{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_41015/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_41015","id":"gutenberg_41015","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41015","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children -- Juvenile fiction","Ireland -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Shaun O'Day of Ireland\n\n\n  [Illustration: SHAUN O'DAY OF IRELAND]\n\n\n  SHAUN O'DAY\n  _of_ IRELAND\n\n  BY\n  MADELINE BRANDEIS\n\n  _Producer of the Motion Pictures_\n\n  \"The Little Indian Weaver\"\n  \"The Wee Scotch Piper\"\n  \"The Little Dutch Tulip Girl\"\n  \"The Little Swiss Wood Carver\"\n\n  Distributed by Path\u00c3\u00a9 Exchange, Inc., New York City\n\n\n  _Photographic Illustrations made in Ireland by the Author_\n\n\n  GROSSET & DUNLAP\n  PUBLISHERS NEW YORK\n  _by arrangement with the A. Flanagan Company_\n\n\n  COPYRIGHT, 1929. BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY\n\n  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nWhen I began to write these stories about children of all lands I had\njust returned from Europe whither I journeyed with Marie and Ref. Maybe\nyou don't know Marie and Ref. I'll introduce them: Please meet Marie, my\nvery little daughter, and Ref, my very big reflex camera.\n\nThese two are my helpers. Marie helps by being a little girl who knows\nwhat other little girls like and by telling me; and Ref helps by\nsnapping pictures of everything interesting that Marie and I see on our\ntravels. I couldn't get along without them.\n\nSeveral years have gone by since we started our work together and Marie\nis a bigger girl--but Ref hasn't changed one bit. Ref hasn't changed any\nmore than my interest in writing these books for you. And I hope that\n_you_ hope that I'll never change, because I want to keep on writing\nuntil we'll have no more countries to write about--unless, of course,\nsome one discovers a new country.\n\nEven if a new country isn't discovered, we'll find foreign children to\ntalk about--maybe the children in Mars! Who knows? Nobody. Not even\nMarie--and Marie usually knows about most things. That's the reason why,\nyou see, though I sign myself\n\n  [Illustration: Madeleine Brandeis]\n\nI am really only\n\n      Marie's Mother.\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION\n\n\n    To every child of every land,\n      Little sister, little brother,\n    As in this book your lives unfold,\n      May you learn to love each other.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  PART I\n\n    Chapter I\n  Isn't It a Great Wonder?               13\n\n    Chapter II\n  Shauneen and the Leprechaun            32\n\n    Chapter III\n  Come Away                              48\n\n    Chapter IV\n  The Strange Land                       62\n\n    Chapter V\n  The Frightened Giant                   84\n\n\n  PART II\n\n    Chapter VI\n  John                                   98\n\n    Chapter VII\n  The Girl Fairy                        111\n\n    Chapter VIII\n  Over the Green Land                   129\n\n    Chapter IX\n  Wandering                             152\n\n    Chapter X\n  Because He Is Irish                   176\n\n\n\n\nWILL YOU WALK INTO MY STORY--?\n\n\nJust because I think it may interest you to know it:--In these\nphotographs Kit Wain posed for Shaun O'Day. Kit is a real Irish boy, but\nhe did not have the adventures that Shaun had in the story. He has had\nmany other adventures, however, because Kit is a young actor. Dawn O'Day\nwas played by Mary Jo Desmond. Mary Jo is just a little schoolgirl like\nyou. She looked so much like Dawn O'Day in the story that I asked her to\nbe Dawn for me. And because she is Irish and loves make-believe, she did\nit.\n\nWhen Shaun grew older it was Maurice Murphy who posed. Maurice has had a\nwonderful life for a young boy. He has played on the stage and in motion\npictures and also on the piano! For he is a very talented young\nmusician. Maybe you remember seeing him act in the film called \"Beau\nGeste.\"\n\nLittle saucy Marjorie was posed by a little saucy miss who is known as\nCarmencita Johnson. I should say \"well known\" because Carmencita, though\nonly five, is already a picture star. She is a very interesting young\nperson, and if I began to tell you all about her and her family of\nsisters and brothers it would take up all the book and leave no room for\nthe story.\n\nJohn O'Day, Shaun's son, is portrayed by another little film artist. His\nname is Gordon Thorpe. Gordon is only six. But he has appeared in more\nthan sixty motion pictures. Do you remember the little Prince in Douglas\nFairbanks' \"The Iron Mask?\" That was Gordon. And in \"The Bridge of San\nLuis Rey?\" You surely recognized him.\n\nDick Good was the fighting boy who didn't believe that Marjorie was a\nfairy. And of course I need not tell you that the scenes of cities and\nbuildings and places in Ireland were all played by those cities and\nbuildings and places _themselves_.\n\nThat is, when I was in Ireland I asked them to pose for me. And they did\nit willingly the way the children did. They posed very well, in fact.\nVery quietly.\n\nOnly the rain in Ireland is not willing. The rain does not want\nphotographers to catch the beauty of the country. The rain tries to\nspoil everything for the poor photographers. But we forgive him because\nhe makes Ireland so green.\n\nHere are the names of the little children who helped me so nicely by\ncoming to Marjorie's birthday party and posing as her guests: Alice and\nHoward Bucquet, Caroline Kuhns, Barbara and Patrick Ford, Betty and\nStephen Kline, Marie Madeleine Brandeis and Dietrich Haupt.\n\nThe only grown-up in the story, John's girl-fairy, is Miss Alice White.\nMiss White is such a busy star that I think I should thank her for\nstopping long enough from her work to be John's girl-fairy in the pages\nof this book. And I think I should thank all the rest of these good\npeople, even if they are only little people, for they too, are busy. And\nit is sometimes hard to tear oneself away from the work of the world and\nwalk into a fairy tale.\n\nBut these in the photographs did it. And that is what I am going to ask\nyou, young readers, to do now. Come along! See if you can!\n\nMADELINE BRANDEIS.\n\n  [Illustration: UPPER LAKE KILLARNEY]\n\n\n\n\nShaun O'Day of Ireland\n\n\nPART I\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nISN'T IT A GREAT WONDER?\n\n\n  The wee word \"why\"\n  Is a fairy gift\n  To little babes at birth,\n  It opens wide the wonder world To every child on earth.\n\nIsn't it a great wonder--the fair green Emerald Isle?\n\nAnd do you know why Ireland is so green? It is because the rain fairies\nlove Ireland. They have made it the greenest spot on earth. They do be\nsprinkling it forever with the drops of their fairy rain.\n\nIreland is divided into four provinces. They are Ulster, Leinster,\nMunster, and Connaught.\n\nIn Connaught is the County of Galway. In the County of Galway is the\nDistrict of Connemara.\n\nIn Connemara there is a village that looks out upon a lake. And in that\nvillage are wee houses covered with thatched roofs--roofs of straw.\n\n  [Illustration: WEE HOUSES COVERED WITH STRAW ROOFS]\n\nInside one of these houses there lived a boy, Shaun O'Day. But I am not\ngoing to tell you now about Shaun O'Day, nor of the strange thing that\nbefell him. Not now.\n\nFirst, I shall tell you about his country. I shall tell you about his\ncountry because all children love to know the why and the wonder of\nthings. And great is the wonder of Ireland.\n\nThis is the tale of the Province of Connaught and how it got its name.\nLong ago the western districts of Ireland were named after the person\nwho took possession of them.\n\nAt this time there reigned a powerful king whose name was Conn. He was\ngood as well as great, and dearly loved by his people.\n\nHis Queen was equally beloved. Her name was Eda. Their son was a blessed\nand good boy. They named him Conn-eda, after both his parents.\n\nAs Conn-eda grew to manhood, his strength and goodness grew with his\nyears. All was harmony in the west until a great sorrow fell upon the\nland. The Queen died. The country mourned for a year and a day.\n\nAnd then the King married again. But the new Queen was not good and kind\nas Queen Eda had been. She was wicked and cruel.\n\n  [Illustration: CONNEMARA PEOPLE ENGAGED IN SPINNING]\n\nShe had several children of her own, and was jealous of Conn-eda, who\nwas the favorite of the King and the darling of the people.\n\nShe clearly foresaw that Conn-eda would be King after the death of his\nfather. She wanted her own son to become King some day.\n\nAnd so she planned to destroy Conn-eda or have him exiled from the\ncountry. With envy and hatred in her heart, the wicked Queen went to\nconsult a witch.\n\nThe witch gave the Queen a chess-board and told her to invite Prince\nConn-eda to play a game of chess.\n\nThe witch said to the Queen, \"The loser of this game shall be obliged\nto obey the orders of the winner. And, you, great Queen, shall win the\ngame! Having won the game, you are to send the Prince Conn-eda upon a\ndangerous journey. He must seek and bring to you, within a year and a\nday, three golden apples, a magical black steed, and the Hound of\nSupernatural Powers. These things are so well guarded that the Prince\nwill surely lose his life in attempting to seek them.\"\n\nThe Queen was delighted and hastened to invite Conn-eda to play a game\nof chess. He agreed to the conditions of the game, and it came about as\nthe witch had promised. The wicked Queen won.\n\n  [Illustration: SUBSTANTIAL HOMES IN A WOODLAND SETTING ON THE KILLARNEY\n  RIVER]\n\nBut so pleased was she with her triumph and so greedy for further\npower that she challenged the Prince to another game. To the Queen's\nastonishment and horror, Conn-eda won this second game.\n\n\"Since you won the first game,\" said Conn-eda, \"you shall be first to\ncommand your reward.\"\n\nThe Queen said, \"My reward shall be the three golden apples, the Black\nSteed, and the Hound of Supernatural Powers. These you must seek and\nbring to me within the space of a year and a day. If you fail you must\nleave your country forever or lose your life.\"\n\nConn-eda answered, \"Then my order to you is that you sit upon the\ntopmost spire of yonder tower until I return. If I do not return, you\nmay come down at the end of the year and a day.\"\n\nConn-eda was troubled and went to consult with a great Druid. The poor\nPrince had no idea how he was to find these magical treasures.\n\nThe great Druid gave the Prince a little, shaggy pony. He bade Conn-eda\nobey this little horse.\n\nAfter further instructions from the great Druid, Conn-eda mounted the\nshaggy steed and set out upon his journey.\n\nHis adventures were many. Through them all, the little shaggy horse\nhelped and guided him. The animal had the power of speech.\n\nAfter days of hardship and danger, Conn-eda reached the walls of a\ngreat city. Two huge towers stood on either side of the gate and sent\nforth flames of fire. The pony bade Conn-eda alight from his back and\ntake from his ear a small knife.\n\n\"With this knife,\" said the steed, \"kill me! Then wrap yourself in my\nskin, and you shall be able to pass the gates of the city unharmed. All\nI ask is that you return to my body and pour a drop of this powerful\nointment upon my poor flesh.\"\n\nWith these words the pony gave Conn-eda a bottle of magic fluid.\n\nThe Prince cried, \"Never, never! I would rather die than kill you, my\ngood friend!\"\n\nBut at last the pony persuaded Conn-eda, and the Prince stabbed his\nnoble steed. His heart bled, and he was in despair at what he had done.