The trees threw tangled shadows over Genie’s path in the late afternoon sun. She hopscotched between them, carefully avoiding their dark talons. She hurried as much as her little feet would allow; she couldn’t wait to dive off the rocks into the pool at the river’s edge. It was her most favorite place in the world. The thought of cool water running over her hot feet thrilled her with anticipation.
But it wasn’t only the inviting swim that excited her, it was the extra delight that ran through her veins knowing that she was doing something “illegal”, she’d been warned not to set foot in the river without an adult standing by.
She swung around the edge of the trees, no longer plagued by the shadows, and ran the last few paces to reach “her” rock, and there, sparkling below her lay the lazy river, meandering in a silvery thread between banks. Beautiful!
She stripped to her bathing suit quickly and dived in.
Oh, what bliss; she swam up to the trickle of a waterfall that cascaded into the stream at the rivers head, and stood in the shallow water while the jet sprinkled her with its magic. She laughed and splashed her way back upstream, her joy unfolding in boundless exhilaration. She felt the snag scathe her foot a few moments before she realised that she couldn’t move, something had stayed her flow, attached itself to her in the deeper reaches between the waterfall and her rock.
Genie tried not to panic and scratched at her feet with one free hand then the other, but she couldn’t loosen the grip of what felt like a strong rope around her left ankle. She tried to stand and realized that she could, although the water reached chin-level. But by standing, she couldn’t reach the cord that pinned her on the spot.
“Why did you stop swimming?” Genie heard the laughter in the voice and spun her head about, wildly, to find its source.
Perched, almost precariously, it seemed, was a tiny man dressed in green from head to toe, with a pointy hat at a jaunty angle atop this bearded head. He was child-sized, but his face was that of a man not a boy.
“Oh, help me please, I’m stuck. I can’t move. Can you swim?”
“Yes, I can, but there’s no sense in both of us drowning now is there?”
Genie stared back at the little man dumbstruck
“But, you have to save me. I could really drown. Please?”
“You don’t look like you’re drowning to me, you’re just standing there.” She heard him giggle; she could hardly believe her ears.
“Please?” She whimpered, beseechingly.
“Well, what will you give me if I jump in and cut those brambles? Hey, what?”
“I don’t have anything much, but I can give you all the pocket money I have left over.”
She saw a bemused look cross his face.
“I tell you what, if you promise to give me all your pocket money every week, I will do it gladly.”
Just as she was about to agree she saw the strangest sight, a tiny form of a girl alighted, straight out of the sky and landed with a fluttering of wings right beside the little man. Genie was so shocked she forgot all about her plight and simply stared agog.
“Patrick, this time you’ve gone way too far. How dare you scare a young girl like this.” The exquisite winged creature scolded the man, “release her at once.”
“Oh, alright,” the green man agreed, “she was never in any danger. It was just a prank to teach her a lesson. I’m a Leprechaun and it’s our duty to prank people. All I wanted was to teach her not to disobey her parents. She needed a good lesson, too, else she might really hurt herself one day, don’t you agree?”
“Be that as it may, release her at once.”
Suddenly, the bind around her ankle loosened and to Genie’s relief she could swim forward. She struck out determinedly, absorbed in her hurry. By the time she reached her rock the little man and woman had disappeared.
Genie woke up groggy, remembering suddenly that she’d planned to go for a swim that morning. A chill gripped her like a vice as the vestiges of her dream flooded her memory. She went into breakfast in a reflective mood.
“Mom, will you take me for a swim in the river later? I would rather that you come with me.”
