His stepmother had cried, "Begob, and did I tell you to serve yourself? Are you, indeed, the King himself?"
With that, she had beaten him.
Now Shaun stood upon the shore of that blue Irish lake near his village. He had taken a suit of clothes belonging to one of his stepbrothers. A suit of boy's clothes it was.
He would put it on. He would stand by the lake and call to the leprechauns to take him away. He would work for the leprechauns. Yes, willingly would he work and toil for the fairy folk!
He started to undo the paper in which he had wrapped the clothing. He heard a sound and looked up. Eileen was standing before him. It was his little Dawn O'Day.
"Shauneen, och, Shauneen!" she cried. "What is it you are about to do? And why do you look that way?"
Shaun did not answer. He took her hand. They sat together on the bank of the lake.
"Faith, speak to me, Shauneen!" cried the girl, the tears starting to her eyes. "Speak and tell me that you are not after calling the lep—"
She stopped suddenly. One should not talk about them. They are easily offended.
Shaun kept looking out across the lake, but he held the hand of his little sweetheart. At last he spoke.