\n\nBut he suddenly thought of the bottle of fluid which the steed had given\nhim. Following the animal's advice, the Prince poured the ointment over\nthe horse's body.\n\nNo sooner had he done this than the horse's shape changed to the form of\na handsome young man.\n\n\"Behold!\" cried the noble youth. \"You have freed me from a wicked\nenchantment. I am brother of the King of the city. It was a wicked Druid\nwho kept me so long in the form of a shaggy steed. Now, through your\nbrave act, you have broken the spell, and I shall help you in your\nquest.\"\n\n  [Illustration: LOCH DERG AT KILLALOE, EMPTYING INTO THE RIVER SHANNON]\n\nThe handsome Prince asked his brother, the King, for those treasures\nwhich Conn-eda sought. Gladly did the King give to him the apples from\nhis magic tree, the Black Steed, and the precious hound. With these\nthree treasures did Conn-eda return to his country.\n\nThe wicked Queen, who was sitting upon the top of her tower, saw\nConn-eda approaching. She saw him riding upon a prancing steed and\nleading a curious animal by a silver chain.\n\nThe Queen knew that he was returning in triumph. In despair she cast\nherself from the tower.\n\nThat was her end. And that was also the end of trouble in the kingdom of\nthe west. For at the death of the good King Conn, his son Conn-eda was\nmade king. Conn-eda ruled wisely, and it was after his name that the\nprovince of Connaught was called.\n\nIn Connaught is the County of Galway. Sheep are raised in Galway. And it\nhas a rugged, wild seacoast.\n\nIt was on this coast that the wreck of part of the Spanish Armada took\nplace in 1588. For this reason there is still to be found, in this part\nof Ireland, people of Spanish descent. And the fairies are said to love\nthe County of Galway. In Galway County is the District of Connemara.\n\nOnce upon a time there dwelt a powerful family named Conmac. In Irish\n\"Connemara\" means \"Seaside of the Conmacs,\" for it was this wild and\nrocky shore that was used by these ancient royal people as their\nseaside.\n\nConnemara is called the Congested District of Ireland. The word\n\"congested\" means \"overcrowded.\" But in this case it does not mean that\nthe country is overcrowded with people. For the people are few here in\nthis wild land.\n\nBut the barren soil does not yield enough for those few people. And\nthere is much poverty in Connemara.\n\nBut there also are lakes of great beauty, and valuable marble, known\nas Connemara marble. And there are fairies! Well do the fairies love\nConnemara!\n\n  [Illustration: IRISH FARMER AND HIS SON PATCHING THE ROOF OF THEIR OLD\n  STONE HOUSE]\n\nIn Connemara there is a village, and in that village lived a boy named\nShaun O'Day.\n\nDo you know the why of that name Shaun? It is the same as the name John.\nBut it is an Irish name. It is spelled \"Sean\" in Irish and pronounced\n\"hwan.\"\n\nIt is Jean in French, and Giovanni in Italian, and Hans in German, and\nIvan in Russian. It is Juan in Spanish, Jock in Scotch, and Johnny in\nAmerican.\n\nIt is a Hebrew word and has a very beautiful meaning: \"Gift of God.\" Do\nyou wonder that so many boys all over the world are given the name\nJohn?\n\nHere we have the why and the wonder of the land of Shaun O'Day. So now\nwe shall hear of the strange things that befell this lad, who lived in\nthe Emerald Isle.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nSHAUNEEN AND THE LEPRECHAUN\n\n\n  \"Can you not catch the tiny clamor,\n  Busy click of an elfin hammer,\n  Voice of the Leprechaun ringing shrill\n  As he busily plies his trade?\"\n                            --W. B. YEATS\n\nWe have been speaking of the fairies and how they love Ireland.\n\nThe fairies are divided into tribes just the way Ireland itself is\ndivided into many districts, counties, and provinces.\n\nThere are many tribes of fairies, and these tribes are all quite\ndifferent from one another.\n\nThere are those who dress like the flowers; and those that change\nthemselves into various shapes. There are evil fairies and solitary\nfairies.\n\nYou must always call them the \"Good People,\" for they are easily\noffended.\n\nBut if you believe in them and leave a bit of milk for them upon the\nwindow sill, they will bring luck and happiness to you.\n\nNow the fairy that we are going to meet in this story is called the\nleprechaun, or fairy shoemaker. We are going to meet him, because if it\nhad not been for him, there would be no story at all.\n\nThe fairy shoemaker sits under a toadstool making tiny shoes. The word\n\"leprechaun\" comes from two Irish words meaning \"one shoe.\" The reason\nhe bears this name is because he is always working upon one shoe.\n\nThe leprechaun is quick and mysterious. He is also mischievous. And one\nof his great pranks is stealing wee boys away.\n\nHe steals wee Irish boys away from their homes because they do work so\nwell. He makes them work for himself--this mischief-making fairy!\n\nHe will not bother with wee girls.\n\n\"Wee girls are not so strong as wee boys,\" says he.\n\nSo when you meet Shaun O'Day, you must not be surprised to find him\nwearing a petticoat! You must not be surprised, because it is the fault\nof the leprechaun.\n\nYou see, Shaun O'Day lived in a very western part of Ireland, in\nConnemara, where fairies abound.\n\nAnd in the village where he lived, the boys were all dressed in red\npetticoats! They were dressed in red flannel petticoats until they\nreached a tall and manly age.\n\n  [Illustration: HE WORE A FLANNEL PETTICOAT]\n\nThis was many years ago. And though they would not tell you why they\nwore those petticoats, I am telling you 'twas because of the\nleprechauns.\n\nEvery wee boy's mother feared the leprechaun. And so she dressed her boy\nin the dress of the girl to trick that sly creature.\n\nBoys were needed badly by the human folk. Why should the fairy folk be\ntaking them away?\n\nShaun had a good, kind father. He was a fisherman. Shaun's mother was\ndead.\n\nBut Shaun and his father lived happily enough until one day Shaun's\nfather married again.\n\nHe married a woman who had four sons. Grown-up boys they were, and lazy.\n\nLike the Queen in the story of Conn-eda, this woman was unkind. Little\nlove had she for Shaun, and she made him work hard.\n\nPoor little lad! He was very young when he had to labor like a full\ngrown man, while the sons of his stepmother rested or played.\n\nShaun was always called Shauneen by his father, who loved him dearly.\n\"Shauneen\" means \"little Shaun.\" \"Een\" is the Irish for \"little.\"\n\n\"Oh, Shauneen, lad,\" said the father, one night after his return from\nsea, \"'tis tired you look, and worn. Faith! Can the school work be so\nhard?\"\n\nShaun did not tell his father that the wicked stepmother had kept him\nfrom school that day. He did not tell his father that she had made him\nwalk upon an errand, miles and miles away. He did not say that she had\nbeaten him when he returned.\n\nShaun was often tempted to tell these things to his good, kind father.\nBut he feared to cause the poor man sorrow.\n\n\"Sure, and 'twould be a pity to cause him grief, and he so good,\" the\nlad had often thought to himself. \"And I can bear it all, for have I not\nhimself to love me?\"\n\nShauneen was a brave boy and felt that to whimper to his father would be\nweak.\n\nHe was a sturdy little lad. His hair was Irish red and his cheeks were\nbright and rosy from the damp, rainy wind. He was strong and manly.\n\nHe hated the red petticoat he was forced to wear. Often he had thought\nof putting on the clothing of a real boy.\n\nBut always in his heart, as in the hearts of other village boys, there\nwas the fear of the leprechaun!\n\nAnd if he were stolen away, what would his dear father do? His dear\nfather, who loved him!\n\nIt was only because of his father that Shauneen did not give himself to\nthe fairies.\n\nHe would not have been afraid of the fairies.\n\nHe would have liked them to take him away. They could not be so cruel as\nhis stepmother.\n\nSometimes Shaun's stepmother made him mind her baby. He had to carry it\nupon his back. Many of the village boys did this sort of thing, and so\nit was not the disgrace that it would be in a present-day city.\n\nHe often went down to the shore.\n\nTo-day as he approached the shore, he met a friend. This friend was a\ngirl, the daughter of a neighbor. Her name was Eileen. But Shauneen did\nnot call her that.\n\nShe was his little schoolgirl sweetheart, and he called her Dawn. He\ncalled her Dawn because he told her that she was the dawn of day to him.\n\n\"Some day,\" he said, \"'tis myself, Shaun O'Day, will marry you. Then you\nwill be in truth my Dawn O'Day.\"\n\nTo-day they looked out across the great ocean and dreamed of a new\nworld out there. They dreamed of America.\n\n  [Illustration: THEY FANCIED AMERICA]\n\nAnd Shaun said, \"When I am tall and strong, I shall take you in a ship\nto America. Och, we'll be after building a houseen in the New Island!\"\n\nThe New Island was their Irish name for America.\n\nIt was a rainy day, but they did not notice it. Rain is nothing to Irish\nchildren. And as they talked together on the shore in the drizzling\nrain, they heard a strange cry.\n\n  [Illustration: THEY HEARD A STRANGE CRY]\n\nLouder grew the cry, and suddenly they saw men and women running toward\nthe shore. They heard the women wailing. They heard the tramp, tramp of\nmen's heavy boots.\n\nShaun stood up, with the baby on his back. He shaded his eyes and\nlooked.\n\n  [Illustration: SHAUN STOOD UP WITH THE BABY ON HIS BACK]\n\nThe girl stood, too. She gave a low cry.\n\n\"Och, Shauneen!\" she moaned. \"'Tis a fishing boat has been wrecked!\nOch, the poor wives and children of the men 'twere in it!\"\n\nAnd she moaned and rocked back and forth.\n\nThe waters made a roaring sound. The sky was leaden gray. The men were\nworking, pulling in the wreck of the boat.\n\nShaun gave the baby to Eileen. Then the boy in his red petticoat\nstarted to run.\n\n  [Illustration: HE STARTED TO RUN]\n\nHis feet were bare, but he could skim over those rough rocks like a wild\nanimal. His feet never had known shoes.\n\nHis ruddy face had gone white. He reached the group of working men and\nmoaning women. Then he fell upon his face, and a great sob came from his\nheart.\n\nAmong the lost men was his own father!\n\n  [Illustration: HE FELL UPON HIS FACE]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nCOME AWAY\n\n\n  \"Come away, O human child!\n  To the woods and waters wild,\n  With a fairy hand in hand.\"\n                  --W. B. YEATS\n\nThe sea had taken away Shaun's only loved one.\n\nShaun O'Day stood upon the banks of the little lake near his village. He\nstared out across the blue Irish lake. That morning his stepmother had\nbeaten him.\n\n  [Illustration: HE STARED OUT ACROSS THE BLUE IRISH LAKE]\n\nIt was several months since the sea accident had taken his father from\nhim. It was several sad, cruel months to the boy Shaun.\n\nIf it had not been for his little Dawn O'Day, Shaun would have run away.\nHe would have run and run--anywhere to get away from this life of hard\nwork and cruelty.\n\nBut he did not want to leave little Dawn O'Day. She pleaded with him to\nstay. She was afraid of the fairies.\n\nTo-day he stood beside the lake, and he had a bundle by his side. It was\na bulky bundle. He had worked hard all that morning. He had helped the\nmen burn kelp.\n\nKelp is seaweed. The people burn it and make iodine from what is left of\nit. Kelp burning is an important occupation in western Ireland.\n\nShaun had worked hard. His little rough hands burned. His little sturdy\nbody ached. He was hungry.\n\nHe had gone home and, seeing the family at dinner, he had helped himself\nto potatoes.