. 
 Rectory of the Advent, Boston, 
 All Saints', 1912. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 The Connemara Highlands on the West 
 Coast of Ireland comprise an area of some 
 forty-five square miles. Connemara is domi- 
 nated by a beautiful range of mountains 
 termed "the Twelve Pins of Bennabeola." Their 
 conical shape and the beauty and variety of 
 their coloring are remarkable. Connemara 
 fronts the Atlantic Ocean and its numerous 
 bays are the largest, deepest and most beauti- 
 ful in Europe. Scattered about the district 
 are literally hundreds of lakes; some of them, 
 as Glendalough, Inagh and Ballynahinch, are 
 of considerable extent and entrancing beauty. 
 Connemara is almost entirely composed of 
 mountains and lakes, with valleys, glens, gorges 
 and passes presenting a picture sublimely 
 grand and picturesque. The Twelve Pins soar- 
 ing aloft two thousand five hundred feet are the 
 glory of Connemara. 
 
 Sir John Forbes thought nothing could ex- 
 ceed the picturesque beauty of these mountains. 
 The bare peaks of quartz, now shining in the 
 sunlight and now standing sharply in shadow 
 against the sky, form a strange and splendid 
 coterie of cloud-pointing cones, a "stupendous 
 group of Titans." 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 Writing of the district Thackeray says: 
 "The best guide book ever written cannot set 
 the view before the mind's eye. All one can do 
 is to lay down the pen and cry 'beautiful' and 
 say 'Come and see.' " 
 
 "There are few things in the world," says 
 Miss Harriet Martineau, "more delightful than 
 a drive at sunset among the mountains and 
 lakes of Connemara." 
 
 "I have travelled in Italy and Switzerland," 
 says the Earl of Zetland, "and can conscien- 
 tiously say I never looked upon more beautiful 
 scenery." 
 
 Of the effect of sunset Thackeray writes: 
 "From an eminence I caught sight not only of 
 a fine view, but of the most beautiful view I 
 ever saw in the world. The sun was about to 
 set. The country was almost in twilight. The 
 mountains were tumbled about in a thousand' 
 fantastic ways and clothed in purple. But the 
 bay — and the Reek which sweeps down to the 
 sea — and a hundred islands in it were dressed in 
 gold, purple and crimson, with the whole 
 cloudy west in a flame. Wonderful, wonder- 
 ful! To the left Croagh-Patrick is clothed 
 in the most magnificent violet color; a couple 
 of round clouds were exploding from the sum- 
 mit, that part of them toward the sea lighted 
 up with the most delicate gold and rose color. 
 In the centre is the Clare Island, of which the 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 edges were bright cobalt, whilst the middle was 
 lighted up with a brilliant scarlet tinge such 
 as I would have laughed at in a picture, never 
 having seen in Nature before, but looked at now 
 with wonder and pleasure until the hue disap- 
 peared as the sun went away." 
 
TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "Entranced I heard the Banshee's wail" . Frontis. v^ 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 "A clump of ferns above him bent" ... 9 
 **But as the Leprechaun draws near" . . , 38 \/ 
 "And like the hosts on heaven's outposts" . . 57 i/ 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 The golden waves of ebbing day 
 On lone Glen Inagh's valley lay, 
 More beautiful than words can say, 
 And Garromin and Derryclare, 
 And Inagh — loughs entrancing fair 
 Embosomed in the mountains there; 
 And all the thousand rills that come 
 Down rushing from their heather home; 
 And fountains fair and manifold 
 Were garmented in cloth of gold; 
 And shimmered in the sunset beam 
 Fair as the landscape of a dream; 
 What time, O Connemara grand! 
 I gazed on thy enchanting land. 
 
 A stranger in my native land, 
 
 On Cloonacartin hill I stand 
 
 And gaze on Inagh's silver strand; 
 
 Behind me and on either hand 
 
 Lisouter, Turk and Derryclare 
 
 Lift high their foreheads in the air, 
 
 Save for the purple heather, bare; 
 
 Though countless plants and flowerets rare 
 
 Bloom on their swelling breasts, and share 
 
 The glory of the beauty there. 
 
2 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 The shadows lengthened: down the dell 
 The mystic veil of twilight fell; 
 But yet beneath its gauzy screen 
 The lakes and dells and islands green 
 In all their beauty could be seen, 
 While ev'ry tree that reared its crest 
 Above the valley's swelling breast 
 Seemed painted on the glowing West. 
 
 On Bennabola's lofty brow 
 
 The Sunset leads his legions now, 
 
 And many a streaming banneret 
 
 And glittering spear of gold are set 
 
 On purple peak and cliff of jet 
 
 That rise fantastic, grim and strange. 
 
 Above that towering mountain range. 
 
 While down Bencullagh, fold on fold, 
 
 Her sable mantle Night unrolled 
 
 Till mountain, valley, lake and glade 
 
 Were folded in its filmy shade. 
 
 The Mistress of the Silver Key 
 Now hangs her shield on Bennlet'ry, 
 And with a gesture of command, 
 And smile that lightens sea and land. 
 She bade her maid-in-waiting bring 
 The girdle of the Mystic Ring. 
 
tHE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 And, as the beam of evening dies, 
 To ope the casket of the skies 
 And with her jewels, rare and bright, 
 Begem the garment of the night. 
 
 On Glendalough the moonbeams glance. 
 
 With silver feet its waves advance. 
 
 And on the shore like fairies dance 
 
 To music of the breath of May 
 
 Its pebbly beach is bright as day, 
 
 As musingly I take my way 
 
 And turn aloft my raptured eye 
 
 Where Ben-y-breccan rears his crest 
 
 Like some lone isle of souls distrest, 
 
 Above the Ocean of the sky. 
 
 And Oh! the joy beyond compare 
 
 To watch the cloud-ships sailing there; 
 
 Their masts and spars as gypsum fair 
 
 All canvassed with the Night-Queen's hair; 
 
 Their hulls like alabaster rare. 
 
 To see them come, to see them go 
 
 O'er heaven's Ocean all aglow. 
 
 To view them glassed in tides below 
 
 Where ev'ry star that gems the skies 
 
 Reflected in their pathway lies. 
 
 O Connemara! beauteous land. 
 
 What bliss is mine again to stand 
 
 Upon thy wild and rugged strand. 
 
4 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 And I have come across the sea 
 A thousand leagues to visit thee, 
 Beloved but little known to me. 
 And I would go ten thousand more 
 And travel deserts o'er and o'er 
 To view the beauties of thy shore. 
 For never met the human eyes 
 In any land, in any clime, 
 A panorama more sublime 
 Than here unrolled before me lies 
 And all my limning art defies ! 
 
 And now in universal calm 
 
 I halt and breathe the heather balm 
 
 Beneath the precipice of Maam, 
 
 And view its huge and awful wall. 
 
 O'er which the Inagh waterfall, 
 
 A mighty glowing silver sheet. 
 
 Leaps to the glen twelve hundred feet. 
 
 And downward rolls in foamy pride 
 
 With many a laugh and glance and glide 
 
 To feed Lough Inagh's crystal tide, 
 
 Then onward to the mighty sea — 
 
 The mountain lakes' eternity. 
 
 It was the gladsome month of May 
 And midnight was not far away, 
 That mystic hour when cronies say 
 The goblin and the ghost have sway, 
 And lead benighted folk astray, 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Less oft in malice than in play. 
 
 The air was still, the lone, profound 
 
 And awful silence, not a sound 
 
 Disturbed, save now and then the call 
 
 Of night-bird, and the waterfall. 
 
 The lakes were wrapped in slumber's pall, 
 
 The very mountains seemed to swoon. 
 
 The thousand rills to hush their tune. 
 
 And shadows crept across the moon. 
 
 The night was on the stroke of noon 
 
 When from the dell I heard up swell 
 
 More mournfully than words can tell 
 
 The Banshee's ^ weird and lonely croon. 
 
 Now loud and piercing in its flow. 
 
 And now a monotone of woe, 
 
 It rose and fell, and fell and rose, 
 
 And Echo's trumpet swelled each close. 
 
 Till ev'ry mountain glen and dell 
 
 Reverberates its ghostly swell; 
 
 And ev'ry valley of the sea 
 
 Was filled with its wild melody, — 
 
 When suddenly it died away. 
 
 And Night resumed her silent sway. 
 
 Entranced I heard the Banshee's wail. 
 And breathless saw the spectre pale 
 Move slow and stately down the vale 
 Until it vanished from my sight 
 Where Letterbrecen rears his height 
 Above Killkieran's spreading bay. 
 
