Shaun O'Day of Ireland Page 5

  CHAPTER IV

  THE STRANGE LAND

  "Out of the old world Into the new, True land or fairyland, Say, which are you?"

  "Shaun O'Day has been stolen by the leprechauns!" That was the whisperthat buzzed all about the village the next day.

  Little Eileen, with swollen eyes, told her mother how she had left thelad on the bank of the lake. She told how he had planned to put on theclothing of a boy and call the fairies. She wept as she told how bravehe had been and how he had promised to write to her.

  Her mother smiled sadly and said, "Och, the poor lad will never write!Never will Ireland see himself again! Sure, it's lost he is, and hestanding by the banks of that lake in the clothing of a man child! Forthe fairies do be looking for his likes. Well pleased were they surelyto find him!"

  She sighed, and so did all the rest of the village folk. They all leftmilk upon their window sills that night.

  They spoke together of the Good People and said, "God bless them!"

  For, you see, they wanted to win the good will of the fairies.

  Shaun's stepmother was as certain as any of the rest that the boy hadbeen stolen.

  She said, "And luck to the Good People! May they work the lazy lad andmake a man of him!"

  She was not sorry for Shaun. But she was sorry for herself that he wasnot there to work for her any more.

  In a few months nobody spoke of Shaun in the village. He was forgotten.He was forgotten by all but little Eileen. She thought of him each day.

  And ofttimes she went to the lake and talked to the blue waters. Sheasked them where the fairies had taken her Shauneen.

  But the wind only blew ripples over the blue waters of the lake. And thetrees sighed, and Eileen ran home crying.

  She did not tell her mother. She kept her secret in her heart and kepther heart open for Shauneen.

  Then one day after many months, a letter came to the town. It was forEileen. It came from a strange land; and everyone in the village wascurious about it.

  Some of the old folks in the village did not know English. They spokeonly Irish. But the children in the village all knew English, for theystudied it in school.

  The letter to Eileen was written in English. The little girl ran to theside of the blue lake. She opened the letter with trembling fingers.

  This is what she read:

  "Dawn O'Day, I have traveled far. The many lands I've seen and the manystrange things would open wide your eyes. I am in a fairy city. Thelights at night do be shining like the stars. And the noise is like athousand thunders.

  "But the shoemaker is kind. I work hard, but I am paid a handsome sum.And I study at night in a fine school. I am happy but for the sorrow ofleaving you. Keep in your heart your faith, for I'll be coming back toget you.

  "Your Shaun."

  When Eileen walked back to the village with her letter clasped in herhand, a crowd of children surrounded her.

  "And what is in it?" shouted one.

  "Are the fairies themselves writing to you?" laughed another.

  Eileen shook her curls and would not answer.

  One cried, "Och, you cannot keep it secret at all, at all! 'Tis fromhimself--Shaun O'Day, and 'tis from America!"

  The crowd set up a loud roar. "Yes, yes, we know! From America! We sawthe mark! 'Tis a fine secret you'd keep, Eileen!"

  Eileen's face became red with anger.

  "Stop!" she cried. "'Tis not true! He's with the fairies! He's in afairy city! 'Tis himself says so!"

  But the crowd only laughed the more loudly. "Ho! A fairy city! And why,then, is the letter marked with the mark of America?"

  Eileen had wondered, too, about this. She wondered about the postmark.It said "U.S.A." And that meant United States of America.

  "'Tis a trick of the fairies!" she cried, believing it herself. "A trickto put us off their track! 'Tis himself that's working for the fairyshoemaker in a fairy city!"

  She then told them what Shaun had said about the lights at night and thethunder noise. She told how he was receiving pay for his work and aboutthe school to which he went.

  They stopped shouting and listened. Their jaws fell open. They wereforced to believe that Shaun was truly in the land of the leprechaun!

  Still, some were doubtful and went away wagging their heads andsneering.

  "'Tis said that in great cities in the New World such things do be,"said one.

  But Eileen was happy. No matter where Shaun was, she knew that he waswell. She knew that he thought of her and that they would meet againsome day.

  Letters came often after that. In each one were tales of great wonder.Even the most doubtful of the villagers had to admit that the boy waswith the fairies.

  He told of strange people, of amusements, of towers touching the sky,and of sights that dazzled his eyes.

  Shaun had traveled all the way to a big American city. A bright, stronglad was he.

  He could always find ways of working himself along. On ships andtrains, in motors, and upon his two feet he traveled.

  When he arrived in the strange city across the sea, he sold papers onthe streets.

  His clear Irish voice rang out with its brogue. Many persons smiled asthey listened to the fresh young voice of Shaun O'Day from Connemara.

  But one man stopped and spoke to the lad. He, too, was an Irishman. Hespoke kindly to Shaun.

  The boy told him about his trip and the strangeness he felt in this newland. So this Irishman, Pat O'Leary, took Shaun to his shop.

  Pat O'Leary was a shoemaker. He had a tiny shop on a side street in thegreat city. Here he worked at his trade and lived in a dingy room in theback of the shop.

  'Twas thus that Shaun O'Day found a home. And 'twas thus that he startedto work for a shoemaker. Pat O'Leary was not a fairy shoemaker. But agood fairy was he to the Irish lad.

  He was wrinkled and bent. He might have been an old leprechaun who hadlost his way upon earth. He was jolly and smiling, with a joke ever uponhis lips.