\n\nHis stepmother had cried, \"Begob, and did I tell you to serve yourself?\nAre you, indeed, the King himself?\"\n\nWith that, she had beaten him.\n\nNow Shaun stood upon the shore of that blue Irish lake near his village.\nHe had taken a suit of clothes belonging to one of his stepbrothers. A\nsuit of boy's clothes it was.\n\nHe would put it on. He would stand by the lake and call to the\nleprechauns to take him away. He would work for the leprechauns. Yes,\nwillingly would he work and toil for the fairy folk!\n\nHe started to undo the paper in which he had wrapped the clothing. He\nheard a sound and looked up. Eileen was standing before him. It was his\nlittle Dawn O'Day.\n\n\"Shauneen, och, Shauneen!\" she cried. \"What is it you are about to do?\nAnd why do you look that way?\"\n\nShaun did not answer. He took her hand. They sat together on the bank of\nthe lake.\n\n\"Faith, speak to me, Shauneen!\" cried the girl, the tears starting to\nher eyes. \"Speak and tell me that you are not after calling the lep--\"\n\nShe stopped suddenly. One should not talk about them. They are easily\noffended.\n\nShaun kept looking out across the lake, but he held the hand of his\nlittle sweetheart. At last he spoke.\n\n\"Sure, I am leaving you, Dawn O'Day,\" he said.\n\nAs she started to cry out, he held up his hand and said, \"No; do not\ncry, for I cannot stay. But do not fear that I shall forget you. The\ndream we made together shall come true. I'll be coming back to you. For\nthere's not a faireen like you in all the world, at all.\"\n\nDawn O'Day began to cry.\n\n  [Illustration: SHE PLEADED WITH HIM TO STAY]\n\nShe sobbed, \"Och, don't be after leaving me! Don't be after going to\nthem. Och, 'tis themselves will be keeping you, and never will Dawn\nO'Day see you again!\"\n\nShaun laughed and stroked her little hand.\n\n  [Illustration: HE TOOK HER HAND]\n\n\"Troth, do not fret, mavourneen,\" he said. \"Sure, you know well I'll be\nwriting to you, and never will I forget you, my Dawn O'Day.\"\n\nThe little girl knew that it was useless to say more. The boy stood up,\nand she stood, too. They looked into each other's blue eyes.\n\n  [Illustration: \"DO NOT FRET, MAVOURNEEN\"]\n\nAnd then Eileen ran as fast as she could. She ran away from her little\nfriend and sobbed as she ran. She thought she should never again see\nher Shauneen.\n\nThe boy quickly changed his clothing. He tied a large rock to the red\npetticoat and threw it into the lake. He stood there in the garments of\na boy.\n\n  [Illustration: HE TIED A ROCK TO THE PETTICOAT]\n\nHe held out his arms and cried, \"Come, leprechauns! Sure, I'm ready to\ngo with you!\"\n\nThere was no fear in his heart. Any other boy in that village would have\ntrembled at doing such a thing. But other boys were contented at home.\n\nOther boys had mothers and fathers and good homes. They did not want to\nbe stolen away. Shauneen was not afraid.\n\nHe stood and called as he stood. He was straight and strong. He would\nmake a splendid helper for a shoemaker. Why did the fairy shoemakers not\ncome and take him? He stood there until dusk. Then he grew tired and lay\ndown to sleep. He slept long. It was early dawn when he awoke.\n\nHe stood once more and called out, \"I am ready to go. Come, leprechauns,\ncome!\"\n\n  [Illustration: \"COME, LEPRECHAUNS! I'M READY TO GO\"]\n\nBut not a one came. And the lad was puzzled.\n\nNow Shaun was keen. He was one who thought and planned. He did not\nintend to go back to his stepmother.\n\nHe began to wonder whether the tale of the leprechauns was true. Had\nanyone ever really seen one? Only old Patch, the village shoemaker, and\nhe was half-witted.\n\nBut no one had been with Patch when he had seen the leprechaun. No one\never had seen the fairies; but they all believed. They believed so much\nthat they were in daily dread of them.\n\nThey left milk upon window sills and made charms to keep the fairies\nfrom doing evil. They dressed their boys in red petticoats.\n\nBut Shaun would never again wear a red petticoat. He would never again\nreturn to his stepmother.\n\nEven if the fairies did not steal him, he would never return. He would\ngo somewhere. Perhaps to the \"New Island\"--America! As he was thinking\nthese thoughts, he found himself walking toward the shore. There was a\nweak light in the sky. The rugged shore was blue in the haze of dawn.\n\nThe boy could see a boat. Men were hauling things and making ready to\nset off for somewhere. Shaun was quick, and before he knew what he had\ndone he had slid into the boat.\n\nHe crouched upon the bottom, under a seat. He made himself as small as a\nbundle of rags.\n\nHe lay very still. He felt the boat leave the shore and he heard the men\ntalking and singing. The water rolled the boat about, and sometimes the\nspray came in and wet the men.\n\nBut Shaun was dry and warm under the seat. He hardly breathed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE STRANGE LAND\n\n\n  \"Out of the old world\n    Into the new,\n  True land or fairyland,\n    Say, which are you?\"\n\n\"Shaun O'Day has been stolen by the leprechauns!\" That was the whisper\nthat buzzed all about the village the next day.\n\nLittle Eileen, with swollen eyes, told her mother how she had left the\nlad on the bank of the lake. She told how he had planned to put on the\nclothing of a boy and call the fairies. She wept as she told how brave\nhe had been and how he had promised to write to her.\n\nHer mother smiled sadly and said, \"Och, the poor lad will never write!\nNever will Ireland see himself again! Sure, it's lost he is, and he\nstanding by the banks of that lake in the clothing of a man child! For\nthe fairies do be looking for his likes. Well pleased were they surely\nto find him!\"\n\nShe sighed, and so did all the rest of the village folk. They all left\nmilk upon their window sills that night.\n\nThey spoke together of the Good People and said, \"God bless them!\"\n\nFor, you see, they wanted to win the good will of the fairies.\n\nShaun's stepmother was as certain as any of the rest that the boy had\nbeen stolen.\n\nShe said, \"And luck to the Good People! May they work the lazy lad and\nmake a man of him!\"\n\nShe was not sorry for Shaun. But she was sorry for herself that he was\nnot there to work for her any more.\n\nIn a few months nobody spoke of Shaun in the village. He was forgotten.\nHe was forgotten by all but little Eileen. She thought of him each day.\n\nAnd ofttimes she went to the lake and talked to the blue waters. She\nasked them where the fairies had taken her Shauneen.\n\nBut the wind only blew ripples over the blue waters of the lake. And the\ntrees sighed, and Eileen ran home crying.\n\nShe did not tell her mother. She kept her secret in her heart and kept\nher heart open for Shauneen.\n\nThen one day after many months, a letter came to the town. It was for\nEileen. It came from a strange land; and everyone in the village was\ncurious about it.\n\nSome of the old folks in the village did not know English. They spoke\nonly Irish. But the children in the village all knew English, for they\nstudied it in school.\n\nThe letter to Eileen was written in English. The little girl ran to the\nside of the blue lake. She opened the letter with trembling fingers.\n\nThis is what she read:\n\n\"Dawn O'Day, I have traveled far. The many lands I've seen and the many\nstrange things would open wide your eyes. I am in a fairy city. The\nlights at night do be shining like the stars. And the noise is like a\nthousand thunders.\n\n\"But the shoemaker is kind. I work hard, but I am paid a handsome sum.\nAnd I study at night in a fine school. I am happy but for the sorrow of\nleaving you. Keep in your heart your faith, for I'll be coming back to\nget you.\n\n\"Your Shaun.\"\n\nWhen Eileen walked back to the village with her letter clasped in her\nhand, a crowd of children surrounded her.\n\n\"And what is in it?\" shouted one.\n\n\"Are the fairies themselves writing to you?\" laughed another.\n\nEileen shook her curls and would not answer.\n\nOne cried, \"Och, you cannot keep it secret at all, at all! 'Tis from\nhimself--Shaun O'Day, and 'tis from America!\"\n\nThe crowd set up a loud roar. \"Yes, yes, we know! From America! We saw\nthe mark! 'Tis a fine secret you'd keep, Eileen!\"\n\nEileen's face became red with anger.\n\n\"Stop!\" she cried. \"'Tis not true! He's with the fairies! He's in a\nfairy city! 'Tis himself says so!\"\n\nBut the crowd only laughed the more loudly. \"Ho! A fairy city! And why,\nthen, is the letter marked with the mark of America?\"\n\nEileen had wondered, too, about this. She wondered about the postmark.\nIt said \"U.S.A.\" And that meant United States of America.\n\n\"'Tis a trick of the fairies!\" she cried, believing it herself. \"A trick\nto put us off their track! 'Tis himself that's working for the fairy\nshoemaker in a fairy city!\"\n\nShe then told them what Shaun had said about the lights at night and the\nthunder noise. She told how he was receiving pay for his work and about\nthe school to which he went.\n\nThey stopped shouting and listened. Their jaws fell open. They were\nforced to believe that Shaun was truly in the land of the leprechaun!\n\nStill, some were doubtful and went away wagging their heads and\nsneering.\n\n\"'Tis said that in great cities in the New World such things do be,\"\nsaid one.\n\nBut Eileen was happy. No matter where Shaun was, she knew that he was\nwell. She knew that he thought of her and that they would meet again\nsome day.\n\nLetters came often after that. In each one were tales of great wonder.\nEven the most doubtful of the villagers had to admit that the boy was\nwith the fairies.\n\nHe told of strange people, of amusements, of towers touching the sky,\nand of sights that dazzled his eyes.\n\nShaun had traveled all the way to a big American city. A bright, strong\nlad was he.\n\nHe could always find ways of working himself along. On ships and\ntrains, in motors, and upon his two feet he traveled.\n\nWhen he arrived in the strange city across the sea, he sold papers on\nthe streets.\n\nHis clear Irish voice rang out with its brogue. Many persons smiled as\nthey listened to the fresh young voice of Shaun O'Day from Connemara.\n\nBut one man stopped and spoke to the lad. He, too, was an Irishman. He\nspoke kindly to Shaun.\n\nThe boy told him about his trip and the strangeness he felt in this new\nland. So this Irishman, Pat O'Leary, took Shaun to his shop.\n\nPat O'Leary was a shoemaker. He had a tiny shop on a side street in the\ngreat city. Here he worked at his trade and lived in a dingy room in the\nback of the shop.\n\n'Twas thus that Shaun O'Day found a home. And 'twas thus that he started\nto work for a shoemaker. Pat O'Leary was not a fairy shoemaker. But a\ngood fairy was he to the Irish lad.\n\nHe was wrinkled and bent. He might have been an old leprechaun who had\nlost his way upon earth. He was jolly and smiling, with a joke ever upon\nhis lips.\n\nShaun lived and worked with Pat and was happy. At night he went to\nschool in the big city and learned many things.\n\nThe bright lights, flickering on and off, made him blink his eyes. The\ntall towers and buildings made his neck stiff with looking up.\n\nThe noise of the traffic and whistles and motors and people made his\nears tingle.\n\nBut he loved it and wrote each week to his little friend in Ireland and\ntold her of the magic of it all. He told it with a twinkle in his Irish\neyes as he wrote.\n\nHe knew she would think he was with the fairies. He knew she, too, would\nthink this big city fairyland if she were here with him.\n\nSo he smiled to himself as he wrote to her. And the smiles tumbled down\nfrom his lips to the paper on which he wrote.