6 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 And then I breathed, and I confess 
 Though fear did ne'er disturb me less 
 My thoughts went often to Recess, 
 And that dehghtful hostel there 
 My comrades from beyond the sea 
 Who doubtless now awaited me, 
 With something of anxiety. 
 Mine honest host so debonair 
 And his inviting bill of fare; 
 But these were many miles away 
 And I must wait the coming day. 
 
 Compelled on fragrant air to dine, 
 My weary limbs I now recline 
 Beneath a blasted mountain pine, 
 And as I view the withered form 
 Of that sole veteran of the storm, 
 And mused upon its fate forlorn, 
 Of ev'ry future promise shorn, 
 Yet clinging still where it was born, 
 I thought upon my Motherland, 
 And that sad eve I left her strand 
 Despairing, hopeless, and unmanned. 
 Believing all her hopes were o'er 
 And I would see her nevermore. 
 
 O Motherland! O Motherland! 
 To-night I kneel upon thy strand 
 And fervent kiss thy silver sand. 
 To-night I clasp thy tender hand, 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 And gaze into those azure eyes 
 
 That haunted me 'neath alien skies, 
 
 And woke my ceaseless tears and sighs; 
 
 To-night I ask thee to forget, 
 
 And Oh! forgiveness, too, I crave 
 
 If in a moment of regret 
 
 My sun of hope had seemed to set 
 
 As rolled between us Ocean's wave ; 
 
 For, mother of the weary heart! 
 
 'Twas more than death from thee to part; 
 
 And though the great land of the free 
 
 A kindly welcome gave to me, 
 
 My heart and soul were wrapped in thee. 
 
 O Spirit of the mighty free, 
 America! all hail to thee 
 And thy inspired Democracy! 
 At whose alchemic touch sublime 
 The human waifs of ev'ry clime 
 The monarch-hating patriot. 
 Compelled to share the exile's lot, 
 Transmuted art to gold as pure 
 In civic virtue, and as sure 
 To keep thy Freedom's ark secure 
 As any of the ancient line 
 Who drank thy Declaration Wine 
 And knelt in worship at thy shrine. 
 
8 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 But hark! that awful thunder crash, 
 
 And see! that lance of lightning flash, 
 
 Ben-dowglass to its base is riven. 
 
 And fear seems on the face of heaven. 
 
 A monster mad the tempest roars ; 
 
 The startled sky a deluge pours; 
 
 The coursers of the lake arise, 
 
 Their white manes toss unto the skies. 
 
 And frenzied gallop to the shore, 
 
 Where countless mountain-torrents pour 
 
 Their sullen floods with demon-roar. 
 
 While o'er that elemental fight 
 
 The banner of Plutonian Night 
 
 Rolled downward from the yawning height 
 
 And curtained all from human sight 
 
 Save where the lightning's broad-sword made 
 
 A fissure in its sable shade, 
 
 And to my searching eyes displayed 
 
 A tiny form in garb arrayed 
 
 I never saw on man or maid 
 
 Or child in town or mountain glade. 
 
 A calm, mysterious and profound. 
 Now fell on everything around. 
 And with the band of Silence bound 
 The wounds of frenzied nature's sound, 
 While cautiously, with silence shod, 
 I moved along the heather sod 
 To nearer view this mountain god. 
 
'A clump of trees above him bent 
 To make for him a working tent." 
 
 Page 9 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 9 
 
 To me he seemed a weeny man 
 
 Who lived ere Time his flight began; 
 
 Though Time must know his dwelling place 
 
 Or met him somewhere in the race, 
 
 And stayed him long enough to trace 
 
 A million wrinkles in his face. 
 
 An ancient hat of flaming red 
 
 In rakish fashion crowned his head; 
 
 It tapered back and cocked before 
 
 Belike the style the Frenchmen wore 
 
 On fields of fame in days of yore. 
 
 His coat was antiquated, too, 
 
 And made of cloth of greenish hue; 
 
 A lighter shade the collar faced 
 
 And made a girdle for his waist 
 
 Which one large silver buckle braced. 
 
 While moon-like buttons half a score 
 
 (There may have been a dozen more) 
 
 The garment fastened down before. 
 
 He sat upon a weeshy stool 
 Beside a sparkling fountain pool 
 That bubbled musically sweet 
 Beneath his silver-slippered feet 
 Bedecked with golden buckles neat. 
 A clump of ferns above him bent. 
 The cannawaun ^ assistance lent 
 To make for him a working tent. 
 The deeshy ^ shoe upon his knee 
 He hammered oft and constantly, 
 
10 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 And as the hammer rose and fell 
 To music of the mystic spell, 
 The tiny slipper grew and grew 
 Of moonlight made, and midnight dew, 
 Until it seemed to me complete 
 And I believed the moment meet 
 The Leprechaun * of fame to greet ; 
 So at the very moment when 
 The hammer would descend again 
 I seized the mountain manikin. 
 
 He did not move or speak or sigh, 
 
 But fixed on me his fiery eye 
 
 Until I feared that I must fly. 
 
 His face contracted to a grin, 
 
 His nose descended to his chin, 
 
 He looked the fatherhood of sin. 
 
 "And now, my Cappain Dearg," ^ I said, 
 
 "It looks as if I'd caught you dead. 
 
 And you must stay with me alway 
 
 Unless a mighty price you pay; 
 
 For I have sought you many a day. 
 
 Know that I'm Irish born and bred." 
 
 He smiled and answered, "I'm alive, 
 
 And if you deem you can derive 
 
 A fortune from your little prize, 
 
 Look for the green within my eyes." 
 
 "I know that you are Irish bred 
 
 And that to Yankee-land you fled. 
 
 And there the simple natives bled. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 11 
 
 Until your cunning hands were red. 
 The Irish to the Yankee wed 
 Can beat the Jew at any game 
 And any sleeveen ^ trick can frame ; 
 But give your purpose here a name?" 
 
 "My little chap, you're mighty bold, 
 But soon my message will be told. 
 I came to get the crock of gold 
 That you are guarding in this hold. 
 Three nights I dreamt that it is hid 
 In yonder stony pyramid. 
 Three nights I saw in vision clear 
 You come and count this golden gear; 
 Produce it or I'll pinch your ear. 
 This time you cannot play the cheat, 
 Be quick, be civil, and discreet ; 
 The bird of day is winging fleet 
 And soon shall light in this retreat. 
 And many things I must be told 
 Ere I release you from my hold. 
 So, Leprechaun, give up your gold." 
 
 And now the little fellow laughed. 
 And smacked his lips as if he'd quaffed 
 From lily's cup ambrosial draught. 
 He gazed on me with merry eye 
 While thus he cackled his reply. 
 "I find you know the game of touch. 
 You certainly don't want for much; 
 
la THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 But I suppose I'm in your clutch. 
 'Tis gold go leor to you I'll give, 
 A launah wallah '^ ev'ry day 
 Till time and tide shall pass away. 
 And so much gold you shall receive, 
 In golden castles you can live; 
 On golden porridge you can dine, 
 Or golden beef with golden wine 
 Served up with golden maids divine. 
 
 "And if for other things you sigh, 
 
 In golden airships you can fly 
 
 To golden sea or golden sky. 
 
 Or where the golden rainbows lie. 
 
 On golden pinions you may sail 
 
 The golden vales of Innisfail; 
 
 Or with the Sheogs ride the gale 
 
 And hear each golden fairy tale. 
 
 Or if you'd rather linger here 
 
 'Mid scenes you seem to love so dear, 
 
 A golden palace I will rear 
 
 That never had on earth a peer. 
 
 On yonder lake in golden boat 
 
 On golden wavelets you can float 
 
 Amid the gleams of golden dreams. 
 
 And be a monarch and a poet. 
 
 While fairy maids — a million motes — 
 
 With golden harps and golden throats 
 
 Will sing to you love's golden notes. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 13 
 
 To you I'll give my lucky purse, 
 Its store you'll never need to nurse, 
 Though gold is seldom but a curse 
 And always makes the wicked worse. 
 
 "But lo ! the Herald of the Dawn 
 On tip-toe stands on Carrickbawn, 
 And beckons me to come away 
 To greet the messenger of Day 
 That hither comes in bright array. 
 And I must be in Knockna-shee 
 Ere sunlight glimmers on the lea. 
 And bring these slippers to the Queen. 
 In royal pageantry and sheen 
 The fairy hosts to-day are seen 
 In Beltan dance upon the green, 
 And knighthood feats upon the plain. 
 Beneath the waters of Leenane. 
 
 "Oh, let me go, or with me fly 
 
 Where Joy and Beauty never die, 
 
 Where Summer with eternal smile 
 
 Flings fruits and flow'rs in endless showers 
 
 On mountain, meadow, lake and isle. 
 
 And Sorrow's shadow never lowers. 
 
