Once upon a time, there was a young boy in the woods. He was picking berries for his grandmother from a bush just about a 1/2 mile from the tree line. After a while, his basket was getting full, and it was almost time to return to his grandmothers house when he saw something move very quickly in the distance. He thought nothing of it, and continued to finish picking berries. Once done, he started to turn around but saw another blur, much like the first; but closer. He decided to investigate. So he put down his basket, and started to pursue.


At first, he started slowly walking towards where he last saw this figure. But then he eventually stopped to examine the area, because he was walking around randomly. So he stood there motionless, for about 5 minutes; when suddenly, he heard a high pitched laugh. Terrified, he stood in shock, not even taking the time to blink. He then saw a little creature staring at him off in the distance, half-way out from behind a tree. He began to shiver. It was a little man, dressed in all green, with big ears, a horrific grin, and a thick head of hair topped off with a little green top-hat.


As quickly as he appeared, he was on his way, making his escape. The boy started chasing him for reasons even he did not understand. The little man saw the boy coming after him and laughed. The little creature then ran up the tree as if it were a casual jog on the sidewalk. The boy awed in amazement. The young boy started hurling rocks at the little man while he was swinging from tree to tree, missing every shot that he threw.


After about 10 minutes of this hot pursuit, the little man came to the base of a tree, and crawled through a passage in the roots. The boy soon discovered that this was not the best decision. He came to discover this underground city, a city of leprechauns. There was a mountain of gold in the center of the town. The houses were built into these giant roots of the tree, with extravagant corridors and stairwells.


Soon, there was a terrible shrieking alarm. It was the leprechauns gathering to fend off the intruder. This was the sign for the boy to take his leave, he took off towards the doorway where he entered, but it closed in his face. He was trapped. Franticly he searched for another exit, running through corridors at incredible speeds. All the while being chased by endless amounts of leprechauns. The boy was desperately searching for any sign of sunlight or anything that would lead him back to the outside.


Finally, he caught a glimpse of sunlight coming from a crack at the top of a root, just big enough for him to squeeze through. He darted up this slick root to the opening in the great tree. He heard the creatures’ voices getting louder and louder. He reached the opening, and got a breath of fresh air. He shimmied through the crack, shimmied for his life. Just when he was through, something grabbed his foot, and tried to pull him back down. But, he kicked like he has never kicked before, and broke free.


He ran home, ran for his life. Tripping and stumbling left and right. Finally, he got back to grandma’s house, and told her about what had just happened. But, she said that he must have been dreaming, and didn’t believe a word he said.


Even though the boy got away, he never went near that tree, or the forest again.