\n\nAnd when Eileen received the letters those same smiles jumped up and\nsettled on her own two pretty lips. She liked to think that her Shaun\nwas in a fairy city. He knew she would like to think it.\n\nSo he went on telling her about the wonders, without ever saying he was\nin the city of New York.\n\nIt was a simple jest. He would not have deceived her for worlds. But\nthat twinkle made him play with her. It made him write letters that read\nlike fairy tales.\n\nAnd sometimes he wrote verse like this:\n\n      Towers tall\n      Make Shauneen small\n      Feel like nothing\n      At all, at all!\n\nYears went by. One day a very small girl came into the shoemaker's\nshop.\n\nShaun was growing to be a tall boy now. He was tall and manly. But the\nIrish bloom was still on his face, with the smile of his country.\n\nA very small girl came into the shop with her nurse. While the nurse\ntalked to Pat O'Leary, the little miss came over and sat upon a stool by\nthe side of Shaun O'Day.\n\nHe gave her his Irish smile. She gave him a friendly American smile.\n\nShe was a pretty, blond baby, with teeth as white as milk and eyes the\nbrown of tree bark.\n\nIt was not long before the Irish lad was telling her the stories of his\nland. She sat spellbound while he talked of the fairies. He worked upon\na shoe while he talked.\n\n  [Illustration: TELLING STORIES OF HIS LAND]\n\nHe told her about the leprechaun. And she thought he might be one, from\nthe way he looked as he worked upon that shoe.\n\n  [Illustration: HE WORKED UPON ONE SHOE WHILE HE TALKED]\n\nThen her nurse called, \"Come, Marjorie. We must go!\" Marjorie did not\nwant to go. She stamped her little foot.\n\n\"Come, now,\" begged Nurse, \"and to-morrow we will be coming back.\"\n\nYou see, Nurse was Irish, too, and she loved to talk with Pat O'Leary.\n\nMarjorie could twine Nurse about her little finger and make her do as\nshe wished. Marjorie could make almost everybody do as she wished, for\nshe was sweet and pretty, and she had dimples.\n\n  [Illustration: MARJORIE]\n\nBut sometimes she was very stubborn and naughty. Then she did not look\nso pretty. Her dimple did not seem to be a fairy ripple when she was\ncross.\n\nMarjorie and Nurse left the shop. All that day, Marjorie thought of the\nIrish lad's tales.\n\nThe next day they came again, and the next, and the next. Marjorie\nloved to go to the shop each day and listen to the tales of Shaun O'Day.\n\nBut one day a frightful thing happened. Marjorie's dimple was looking\nmore like a smudge of dirt than like a fairy ripple.\n\nIt was evening. Marjorie heard the water running for her bath.\n\nShe stamped her foot at Nurse and cried, \"I won't take a bath!\"\n\nWhen Nurse called to her that the bath was ready, Marjorie was nowhere\nto be found. She had run away from her home.\n\nMarjorie ran to the shop of Pat O'Leary, straight to Shaun O'Day.\n\nShaun was surprised and shocked to see the little girl alone and at\nsuch a late hour. He was just starting off for his school.\n\nMarjorie wanted the lad to tell her tales. But he shook his head.\n\n\"Sure, 'tis the wicked child you are, Miss Marjorie,\" he said. \"And 'tis\nmyself will carry you back to your home.\"\n\nSo saying, he picked her up under his arm and took her to her home.\nImagine how surprised her parents were when they saw this sight at their\ndoor.\n\nThere was Shaun, the red-haired Irish lad, standing with their wee\ndaughter tucked under his big arm. She was kicking and squealing like a\nlittle pig.\n\n  [Illustration: KICKING AND SQUEALING LIKE A LITTLE PIG]\n\n\"Begging your pardon, sir,\" said Shaun to Marjorie's father, \"I've\nbrought you the young lady of the house!\"\n\nMarjorie was sent upstairs to bed. I do not know whether her mother\nspanked her, but I think she did not. Her mother spoiled her the way\neveryone else did.\n\nDownstairs, Shaun told Marjorie's father how she had come to the shop.\nHer father asked Shaun to sit down. He liked the boy. He asked Shaun\nabout his life. Marjorie's father wanted to know about Ireland, too.\nShaun talked with his slow brogue. His blue eyes twinkled with the truth\nthere was in them.\n\nMarjorie's father asked Shaun, \"Would you not like to change your home?\nCome and work for me in this house. I will have you taught the work of a\nbutler, if you will come here and stay. You shall tell Marjorie tales\nevery day.\"\n\nYou see, her father was another who wanted to do everything in the world\nfor this little American Princess.\n\nSo it came about that Shaun changed his home and his work. He left the\nshop of Pat O'Leary. And a letter came to Dawn O'Day in Ireland.\n\nIt said: \"So here I am in the house of a fairy Princess. She did wave\nher wand, and I was brought to live here by her father. 'Tis a good man\nhe is, too. And I love the baby Princess well and do be pleasing her\nwith tales of old Ireland.\n\n\"I'm learning the trade of a butler. I'm after serving themselves out of\ngolden goblets and glass plates the color of Ireland's green. The table\nshines with bright crystal and silver. The food is beautiful to look\nupon.\n\n\"Then the pay I do get is indeed grand. 'Tis all to be saved for our\nwedding day, mavourneen.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE FRIGHTENED GIANT\n\n\n  A giant did call at a fairy ball\n    With the wee folk he wanted to play,\n  But as soon as he lifted his clumsy arm\n    He frightened the fairies away.\n\n   Then back they all came and they played their game,\n     And the giant once more tried to play,\n   But so quick and so light were the fairies bright\n     They frightened the giant away.\n\nWhen Marjorie's nurse went out, it was Shaun who took Marjorie to play\nin the park. Sometimes they stayed in the big gardens of Marjorie's\nhome, and Shaun told stories.\n\n  [Illustration: SHAUN TOLD MARJORIE STORIES IN THE GARDEN]\n\nBut occasionally the little girl liked to go where she would meet her\nfriends.\n\nOn such a day Shaun and Marjorie were playing ball with the children in\nthe park. They were throwing the ball to one another.\n\nShaun was standing among them like a giant. He was trying to be gentle\nas he threw the ball. But all at once his strength let go and over the\ntree tops went the ball.\n\n\"O-oh, what a terrible throw!\" sneered a small boy.\n\nShaun ran and brought back the ball. He tried to be more careful. But\nonce he threw it into the duck pond, and at last he lost it altogether.\nHe heard a child snickering as he came back from an unsuccessful search.\n\nMarjorie said, \"Let's go home. I'm tired, anyway.\"\n\nShe looked cross, but she did not say a word to Shaun on the way home.\n\nThat night Shaun was dressing to help the butler serve dinner. He looked\nat his big hands.\n\nHe looked at his strong arms and sighed, \"Och! Shaun O'Day is too big to\nbe the playmate of a fairy princess!\"\n\nBut he did not worry until later.\n\nThen that evening when he was helping wash dishes, the cook said, \"Watch\nout, boy. You'll break the dishes yet, with your big, clumsy hands.\"\n\nHe tried so hard to be careful. He tried too hard, perhaps, for what\ncook had warned him of came to pass. He broke a precious cup and saucer.\n\nThe other servants said nothing, but smiled behind their hands.\n\nCook, however, cautioned, \"Mind you don't do that again, boy.\"\n\nShaun went to his room with a heavy heart that night. What was the\nmatter? Was he too big, too clumsy?\n\nWould he never learn to be deft and quick like Perkins the butler? Or\nneat and brisk like the chauffeur Paul?\n\nOh, well, he could only try. He could be very careful. But anyway,\nMarjorie still loved his tales.\n\nHe could tell stories and amuse the Princess. That was one thing none of\nthe others could do. He fell asleep smiling.\n\nA few days later, Marjorie told him that she was planning a birthday\nparty. She told him about all the amusements they were to have. Many\nchildren were to be asked.\n\nThey would have ice cream and cake and chocolate in the garden under\nthe trees. Shaun would serve them.\n\nThey would play games, and Shaun would tell them stories. Oh, that was\nto be the best part of all, Marjorie thought.\n\nShaun and the little girl planned the party together. Shaun suggested an\nIrish game, and Marjorie said it would be fun to play it.\n\nSo the day arrived. It was a shiny spring day. It was a pretty sight to\nsee the little boys and girls running about and playing together in the\ngreen garden.\n\nMarjorie cried out, \"Come now! Shaun will show you how to play his\ngame.\"\n\nAnd the tall lad stood among the little children. He tried to make them\nunderstand what fun it was to play an old Irish game.\n\nIt was a game that Shaun had played and that Shaun's father had played\nand perhaps Shaun's father's father.\n\nBut these young Americans did not like it. They said so. They turned\ntheir backs and refused to play it.\n\nSo Marjorie said, \"Then Shaun will tell us a story.\"\n\nThe children gathered around Shaun and he began: \"Once upon a time in\nold Ireland--\"\n\n\"Will there be any wars in the story?\" asked one of the children--a boy,\nof course.\n\nShaun twinkled and replied, \"Perhaps.\"\n\n  [Illustration: \"ONCE UPON A TIME IN OLD IRELAND\"]\n\nThen he went on. He was telling a fairy tale. The boys began to realize\nthat it was not about wild Indians and wars. They twisted and fidgeted.\nThey dug their heels into the ground, and one boy pinched another. He\nsquealed aloud.\n\n\"S-sh!\" said one girl. \"Stop making that noise!\"\n\nBut the boys did not want to listen.\n\nOne boy stood up and said, \"Who wants to hear about fairies?\"\n\n\"I don't! I don't!\" yelled the others.\n\nMarjorie frowned.\n\nThe boys ran away, shouting, \"Come on! Let's play robbers.\"\n\nMarjorie said, \"They would have liked Shaun's story. They should have\nlistened. It was awf'lly 'citing! But he hardly started to tell it.\"\n\nBy this time the group was scattered. Even the little girls were\nwhispering together.\n\nShaun got up and walked away. He walked to a bench at the other end of\nthe garden and sat down. He was thinking very deeply.\n\nHe sat there until he heard his name called. He had to go into the house\nto help bring out ice cream and cake and chocolate to Marjorie's guests.\n\nAs he served little ice cream boats and flowers and animals, his\nthoughts were far away. The crystal and gold of the plates and goblets\ndid not seem so lovely as before.\n\nEverything on the table swam before Shaun's eyes. Even the children's\nfaces seemed blurred. He heard their talk and laughter in a dream.\n\nHe was very unhappy.\n\n\"Oh, Shaun, do look what you're doing!\" cried a voice in distress.\n\nShaun looked in horror at what he had done. He had poured hot chocolate\nover the tablecloth. It was trickling down over a little girl's dress.\n\nPerkins the butler grabbed the chocolate pot out of Shaun's hand.\n\nHe muttered, \"Clumsy fellow!\" and started mopping up.\n\nThe little girl began to cry.\n\nShaun went into the kitchen for a fresh napkin. When he came out to the\nparty again, he heard the children snickering and whispering among\nthemselves. As he approached the table, they stopped. He knew they were\nmaking sport of his clumsiness.\n\nHe looked at Marjorie. There were tears in her brown eyes, and she was\nbiting her lip. That night Shaun packed his few things and left a letter\nfor Marjorie.\n\n  [Illustration: THERE WERE TEARS IN MARJORIE'S BROWN EYES]\n\nHe told her that he was too clumsy to stay in the home of a princess any\nlonger. He told her that he should never forget her kindness to him.\n\nThen he wrote another letter and put a stamp on it. He walked out of\nthe big house with the letter in one hand and his old Irish carpet bag\nin the other.