 Where castles lift their crystal walls 
 
 By golden streams and waterfalls 
 
 That ever sing sweet madrigals. 
 
 While high above, the star-gemmed blue 
 
 With golden sunshine streaming through, 
 
14 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Will ever greet your raptured view. 
 Oh, why should mortal linger here 
 And pain and death and torture fear 
 With such a paradise anear? 
 His life is but a fleeting day, 
 And be it sad or be it gay, 
 He basks a moment in its ray ; 
 Or be it twilight, dusk or bright, 
 Ere he has sampled one delight 
 The curtain falls, and it is night. 
 
 "I'll give to thee this magic key, 
 And thou canst lead or follow me; 
 Or take this rainbow nurtured rod 
 And be at once a fairy god 
 With millions waiting on your nod. 
 And wheresoe'er you wave the wand 
 On mountain, meadow, lake or strand 
 At once shall rise a palace grand. 
 Oh ! come with me a king to be 
 For ever in the land of Shee." 
 
 Come away, come away, come away with me 
 To the land of Joy by the azure sea ! 
 
 Oh, come and sip 
 
 From the lily's lip 
 The golden dews of the land of Shee; 
 
 While the fairies dance 
 
 In the pale moon's glance 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 15 
 
 Their midnight trance on the green-ringed lea. 
 On the silver marge of the azure sea, 
 Where the shade of sorrow can never be, 
 Come away, come away, come away with me. 
 
 Come away, come away, come away with me 
 To the land of Youth by the azure sea! 
 
 Where the faintest breath 
 
 Of the breeze of death 
 Has never blown on a bud or tree; 
 
 And the birds of Spring 
 
 Forever sing 
 On a tireless wing in the merriest glee. 
 Oh, the golden groves by the azure sea ! 
 Where the Summer of Love shall ever be. 
 Come away, come away, come away with me. 
 
 "Oh, wizard of the wise," I said, 
 
 "You wake strange longings in my head, 
 
 And rouse new terrors of the dead. 
 
 I ever loved the young and fair. 
 
 The beautiful, the sweet and rare. 
 
 And pined companionship to share. 
 
 Ambition, mother of all care. 
 
 Has ever pointed to her stair. 
 
 And fired my soul to know and dare 
 
 The secrets of the earth and air; 
 
 But Fate my soaring wings clipped bare. 
 
 And have I loved my native land 
 
16 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Since first my infant feet could stand 
 Upon her sweet and verdant strand. 
 And late I came across the main 
 A greater knowledge to obtain 
 Of every mountain, glen and plain 
 That lies within her grand domain, 
 To trace the fountains of her bane 
 And aid her glory to regain. 
 I'll go with thee, Moy Mell,^ to see 
 Its fairy hosts and pageantry, 
 If thou wilt promise and agree 
 To show these wondrous wilds to me 
 From purple peak to azure sea. 
 And tell their magic mystery." 
 
 *' 'Tis done," the Leprechaun replied, 
 
 "I'll be your mentor and your guide. 
 
 While in green Erin you abide. 
 
 Or with the 'Dina Magh' ^ reside. 
 
 But shall we fly or run or ride?" 
 
 I, laughing, said, "Give me a steed, 
 
 I like the Connemara breed. 
 
 They're small and sound and they can bound 
 
 From crag to crag with ease and speed. 
 
 And if you fall you're near the ground, 
 
 As in my youth I often found. 
 
 But how can you supply our need.? 
 
 There's not a groom or stable-room 
 
 I understand this side of Tuam ; 
 
 They grow not here like heather bloom." 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 17 
 
 "Now don't get gay with me," he said, 
 "Or pufF your chest, or swell your head. 
 You little know how ponies grow 
 When science is to magic wed. 
 I have the seed of one fine breed 
 That grows, whenever I have need, 
 Into a grand and trusty steed. 
 And never wants a drink or feed. 
 And can the winds of March outspeed." 
 Then from his breast he took a twig, 
 A wooden toothpick seemed as big. 
 And placed it in my dexter hand 
 And lightly touched it with his wand. 
 And then he placed upon my head 
 An ancient cap of flaming red. 
 And these strange words of magic said: 
 "Yarrow and rue 
 
 And red cap too.; 
 
 Be ever ready 
 
 Your work to do." 
 And then he counted three times three 
 And gave another twig to me ; 
 Then uttered loud a sharp command. 
 Two milk-white steeds beside us stand. 
 "Mount ! mount ! Sir Seamus, mount and ride," 
 He said, and galloped by my side. 
 
 Away, away, away we speed 
 
 O'er mountain, valley, lake and mead. 
 
18 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Till on the brow of Ben-alede 
 
 He sudden reins his bounding steed, 
 
 And beckons me to halt and heed. 
 
 "And now," he said, "behold a sight 
 
 That seldom is to mortal given, 
 
 A panorama of delight 
 
 Unmatched beneath the dome of heaven. 
 
 Look North or South or East or West, 
 
 O'er countless lakes to azure sea, 
 
 From deepest glen to mountain crest. 
 
 And wilt thou not with me attest 
 
 That Connemara is most blest 
 
 With beauty and sublimity? 
 
 But wait until the morning ray 
 
 Transmute to gold its garments gray, 
 
 And all the angel hosts of light 
 
 Lift up the murky veil of night 
 
 From flowery vale and heath-robed height. 
 
 And give their faces to the day 
 
 In all their grace and majesty.' 
 
 Then shalt thou see the fairest sight 
 
 God ever made for man's delight. 
 
 And yet though high its glories swell 
 
 'Tis but a shadow of Moy Mell. 
 
 "The toilers of the Dawn have ceased: 
 And now thine eyes a moment feast 
 Upon the gateway of the East, 
 Where swift the legions of the day 
 In bright and beautiful array 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 19 
 
 Pour out along the golden way 
 
 Their crimson banners streaming gay, 
 
 Their burnished lances flashing high 
 
 A flaming fire upon the sky, 
 
 As up the cloudy forts they hie 
 
 To battle with the Night and die. 
 
 And hark! the Lark's imperial song. 
 
 Like bugle's breathing, floats along 
 
 The ramparts where the fighters throng 
 
 While cloud on cloud, and mist on mist, 
 
 Of crimson, gold and amethyst, 
 
 Upon a loom of light and gloom 
 
 A gorgeous coronet have spun 
 
 To deck the forehead of the Sun, 
 
 That now in majesty doth rise 
 
 To claim dominion of the skies. 
 
 Where purple-couched Night's monarch lies. 
 
 "0 beauteous are the days of Spring 
 When Nature is awakening. 
 And like a child by dreams beguiled 
 Flings off^ its cradle covering 
 And lifts its head from pillowed bed 
 To list the birds or fairies sing 
 While yet asleep or slumbering. 
 And glorious are the Summer days 
 When 'neath the sun's caressing rays 
 The fields in flowery splendor blaze 
 And snow-white hedges scent the ways, 
 And bird and bee and glancing fay 
 
20 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 In valley green or old boreen 
 Forever wing and sing and play 
 All the length of a summer day. 
 
 "But now the Spring is in its prime 
 
 In this enchanting land and clime, 
 
 Or is it early Summer time? 
 
 But whether spring or summer season 
 
 We shall not question now or reason, 
 
 For I did promise and agree 
 
 To show this wondrous land to thee. 
 
 And tell, as simple as I can. 
 
 What's little known to mortal man, — 
 
 The power, the majesty, the plan 
 
 Of Nature's magic mystery. 
 
 "But yesterday in tranced death 
 Was tree and flower and grass and heath 
 Throughout this land from strand to strand, 
 From mountain top to glen beneath. 
 
 "To-day Spring walks across the land 
 
 And waves aloft her magic wand 
 
 And whispers, breathing sweet and bland, 
 
 To mother earth; 
 And lo ! from spreading plain to strand 
 
 All things have birth. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 21 
 
 "The valleys weave their primrose crest, 
 
 The hills enrobe in verdant vest, 
 
 The mountains heave their snow-clad breast 
 
 And give to light 
 The heather and the violet guest 
 
 Upon their height. 
 
 "The dainty larch with gladness thrills 
 Beside a thousand dancing rills ; 
 The wild thyme every dingle fills 
 
 With fragrant wine, 
 And by the sea, on lone sand hills, 
 
 Weird pansies twine. 
 
 "The cuckoo's chants the woods awake, 
 The blackbirds' chorus floods the brake. 
 The thrushes all the thickets shake 
 
 With breath of song; 
 The larks divinest music make 
 
 Heaven's arch along. 
 
 "And see ! the living blue o'erhead 
 With flocks of sun-kissed clouds bespread 
 Resounding ever to the tread 
 
 Of angel feet; 
 On all doth benediction shed 
 
 Divinely sweet. 
 
