An Irish Tale

By Terence O'Grady

Twelve-year old Katherine has discovered that her eighteen-year old brother Sean has fallen in love with Meagen McCartney and plans to marry her. She sees this as a serious problem since Sean is needed at home to help run the family farm in Blessington, a little village a few miles from Dublin. But she soon hears of an even more serious problem: Sean has foolishly borrowed money from old Mrs. O’Hara, the crooked village money-lender, and has fallen behind on his payments. Worried that the old lady will have Sean jailed for failure to repay the debt, she seeks advice first from the local constable and eventually ends up in “Leprechaun’s Glen” where she encounters Shamus, a peculiar little man who promises to solve her problems. But with leprechauns there’s always a catch, and things get worse before they get better before Shamus finally solves everyone’s problems in the unlikeliest of ways.

An intermediate reader for ages 9-12.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terence O'Grady
• Release date: May 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458106162

Terence O'Grady

A musicologist by profession, I've written two music-themed mysteries (The Beethoven Quandary and The Mephisto Mysteries) as well as a handful of children’s books in a variety of genres.

Book preview

An Irish Tale

Terence O’Grady

Copyright 2011 Terence O’Grady

Cover by Joleene Naylor

Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1: Sean’s Dilemma

Chapter 2: Katherine and the Constable

Chapter 3: Enter Shamus

Chapter 4: A Very Close Call

Chapter 5: Sean and Shamus

Chapter 6: Striking a Bargain

Chapter 7: Writer’s Block

Chapter 8: Shamus’ Warning

Chapter 9: A Tale with a Tail

Chapter 10: From the Heart

Chapter 11: One Problem Solved

Chapter 12: Courtroom Drama

Chapter 13: All’s Well That Ends Well

Prologue

Blessington was (and still is) a charming little town in Ireland, very ordinary in a number of ways. And that’s how twelve-year old Katherine Clendenan liked it, at least most of the time. But there was one way in which Blessington—once upon a time— was not very ordinary at all. The village runs right up to a large and mysterious woods and some of the good people of Blessington once thought that those woods might be magical. There was no proof, of course, but there was a legend that some people had encountered leprechauns—the famous little people of Ireland—even though no actual leprechauns had been sighted for several years. Were these woods truly magical? That was what Katherine and her big brother Sean (who insisted on calling her Katie) were about to find out.

Chapter 1: Sean’s Dilemma

No, Katie, no. I’ve told you a thousand times before. It’ll be none of your business whether I get married or not, Sean grumbled loudly as he walked quickly down the dirt road just ahead of his sister.

But, Sean…Mother says you’re just a kid. You’re not old enough to… began Katherine, her head shaking furiously.

For pity’s sake, Katie my girl, I’m eighteen years old. If I’m old enough to toss bales of hay around for ten hours a day, I’m old enough to marry Meagan McCormick…if she’ll have me, that is, said Sean, who had stopped to turn and face his twelve-year old sister.

And what are we going to do without you to help out on the farm? demanded Katherine, her hands planted firmly on her hips.

Well, now, that’s the thing of it, isn’t it Katherine? said Sean. It’s the farm that’s the problem. You know it and I know it. If Mum and Dad would give up the silly farm and go find a regular job in the city…now then we’d all be fine, wouldn’t we?

Go live in Dublin? Sean Clendenan, Have you gone mad, then? You know Mum and Dad would hate the city! It’s dirty, it’s crowded…you know there’s not a fresh breath of air to be found there.

I find the air to be perfectly delightful, little sister. And it’s in the city that things are happening. What happens in our little village, Katie, except that we and everyone else get a little bit poorer every year?

Mum says that terrible things happen in the city, Sean…things that we shouldn’t even know about, and… Katherine began breathlessly.

Well, I know about them and they aren’t terrible. Sandy McCarthy was telling me—just last week—what a lovely time he had in Dublin. Spent a whole week there, he did, and found something exciting to do every night.

Got in trouble every night, you mean, pouted Katherine. And why should you even be listening to Sandy McCarthy in the first place? Dad says that he’s never done an honest day’s work…

I know what Dad says, Katherine, and I know what Mum says, Sean said with a sigh. "But I’m tellin’ you plain—they know nothing of the city. They’ve gone to Dublin maybe three or four times in their entire lives and then only when they had to see some fancy doctor or to go see the lawyer about Uncle’s Frank’s estate. They never had a good time in Dublin…they went out of their way not to have a good time, don’t you see? They never saw the city in