\n\nHe walked along the bright city streets until he came to a mail box. He\nkissed the letter and then dropped it into the box.\n\nDawn O'Day read the letter a few weeks later in Ireland.\n\nThis is what it said:\n\n\"My Dawn O'Day--\n\n\"At last I am leaving the fairy folk. My fingers have grown too clumsy\nand my arms too big for the dainty likes of the Good People. Those\nelves, the children of this bright world, do not be wanting Shaun O'Day\nany more.\n\n\"And so, little Eileen, I am coming back to you and Ireland. And in my\npocket is silver and gold to buy us a wedding and a cottage.\n\n\"But the cottage will not be in that New Island. 'Twill be in the old\nEmerald Isle.\n\n\"Your Shaun.\"\n\nShaun sold everything he had but an old suit of clothes. He bought a\nticket on a boat going to England and sailed away from New York.\n\nAs the big ship left behind her the great American city, the Irish lad\nsaluted and murmured, \"Farewell, fairyland. 'Tis too grand you are for\nthe likes of a simple lad like me. But, och, a wonderful, great\nfairyland you are!\"\n\nSlowly the stately harbor disappeared from view.\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nCHAPTER\n\nVI JOHN\n\n\n  \"Come cuddle close in Daddy's coat\n    Beside the fire so bright,\n  And hear about the fairy folk\n    That wander in the night.\"\n                      --ROBERT BIRD\n\nIt is to-day in Ireland. Shaun O'Day is married to Eileen. He has made\nher his Dawn O'Day.\n\nThey have built a cottage near the banks of that blue Irish lake. They\nlive there with their children.\n\nShaun and Dawn O'Day have three children. Their youngest is a red-haired\nbaby girl with the eyes and the name of her mother.\n\nTheir oldest is a lanky, freckle-faced lad who wears the cast-off\ntrousers of his father. No more do tall boys wear the petticoats of\ngirls. They are not afraid of the leprechaun when they reach the age of\nten or twelve years.\n\nBut their mothers still keep them dressed as girls when they are small.\nAnd that is why we find John, the second son of Shaun O'Day, in a red\npetticoat. He looks very much the way Shaun himself had looked at that\nage.\n\nJohn had been christened Shaun. But they call him John, because it is\nto-day in Ireland. Young Shaun was called John O'Day.\n\nJohn had the ruddy complexion given most of these village lads by the\nwind and rain. But he was not as tough and strong as his father had\nbeen. He did not have to work. He could come home from school and do as\nhe pleased. Sometimes, of course, he ran errands for his mother or\nhelped her with household chores. But usually he would go to the shores\nof the lake and think.\n\nShaun once found his son thus. He went up to John quietly. He put his\nhand on the lad's shoulder. John jumped and stood erect, his face white.\n\n\"Och, why do you jump with such a great fear, my lad?\" asked the father.\n\nJohn sat down again. He was ashamed. He did not speak.\n\n\"Tell me, lad: What is it you fear?\" asked the father.\n\n  [Illustration: HE WOULD GO TO THE SHORES OF THE LAKE]\n\nThen John told his father how some boy in the village had started a\ntale. The lad had told how, many years ago, Shaun had been stolen away\nby the leprechauns.\n\nJohn told how it had happened on the shores of this very lake. He would\nnot believe it and said so.\n\nStill he often lay on his back by the lake and wondered whether it could\nbe true. Now he asked Shaun to tell him.\n\nShaun stroked his rough chin. The twinkle he had had as a boy was there\nin his eyes still. He looked at little John beside him.\n\n\"Och, Johneen!\" he laughed with his musical laugh. \"'Tis indeed a true\nstory.\"\n\nJohn's eyes grew big. He stared at his father as though Shaun himself\nmight be one of the Good People.\n\nThen he spread out the red petticoat on the ground. He knew that the red\npetticoat would protect him.\n\nShaun looked in amusement at the boy's frightened eyes. Then he grew\nsober.\n\nHe said, \"You must not fear the Good People, Johneen!\"\n\nJohn wet his dry lips with the tip of his tongue. He came up closer to\nhis father.\n\n\"But didn't they make you work for themselves?\" he whispered. \"And\nweren't they after stealing you away, and you wearing the clothes of a\nboy?\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" agreed Shaun. But he took his little son's hand and stroked\nit. \"And now,\" he went on, \"if you'll listen, I'll tell you the story.\"\n\nShaun began, \"When I was a lad I was not so fortunate as you, Johneen.\nI had to work hard. I was beaten and had not enough to eat. So I\ndetermined to go with the leprechaun. I put on the clothes of a boy. I\nstood by the lake. But never a fairy came at all, at all.\n\n\"I was tired and slept, and when I awoke 'twas dawn. I ran to the shore\nin a daze. I jumped into a boat. I was carried away. Through many\ncountries and on many seas I traveled.\n\n\"At last I landed in the fairy city. 'Twas there I met the leprechaun\nhimself.\"\n\nJohn's hand squeezed the hand of his father. He edged up closer to the\nbig man.\n\n\"But do not be thinking that this leprechaun was wicked,\" continued\nShaun. \"No, indeed. Kind he was, and good to me. I worked on the mending\nof shoes and was paid in silver.\n\n\"Then did I work for a little princess in the home of her father. Good\nPeople they were, too. And the sight of the beauty of that home would\nsurely have dazzled you.\n\n\"Among the precious treasures of that house I worked. With the treasured\nlittle Princess did I play until at last--\"\n\nHere the big man stopped. His voice grew low and soft. He dropped his\nhead.\n\nJohn asked in a hushed whisper, \"Yes--and what happened?\"\n\n\"Och, well--lad--I came back to old Ireland. Your mother was waiting for\nme.\"\n\nThen Shaun arose and placed his hand on John's shoulder.\n\nHe continued, \"But remember, son, that the Good People will not harm\nyou. Do not be afraid, at all, for well do they love us. And I do\nbelieve that they steal the wee boys because they love them so.\"\n\nShaun told this tale to the lad John, so he would never again fear the\nfairies.\n\nAnd so well did the plan succeed that John began to love the Good\nPeople. Over and over, he thought of what Shaun had told him.\n\nHe tried to imagine what the baby Princess looked like. He would shut\nhis eyes and try to picture the wonders of that fairy city.\n\nOne day he found himself pretending that he was flying over the city. He\nstarted and jumped to his feet.\n\nWhy had he been doing this? Did he, too, want to go away with the\nfairies? Of course not. Why should he want to leave his home, his good\nparents, his brother and sister?\n\nLaughing aloud, he went back to the cottage. He did not visit the lake\nfor several days.\n\nThen one morning, he was walking by himself in the sunshine. The little\nsparkling beams of sun made him think of the lights his father had told\nhim about in the strange city.\n\nSuddenly he found himself on the banks of the lake. He was on the\nopposite shore. He sat down.\n\nHe wondered whether the leprechaun would steal him if he should wear\nthe clothes of his big brother. The brightness of the day and the bird\nsongs made him light of heart. They gave him courage.\n\n\"Sure, I'll try,\" he exclaimed to the blue waters of the lake.\n\nWhat harm to try? Suppose they took him. It would be fun to visit\nfairyland. He could always come back. His father came back.\n\nIn his new enthusiasm, John stood on the bank and held out his arms\ncrying, \"Come, fairy Good Folk! Take me away. I do be wanting to see the\nwonders of your land!\"\n\nBut the gentle lapping of the lake was the only answer to his cry. Then\nJohn realized that he was standing in the red petticoat. He smiled.\n\n\"They'll not be wanting girls, at all,\" he reasoned.\n\n  [Illustration: \"THEY'LL NOT BE WANTING GIRLS AT ALL\"]\n\nNext day, before anyone in the cottage was astir, John slipped out of\nthe door. He was clad in a suit belonging to his older brother. The\ntrousers hung very low, but he tucked them up. He pulled a cap down over\nhis face.\n\nHe ran all the way to the opposite shore of the lake. His heart was\npounding, and his breath came in gasps.\n\nHe threw himself down on the ground to rest. Bird sounds were all about,\nand a rustling of leaves. The water was lap-lapping as always.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE GIRL FAIRY\n\n\n  \"To the fairyland afar\n  Where the Little People are.\"\n          --ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON\n\nMarjorie was now grown up. She looked quite different from the tiny\ngolden-haired girl Shaun had known. She was a tall, slender young lady.\n\nHer dimple still became a fairy ripple when she was happy. When she was\ncross, it still seemed a smudge of dirt.\n\nMarjorie was often cross now. The reason was a strange one. She had too\nmuch to make her happy. She had loving parents and a beautiful home. She\nhad many friends who adored her.\n\nShe was very beautiful, too. Everything lovely belonged to Marjorie.\nEven wealth was hers.\n\nHer father gave her everything she asked for. She had an automobile. She\nhad a beautiful glossy horse to ride.\n\nShe went to jolly parties, and all the boys wanted to dance with her.\nThey sent her boxes of chocolate creams and rare flowers.\n\n  [Illustration: MARJORIE WAS NOW GROWN UP]\n\nBut Marjorie was not happy with all this. She wanted the one thing that\nshe could not have.\n\nOften she spoke about Shaun O'Day. He had written to her from Ireland\nwhen he returned. He had sent her a shamrock and his picture. After\nthat, she had never heard from him again.\n\nShe had cried bitterly for many days after Shaun's departure. She had\nblamed her rude companions for having insulted the Irish lad. She wanted\nhim back.\n\nBut of course Shaun never went back to America. He was too happy in\nIreland. You know why he was happy. He had his Dawn O'Day and his little\nchildren.\n\nSo he hardly ever thought of the baby Princess in \"fairyland.\" He was\ntoo busy working hard to make a living for his family. He had so little\nmoney. But it did not make him unhappy. Sometimes it is a good thing\nwhen people have to work. It makes them happy.\n\nYou see how discontented Marjorie was. And she had so much! But she\nfinally found a wish that seemed impossible to grant.\n\nWhen she knew that she might never have Shaun again, she wanted him more\nthan ever. She pleaded with her father to send for him. But that was one\nthing her father would not do.\n\nHe knew that the lad could never be happy in this land. He knew that\nShaun had the dreams of Ireland in his heart. Shaun belonged in Ireland.\n\n  [Illustration: SHAUN HAD THE DREAMS OF IRELAND]\n\nMany years passed, and Marjorie never forgot Shaun. She often looked at\nthe young men who danced with her or who took her to the theater.\n\nShe often thought, \"He is not so nice as Shaun O'Day!\"\n\nShe imagined Shaun even finer than he was. She had really forgotten what\nhe was like, and she made a prince of him in her thoughts.\n\n\"I shall never be happy until I find Shaun O'Day once more!\" she said.\n\nOne day Marjorie asked her father if he would take her abroad. She\nwanted to visit the countries of Europe. Her father consented, and the\nfamily sailed away on a fine ship.\n\nThey were going to France and Germany and Italy and many other\ncountries. They had not thought of going to Ireland. But Marjorie knew\nthat they were going to Ireland!\n\nAnd in Ireland, poor little John O'Day sat by the lake waiting for the\nfairies. He had waited there for many days. At first he sat very still\nwith the clumsy trousers rolled up his legs and the big cap falling over\nhis eyes.\n\nHe sat still and listened for a sound. He heard only the lake lapping.