2^ THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 "Now westward turn thy searching eyes 
 
 Where Achill ^^ in the Ocean lies, 
 
 A wondrous island paradise 
 
 By ocean breezes ever fanned. 
 
 Its spreading wealth of silver strand 
 
 And crystal wave and velvet sand 
 
 No rival has in any land. 
 
 And lo! where Achill lifts his head 
 
 Above his ocean-guarded bed 
 
 What gorgeous glory is outspread! 
 
 And nearer, on the western shore 
 
 Where rugged Croughan and Slievemore 
 
 Their haughty foreheads, high and bare, 
 
 Above the clouds in grandeur rear, 
 
 Behold a scene surpassing fair. 
 
 Now turn thy wonder-seeking eyes 
 
 Where Minnaun's awful cliffs arise 
 
 Into the bosom of the skies 
 
 And gleam, like vast cathedral aisles. 
 
 Above a sea that seldom smiles. 
 
 And lo ! the goblin-haunted caves. 
 
 Carved by the fingers of the waves. 
 
 Where Lir Mananan ever .raves ; 
 
 And Croughan cliff without a peer 
 
 In all this western hemisphere. 
 
 "Now let thy seeking glances fall 
 Where, like a mighty seneschal, 
 Croagh Patrick stands sublimely tall 
 Beside Clew's everlasting sea. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 23 
 
 The guardian of its liberty. 
 How proudly heaves his swelling breast 
 In robes of royal purple drest, 
 And lo! the gleaming coronet 
 That now upon his brow is set 
 Of crimson, gold and amethyst, 
 New woven in the loom of mist 
 And by the lips of Morning kissed. 
 Beneath the Reek the bay of Clew 
 Unrolls her heaving breast to view, 
 And never lay a summer ray 
 Upon a rarer, fairer bay. 
 Three hundred isles her waves begem. 
 And many castles old and grim 
 Look frowning on her pulsing tide 
 From island fair and mountain side. 
 For here in ancient pomp and pride 
 The mistress of the dauntless sail, 
 Umhaile's Queen, proud Granuale, 
 Ruled her dominion far and wide. 
 And Erin's heartless foes defied. 
 
 "Now view the 'monarch bald,' Muilrea, 
 High towering o'er Killery bay 
 In splendid grace and majesty; 
 And lo ! the tall and rugged form 
 Of grand and beautiful Bengorm, 
 Compellers of the cloud and storm ! 
 And now across the harbor look 
 Where open lies sublime Salruck, 
 
24 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 The fairest page in Nature's book. 
 Now turn thine eyes where beauty lies 
 As sweetly fair and grandly rare 
 As any 'neath the Irish skies, 
 And let them feast a little while 
 Upon the splendor of Renvyle, 
 And Delphi fair and Letterfrack, 
 And all that gorgeous sunset track 
 That winds along the western shore 
 From Erris head to lake Kylemore, — 
 To see is ever to adore. 
 
 "Look northward now where glories throng 
 
 Around the Abbey-church of Cong, 
 
 The home of art and culture long. 
 
 The abbey's pride is passed away, 
 
 The ivy clasps its ruin gray 
 
 As if to shield it from decay. 
 
 Yet in each sculptured door and aisle 
 
 And window of the sacred pile 
 
 Are many traces of its fame 
 
 Before the rude despoiler came 
 
 And gave its grandeur to the flame. 
 
 "And now behold the dream and pride 
 
 Of sculptor-artist glorified, 
 
 The ancient abbey of Knockmoy,^^ 
 
 Three thousand years cannot destroy. 
 
 Its history is lost in night 
 
 But in its day, as legends say, 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 25 
 
 It was a place of joy and light. 
 About it scribes have battles fought 
 And many wild delusions taught, 
 But never one the meaning caught. 
 I'll give to thee the mystic key 
 That shall unlock the mystery. 
 Long, long before the Christian chime 
 Pealed through the valleys of this clime, 
 And long before the gladsome time 
 When forests were the temples free, 
 The sunburst, the divinity. 
 To whom the people bent the knee. 
 The Dannan priests that temple raised. 
 And in it mighty Isis praised. 
 Its frescoes were from Egypt brought 
 And for Apollo's temple wrought 
 By artists of sublimest thought. 
 Though ages long the Christian rite 
 Was here expounded day and night 
 By many a good and learned wight. 
 
 "And now it is my final task 
 To show you Corrib and Lough Mask. 
 Oh, pray no further questions ask ! 
 Yes, yonder lies MoycuUen plain 
 Where Orbsen's blood was shed in vain, 
 And Ocean's mighty god was slain. 
 And eastward is Moytura spread. 
 The ancient plain of heroes slain. 
 
26 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Knockmagh ^^ above it lifts his head, 
 
 The tomb of great Formorian dead. 
 
 Ah, oft in days of martial might 
 
 I watched the billows of the fight 
 
 Roll downward from that mountain height. 
 
 And oft I saw the thrilling sight, 
 
 CuhuUen with his spear of light 
 
 And battle-shield like sunburst bright 
 
 Rush to the mountain-shaking fight. 
 
 And like a bolt of lightning smite. 
 
 Here mighty Finn his heroes led, 
 
 Here the immortal Finea bled, 
 
 Till all the plain was piled with dead 
 
 And Mask and Corrib's flood ran red. 
 
 "The days of mighty deeds are o'er 
 And fled is glory evermore 
 From Innisfail's resounding shore; 
 Yet you shall see upon this lea 
 To-morrow night a pageantry 
 That never was on land or sea 
 For any king of history 
 That never mortal eye beheld 
 Since Ossian in the days of eld 
 Fought on the king of Virtue's plain 
 And Fomor of the blows was slain. 
 For then Finvarra holds his court 
 And here his legions shall resort 
 For martial feats and knightly sport. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 27 
 
 And here, to honor him, shall be 
 
 The beauty and the chivalry 
 
 Of all the kingdoms of the Shee. 
 
 But see! the eyelid of the Night 
 
 Is lifting from the eye of light, 
 
 And soon shall blaze the morning bright. 
 
 We must away before its ray 
 
 Is gleaming on Killery bay. 
 
 Away! away! away with me 
 
 To Tir Fa-Ton ^^ the land of Shee." 
 
 "Tell me, tell me, I would know 
 
 Ere from Corrib's shore we go 
 
 Something of the story 
 
 Of yonder ruin hoary, 
 
 Even in decay 
 
 Reflecting still a ray 
 
 Of its olden, golden Egyptian glory." 
 
 "Kilfursa ^^ is its name 
 
 And it's known to Christian fame. 
 
 But its chiefest golden glory 
 
 Is a legendary story 
 
 Of a monk and singing bird 
 
 In the garden once he heard 
 
 When at vespers he was praying; 
 
 And if you're very good. 
 
 And myself am in the mood, 
 
 I'll tell the tale as o'er the hills we're straying." 
 
28 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 THE SONG-BIRD OF KILFURSA 
 
 Once on a time, in gladsome May, 
 A holy monk, at dawn of day. 
 Came to Kilfursa cliurch to pray. 
 
 Within the Convent garden fair. 
 
 Amid the breathing roses there. 
 
 He kneeled him down in silent prayer. 
 
 No roseleaf in the garden stirred. 
 While near him sang a beauteous bird 
 The sweetest song he ever heard. 
 
 The holy monk rose from his knee 
 To hear the singer in the tree 
 Pour out its charming melody. 
 
 From rose to rose, from spray to spray, 
 The singer always flew away. 
 And ever sang a sweeter lay. 
 
 From tree to tree, in ecstasy. 
 The singing bird to hear and see 
 The friar followed constantly. 
 
 From grove to grove, a summer day, 
 The song-bird flew and sang its lay; 
 The holy monk went forth alway. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 29 
 
 At last, as day began to wane, 
 
 He ceased to chase the witching strain 
 
 And to the Convent turned again. 
 
 In robes of gorgeous glory dressed 
 The sunset lingered in the West 
 While toward Kilfursa church he pressed. 
 
 Now slowly fades the glowing light, 
 And falls the mantle of the night 
 On convent wall and garden bright. 
 
 Once more within the garden fair 
 The holy monk has kneeled in prayer, 
 But lo! there are no roses there. 
 
 Surprised, he leaves the wonted place, 
 And wanders round the garden space 
 The once familiar things to trace. 
 
 But strange is everything he sees; 
 Unknown the brothers on their knees; 
 Unheard the vesper harmonies. 
 
 He stands before a chair of stone — 
 A garden seat to him unknown. 
 Though in the convent he had grown. 
 
 He looks across the garden wide 
 That ever was his joy and pride; 
 Strange trees arise on either side. 
 
