WFMW: Leprechauns

Leprechauns are tricky little people that like to have a little fun. On St. Patrick's Day, they often play little tricks overnight. They like riddles and hide and seek type games, and often leave a tiny bit of candy or other small treat to be found by the children of the house.

One year, the Leprechauns at our house hid all the Webkinz. They left a small bag of cookies where the Webkinz usually snuggle. When it was discovered that the webkinz were missing, a house-wide hunt was mounted. Webkinz were found everywhere, peaking out from behind bookcases, hiding under throw cushions, in school desks, etc.

Another year, the Leprechauns left a trail of riddle notes. The first note was found on each child's school desk and told them where to look for the next note. Sweetling had riddles in rhyming couplets. Toa of Boy, who was just learning how to read, had one word hints like "tub". Some sweet treat was hidden at the end of the riddle trail.

This year, the Leprechauns absconded with the beloved Wii-motes. In the charger base, where the wii-motes usually sit, they left four miniature candy bars. Toa of Boy was, not surprisingly, the first to notice the disappearance. He came to find me asking what was going on with the Wii-motes and the candy.

I, of course, had no idea what he was talking about, so he grabbed my hand and led me to the living room. "I don't know," I confessed, surveying the scene of the 'crime.' "Maybe you should ask your sister."

He ran to Sweetling's room, knocking on the door and eventually leading her into the living room as well. Sweelting quickly assessed the situation and said, "Mommy, if this is some kind of April Fool's prank, then you are a little bit too early."

"Me?" replied the innocent Mommy. "I don't think so." Sweetling seemed puzzled. "What day is it?" I prompted.

(Meanwhile Toa of Boy was guessing, "Maybe Daddy. Daddy did it." Cause this is just the sort of thing the Jedi would do.)

Sweetling, still in her jammies, grinned. "Saint Patrick's Day."

"Leprechauns love to play tricks," I reminded her.

"So," she concluded as Toa began an excited hopping dance about leprechauns, "we need to find the leprechaun." Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. "And you are suspiciously wearing green and you are quite small."

I narrowly avoided capture by a small boy, and then a house-wide hunt was mounted to find the leprechauns and their stolen bunch of wii-motes. The Leprechauns, being small and sneaky, easily avoided capture, but the Wii-motes were indeed found hiding out in a silk flower arrangement.

(After wii-motes were returned and order was re-established, Toa of Boy came up to me to ask if leprechauns were real. I smiled and asked him what he thought. "No," replied, smiling and shaking his head. I confirmed that they weren't real, but that it was fun to pretend, wasn't it. Then he wanted to know where leprechauns lived, so we talked about Ireland. Sweetling came up with the hypothesis that perhaps a few leprechauns snuck into America in the trunks of the Irish immigrants.)

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