The Leprechauns And The Shoemaker

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Top of the mornin to ye all!!

The Leprechauns And The Shoemaker

Once upon a time in a little town in Ireland, lived a poor shoemaker and his

wife.

The shoemaker knew that because of his failing eyesight and slow hands, he

was losing customers at his little shop. Soon they would have no money to

buy

any leather. Without any leather, he couldn't make any more shoes. And if he

couldn't make any more shoes, then his wife and he would lose their shop and

home and have no money for food.

He spent all day, working on a pair of shoes. He looked around and spotted

the last piece of leather on a nearby table. He stood up and cried in

despair.

He looked outside a window and saw a rainbow. He whispered in a trembling

voice to the rainbow, " Please, oh please, can someone help me tonight? "

He left his workshop and went to his bed hungry. He and his wife had no more

food since, the day before, he had spent their last coins on a piece of

leather.

In the morning, the shoemaker cleaned his glasses, threaded his needle and

looked around for that piece of leather. But something amazing had happened.

A finished pair of shoes stood in the center of the table. The shoes were

perfect to the last shiny buckle. Someone had made those shoes for him that

night.

He rapidly sold those shoes at twice the usual price. And with that money,

got a bit of food and some pieces of leather. The next morning, he had

twenty

shoes, which he sold in less than an hour. He then purchased several pieces

of fine leather.

As he laid all those pieces of leather on the table, he was determined to

see who was making all those shoes. He and his wife stood in the next room

and

spied through a little hole in the wall. Around midnight, they saw six naked

leprechauns sneak into the shoemaker's shop. It was winter and the

leprechauns

shivered while they busily made two hundred shoes.

" Poor fellows! They must be very cold, " the shoemaker's wife whispered to

her husband.

" Tomorrow, I will make them some beautiful clothes to thank them for helping

us. "

The shoemaker's wife search for the best material to make their clothes. All

she could find were green colored silks, green tweeds and green wools. She

spend almost all the money they had left, buying the most expensive fabrics.

She worked all day, making the clothes for the six little leprechauns. She

hoped that they wouldn't be too disappointed that all their clothes were

green in color.

That night, the leprechaun found a large pile of leather. They magically

created thousands of pairs of beautiful shoes. The shoemaker and his wife

wouldn't

need to worry about money any more since they now had more shoes in the shop

that they could sell in a hundred years.

After finishing their job, one leprechaun spotted a large " thank you " note

and a pile of very small clothes. He called his friends over and they found

six

elegant green jackets with gold buttons, green tweed pants, green woolen

socks, silk green vests, some green underwear and silken green top hats.

When

the leprechauns saw the clothes, they jumped with joy and danced a jig. They

shouted as they got dressed, " What a beautiful color for these fine clothes,

and we'll never be cold again. "

They suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of the shoemaker and his

wife. The head leprechaun smiled at them and said, " We give thanks for such

beautiful

clothes.

We heard your cries for help and came, but we are rarely, if ever, given any

thanks for our efforts. Because of your gift, we promise not only to help

you

when you are in need, but to help every shoemaker in need in this land of

Ireland. "

Then a wondrous rainbow appeared. The leprechauns leaped on it and

disappeared. And this is why leprechauns always wear green, and the

shoemakers in Ireland

are the luckiest people in the world.

Slaght

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.

Autograph your work with excellence.