\n\nThen he began to bring his books along. He liked the books about Ireland\nthat they gave him at school.\n\nHe thought the pictures of Dublin and Belfast looked very like that\nfairy city of which his father had told. He looked at those pictures for\nhours and hours. And he waited there by the banks.\n\n  [Illustration:--LOOKED AT THOSE PICTURES FOR HOURS AND HOURS]\n\nHe always changed to his red petticoat before he went home. He did not\nwant anyone to know what he was doing. Some might laugh at him.\n\nHis mother would be frightened and hold him close. She might make him\npromise never to do it again. Then he would never see the fairies.\n\nHis brother could not imagine what had become of his old suit of\nclothes. He had to wear his Sunday suit until he could make enough money\nto buy a new suit. But the days slipped by, and the boy waited in vain\nfor the leprechaun. The longing for adventure was great in his heart.\n\nOne day he stepped to the edge of the lake and cried out in a loud\nvoice, \"Arrah, 'tis long I've waited and tired I am! Come, Good Folk,\ncome! Give to the son of Shaun O'Day the great wonders of your fairy\npowers!\"\n\nAs his voice died down, he stepped back from the edge of the water. He\nlooked about cautiously. Then his heart gave a leap. He had heard a tiny\nsound. It was not the lapping lake. It was not the wind in the trees.\n\nIt was surely a fairy. And as he was thinking these thoughts, he saw\nher.\n\nShe came gliding over the ground like a rainbow. Her gown was lavender\nand blue, flowing and billowy. Her dainty little shoes were snow-white.\nAnd her hair was spun gold.\n\nA many-colored scarf twined about her neck and fluttered in the breeze.\nThere was a beautiful perfume in the air as she appeared.\n\nThe boy backed into the bushes. He stared out at the lovely vision. His\neyes were wild with fear.\n\n  [Illustration: HE STARED OUT AT THE LOVELY VISION]\n\nThe beautiful creature came closer. She held out her hand and smiled.\nHer hand was snow-white. Her smile was a sunbeam, with a dimple in it.\n\n\"Do not be afraid,\" said her clear, sweet voice. \"You called the\nfairies, son of Shaun O'Day?\"\n\nJohn nodded, but could not speak. His mouth was dry.\n\n\"I have come at your command,\" she smiled. Then she led John out and\nlooked at him for a long time. She was smiling kindly. At last she\nspoke.\n\n\"You are the son of Shaun O'Day. And I am the fairy Princess who once\nstole Shaun from the leprechaun. I used to hear his fine stories of\nIreland. I loved to listen to him. He used to play with me in fairyland.\nDid he tell you?\"\n\nJohn looked into her sparkling brown eyes and said, \"Sure, and he did.\nHe told me about it all. And I did be wanting to go with the fairies,\ntoo.\"\n\nShe laughed a silvery laugh and put her arm about John. \"And so you\nshall,\" she said. \"Come with me. Let me show you to our fairy chariot.\"\n\nShe led him away. They walked for quite a while until they came to a\ndusty road. It was a road on which many donkey carts travel, but few\nautomobiles.\n\nShe drew him to the side of a shining automobile. It was the most\nbeautiful thing John had ever seen.\n\n\"Enter, Shaun,\" said the girl fairy.\n\nJohn looked at her for just an instant with a question on his lips. She\nhad called him Shaun. Why?\n\n  [Illustration: \"YOU ARE THE SON OF SHAUN O'DAY\"]\n\nBut she stopped his question and said, \"We shall fly over the ground\nnow. Hold on tight.\"\n\nFor the next hour, the boy John hardly breathed with excitement. He was\nbeing carried over the ground faster than ever he had gone in his life.\n\nTrees and fields and pigs and donkeys flew by. Thatched cottages seemed\nto dart out at them and then disappear.\n\nThe girl fairy sat at the big wheel of the car and only smiled at him\noccasionally. She said never a word.\n\nAt last they drew up at the side of a lonely road. She stopped the\nflying car. She turned to him.\n\nShe said, \"Now Shauneen, what do you want me to do for you?\"\n\nJohn took a deep breath and clutched the side of the car.\n\nThen he answered slowly, \"Faith! I'm after longing to visit fairyland.\"\n\nThe girl fairy's smile vanished for a moment. Then she took his hand in\nhers and spoke seriously.\n\n\"Shauneen,\" she said, \"I cannot take you there. But I can show you a\nland as beautiful as fairyland. I can take you all about your own land,\nIreland. Do you know that the poets have called Ireland fairyland? Do\nyou know that there is no greener spot on earth?\"\n\nJohn's eyes glowed.\n\nHe answered, \"Indeed, I do know it. And I'm forever seeing the pictures\nin the school books. Sure, I do believe I'd rather be seeing Ireland\nthan any fairyland at all!\"\n\n  [Illustration: \"ENTER, SHAUN,\" SAID THE GIRL FAIRY]\n\n\"Good!\" laughed the girl fairy. Then she grew serious again as she said,\n\"But Shauneen, you must promise your fairy that you will not speak of\nthis to anyone at all. You must also ask your father to come to the\nshore of the lake to-morrow morning while you are at school. Tell him\nthat there is some one who would speak with him on a serious matter. But\ndo not say any more. If you obey these two commands, your fairy will\ncome again. She will come for you on the shores of the lake. She will\ntake you to all parts of your own beautiful country.\"\n\nJohn promised to carry out her wishes. Again they flew over the ground\nuntil at last they were back at the spot whence they had started.\n\nThen John stepped out of the glistening automobile. The girl fairy threw\nhim a kiss and was off in a cloud of dust.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nOVER THE GREEN LAND\n\n\n  Above is so blue\n    And below is so green;\n  We are sailing away\n   In our flying machine.\n\nJohn was in school. But his mind was not on his lessons. For the first\ntime, the letters in his book swam before his eyes. The teacher's voice\nseemed far away.\n\nHe was thinking of the girl fairy and of his coming trip with her. She\nhad told him to say nothing, and he must obey her. But he could not help\nthinking about her. Surely she was good and would let no harm befall\nhim.\n\nHis father had told him that the Good People were kind and loved little\nboys. So he smiled and paid no attention to his school work.\n\nThe teacher set him in a corner with a dunce's cap on his head.\n\nIn the meantime, John's father was walking to the shore of the lake. He\nwondered who wanted to see him. John had told him that it was an\nimportant matter.\n\nHe scratched his red head and puzzled. He waited on the banks of the\nlake until he heard a light step behind him.\n\nHe turned and saw John's girl fairy. She walked over to him silently. He\njumped up and looked at her. Shaun thought he had never seen so\nexquisite a being. She spoke.\n\n\"You are Shaun O'Day,\" she said softly. She held out something and\ncontinued, \"Please take this.\"\n\nShaun took from her graceful white hand a slip of paper. She kept\nlooking into his eyes.\n\n\"Read it, Shaun,\" she said.\n\nShaun opened the paper. His eyes fell on his own boyish handwriting and\na shamrock pasted across the top of the letter.\n\n\"Faith, 'tis a letter I wrote, myself, when I was a lad!\" he exclaimed.\n\n  [Illustration: O'CONNELL STREET AND NELSON'S COLUMN, DUBLIN]\n\nThe girl fairy only smiled and kept looking into Shaun's eyes.\n\n\"Begob!\" he suddenly shouted, looking hard at the girl fairy. \"'Tis\nMiss Marjorie, the baby Princess!\"\n\n\"Yes, Shaun,\" answered Marjorie happily. \"'Tis Marjorie come all the way\nfrom fairyland to see you.\"\n\nThen the two sat down on the bank. Shaun took off his coat and spread it\non the ground for the girl to sit upon. They talked and laughed and\nremembered old times together.\n\nSuddenly Marjorie grew serious and said, \"Shaun, I have seen your son!\"\n\nShaun looked surprised.\n\nMarjorie continued, \"Shaun, I want you to help me. I want to give a\ngreat pleasure to your little John.\"\n\nThen she told Shaun how John had seen her the previous day. She told\nhow John had believed her to be a fairy. She told Shaun that she had\npromised to take the little lad on a trip through Ireland.\n\n  [Illustration: DUBLIN IS QUAINT AND ANCIENT]\n\nShe finished by saying, \"I want to make him happy, Shaun, as you made\nme, long ago. Will you say that I may take him?\"\n\nShaun's eyes were moist. He felt very grateful to the girl.\n\nHe replied in a low voice, \"Och, Miss Marjorie, you are indeed no fairy,\nbut a great good angel!\"\n\nMarjorie jumped up gayly and cried, \"Then you will let him go with me,\nShaun?\"\n\n\"And sure you know well I will, Miss Marjorie. 'Tis a great good you\nwill be doing for my lad. It is surely,\" he said.\n\nMarjorie looked very serious then. And she bowed her head.\n\nHer words were whispers as she said, \"If it is a great good, then it is\nthe first great good I have ever done. I have been very selfish, Shaun.\nEveryone has always done for me. This is the first time I have ever done\nsomething to give some one else pleasure. And, oh,\" she suddenly clasped\nher hands together and smiled radiantly, \"it is a wonderful feeling! It\nhas made me happy, Shaun.\"\n\nShe kissed his rough brown hand and turned on her dainty heel. She fled\nbefore Shaun could utter a sound.\n\n\"Well, begob, begorra!\" he at last sputtered, scratching his head and\nwrinkling his nose. \"Now isn't it a great wonder?\"\n\nThen, as if some breeze had contradicted him, he nodded his head and\nsaid loudly, \"It is surely!\"\n\nIt was several days before Marjorie's next visit to the lake.\n\nAlthough the little boy John went thither daily and waited longingly, no\ngirl fairy appeared. But he never doubted that she would come. He knew\nshe would keep her promise. And she did.\n\nAt last, one day, she came tripping over the ground, laughing and\ncalling, \"Shauneen, Shauneen, 'tis I!\"\n\nJohn trembled. But he smiled at her and held out his hand.\n\nTo-day she was not dressed in fluttering, light-colored garments.\nInstead, she had on a brown leather coat. She wore a little round cap.\n\nShe carried a small coat, which she held out to John.\n\n\"Put this on quickly and come, for our air chariot awaits us,\" she\nexclaimed, helping John put on the fine warm coat.\n\nAgain they walked to the shining white automobile, and then they drove\nand drove. At last they came to a large field. It was an air port, a\nplace where airplanes land.\n\nThe girl stopped her car. John saw a winged machine standing in the\ncenter of the field. It was a strange, terrible thing to the boy John.\n\n\"Come,\" said Marjorie, taking him by the hand. \"It is our airplane. We\nshall fly over the green land together!\"\n\nAn airplane! John had seen airplanes before, but never like this. He had\nseen them circling far up in the sky.\n\nHe could often hear the whirring sound they made. They usually were so\nhigh that they looked to the lad like small birds.\n\nBut this one was a monster. There was a pilot ready to start the plane\nand carry them off. They stepped inside the monster. John sat beside\nMarjorie, and she held his hand. He edged up close to her.\n\nThe plane's motor started. They began to rise from the ground. Oh, it\nwas like being a bird, John thought. It was even like being a fairy.\n\nHe stole a glance at the girl fairy. She was beaming at him.\n\n\"Do you like this, Shauneen?\" she asked.\n\n\"Faith, 'tis surely a great wonder! And you the good angel!\" breathed\nthe boy.\n\nMarjorie remembered Shaun had said those same words to her. She felt\nhappier than she had felt ever before in her life.\n\nIt was a trip that John O'Day never would forget. John would remember\nthat trip to his ninetieth birthday.