It all started in the Land of Fortune…there lived a small society of leprechaun people who spent their days mining the grounds for precious treasures and racing to the bottoms of rainbows in search of their sacred gold. They were never satisfied until they found the gold, but kept mining the land over and over in search of just a sliver more. Their happy jigs they danced at night soon depleted, and all they were left with was mining… all day, every day. Their merry laughs and boisterous voices became rare and gruff–only sneering at others to get away from their priceless gold. Their contentment of life vanished, and was replaced by irrational greed and unhappiness.

However, with the help of the Elders, they were able to revert back to their old ways and find true contentment again.

—

Ten years of the same prickly behavior brought forth the urgency to find happiness again by the Elders. Together, the group of five elders came together to devise a plan in order to bring peace and contentment back upon the Land of Fortune. After many days of conspiring, they decided there was but one thing to do.

“We must end this reign of sorrowful attitude and bring joy back into the lives of our dear leprechaun people,” stated one of the elders, Louise.

“There is but one thing we as old leprechaun’s can do,” started the oldest leprechaun of them all, Larry. “We have to get rid of the source of greed once and for all…we must rid ourselves of the gold and riches, keeping only what we need to survive.”

“Are you crazy?!” Many of the elders shouted. “The gold is what we live off of– it is our source of trade. Without gold we are nothing!”

“Nonsense, we have other fine riches to sell. Take the harvest we used to bring in every fall many moons ago when we were just young lads–that would be a fine thing to start trading. It is much higher up in demand, too. Besides, only a few leprechauns can trade for things as fine as our gold.”

“I guess you do have a point, Larry. However, I think we can make a compromise. How about we allow people to mine for gold but have others jobs as well? We can keep the gold system going, just mine it at a much more conservative rate. We will have some work in the farming industry, others will make warm clothes, some will make food, and the last group will run the trade.” They all agreed that this was indeed their best option and decided to split the leprechauns into the different classes. So, the following week, the different leprechauns of each household received a letter notifying them of where they would start working. At first the people were confused and unsure of what would happen. But after being assigned their new locations, they quickly got to work.

In the beginning, many had no idea what they were supposed to be doing, so they struggled to meet quotas. Eventually though, the leprechauns began to enjoy their different jobs, and rotated throughout the weeks. Before the red-bearded men knew it, they were whistling as they worked in the mining shafts and laughed with one another during their breaks. The finely clothed women hummed as they knit together new green and gold dresses and trousers. They really were extravagant! At night, many of the small people gathered at each other’s cottages to exchange stories from the work day and laugh with others deep into the night. Their dancing jigs got more uplifting and were starting to be performed every night. The laughter of the leprechaun children rang up from the streets as they chased each other around.

The elders smiled from their cottages at the happiness that was restored to the people after such a long and desolate time. “We did it,” they said to one another in contentment. Everything was as it should have been. The people were happy, and by now they learned that true riches weren’t from gold, but something else entirely. From then on, the leprechaun people of the Land of Fortune joyously went about every day– performing the tasks with utmost care and merriment.