Welcome to my weekly blog,  SATURDAY SESSIONS!

          In this blog, for the perusal of all our students, past, present and future, I include an extract from our interactive presentation Course, Ireland and its Culture.

          We continue with our mini-series on the legends, tales and tall tales of Ireland!

          

          Long ago, in a small village in Ireland, there lived a man named Séamus.

          One day, he was on his way to the market when he saw a tiny man sitting on a wall, whistling to himself. He knew immediately that the little man was a leprechaun and that to get to the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow, he would have to grab the leprechaun and never take his eyes off him for a second, because the leprechaun would try to trick him.

          He sneaked up behind the leprechaun and grabbed him. The leprechaun struggled and yelled, cursing Séamus and angrily asked him what he wanted. All the time looking at him in the eye, Séamus replied that he would let him go if he showed him to the crock of gold.

          The little man said he would show him the place if Séamus let him go. Séamus was too smart to fall for that trick, so he told the leprechaun to show him the way.

          They set off across the fields and Séamus had a hard time keeping his eye constantly on the tiny little man in his fist. On they went. His feet were wet, his clothes were torn and his hands and face were scratched by brambles and thorns. 

          Eventually, they came to a clearing at the edge of the forest. A rainbow appeared and at last the leprechaun told Séamus that they had arrived. Séamus complained that he was not able to see the end of the rainbow, but the leprechaun just laughed and told him that a rainbow was circular and had no end.

          Séamus shook the leprechaun, telling him that there was nothing to laugh about, but the leprechaun laughed again and told him that the gold was buried in the ground under his feet. All he had to do was remember where it was, because he had to go home first and get a spade to dig.

          True to his word, Séamus let the leprechaun go and marked the spot with a stick, placing his cap on it. Then, in case the cap might blow away, he also tied his red scarf around the stick.

          He then went home through the forest to get a spade. A few hours later,  he returned with the tool, pushing his way through the undergrowth and brambles and thorns until at last he reached the clearing at the edge of the forest where the leprechaun's gold was buried.

          What he saw, however, left him speechless: the whole clearing was a forest of sticks, thousands of them, sticking out of the ground, each with an identical cap and scarf. Séamus then remembered what the leprechaun had told him about the rainbow. But in his eagerness to get to the gold, he never realised that the whole idea of a rainbow's end is a myth because a rainbow has no end at all!                                                                                                           Séamus threw his spade into the air and just burst into a fit of laughter!