\n\nThey flew in the plane to the city of Dublin. They stopped at a fine\nhotel, and the girl fairy gave John a handsome little traveling bag with\neverything in it that he needed.\n\nThere were soft, fine pajamas. There was a new suit of clothes. There\nwas a cap to match his coat, with fine socks and shoes.\n\n  [Illustration: SHE GAVE JOHN A HANDSOME LITTLE TRAVELING BAG]\n\nThey started out early the next morning to see all of Dublin town. A\ngreat city it seemed to John, with its strange noises and its jostling\nmobs on the streets.\n\n  [Illustration: SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN NEAR DUBLIN]\n\nIn the center of O'Connell Street stands Nelson's Pillar. It is a thin,\ntall pillar. Inside there are one hundred and sixty-six steps which wind\nright up to the top. John and Marjorie walked up to the top and stood\nlooking down on the streets below.\n\nJohn noticed later when they walked in the streets that some of the\nsigns were written in Irish.\n\n  [Illustration: SOME OF THE SIGNS WERE WRITTEN IN IRISH]\n\nJohn was just learning to read Irish in school. So he could read some of\nthe signs.\n\nSchool children have to study the Irish language in that part of Ireland\ncalled the Free State. The Free State is free from Great Britain and has\nits own government. It is the southern part of the country, and Dublin\nis the capital.\n\nThe northern part of Ireland is still under the government of England.\nThe County Galway, wherein John's village stood, belongs to the Free\nState.\n\n  [Illustration: A SCHOOL WHERE THEY TEACH THE IRISH LANGUAGE]\n\nPolicemen on the streets of Dublin wear caps with silver harps on their\nvisors. You know that the harp is the symbol of Ireland, and it is used\non the new flag of the Irish Free State.\n\nDublin is a quaint and ancient city. There are few automobiles on the\nstreets.\n\nOne sees many jaunting cars, which are funny little high carts with a\nseat on each side and big wheels. People sit with their legs hanging\nover the sides, while the driver sits up on the high box and drives an\nold thin horse.\n\n  [Illustration: A JAUNTING CAR]\n\nThere are also many bicycles whirling along in Dublin.\n\nChildren seem to be everywhere. Some look very poor, indeed. Some beg\nthe wealthy people for money. There are many beggars. They crouch beside\nbuildings and on the steps of churches. John and his fair guide visited\nPhoenix Park in Dublin. After Yellowstone Park in the United States,\nPhoenix Park is the largest in the world.\n\n  [Illustration: LOVELY LAKES IN PHOENIX PARK, DUBLIN]\n\nIt is very beautiful, too. It has a fine zoo, and lovely lakes, walks,\nand drives.\n\n  [Illustration: PHOENIX PARK, DUBLIN]\n\nThe Royal Hibernian Military School in Phoenix Park is used by the Free\nState Irish Speaking Union as a school to teach the Irish language to\nyoung men.\n\nThey visited St. Patrick's College where a large number of students\nattend. This is a fine old college.\n\n  [Illustration: ST. PATRICK'S COLLEGE, DUBLIN]\n\nThey left Dublin after seeing everything of interest there. They left in\na drizzling rain in Marjorie's big white motor car. It had been brought\nto them from the flying field to Dublin. It seemed to John that things\nwere always being brought to Marjorie in a magical way. And why not?\nMarjorie was a fairy! Now they motored to the Vale of Avoca.\n\nThis is the beautiful woodland spot where Tom Moore, the Irish poet,\nwrote much of his poetry.\n\n  [Illustration: THE COUNTRY OF TOM MOORE]\n\nHis famous words are:\n\n  \"There is not in this wide world a valley so sweet\n  As the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nWANDERING\n\n\n  \"Over hill, over dale,\n  Through bush, through brier,\n  Over park, over pale,\n  Through flood, through fire,\n  I do wander everywhere.\"\n              --WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE\n\nWhile John traveled with his good fairy, his mother and father sat\nbefore their fireside. They talked for hours about the lad's good\nfortune.\n\nOf course Shaun explained to his wife that the girl was no fairy. He\ntold Dawn O'Day that she was Marjorie, the baby Princess, for whom he\nhad worked so long ago.\n\nDawn O'Day was pleased to think how much her boy was learning. She\nloved to think that some day little John might be a great, wise man.\n\nAnd the boy was indeed learning, and seeing all manner of wonders.\nTogether he and Marjorie visited the Giant's Causeway, which is in the\nnorthern part of Ireland. The Giant's Causeway is a very remarkable\nplace.\n\nIt is supposed to have been made by the giants of old. It is believed by\nsome that the queer rocks were built by giants. These great monsters\nwere trying to make a great bridge across the water to join Ireland and\nScotland.\n\nOf course this is only a fairy tale. But those huge, queer rocky forms\ndo look as though giants had built them.\n\nThe water roars up to the shore and often splashes over those strange,\ntall rocks. They are probably the result of a terrible eruption by some\nvolcano, or fire mountain, years ago.\n\nThe rocks form many peculiar shapes. There is the Giant's Organ--a group\nof immense rocks resembling a mighty organ.\n\nThere is the Wishing Chair, a single column backed by higher ones. It\nforms a very comfortable chair. And they tell you that if you make a\nwish there, it will come true. But never must you speak that wish aloud.\n\n  [Illustration: THE WISHING CHAIR]\n\nThere is a well of clear, fresh water within a few feet of the Atlantic\nOcean.\n\nThere is the gate which stands as the gate to Giant Land.\n\n  [Illustration: THE GATE TO GIANT LAND]\n\nThere are the Giant's Eyeglass, the Chimney Tops, the Loom, and other\nforms of great size made of these strange rocks. It is no wonder that\nthe people think of giants, when looking at them.\n\n  [Illustration: THE GIANT'S EYEGLASS]\n\nThe little boy and his guide visited the mountain of Crough Patrick, one\nof the sacred places of Ireland.\n\nIt is where St. Patrick stood when he banished all snakes and other\nreptiles from Ireland. This is supposed to have happened in the year 450\nA.D.\n\nSt. Patrick imprisoned all creeping things in a deep canyon and kept\nthem there. When he was ready to destroy them, he stood upon the summit\nof the mountain with a bell in his hand.\n\nHe stood there and rang that bell. And each time he rang that bell\nthousands of snakes and other creeping creatures went tumbling into the\nsea.\n\nIn Ireland to-day there are no snakes, toads, or poisonous reptiles. The\npeople believe that it is because St. Patrick destroyed them all, many\nyears ago.\n\nIn July many pilgrims climb to this mountain. They pray there to St.\nPatrick.\n\nJohn and Marjorie went to the Lakes of Killarney. These are perhaps the\nbest known lakes in all the world. Songs and poems have been written\nabout their beauty.\n\nThere are three lakes. Each one has a peculiar beauty of its own. The\nlakes lie between mountains like brilliant diamonds glistening in an\nemerald setting.\n\nThey tell a legend in Killarney. They say that once no lakes were there\nat all. One man living there had a magic well. If he always kept the\nwell covered, no harm would come.\n\nBut one night somebody came to the well for water and forgot to cover\nit. The next morning a great flood had swallowed up the land. The town\nwas completely under water.\n\nSometimes, the natives say, one can still see, at the bottom of the\nlakes, this old town with the same old well. The Irish do love to be\ntelling tales of magic.\n\nBlarney Castle is noted for the famous Blarney Stone. It is said that\nthose who kiss the Blarney Stone forever afterward possess the art of\nflattery and beautiful speech.\n\n  [Illustration: BLARNEY CASTLE]\n\nYou have often heard people say, \"You must have kissed the Blarney\nStone!\"\n\nPeople who make many compliments are sometimes accused of kissing the\nBlarney Stone.\n\nNor is it an easy object to kiss! John O'Day and Marjorie climbed to the\ntop of Blarney Castle. There the old stone hangs from the top of the\nbattlements. It lies in a peculiar position.\n\nJohn lay flat and thrust his head down about three feet through an\nopening. He then twisted his neck in order to kiss the precious stone. A\nguard held his feet.\n\nIt was a wise thing to do, for it is over a hundred feet to the ground\nbelow! It would be a terrible fall!\n\nAs they traveled, they passed beautiful green country. They saw many\npigs and many donkey carts.\n\n  [Illustration: THEY PASSED DONKEY CARTS]\n\nIn every village they found a war memorial. Some of these memorials\nstand in the center of the town. Some are very large and beautiful.\nOthers are small. But all mean the same thing. Ireland lost many\nsoldiers in the Great War.\n\n  [Illustration: A WAR MEMORIAL IN EVERY VILLAGE]\n\nThey found few fruits growing in Ireland. Gooseberries are plentiful,\nand they ate many.\n\nMarjorie found the Irish peasants friendly and kind. Several times they\nstopped for the night in farmhouses.\n\nThe people told Marjorie many wonderful tales as she sat before their\nfiresides. They were very much surprised to find the girl traveling\nabout alone with a young child.\n\nBut she only laughed in her easy way, as the old women said, \"God be\npraised, but American girls do be knowing no fear!\"\n\nMarjorie always made John go to bed right after dinner. The little boy\nwas tired from his long day's travels. He was tired, too, with seeing\nand hearing so many new things. So he did not hear the people talking at\nnight. He still believed his girl fairy was one of the Good People.\n\nOne day they were stopping in a small village. Marjorie left John alone\nwith the car and went into a shop to buy some cakes.\n\nA group of little boys came over to the car. Their eyes were very\ncurious, indeed.\n\nThey began to talk to John. When they heard his accent they knew at once\nthat he was Irish.\n\nOne boy said, \"'Tis surely a rich American lady driving the automobile?\"\n\nJohn looked at him in a pitying manner. \"And don't you know a fairy when\nyou see one?\" he asked.\n\nThe boys' mouths opened. They stared at John.\n\nThen one boy came close to John and cried out, \"Arrah, 'tis no fairy, at\nall, at all! 'Tis an American lady from across the seas!\"\n\nJohn faced the boy. There was a frown on his face.\n\n\"You'll not be standing there saying that again!\" he said. \"'Tis herself\nis one of the Good People!\"\n\nThe boy laughed again. \"Och, you know well she is no fairy!\"\n\n\"She is!\" yelled John.\n\n\"She is not!\" shrieked the boy.\n\nJohn rolled up his sleeves. He hit the boy.\n\nWhen Marjorie came out of the shop she found her young friend in a\nfierce battle. She separated the boys and thrust John into the car. He\nwas waving his arms and shouting.\n\nMarjorie jumped into the driver's seat. She started the car, and off\nthey went.\n\n  [Illustration: SHE SEPARATED THE BOYS]\n\nJohn's clothing was torn. He was bruised. The boy with whom he had\nfought was larger than he. But John knew that he had left the other boy\nas bruised and torn as he was himself. So he smiled.\n\nMarjorie drove for a while in silence.\n\nThen she asked, \"John, why did you fight?\"\n\nJohn told her the reason. She bit her lip and was silent again.\n\nThen she said, \"John, how do you know that I am a fairy?\"\n\nThe little boy answered promptly, \"Because I was after calling the\nfairies that day by the lake. And because I did take off my petticoat\nand put on the clothes of a boy.\"\n\n\"Do you believe that was the reason I took you away?\" asked Marjorie.\n\n\"I do,\" answered John firmly. \"And,\" he continued, \"if I had been in the\npetticoats of a girl, you would never have noticed me at all.\"\n\n\"Why?\" Marjorie queried.