He sat still and listened for a sound. He heard only the lake lapping.
Then he began to bring his books along. He liked the books about Ireland that they gave him at school.
He thought the pictures of Dublin and Belfast looked very like that fairy city of which his father had told. He looked at those pictures for hours and hours. And he waited there by the banks.
—LOOKED AT THOSE PICTURES FOR HOURS AND HOURS
He always changed to his red petticoat before he went home. He did not want anyone to know what he was doing. Some might laugh at him.
His mother would be frightened and hold him close. She might make him promise never to do it again. Then he would never see the fairies.
His brother could not imagine what had become of his old suit of clothes. He had to wear his Sunday suit until he could make enough money to buy a new suit. But the days slipped by, and the boy waited in vain for the leprechaun. The longing for adventure was great in his heart.
One day he stepped to the edge of the lake and cried out in a loud voice, "Arrah, 'tis long I've waited and tired I am! Come, Good Folk, come! Give to the son of Shaun O'Day the great wonders of your fairy powers!"