30 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 He views the earth and jeweled sky. 
 Himself surveys with inward eye, 
 Till from his soul bursts forth the cry: 
 
 "O blessed God! what can it be. 
 What grievous fault or sin in me 
 Has wrought this wondrous mystery?'* 
 
 He paused, and sorrow's sword and shame 
 And anguish quivered in his frame. 
 As down the walk a brother came. 
 
 "O brother can you tell to me 
 The cause of all the change I see 
 Since morning, in our monastery?" 
 
 "There is no change," the monk replied, 
 "It is the same this eventide 
 As when the morning kissed its side. 
 
 "In all the sixty years I'm here 
 There is no change that doth appear;" 
 And while he spoke he drew more near. 
 
 "But strange thy question I avow. 
 Thy garb I know, but who art thou; 
 I never saw thy face till now." 
 
 The holy friar told his name. 
 And how the little song-bird came 
 And fired his soul with sacred flame. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 31 
 
 And how the singer flew away 
 And how he followed all the day 
 To listen to the angel-lay. 
 
 The brother gravely bowed his head 
 As slow and solemnly he said, 
 "O holy monk, we thought thee dead.'* 
 
 "Two hundred years ago, to-day, 
 Tradition says thou didst away; 
 What fate was thine no records say. 
 
 "But never did a morning pass 
 (Though many are our dead, alas!) 
 And thou unprayed for in our Mass." 
 
 "O strange the story that I hear. 
 But shrive and bless me, brother dear, 
 For my departing hour is near." 
 
 A glory brighter than the cloud 
 That makes the dying' Sungod's shroud 
 Fell o'er the monks in penance bowed. 
 
 "Now God be praised!" the brother cried; 
 "And Christ his son," the monk replied ; 
 "Farewell to thee!" he said, and died. 
 
 Now turn we from, Lough Corrib ^^ shore 
 And mount the wild "Pass of the Boar" 
 Where mountain floods their torrents pour. 
 
S2 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 As winds of March our white steeds fly 
 O'er precipice and headland high 
 Where wheehng Curlews pipe their cry, 
 And now along the mountain side 
 O'er yawning glen and valley wide 
 Like winter hurricane we ride. 
 
 Ah! would I had the power to trace 
 
 The glowing beauty of each place — 
 
 The purple hills, the primrose dells, 
 
 The glancing lakes and verdant fells. 
 
 The silver streams and waterfall, 
 
 The variegated marble walls 
 
 That rise successive on my sight, 
 
 As through that valley of delight 
 
 We sped as speeds the morning light. 
 
 For seldom human eye hath seen 
 
 A grander panoramic scene 
 
 Than lies Maam Turk's huge peaks between. 
 
 O thou that holdst the wand of rhyme, 
 
 Presiding Genius of the clime ! 
 
 If my request be not a crime 
 
 Oh, wilt thou grant the power to me 
 
 The Muses granted graciously 
 
 To many bards of Arcady ! 
 
 That I might paint, however faint, 
 
 (For those who never heard thy story 
 
 Or saw thee, peerless Connemara !) 
 
 A picture of the wordless glory, 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 33 
 
 The awe-inspiring majesty, 
 
 The beauty and sublimity 
 
 Of chasm, cliff and promontory, 
 
 Flung here in wonderful profusion. 
 
 In awful and sublime confusion. 
 
 By giants and titans at creation, 
 
 To gleam in splendid isolation 
 
 Beside the everlasting ocean, 
 
 And be, what Nature's God designed, 
 
 A pleasure place for all mankind. 
 
 Ah, answerless is my appeal. 
 
 And yet within my soul I feel 
 
 A thrill of inspiration steal 
 
 To fire my drooping thought and zeal. 
 
 Away, away o'er lake and fen 
 
 And singing stream and laughing lin, 
 
 We ride adown Nafooey glen. 
 
 We reach the waterfall and then 
 
 We wheel around the Nimmo inn 
 
 Where sleep my friends. But hark! the shout 
 
 That from the dells and dales about 
 
 In awful suddenness leaps out. 
 
 As from an army put to rout 
 
 Which turns and gains the lost redoubt 
 
 Upswells a fierce, exultant shout; 
 
 So in that mountain-shaking shout 
 
 Ten thousand yelling voices blend 
 
 In one long roar that seems to rend 
 
34 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 The valley wide, from end to end. 
 Like thunder wave it rolls on high, 
 The mountain echoes swell the cry, 
 And in a thousand tones reply, 
 Until it melts o'er distant hills 
 In sighing sharps and flats and trills 
 As thunder-cloud in rain distils. 
 
 I looked into the fairy's eye 
 
 And there I plainly could descry 
 
 The meaning of the frightful din 
 
 That broke around that mountain inn, 
 
 Bealanabrack's fair vale within; 
 
 But never dreamt the fay could share 
 
 The knowledge that my friends were there 
 
 Awaiting me — some nigh despair. 
 
 Nor that the cunning little elf 
 
 Knew more about them than myself 
 
 And planned the rumpus all himself. 
 
 He later told me, with a grin, 
 
 That ere we left MoycuUen fen 
 
 He sent before an army corps 
 
 Of genial spirits to the inn 
 
 To scare the women, maul the men, 
 
 And drink their whisky, wine and gin. 
 
 They had a jolly time, he said. 
 
 And looked upon the wine while red; 
 
 But none of your good friends are dead. 
 
 They only pulled the men from bed 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 35 
 
 And bumped and thumped each drowsy head, 
 And pinched and wrenched the noses red, 
 And then they dragged them round the floor 
 And knocked their shins against the door. 
 Oh, it was sport to hear them roar. 
 And when the sleepers tried to rise 
 And vent their terror in vain cries, 
 They took their hose and underclothes 
 And tightly bandaged mouth and nose 
 To music of a thousand blows. 
 
 And while the men bewail their woe 
 
 And tremble at their unseen foe. 
 
 How does it with the women go? 
 
 The ladies feel from head to heel 
 
 A something fearsome and unreal 
 
 Along their limbs and bodies steal 
 
 That wriggles like a snake or eel. 
 
 They try to cry and pray. They kneel 
 
 In mute but eloquent appeal; 
 
 While on them rains a shower of clips. 
 
 And ears and lips and finger tips 
 
 Are pinched and clinched with fairy grips. 
 
 And now another terror shows 
 
 And like a stream of horror flows 
 
 Across the landscape of their woes. 
 
 They see their toes take up their hose 
 
 And glide and waltz like belles and beaux 
 
 Around the room, in crimson rows. 
 
36 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 They see their wigs dance Irish jigs 
 With other trifles of their rigs 
 Upon their dentist-builded brigs ; 
 Their powder puffs and painting stuffs 
 In low-cut robes of pinks and buffs 
 Waltz with their collars and their cuffs. 
 And now they see, O mystery! 
 Their willow plumes wave o'er the tombs 
 Of ancient dead in abbey glooms ; 
 While mourners kneel and bells outpeal 
 And keeners keen their piercing wail — 
 The ancient death-song of the Gael. 
 
 And now the fairies change the sport, 
 
 And to a cunning trick resort 
 
 They often play both night and day 
 
 When Irish lads the lassies court. 
 
 Oh, many a sweet and thrilling kiss 
 
 Is robbed of all its honeyed bliss 
 
 By such a simple ruse as this. 
 
 They take the pollen of a rose 
 
 That only in the moonlight grows 
 
 And like a golden fire-fly glows ; 
 
 They grind it up in a buttercup 
 
 And blow it into every nose. 
 
 Oh! to see them sneeze, and gasp and wheeze, 
 
 Would make you laugh on the gallows trees, 
 
 While the fairies buzz like a swarm of bees. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 37 
 
 The fairies now had their fill of play, 
 
 And the magic powder they fan away 
 
 With a breeze as sweet as the new-mown hay. 
 
 But ere the mountain inn they leave 
 
 Another web of fun they weave. 
 
 They call the sprites of earth and air 
 
 From Cdnnemara everywhere 
 
 And make them shout the inn about 
 
 To give the guests a final scare. 
 
 Away, away again we speed 
 
 O'er lake and brake, and moor and mead, 
 
 The Leprechaun now in the lead. 
 
 On Corrib shore we ride again. 
 
 We near the castle of the Hen,^^ 
 
 When lo ! a host of little men 
 
 No bigger than a bowling pin 
 
 Spring out about that castle stout 
 
 And throng along its ivied walls 
 
 And parapets and pillared halls. 
 
 As if they answer bugle calls. 
 
 In ancient regimentals drest, 
 
 With spear in hand and shield on breast. 
 
 And on each head a helmet red 
 
 Surmounted by a crimson crest. 
 
 They stand an army vast at rest. 
 