  Shaun lived and worked with Pat and was happy. At night he went toschool in the big city and learned many things.

  The bright lights, flickering on and off, made him blink his eyes. Thetall towers and buildings made his neck stiff with looking up.

  The noise of the traffic and whistles and motors and people made hisears tingle.

  But he loved it and wrote each week to his little friend in Ireland andtold her of the magic of it all. He told it with a twinkle in his Irisheyes as he wrote.

  He knew she would think he was with the fairies. He knew she, too, wouldthink this big city fairyland if she were here with him.

  So he smiled to himself as he wrote to her. And the smiles tumbled downfrom his lips to the paper on which he wrote.

  And when Eileen received the letters those same smiles jumped up andsettled on her own two pretty lips. She liked to think that her Shaunwas in a fairy city. He knew she would like to think it.

  So he went on telling her about the wonders, without ever saying he wasin the city of New York.

  It was a simple jest. He would not have deceived her for worlds. Butthat twinkle made him play with her. It made him write letters that readlike fairy tales.

  And sometimes he wrote verse like this:

  Towers tall Make Shauneen small Feel like nothing At all, at all!

  Years went by. One day a very small girl came into the shoemaker'sshop.

  Shaun was growing to be a tall boy now. He was tall and manly. But theIrish bloom was still on his face, with the smile of his country.

  A very small girl came into the shop with her nurse. While the nursetalked to Pat O'Leary, the little miss came over and sat upon a stool bythe side of Shaun O'Day.

  He gave her his Irish smile. She gave him a friendly American smile.

  She was a pretty, blond baby, with teeth as white as milk and eyes thebrown of tree bark.

  It was not long before the Irish lad was telling her the stories of hisland. She sat spellbound while he t
alked of the fairies. He worked upona shoe while he talked.

  TELLING STORIES OF HIS LAND]

  He told her about the leprechaun. And she thought he might be one, fromthe way he looked as he worked upon that shoe.

  HE WORKED UPON ONE SHOE WHILE HE TALKED]

  Then her nurse called, "Come, Marjorie. We must go!" Marjorie did notwant to go. She stamped her little foot.

  "Come, now," begged Nurse, "and to-morrow we will be coming back."

  You see, Nurse was Irish, too, and she loved to talk with Pat O'Leary.

  Marjorie could twine Nurse about her little finger and make her do asshe wished. Marjorie could make almost everybody do as she wished, forshe was sweet and pretty, and she had dimples.

  MARJORIE]

  But sometimes she was very stubborn and naughty. Then she did not lookso pretty. Her dimple did not seem to be a fairy ripple when she wascross.

  Marjorie and Nurse left the shop. All that day, Marjorie thought of theIrish lad's tales.

  The next day they came again, and the next, and the next. Marjorieloved to go to the shop each day and listen to the tales of Shaun O'Day.

  But one day a frightful thing happened. Marjorie's dimple was lookingmore like a smudge of dirt than like a fairy ripple.

  It was evening. Marjorie heard the water running for her bath.

  She stamped her foot at Nurse and cried, "I won't take a bath!"

  When Nurse called to her that the bath was ready, Marjorie was nowhereto be found. She had run away from her home.

  Marjorie ran to the shop of Pat O'Leary, straight to Shaun O'Day.

  Shaun was surprised and shocked to see the little girl alone and atsuch a late hour. He was just starting off for his school.

  Marjorie wanted the lad to tell her tales. But he shook his head.

  "Sure, 'tis the wicked child you are, Miss Marjorie," he said. "And 'tismyself will carry you back to your home."

  So saying, he picked her up under his arm and took her to her home.Imagine how surprised her parents were when they saw this sight at theirdoor.

  There was Shaun, the red-haired Irish lad, standing with their weedaughter tucked under his big arm. She was kicking and squealing like alittle pig.

  KICKING AND SQUEALING LIKE A LITTLE PIG]

  "Begging your pardon, sir," said Shaun to Marjorie's father, "I'vebrought you the young lady of the house!"

  Marjorie was sent upstairs to bed. I do not know whether her motherspanked her, but I think she did not. Her mother spoiled her the wayeveryone else did.

  Downstairs, Shaun told Marjorie's father how she had come to the shop.Her father asked Shaun to sit down. He liked the boy. He asked Shaunabout his life. Marjorie's father wanted to know about Ireland, too.Shaun talked with his slow brogue. His blue eyes twinkled with the truththere was in them.

  Marjorie's father asked Shaun, "Would you not like to change your home?Come and work for me in this house. I will have you taught the work of abutler, if you will come here and stay. You shall tell Marjorie talesevery day."

  You see, her father was another who wanted to do everything in the worldfor this little American Princess.

  So it came about that Shaun changed his home and his work. He left theshop of Pat O'Leary. And a letter came to Dawn O'Day in Ireland.

  It said: "So here I am in the house of a fairy Princess. She did waveher wand, and I was brought to live here by her father. 'Tis a good manhe is, too. And I love the baby Princess well and do be pleasing herwith tales of old Ireland.

  "I'm learning the trade of a butler. I'm after serving themselves out ofgolden goblets and glass plates the color of Ireland's green. The tableshines with bright crystal and silver. The food is beautiful to lookupon.

  "Then the pay I do get is indeed grand. 'Tis all to be saved for ourwedding day, mavourneen."