\n\n\"Sure, and the Good People do be wanting the boys to work for\nthemselves. They'll not be noticing girls, and they so weak!\" John\nanswered.\n\nMarjorie frowned. Then she said, \"But I have not made you work.\"\n\nJohn looked at her quickly and replied, \"Och, no! But 'tis willing I am\nto work for you now. Only--\" He hesitated.\n\n\"Only what, John?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"I'll not be wanting to stay away forever from my mother and father,\"\nwas the reply.\n\nMarjorie put an arm about his shoulder.\n\n\"Do you know that we are almost at your home now?\" She laughed gayly.\n\"Look about you!\"\n\nThe little boy was amazed to see that they really had returned. They\nwere on the same dusty road whence they had started their trip so many\ndays ago.\n\nMarjorie drew the car up to the side of the road and stopped it.\n\n\"Now you may jump out and run home to your mother and father,\" she\nsaid.\n\nJohn O'Day just stood and stared at her.\n\n\"And you'll not be asking me to work at all?\" he questioned, with\nwondering eyes.\n\nMarjorie shook her head and smiled.\n\n\"Och,\" cried the boy, \"but I want to do something for you!\"\n\nMarjorie stroked his hand and replied softly, \"It is not necessary,\nShauneen. Your father did so very much for me many years ago. I am glad\nthat I can now give his son a little happiness.\"\n\n\"And will you not be coming back again to the lake, good fairy?\" asked\nJohn.\n\nMarjorie's smile faded as she answered, \"Shauneen, I am not a fairy. You\nmust believe that. I shall come back to the lake to see you. But I shall\ncome to bid you good-bye, for I am going back to America.\"\n\nFor a moment John was almost going to believe her. His throat felt\nchoky. Then suddenly he shook his head and laughed aloud.\n\n\"Sure, 'tis not so at all, at all!\" he laughed. \"There's not a girl in\nall the world as beautiful as you. There's not a girl in all the world\nso good and kind, Faireen. Och, no! Not even the girls from the land of\nAmerica! 'Tis indeed the fairy you are!\"\n\nThe little boy climbed out of the car. He saw a shamrock growing by the\nside of the road. He ran and picked it. He gave it to Marjorie. Then he\nkissed her hand and ran as fast as he could.\n\n  [Illustration: THEN HE KISSED HER HAND]\n\nHe left the girl staring after him in real amazement. So he would not\nbelieve her! He thought that she was a fairy! Ah, well, she must\ncertainly show him in some way that what she told him was true.\n\nShe did not want to leave Ireland and feel that she had deceived the\nboy. Still, she loved to think that he believed her to be a fairy.\n\nIt was a beautiful dream to John. She did not like to disturb that\nbeautiful dream. Puzzled, she shook her head as she started her car.\nThen she was off, down the dusty road.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nBECAUSE HE IS IRISH\n\n\n  \"I cannot see fairies.\n  I dream them. There is no fairy can hide from me.\n  I keep on dreaming till I find them.\"\n                          --HILDA CONKLIN\n\nJohn O'Day walked slowly through the village. He walked through the\nvillage because he wanted all the boys to see his fine suit.\n\nThe fine suit was a bit torn and soiled from the fight he had had. Still\nJohn was proud of it.\n\nHe went home by way of the village. He did not go by way of the lake. As\nhe walked down the village street, the people stared at him.\n\n\"And where are you going, John O'Day?\" called one boy.\n\n\"Sure, I'm not going,\" answered the little lad. \"I'm after coming back\nfrom where I was!\"\n\nHe marched along. They all stood with staring eyes and watched him.\n\nHe came to the cottage of his parents, and when they saw him they were\ndelighted.\n\nOf course, John told his mother and father everything.\n\nHe tried to tell it all before he went to bed. But the evening was too\nshort and his tale too long. He was fairly bursting with the great trip\nhe had had.\n\nHe even had a tale of wonder for his wee sister. He held her on his\nknee while he told about the big zoo in Dublin.\n\n\"Sure, and there's every kind of animal there,\" he went on, his eyes\nflashing. \"Sure, I was after seeing a terrible, big creature. 'Twas an\nelephant they called it. And 'tis a square animal with a tail in front\nof it and a tail behind it!\"\n\n\"Glory be!\" cried his mother.\n\nShaun smiled behind his pipe. The baby gurgled.\n\nThe older brother pretended that he was not very much interested. He\nwas, though. He was greatly excited with John's tales.\n\nThen his father said, \"But, Johneen, you do not really believe that\nyour guide was a fairy?\"\n\n\"Sure, and the best one in all fairyland,\" answered John stoutly.\n\nShaun scratched his head thoughtfully.\n\n\"Och, Johneen,\" he said, \"you do not believe that surely.\"\n\nBut John answered, \"I do!\"\n\nShaun then drew the boy over to his chair. He took John on his lap.\n\n\"Listen, son,\" he said.\n\nHe told the child the same thing that Marjorie had told him. He told\nJohn that Marjorie was really a girl from America.\n\nBut John replied as he had replied to Marjorie in the car. He said that\nthere could not be a girl so lovely and kind as she. He insisted that\nMarjorie could only be a fairy!\n\nSeveral days went by. John told everyone in the village about his trip.\nHe talked of nothing else. He had gone to the lake day after day, but\nthe girl fairy had never appeared.\n\nHe did not give up hope, however. He felt she would keep her promise and\ncome again to see him.\n\nThen one day little John received a package and a letter. In the package\nwere several beautiful books. He asked his father to read the letter to\nhim.\n\nShaun read:\n\n\"Dear Shauneen: To-morrow I am coming to the lake to say good-bye to\nyou. Please be there. Marjorie.\"\n\nShaun folded the letter and gave it back to his son.\n\nThen he said, \"You see, she is an American girl. Her father and mother\nare going to take her back to America. They brought her over, and they\nalso bought her that car. They arranged for her to take you on that fine\ntrip. Don't you see now that she surely is not a fairy?\"\n\nBut John did not answer. He shook his head stubbornly. Suddenly Shaun\nhad an idea.\n\nHe said, \"I must show you then.\" He put his two hands on the boy's\nshoulders and looked into his eyes. \"To-morrow,\" he said, \"when you go\nto meet her at the lake you must wear the red petticoat!\"\n\nJohn looked frightened.\n\nHe cried, \"Och, father, she'll not be talking to me at all--and I in\ngirl's clothes!\"\n\nShaun said, \"Sure, that is just what she will do. She'll know you well.\nShe'll talk to you. Then you will believe at last that she is no fairy!\"\n\nThe morning came. John dressed as usual in his red petticoat. He took\nthe books that Marjorie had sent him and ran to the lake. He was there\nwith the first birds. He was there with the sleepy sun.\n\nThe sleepy sun was just waking up. But John O'Day had been awake for\nmany hours. He had been so very much awake with his thoughts.\n\nHe thought and thought about Marjorie. He wondered and wondered whether\nMarjorie would recognize him. If she should speak to him, he would know\nthat she really was a girl. He would know that she was not a fairy.\n\nIf she passed him by, he would be sure that she was a real fairy. Oh, he\nfelt so sure that she was a fairy!\n\nBut at the same time he wondered just a little bit why she tried to make\nhim believe she was not. Was it because the Good People do not want\nfolks to be talking about them?\n\nMaybe it was that. They like to give happiness to people. But they do\nnot want people knowing that it is they giving the happiness.\n\nThey do not ask thanks. They do not look for praise. The Good People\nare modest.\n\nBut soon John would know about his lovely friend. She would soon appear\nand look for him. If she passed him by, his heart would beat with joy.\nHe would know then.\n\nAnd he would call out to her, \"It is I! It is your Shauneen! Do you not\nknow me?\"\n\nThen she would stop and he would laugh at her and jolly her.\n\nHe would say, \"You could not be fooling me, good fairy. Isn't it myself\nknows a fairy when I see one?\"\n\nHe chuckled to himself. She should not be fooling John O'Day!\n\nHe opened one of the lovely books which Marjorie had sent him. He began\nto look at it. It was a beautiful book with colored pictures in it. It\nhad grand pictures of cities in it.\n\nThere were pictures of Irish cities and French cities and American\ncities.\n\nJohn grew so interested in looking at the pictures that he did not hear\na step behind him. He did not see Marjorie standing behind him. She was\nsmiling down at him as he sat all wrapped in joy and delight.\n\n  [Illustration: SHE WAS SMILING DOWN AT HIM]\n\nHe was remembering his trip through the cities whose pictures he now\nlooked at in a book. He was in Dublin again. He had jumped right into\nthe book and was believing that he could hear the dull sounds of the\ncity. He was believing that he could see the many people and cars and\ncurious sights.\n\nMarjorie watched him for a few moments. She knew John O'Day, though he\nwore a girl's petticoat. She had come to bid him good-bye, for she was\nleaving for her own country.\n\nBut she could not disturb him as he sat there. She could not disturb\nJohn O'Day while at his books. Nor could she disturb his dreams.\n\nShe knew well that if she spoke to him now, he would know that she was\nnot a fairy. He had told her that \"fairies do not be speaking to girls,\"\nand Marjorie could not disturb the little boy's beautiful dream of her.\n\nSo she scribbled a note and left it on a flat rock. The note told John\nthat she had come and gone. It said that Marjorie was sorry she had not\nseen her Shauneen again. But she left him with his dream of her.\n\nWhen John lifted his head and heart out of the pages of that grand book,\nhe stood up and looked about. He saw the letter and opened it.\n\nOf course he could not read it, but he found something else with the\nletter which he kissed. It was the picture of his girl fairy. She had\nleft it there.\n\nAnd now John O'Day knew that she had come and gone.\n\n  [Illustration: IT WAS THE PICTURE OF HIS GIRL FAIRY]\n\nThought he, \"She did not know the little figure in the red petticoat was\nher friend Shauneen! No; she did not notice this little girl at all, at\nall. Fairies do not be speaking to little girls.\"\n\nShe had gone. But she had left behind her the picture of a girl fairy.\nShe had left that picture on a flat rock.\n\nAnd she had left it, too, in the Irish heart of John O'Day, who had the\ndreams of his country.\n\nMarjorie will always remember the little boy. She will go back to\nAmerica and always remember the boy who called her a good fairy. She\nwill try really to be a good fairy because of that.\n\nShe will not think so much about herself any more. But she will try to\ngive pleasure to others because of the pleasure she finds in doing it.\n\nAnd as John O'Day grows older, perhaps he will find out the truth about\nMarjorie. But he will always be wanting to believe that she was a girl\nfairy, even if he finds that she was not.\n\nHe will always want to keep his dreams, because he is Irish.\n\n  [Illustration: HE WILL ALWAYS KEEP HIS DREAMS]\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\n\nItalic text is denoted by _underscores_.\n\nObvious punctuation errors are corrected.\n\nIllustrations have been rearranged to better match the story.\n\nOn p. 152, a printing error was corrected. In the quote from\nShakespeare, the book reads \"Though flood, through fire,\". This has been\ncorrected to \"Through flood\".","title":"Shaun O'Day of Ireland","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":16780}