 A moment's space I stay my race 
 And gaze in wonder at the place. 
 The Leprechaun rides on apace. 
 
38 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 A bugle note swells from the moat 
 And loud and clear, afar and near, 
 Tells spearman bold and halberdier 
 The order of the brigadier. 
 And now the leading chiefs appear, 
 And banners wave and streamers float, 
 And trumpets blare their brazen throat. 
 And lo! in beautiful array 
 And brilliant as a new-bom day, 
 That army vast to war-pipes blast 
 Moves out across the meadows gay 
 And halts as if to bar his way; 
 But as the Leprechaun draws near. 
 Each soldier lifts his gleaming spear 
 And gives him welcome with a cheer. 
 
 And now our bounding steeds we rein 
 
 Upon the margin of the main — 
 
 The mountain-guarded bay Leenane. 
 
 Wrapped in the morning's golden ray 
 
 All bright and beautiful it lay. 
 
 An ocean-child in cradle gray. 
 
 Rocked by the crooning winds of May. 
 
 A fisher fleet with flowing sheet 
 
 Scarce breaks the rest upon its breast 
 
 Where birds of snow sail to and fro. 
 
 And sleeps the shade of Turk's proud crest. 
 

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 GO 
 
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 S biO 
 
 
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THE LEPRECHAUN 39 
 
 Oh, it was beautiful to see 
 
 The shine and shade like gems inlaid 
 
 Upon the face of that calm sea. 
 
 The Leprechaun upon it gazed 
 
 And then aloft his wand he raised 
 
 And gave a short and sharp command 
 
 I failed to hear or understand, 
 
 And lo! it bloomed a fairyland. 
 
 "I must away," the fairy said, 
 
 "But one will come to you instead 
 
 In robes official, green and red. 
 
 To entertain you while you go 
 
 Through Timanoge ^'^ and Tirnambeo,^^ 
 
 Lands few are privileged to know. 
 
 He is appointed by the state 
 
 To guide you and to regulate 
 
 Your progress, and officiate 
 
 On all occasions, small or great, 
 
 In hall of Prince or Potentate 
 
 Until before the King and Queen 
 
 In all their majesty and sheen 
 
 And knights and maidens fair, you stand 
 
 Within the court of Fairyland. 
 
 "I must away before a ray 
 
 Of morning ripens into day. 
 
 And bring these slippers to the queen. 
 
 Of dew-drops made and moonlight sheen; 
 
 To-day she wears them on the green. 
 
40 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 But you must wait a little while 
 
 Until the rays of morning smile 
 
 On yonder crystal lake and aisle; 
 
 Then you shall see what you shall see, — 
 
 A model of propriety, 
 
 What all ambassadors should be. 
 
 But while you wait the guide and day 
 
 A host of air will pass this way 
 
 And try to lure you or dismay; 
 
 But safe thou art, and safe shalt be. 
 
 If thou wilt list the words of me 
 
 And heed the signs I give to thee. 
 
 "Look, where yon mountain lifts his crest 
 
 In robes of purple heather drest. 
 
 Save on its breast the golden vest. 
 
 Behold how beautiful it beams. 
 
 And lo ! the thousand glancing streams 
 
 That dancing laugh adown its side 
 
 And 'neath the bending rose-trees glide 
 
 Until they kiss yon crystal tide. 
 
 Now hearken ! when the golden spear 
 
 Of Day's imperial lord appear 
 
 Upon the breast of that tall crest. 
 
 Keep thou thy watchful eye anear ; 
 
 And where the shadows and the shine 
 
 Come trooping down with trailing gown 
 
 Along the streamlets' gleaming line, 
 
 Still let thine eye glance ever nigh. 
 
 And thou shalt spy — what thou shalt spy! 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 41 
 
 But when the Sunshine clasps the Shade 
 Beneath the beryl colonnade 
 In yonder amethystine glade, 
 You shall behold a door of gold 
 From out a palace white unfold. 
 And you shall see what you shall see, 
 The model of propriety, 
 Which your ambassador shall be. 
 So, fare thee well; I must be gone. 
 But we shall meet in Tir-Fa-Tonn." 
 
 I cannot tell what next befell, 
 
 For round about the gleaming dell 
 
 A golden mist-like curtain fell; 
 
 Nor can I trace the form or face 
 
 Of any of the spirit race 
 
 That bade me welcome to the place; 
 
 But maidens fair seemed everywhere, 
 
 And golden hair and arms all bare. 
 
 Like sunbeams glanced and danced in air; 
 
 And high above a terraced wall 
 
 Bedecked with flowers and statues tall 
 
 And down which streamed a waterfall 
 
 A silver cloud hung in the air. 
 
 Distilling liquid music rare 
 
 On ev'ry list'ning floweret there: 
 
 While from a daisy-dappled dell 
 
 Where softly-sweet a streamlet fell 
 
 I heard this merry song upswell: 
 
4a THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Morning or evening. 
 Noon-time or night. 
 When the sun is beaming 
 Or the moon is bright; 
 Where the grasses tremble 
 In the dew-drops' glow. 
 Merrily, merrily. 
 Round the ring we go. 
 
 When the day is shady 
 Or the night is dark 
 Sleeping is the nightingale, 
 Silent is the lark; 
 In the lily's chalice 
 Or the tulip's core 
 Lie we down adreaming 
 Till the gloom is o'er. 
 
 Joy it is at dawning 
 To sip the diamond dew! 
 Sweet the wine of roses. 
 The soul of violets too! 
 Gliding on a star-beam 
 To the milky way, 
 Riding on a gossamer 
 We pass the night and day. 
 
 Morning or evening. 
 Noon-time or night. 
 When the sun is gleaming 
 Or the moon is bright ; 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 40 
 
 Where the grasses tremble 
 In the dew-drops' glow. 
 Merrily, merrily. 
 Round the ring we go. 
 
 But all the time I fix mine eye 
 Where purple mount and azure sky 
 Commingle and combine on high. 
 I watch the Day roll back Night's shroud 
 And step along from cloud to cloud, 
 Where shrills the lark his clarion loud. 
 I glance on topmost heaven afar, 
 While upward rolls the Day-god's car, 
 And lesser grows the morning star. 
 But all the time I keep my sight 
 Upon that purple-vestured height 
 Where mountain crest and sky unite. 
 And now the day-car turns on high 
 And rolls adown the gleaming sky, 
 Where still is fixed my watchful eye. 
 Then leap the spearmen of the Sun 
 Upon the breast of that tall crest. 
 And lo ! the citadel is won ! 
 
 The spearmen now in bright array 
 Remount the gilded car of day, 
 And down the mountain take their way. 
 I see the shadows grave and shy 
 Troop from the glens and startled fly 
 Before their fiery-glancing eye. 
 
44 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 I see the Shade as if afraid 
 
 Halt in the amethystine glade, 
 
 And downward kneel as in appeal 
 
 Beneath the beryl colonnade. 
 
 I see the sunshine clasp the shade 
 
 And tender kiss the ebon maid, 
 
 And lo ! a palace is displayed. 
 
 Of fairest alabaster made. 
 
 With oriental gems inlaid 
 
 And all in rainbow hues arrayed. 
 
 And now rolls back a door of gold 
 
 Begemmed with jewels manifold, 
 
 And through its portals high and wide, 
 
 A little man with martial stride 
 
 Walks out with dignity and grace. 
 
 And bids me welcome to the place. 
 
 He was not young, nor was he old; 
 His mien was high, his look was bold, 
 And down his neck and shoulders rolled 
 His flowing hair of burnished gold. 
 His dress was dazzling in its sheen 
 And made of cloth of gold and green, 
 The doublet slashed with red between. 
 Around his waist, with buckle braced, 
 A golden belt, with gems enchased 
 And broidered o'er with shamrocks green. 
 Held golden sword and dagger keen. 
 His shoes were white and buckle-laced, 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 45 
 
 His stockings gold with silver faced, 
 And from his shoulder to his waist 
 A crimson mantle fell behind, 
 And fluttered in the wooing wind. 
 
 A lesser door now opens wide 
 From out that palace glorified. 
 And lo! in robes of green and gold 
 A dozen pipers, small and old, 
 March two by two the portals through. 
 And, bowing to their lord, divide 
 And stand erect, six either side. 
 My lord now waves a golden wand 
 And utters low a strange command. 
 When all the pipers start to play 
 An ancient gaelic martial lay. 
 And march adown the terrace way. 
 
 Now one by one the pipers go 
 
 Across a lawn with flowers aglow, 
 
 And soft and sweet their pipes they blow. 
 
