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An Irish Tale
By Kellen Sohaili
Chapter 1
The cold wind blew against the tops of the trees as pale wet rain fell on the brick streets of the Irish village of Dublin. The year was 1926. The houses were quiet and not a single soul was found outside. The Macgregor house was the quietest of them all. Johnny Macgregor was the owner of the house and the town blacksmith. He had a thick white beard, sensitive green eyes, and a very happy smile of joy. His daughter Vanessa was a lot like him in some ways. She had light brown hair, bright blue eyes, a wonderful smile, and a big imagination. She was eighteen years old and loved by everyone. This day was to be Johnny’s birthday. Vanessa had made a birthday cake for him. It was chocolate with white icing and colorful sprinkles scattered around. It was written, with green icing (for good luck), ‘Happy 77th Birthday!’
“Oh, thank you Vanessa!” Johnny said when he received his cake.
“You’re welcome, father. Hurry up and eat your cake so you can open your presents an’ try ‘em out,” Vanessa said.
“Be patient, lassie. If you want to open ‘em for me, do that,” Johnny said to his daughter.
Vanessa went over to the presents and picked up one yellow box tied with a big blue bow. “Here, open it father,” Vanessa said to Johnny. He took the gift from Vanessa and opened it. Inside was a big gray hammer.
“It’s to help you with doing your blacksmith job,” Vanessa explained. “Don’t forget this one,” Vanessa said, holding a red box tied with a purple bow. This time Vanessa opened it. Inside was a giant black typewriter with shiny gold keys.
“Now you can write stories and poems by just pressing these keys,” Vanessa explained again.
“Is that all of ‘em?” Johnny asked.
“Yep, that’s all of ‘em,” Vanessa answered.
All of a sudden, the door barged open. Fierce-looking men came in.
“This party is over!” one of them yelled.
“Why are these people here? What is their problem?” Vanessa asked.
“They are raiders. Raiders barge into people’s houses and destroy stuff inside,” Johnny said. The men stepped on the cake and smashed the presents.
“My hammer! My typewriter! Stop, you horrible people!” Johnny yelled at the men. After all the commotion, the men left.
“Oh! Your presents! They’re all destroyed now! What terrible people!” Vanessa said, sadly.
“It’s okay, dear. You can buy me new presents,” Johnny said.
“I don’t have any more money left,” Vanessa said.
“Oh well,” Johnny said.
Chapter 2
The next day, Johnny went to his blacksmith building. Vanessa went to school. The school was a big white building with a green terrace covered in winding vines and ruby-red roses. Every day when Vanessa went to school, she always wore a pretty dress and a bonnet. Today she wore an elegant yellow dress tied with a blue ribbon, blue Mary Jane shoes, and a yellow bonnet with frilly lace edges.
When Vanessa came in the classroom, she saw a new boy standing at the front of the room. He had dark waves of hair, green eyes, a white shirt, a red tie, blue pants, and brown shoes. Vanessa’s enemy Aileen Jackson walked up to Vanessa. Aileen had black hair, brown eyes, and a better dress than Vanessa’s. It was big and pink and covered with lots of pretty roses.
“So? Done anything dumb lately?” Aileen asked.
“No I haven’t Miss Bigmouth!” I bet you’ve done some dumb stuff lately,” Vanessa answered.
“No I haven’t! And for your information, I’ve never done anything dumb in my whole life!” Aileen answered.
When all the students came in, the teacher, Mrs. Mildred, went to the front of the room and introduced the new student. “Class, meet our new student, Thomas Appleton,” Mrs. Mildred said. “Thomas, you will be sitting next to Aileen.”
Thomas went up to the desk next to Aileen’s and sat at it. Through the entire school day, Mrs. Mildred explained the school rules and where everything was to Thomas.
When school was done, Vanessa went outside. Halfway to her father’s blacksmith building, Thomas caught up with her. “Hi, my name’s Thomas,” he said to Vanessa.
“Hi. I’m Vanessa. Nice to meet you,” Vanessa said back.
“Do you know Aileen Jackson?” Thomas asked. “Well, if you do, bring this to her.” Thomas handed her a white envelope. After he left, Vanessa opened the envelope and found a letter from Thomas. It said:
Dear Aileen,
Meet me at Thyme Avenue at 9:00 p.m.
Love, Thomas
Vanessa was heartbroken. She was the person who liked Thomas. She fled to her house, crying. Johnny found her in her room, wet tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong, dear?” Johnny asked.
“There’s a new boy in school named Thomas Appleton. Well, Aileen, my enemy, is trying to take him away from me. And when I was leaving school, he gave me a letter to give to Aileen. Here it is,” Vanessa said, handing Johnny the note.
