I have been dealing with something all week. (And if the Mayas had been right this wouldn't be an issue.) I thought this concern was unique to me or this area, even. But after reading another post I can see that this has spread WAY farther than I had ever imagined. When did it become a thing to try to catch a leprechaun?!?!? Sure, back in the day everyone wanted to catch a leprechaun to get his pot of gold. But that was limited to days with a rainbows. But NOW we have leprechaun 2.0. He has upgraded in the last generation.
From what I can gather this new leprechaun is somewhat a mix between Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. With his "Santa" skills, the leprechaun is able to sneak into your room and possibly leave a present. I'm not really sure about that because my 7yo has been pretty vague as to what the "leprechaun actually does.
With his Tooth Fairy skills, the leprechaun takes stuff. What does he take??? Again, I'm not sure. (See the above paragraph for the vagueness of information I'm getting from my child.) If I had to guess it would be money because every trap we set must have money in it for it to work. This is a very odd turn of events. If he has his own pot of gold, what does this little thiefprechaun need with my dollars?!?
Now, he is like the Easter Bunny because sometimes he... hides things... around the house. What does he leave? You know the answer to that. WHO KNOWS??? It could be money (even though he's possibly taking money. It could be presents, teeth, colored eggs, lottery tickets, store coupons or even new golf clubs (Oooo)! I honestly have no idea. It sounds like a complete surprise! (This question mark actually has me intrigued. I can imagine the possibilities.)
Another thing to this story... And probably the MOST important question of all of this...
What does she plan to do if/when she CATCHES the leprechaun?!? Does she plan on taking his money? Does she plan on forcing him to tell her how to get to his pot of gold? Does she plan on bringing him out to the living room and playing 2-player Lego Batman all night? Does she plan on swapping green drink recipes? Does she plan on keeping him as a pet (since mean old dad won't let her have one)? The only thing she tells me she's going to to is to trick him. My head hurts thinking of how THIS one could play out. (As long as she doesn't wake me up in this process I'm fine. I say that because one of her plans was to SCREAM really loud and as long as she can if she catches him. I don't like that plan. It was vetoed.)
Oh, well... I guess I'm going to have to decide the course of the leprechaun by tonight. We have been setting up traps for the past few days that have come up empty. We were able to push this off until today, St. Patrick's Day. But we can't push this out anymore. The trap can NOT come up empty again. This day is the day! Something is going to happen. And it's all going down TONIGHT!!!
OR I could just show her that movie from the early 90s about the leprechaun. She will either be scared and not want to catch him at all OR she will see how horrible the movie was and want nothing to do with anything related to the movie. Either way... no more leprechaun trap to deal with.
You know those parents who don't let their kids believe in Santa for various reasons? (I work hard to buy the toys, so I want the credit. I don't want to lie to them. I don't want to tell them a stranger is watching them and sneaking into the house at night.)
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to leprechauns, I'M like those parents. I grew up with a steady diet of Irish music and folk tales. Leprechauns are nasty, tricky little suckers. No one who comes across one ever comes away with a pot of gold (much less chocolate coins). Usually they end up losing time (like getting abducted by aliens) or getting enslaved for a time. Do not let one of these critters into your house.
Tell Lyndi her Irish Auntie Vickie says they are bad news. :-)
I think you're right! I will let her know right away. She wants to be friends with the thing or even to beat it at it's own game. Either way, nothing good can come of that! :-)
DeleteYeah, my kids are ALL OVER this one. Our leprechaun (Finnegan) comes when they're not looking, trashes their rooms (I learned the hard way to make sure he comes BEFORE I put away the folded laundry), and leaves a note with a gold (dollar) coin. All of our traps use fake gold. And when the kids are too young to appreciate money (remember when?), he leaves them chocolate wrapped in gold foil. (That right there is what a woman would call a win/win).
ReplyDeleteHere's the first visit: http://www.longdazeshortyears.blogspot.com/2010/03/leprechaun-mischief.html
I'm thinking of having a series of things happen just to see how long it takes her to realize it's not real. I haven't decided what to do yet. Last night all I did was move the trap NOTICEABLY away from the original location. Tonight I have to do a little more.
DeleteHere's what "we" have learned in our extensive leprechaun research. The leprechaun only leaves a treat in the trap if he gets caught. Giving up a treat enables him to use his magic to get out of the trap. If the trap doesn't work, then he plays a trick of some sort to show that he disapproved of having a trap set for him. (One night, he hung all of the underwear in the house from various locations. Of course, any mischief he does has to be cleaned up by the people trying to trap him.) If he gets caught and chooses not to use magic to get out of the trap, and a person sees him, he is required to take that person to his pot of gold. As you can imagine, that would almost never happen because what leprechaun in his right mind would choose not to use his magic to get out of the trap?
ReplyDeleteOur leprechaun obviously frequents the Dollar Store because when he left treats, those were the kind of treats he left. On the last night, Liberty chose to leave him a present not in a trap, so he drew a tiny rainbow and wrote "Thank you. See you next year!" I like that ending, and it will be our new tradition.