Tale 2
It was a soft old day and Aoife was none too pleased at the prospect of walking home in the dark and wet so she had fecked off home in her gabardine raincoat well before she should have. It was three miles or more across the fields and what with the wind blowing and all, she got quite cold. It was coming round a hump in a field that she slipped and slithered a bit off the path down on her rump on the cold wet grass. For a moment she lay there, as the rain poured down, quite shaken. As she got back to her feet and put the shoe that had come off back on her foot she saw she was not alone.
"You poor craytur," said the man. He was quite three foot high and dressed in a sort of red jacket with breeches and grey stockings. Aoife was quite taken aback. His face was old and, you might say, withered though his eyes were bright enough and there was nothing wrong with his teeth. He raised his very old fashioned cocked hat to her.
"Well not quite cat." Oh, she knew who, or what, she was speaking to alright. She'd learnt about the wee folk and she knew about the leprechaun; had not her grandmother, let alone her mother, warned her, but this one seemed safe enough to her. Weren't they, after all, neither good nor bad; 'good from whim, and mischievous from caprice' she'd heard it said. He didn't look dirty, in fact rather the opposite as the lace around his cuffs and neck were quite dandified and as white as you could wish. She wondered about the washing.
And well she might. For Bearach Candlestick O'Floinn is not a married person and it is his very sister who 'does' for him. Oft times have I heard her mention the washing and himself and none too complimentary and as to how does he manage, at his age, which is considerable, to get his breeches and stockings so dirty: it was no different when he was a boy and look at him now, well into his ninety-eighth year, so should he not be better by nowโbut wasn't. That wan is a difficult one I can tell you and not one to cross.
"You're a Logheryman," Aoife said.
"It wouldn't do for to say that," said the old man, "Maybe yes and maybe no. You shouldn't be walking across the fields in this weather and in those shoes." He was looking at the shoes and there was a look, a look almost of distaste that came over his face as if something did not please him. But it was fleeting and Aoife wasn't sure that was what she'd seen. "You want to come inside and dry yourself?"
Aoife looked around in puzzlement. They were in the midst of a field with just the cows sitting around chewing the cud and looking glum. There was not a cottage or house for miles. She could be wary when she got to his house and not go in if it didn't look safe. "Well, I suppose..." she said.
One moment she was standing with the wind and rain blowing around her: next she was in a big circular room with a peat fire smouldering away and a general feeling of cosiness. She looked upwardsโthere were roots growing down through the ceiling so she was very evidently underground which is, after all, where most of the wee folk live, as you know. Aoife moved close to the fire warming herself, feeling its radiant heat on her unstockinged legs. She knew she shouldn't be there. Things had got a little out of hand.
"I was thinking of a drink," said the old man. Aoife did not think he meant tea. She was of course correct and it was warming.
It was hot in that little room under the hill with the fire burning away. Aoife moved from being chilled to the bone to really rather warm indeed. She took off the gabardine.
"Not too warm for you?" said the little man.
"No, no. Might you be the one called Bearach Candlestick O'Floinn?"
Now the old man beamed all over his face, "Ah, you've heard of me. I suppose I am well known in these parts."
He was pleased at that. He liked the idea he had a reputation. Certainly his sister did nothing to lessen thatโthe reputation I mean, not his feeling of importance. She did nothing to increase that: certainly not, rather the opposite with her ready put-downs regarding her brother whenever she could.
Aoife was not exactly worried, after all Bearach was almost half her size and clearly old. She didn't know how old he actually was and would never have guessedโhe wears well you see.
"You have the advantage of me, so who might you be?"
"Aoife, Aoife _____."
"Ah yes from ______. I knew your mother."
Now that was odd, her mother had never mentioned such a connection to Aoife. The old man was polite, invited her to sit on a stool, and asked after her, he asked about Aoife's work and many other things. The conversation was easy and flowing. Occasionally she noticed the leprechaun would glance at her shoes and the look on his face seemed to confirm her earlier suspicion.
"You don't like my shoes do you?" It was a direct question and the leprechaun looked a bit disconcerted.
"Not as such, you see," he said, "may I?"
It was a surprise to Aoife to find the leprechaun's strong small hands at her ankle relieving her of a shoe. The explanation as to what was wrong with the shoe was rather complicated and technical but seemed to her to centre upon their quality of make, quality of materials and that they did not fit as evidenced by her earlier upset.
"I'm good at fitting," he said without the trace of a smile, "would you like me to see what I can do for you, it is my trade you know."
Aoife knew, her grandmother had told her of the sound she had heard all alone when coming from Carrigenagh on the Brandy Pad road one evening, the sound of a shoemaker's hammer tap tapping away but in the midst of wildness where no honest folk would dwell.