Johnny read it, and then said, “I never liked that Aileen Jackson. I always thought she was trouble.” After Johnny said that, he left the room. After that, Vanessa opened the window and climbed out. She jumped on the ground and ran off. An hour later, Vanessa found a cave hidden by the shadows. The moon shone brightly on her dark curls as her bright eyes stared at the cave.
After a few moments, she ran inside. The door closed behind her. Then a light turned on. Fast music started playing. Then all of a sudden, a man wearing a funny little green hat came in and started to dance to the music. Then more and more people in green hats came in and started to dance.
After they danced, they asked Vanessa to come down and do a dance herself. Vanessa walked down to the center and started dancing. After she danced, the people all clapped.
“Who are you?” Vanessa asked the first man in the green hat.
“Why, I’m a leprechaun!” the man answered.
“Well, I better be leaving now. Goodbye!” Vanessa said, turning to leave.
“Wait! Do more dances! Please!” the leprechaun said, chasing after her. “Attack!”
All the people in the hats chased after Vanessa. The cave opened and Vanessa ran out. She ran back home to tell her father about her adventure. When she told Johnny, he said, “You expect me to believe that you met a leprechaun?”
“But it’s true. He had a little green hat on and danced around all the time,” Vanessa said to Johnny.
“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU AND I NEVER WILL!!!” Johnny yelled.
“But father!” Vanessa yelled. “Please believe me!” After she said that, she ran to her room, in tears.
Chapter 3
When Vanessa got to her room, she looked out the window and saw a dark mountain beyond the village. Eighteen rocks surrounded the nightmarish hill. She opened the window again and climbed out. Once she got out she ran to the hill. She climbed up the long, narrow path to the top.
Meanwhile, Johnny was looking for Vanessa. “Vanessa! Where are you?” he called out. Then he went outside and saw a figure that looked exactly like Vanessa, on top of the hill. “She’s on the Hill of Death! She’ll be destroyed entirely!” Johnny said, running to the hill.
When he got to the top, he looked down a path and saw Vanessa lying unconscious on the ground, her skirt fluttering in the wind. Johnny ran down to her, but halfway down, he heard a crack of lightning and turned around. A vision of a ghost stood on top of a rock. Her green skirt flowed up and down.
“It’s a banshee!” Johnny yelled. The banshee floated down to Johnny and
Vanessa and recited an evil spell.
“Get away from us you horrible beast!” Johnny yelled. At that moment, he grabbed a leftover lantern from the ground and threw it at the banshee. The lantern hit the banshee and burned her to death. Johnny picked Vanessa up and said, “Oh, you poor darling little girl. I need to take you home.”
So Johnny took Vanessa home and had her stay in bed until she was better.
Chapter 4
The next morning, Johnny went to Vanessa’s room to check on her. She was laying in bed, still, her body smothered in thick white lace and curls standing still. Johnny stroked her hair and whispered in her ear, “You’ll be all right, dear.”
Suddenly the door opened. It was Thomas! “I heard about the accident. Is she okay?” he asked.
“Yes, she’s okay,” Johnny answered.
“I brought her some flowers,” Thomas said, holding up a bouquet of colorful flowers.
“Thank you, Thomas. I think she’ll like them a lot when she wakes up.”
The door opened again. It was Aileen!
“I heard about Vanessa. I really feel bad for her. I brought her this,” she said, holding up a note. It said:
Dear Vanessa,
I’m really sorry I was so mean to you! Can we at least be friends?
From Aileen, your best friend
“Oh, thank you Aileen. I think she will love it,” Johnny said.
Then all of a sudden, Vanessa woke up. “Hello, everyone. Father, what is Aileen doing here?” Vanessa asked.
“She brought you a gift,” Johnny answered, showing Vanessa the letter.
“Oh, that’s so nice, Aileen,” Vanessa said after she read the letter.
“And look what Thomas brought you,” Johnny said, showing Vanessa the flowers.
“Thomas, thank you! You’re very sweet!” Vanessa said.
“And look what else I brought you,” Thomas said, holding up a red velvet case. Thomas opened it and inside was a shiny golden ring.
“Oh! You don’t mean…” Vanessa started to say.
“Yes. It’s an engagement ring,” Thomas finished.
“When is the wedding?” Johnny asked Thomas.
“December second,” Thomas answered.
“But that’s five months from now,” Vanessa said.
“Here, put the ring on,” Thomas said, handing Vanessa the ring. She put it on her finger.
“Oh, you look beautiful, Johnny said.
Over the next five months everyone was excited about Thomas and Vanessa’s wedding. Then it finally came. Vanessa wore a big white gown covered in white roses. Thomas and Vanessa sat in a silver carriage. Everyone clapped as they got in, especially Johnny. Then Thomas and Vanessa rode off in the carriage into the sunlight and everyone lived happily ever after.
The End
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