 A golden grove is now in view, 
 
 With flowers and fruits of golden hue 
 
 Enamelled colors glancing through; 
 
 And golden birds are winging near, 
 
 Or bending from the boughs to hear 
 
 The pipers' music sweet and clear. 
 
m THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Now by a sapphire fount they stand, 
 
 Whence silver streams on either hand 
 
 Roll down on pearls and golden sand; 
 
 And now they tread a noble hall 
 
 With crystal floor and roof and wall 
 
 And chrysoberyl pillars tall. 
 
 Out from the hall the pipers go, 
 
 And in a flood of colors flow 
 
 Till all are stained in rainbow glow; 
 
 And now they seem to march on air — 
 
 On fleecy clouds surpassing fair. 
 
 And all the sunrise hues are there 
 
 While angel eyes in glad surprise, 
 
 Are glancing down through glowing skies, 
 
 Thrilled by the pipers' symphonies. 
 
 And now adown a winding stair 
 Of carded hyacinthine hair 
 The pipers play a sweeter air; 
 And soon appears an opal plain 
 With amber, gold and purple stain 
 And many a gleaming milk-white wain. 
 And now through morning's fuller glow 
 Adown a topaz stair they go, 
 And sweeter still their numbers flow; 
 And strangely and enchantingly 
 The sad, sweet music of the sea 
 Commingles with their melody. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 47 
 
 And now they tread a jasper strand 
 Well sentineled on either hand 
 By violet cliffs sublimely grand. 
 
 Then onward to a turquoise sea 
 
 Whose wavelets croon a mystic rune 
 
 On pebbled shores melodiously. 
 
 With rosy feet across the strand 
 
 Now Morning comes, and from her hand 
 
 Flings orient pearls along the sand. 
 
 Out on the sea her glances flow, 
 
 Out on the line of golden glow 
 
 The little pipers piping go. 
 
 And everywhere, on earth and air, 
 
 The pipers piped their music rare. 
 
 We followed nigh, my guide and I. 
 
 "You must be wearied," said my guide, 
 "Our future journey we shall ride." 
 Two milk-white ponies stand beside; 
 We mount and gallop o'er the plain 
 Of that enameled sun-kissed main. 
 The pipers lead and pipe their strain. 
 
 And soon we reach an emerald shore 
 Around which raging waters roar. 
 And cliffs of tourmaline upsoar; 
 And now the towering cliffs divide. 
 And through the pass the pipers glide. 
 But as we toward the passage ride. 
 
48 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Upon a throne of polished stone 
 
 I see a Mermaid sit alone, 
 
 And singing in a sad sweet tone. 
 
 Like sunset rare, her golden hair 
 
 Streams down her neck and shoulders bare, 
 
 And Oh! she seems divinely fair. 
 
 As on her throne of jasper stone 
 
 She sits and combs her flowing hair 
 
 And sings a sad, enchanting air. 
 
 Sweet as the sparkle of a star 
 When only one is shining on 
 The brow of Night in heaven afar. 
 Was her sad smile as beckoned she 
 Across the shining sand to me. 
 And oh! how swift and joyfully 
 I came to her and bent my knee 
 Before her beauty's majesty. 
 And kindly did she welcome me; 
 But in her voice a sadness slept 
 As if for ages she had wept, 
 And long and weary vigils kept 
 Upon her throne beside the sea. 
 And oh! her eyes were like the skies 
 Of Erin when the sun doth rise 
 And April mists upon them lies, 
 As tenderly she sang to me 
 This tear-compelling threnody: 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 49 
 
 Ah, woe is me! for I must pine 
 Until a thousand years have gone. 
 
 Upon this stone, 
 The daughter of an ancient line — 
 The regal house and race of Brian, 
 
 Of Tara's throne. 
 Enforced an eric false to pay. 
 Here must I linger* day by day 
 
 In loneliness. 
 And, save yon waste of crooning tide 
 And this brown otter by my side, 
 
 Companionless. 
 
 Ah! you have come from Innisfail 
 And lately sipped the dew] and gale 
 
 Upon her strand. 
 And you have prest the meadow's breast. 
 The hills, by gentle airs caressed. 
 
 Of that sweet land. 
 I scent the heather and the dew. 
 The shamrock and the grasses, too. 
 
 Upon your feet. 
 Ah, would I could return with you 
 Those hills and dells again to view — 
 
 My childhood's seat. 
 
 Oh, would I were on Corrib shore. 
 Or where Lough Mask its waters pour 
 
 Fair Cong beside; 
 Or where the spreading bay of Clew 
 Unfolds the purple Reek to view 
 
 Upon its tide; 
 
50 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Where Delphi's beauteous mountains rise, 
 Or Salruck pass in splendor lies, 
 
 Or lake Kylemore, 
 Or bald Muilrea towers in the air, 
 Oh ! would that I were anywhere 
 
 On Ireland's shore. 
 
 Upon the waters of Lough Gill, 
 Or on Benbulbin's storied hill. 
 
 Or Knocknarea; 
 Or in the "smiling valleys" fair 
 Of Lissadel and Dromahair 
 
 I'd happy be, 
 Beside the wave, in Donegal ; 
 Or where the sunny waters fall 
 
 At Assaroe, 
 On Swilly lough or Foyle or Neagh, 
 Where long O'Nial's race held sway. 
 
 No grief I'd know. 
 
 On high Dunluce's castle walls. 
 Or where once stood the royal halls 
 
 On Tara'shill; 
 In Glendalough or fair Lismore, 
 Or on the Suir or Shannon's shore, 
 
 Glen Columbkille; 
 Or where Glengarriff's smiling sea 
 Forever croons a melody 
 
 On Bantry's shore, 
 Or were I on thy wave Lough Lene, 
 My moans and tears would cease, I ween. 
 
 For evermore. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 61 
 
 But woe is me! for I must stay 
 Till Ireland's liberation day, 
 
 God knows how near; 
 Here must I wait and weep and moan. 
 Here must I sit all days alone, 
 
 From year to year. 
 But hark! I hear the trumpet call! 
 Her mighty heroes mount the wall! 
 
 The shout of victory! 
 Oh! what were centuries of pain. 
 Of blood and tears, of rack and chain, — 
 
 Our flag floats free ! 
 
 The song prophetic scarce had died 
 
 Upon the bosom of the tide, 
 
 Nor Echo from her home replied, 
 
 Ere rose again a sweeter strain, 
 
 A lighter, brighter minor lay 
 
 Of childhood's home and childhood's May, 
 
 When life was like a Summer day: 
 
 Ah, the gladsome, golden May-days that I knew 
 In the dells of dear old Sligo, long ago, 
 
 Crowning May-Queens on the lawn 
 
 When the diamonds of the dawn 
 Silver lakes! across the meadows seemed to glow. 
 
 Then my heart was glad and gay 
 
 As the hawthorn's snowy spray 
 When it dances to the music of the bees. 
 
 And my spirit was as bright 
 
 As a lance of morning light. 
 And my life was like a scented summer breeze. 
 
52 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 Ah, the happy, merry May-days that I knew 
 On the verdant hills of Sligo, long ago. 
 
 Gazing out upon the bay 
 
 When the evening's golden ray 
 Smiles on sail and gull careering to and fro. 
 
 Oh, the glancing of the sea.! 
 
 And the wild waves prancing free. 
 Linking hands like dancing children on the shore; 
 
 Over all the laughing skies 
 
 With the hue of Irish eyes — 
 Ah ! they haunt me in my sorrow] evermore ! 
 
 The haunting melody has ceased, 
 
 And Echo, like a serving priest, 
 
 A benediction now doth shed 
 
 On cliff and cave and kneeling wave. 
 
 And on the Mermaid's bended head, 
 
 As very sweet and sad she said: 
 
 "I may not longer keep you here; 
 
 Alas ! alas !" and tear on tear 
 
 Fell from her eyes as crystal clear 
 
 And fragrant as the dew that lies 
 
 Upon the violet at sunrise 
 
 When May flings incense to the skies. 
 
 "The King and Queen of Fairyland 
 
 Await you in their palace, and 
 
 Your guide has given his command; 
 
 But when by Erin's streams you stray 
 
 At morning or at close of day. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 5S 
 
 Ah, will you sometimes think of me, 
 An Irish exile 'neath the sea 
 Still pining in captivity." 
 
 Across a meadow now we go 
 Bestarred with flowers of iris glow; 
 We follow all the meadow through 
 A streamlet of cerulean blue 
 Upon whose banks the fleur-de-lis 
 Upgrows in vast variety; 
 An iris bow above it bends 
 And to the scene a glory lends 
 That all my picturing transcends. 
 
 We enter now a garden fair — 
 A spacious gold-tree-circled square 
 Where roses rare bloom everywhere 
 And fainting lies the perfumed air 
 On beds of tear-eyed violets there; 
 And as we ride beneath the trees 
 That bend in lace-like canopies 
 Comes, faint at first, upon the breeze 
 A swell of dream-like harmonies 
 That ever nearer and more near, 
 That ever clearer and more clear, 
 Delicious fall upon the ear. 
 
54f THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 From out the garden now we go 
 
 Beneath a crystal arch, and lo! 
 
 Upon a wide enameled lawn 
 
 More beautiful than Summer dawn 
 
 Unnumbered hosts we see advance, 
 
 Their vesture bright as morning's glance, — 
 
 Some linked in chain of mazy dance 
 
 And some unlinked disporting free 
 
 In wide, untrammeled revelry, 
 
 And flinging rose-leaves on the lea, 
 
 While others as they dance along 
 
 Awake the very soul of song 
 
 From harp and lute of heavenly thrill, 
 
 Or their own voices sweeter still. 
 
 And now the fairy hosts divide 
 
 And gather nearer, as we ride 
 
 Like rosy clouds at eventide 
 
 Around the chariot of the sun — 
 
 And lo, our destined goal is won! 
 
 Our march through fairyland is done! 
 
 For on a hill-top I behold 
 
 A palace beautiful of gold. 
 
 More splendid than my dreams foretold. 
 
 And in the portals I can see 
 
 The King and Queen awaiting me. 
 
 Surrounded by the chivalry 
 
 And ladies fair of high degree 
 
 Of many kingdoms of the Shee. 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 65 
 
 I will not try to picture here 
 
 The trumpets' clangor or the cheer 
 
 That welcomed us as we drew near, 
 
 Nor can I paint, however faint, 
 
 A shadow of the majesty 
 
 That in the form and face and eye 
 
 Of these high monarchs I descry. 
 
 The King, a sun-god seemed to be, 
 
 Alighted from his blazing car. 
 
 And oh! the Queen in golden sheen 
 
 Looked lovelier than the evening star. 
 
 And now along a corridor 
 
 With crystal ceiling, walls and floor 
 
 And pillars tall of argental 
 
 That mighty throng to sweetest song 
 
 A stream of loveliness they pour. 
 
 And now the Queen is on her throne 
 More bright than sunset ever shone; 
 The King beside her takes his place. 
 His rapture shining in his face. 
 Around the gorgeous hall of gold 
 Unnumbered couches are unrolled 
 Of colors rare and manifold. 
 And countless hosts of forms divine 
 In robes that like the rainbow shine 
 Sit on the couches or recline. 
 
56 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 The King now waves his wand on high 
 And round the court, as in reply, 
 Uprolls the thunder of a drum 
 And in the little pipers come. 
 Now vested brighter than the dawn 
 And at their head in flaming red 
 Forth steps the dainty Leprechaun, 
 And swifter, lighter than a bird 
 Each little airy, fairy stirred 
 In wavy trance of graceful dance 
 To sweetest music ever heard. 
 
 Now lifts the Queen a wand of gold ; 
 The couch-encircled walls unfold. 
 And lo! a banquet hall unrolled 
 More wide and high than human eye 
 Hath ever seen beneath the sky, 
 To picture scarce would Milton try. 
 If thou wouldst view this hall aright, 
 For words are faint the scene to paint. 
 To cloudless skies uplift thy sight 
 When every star is blazing bright 
 In the illimitable height 
 Around the glowing Queen of night. 
 
 My guide now takes me by th^ hand 
 And leads me, at the Ring's command. 
 Beside the throne where kings alone 
 Permitted are to sit or stand. 
 
'And like the hosts on heaven's outposts 
 When beauteous Night her banner flies. 
 The star-like banqueters uprise." 
 
 Page 57 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 57 
 
 Then suddenly the music dies, 
 
 And like the hosts on heaven's outposts 
 
 When beauteous Night her banner flies, 
 
 The star-like banqueters uprise 
 
 And forward lean where sits the Queen, 
 
 The moon and mirror of the scene. 
 
 As toward me turned and spake the King 
 
 These words so fine and flattering: 
 
 "Since Ossian in the days of eld 
 
 No human eye has e'er beheld 
 
 Our person, palace, court or throne. 
 
 Our gracious Queen, save thine alone. 
 
 Our high ambassador has grown 
 
 To love thee, and our Leprechaun. 
 
 And in thine eyes I see the dawn 
 
 Of more than friendship for the rare 
 
 And radiant princess Golden Hair, 
 
 Our worthy brother's only heir. 
 
 Such things bring joy unto our breast. 
 
 So shall we grant thee one request: 
 
 Proclaim whate'er thou lovest best." 
 
 I glanced across the boundless sea 
 
 Of beaming faces turned to me, 
 
 A mirror of infinity ! 
 
 Beside the Queen, divinely fair, 
 
 I saw the princess Golden Hair 
 
 Too bright for eyes to linger there. 
 
 Before me gleamed what long I dreamed, — 
 
 Love, beauty, wealth and deathless fame: 
 
58 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 A maid divine, all would be mine 
 
 To have and hold to own and claim, — 
 
 And Oh ! so fair Temptation came, 
 
 And if I yielded who could blame? 
 
 But high o'er all I saw upflame 
 
 My native land, my country's name. 
 
 And turning to the King, I said 
 
 (And proud and high I raised my head), 
 
 "O mighty King, my wish must be 
 
 My country and the Mermaid Free." 
 
 But scarcely was my purpose spoke 
 
 Ere vanished all, and I awoke! 
 
NOTES 
 
 1. The Banshee (fairy woman) is the wildest 
 and grandest of all Irish beliefs. She is usually 
 attired in loose white drapery, her long locks float- 
 ing over her thin shoulders. Her duty is to warn 
 old Irish families of approaching misfortune and 
 to wail o'er the dead. 
 
 2. Bog cotton. 
 
 3. Tiny. 
 
 4. The Leprechaun is the fairy shoemaker. He 
 is the most archly mischievous and amusing of the 
 fairy tribe. He is seen sitting under a hedge 
 mending or making a shoe, and whoso catches him 
 can make him deliver up his treasures of gold. 
 While your eyes are on him he is in your power. 
 If you look away, he vanishes. He wears a red 
 coat with many buttons and a cocked hat. 
 
 5. A red cap. 
 
 6. Sly, cunning. 
 
 7. A bag full. 
 
 8. A Druidic paradise. 
 
 59 
 
60 THE LEPRECHAUN 
 
 9. The good people: the fairies. 
 
 10. The distinctive features of Achill Island are 
 the mountains Croughan and Slievemore, rising 
 from out the sea 2400 feet. The cathedral rocks 
 and Minnaun cliffs rise sheer from the ocean 1000 
 feet. Sir John Franklyn said the view from the 
 summit of Croughan was the grandest sight he 
 ever beheld. Sir Harry Johnston was equally en- 
 thusiastic regarding the view from Achill head. 
 
 The Pall Mall Gazette of December 7, 1878, 
 says: — "Sables d'Olonn is one of the finest bath- 
 ing strands in Europe; but at Dugort, which is far 
 and very far more beautiful, there are three of 
 such, a quarter of a mile each in extent, with a 
 slope so gentle as to be almost imperceptible, the 
 sands of the finest velvet, the waters of the most 
 absolute purity.'* 
 
 11. This Abbey is said to be three thousand 
 years old. Its frescoes have been the subject of 
 much controversy, and it is claimed they illustrate 
 the theory of the connection of ancient Ireland 
 with the East and its religious worship. 
 
 12. Tradition has invested Knockmagh with po- 
 etical interest, for here Finvarra, the "Oberon" of 
 Irish sylvan mythology, holds his court. 
 
 13. Land under the wave. 
 
 14<. Kilfursa Church was built by Saint Fursey 
 
THE LEPRECHAUN 61 
 
 in 640. He extended his missionary labors into 
 England and France. In England Segebert, King 
 of East Anglia, abdicated the sceptre to become a 
 monk under his direction. In France Clovis II 
 gave him land on which he founded in 644 the 
 world-famous monastery of Lagny-Sur-Marne. 
 He had visions of deep import and the poet Dante 
 is said to have been indebted to them for the plan 
 of his "Divina Commedia." 
 
 15. Lough Corrib is named from Orbsen Mac 
 Alloid, commonly called Mannan Mac Lir — son of 
 the sea — from whom the Isle of Man was also 
 named. He was slain in battle by Ullin^ hence 
 Moycullen, plain of Ullin. 
 
 16. Hen Castle is regarded as the oldest military 
 structure in Ireland. Its isolated position and 
 character have led people to believe that its origin 
 was supernatural, and that it was built by enchant- 
 ment in one night by a cock and hen grouse who 
 had been an Irish prince and princess. 
 
 1 
 
 17. Land of the ever young. 
 
 18. Land of the ever living. 
 
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