The Leprechaun’s Gold is written by Pamela Duncan Edwards and illustrated by Henry Cole. It was published in 2004 by Katherine Tegan Books, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. It is a multi-cultural fantasy book.
This is an irish tale about a man who plays the harp better than anyone in Ireland. He teaches a boy to play the harp and the boy decides that he is better than the old man and that he can make lots of money off of playing the harp. One day the king decides to hold a contest to see who the best harp player in all of Ireland really is. The old man and the boy set off on foot for the journey to the castle for the contest and eventually stop to rest at night. While they are sitting by a fire, the boy gets nervous that the old man may actually beat him at the contest, so the boy snaps one of the man’s harp strings when he isn’t looking. The man knows he cannot possibly win the contest with a string missing. Then all of a sudden they hear a voice crying out for help. The boy fears it is a leprechaun playing a trick on them so he refuses to see if they really need help. The old man goes to check and indeed finds a leprechaun caught by a rabbit by his big toe. The man scares the rabbit off and invites the leprechaun back to his fire to rest. The leprechaun asks the man how he can repay him and the man insists that he want for nothing. The man starts to play his harp and the leprechaun notices that he is missing a string. When the leprechaun asks about the man’s broken harp he explains about the contest and how sad he is that he cannot compete with his broken harp. The leprechaun instantly decides that the man is only interested in the money, even though the man protests. The leprechaun magically makes the man fall asleep and calls his other leprechaun friends out to get out their gold. When the man awakes nothing is wrong so he continues on to the contest with his broken harp. When the contest begins the greedy boy starts to play and his strings mysteriously break all at once. Then when the man pulls out his harp to play, he finds a brand new golden harp that helps him play the most beautiful song in Ireland. He wins the contest and the king insists that he stay and play for all of his parties.
This is a cute story about the Irish custom of Leprechauns. I especially enjoyed the pictures in this book. They are so full of color and expression. They really make the book what it is. I think kids will be intrigued by this tale. St. Patrick’s Day is exciting for Elementary School kids. I can remember being scared to death that a leprechaun was going to pop out of my desk and pinch me if I forgot to wear green. This would obviously be a great book to read around St. Patrick’s Day to share the Irish perspective on Leprechauns.
This is an irish tale about a man who plays the harp better than anyone in Ireland. He teaches a boy to play the harp and the boy decides that he is better than the old man and that he can make lots of money off of playing the harp. One day the king decides to hold a contest to see who the best harp player in all of Ireland really is. The old man and the boy set off on foot for the journey to the castle for the contest and eventually stop to rest at night. While they are sitting by a fire, the boy gets nervous that the old man may actually beat him at the contest, so the boy snaps one of the man’s harp strings when he isn’t looking. The man knows he cannot possibly win the contest with a string missing. Then all of a sudden they hear a voice crying out for help. The boy fears it is a leprechaun playing a trick on them so he refuses to see if they really need help. The old man goes to check and indeed finds a leprechaun caught by a rabbit by his big toe. The man scares the rabbit off and invites the leprechaun back to his fire to rest. The leprechaun asks the man how he can repay him and the man insists that he want for nothing. The man starts to play his harp and the leprechaun notices that he is missing a string. When the leprechaun asks about the man’s broken harp he explains about the contest and how sad he is that he cannot compete with his broken harp. The leprechaun instantly decides that the man is only interested in the money, even though the man protests. The leprechaun magically makes the man fall asleep and calls his other leprechaun friends out to get out their gold. When the man awakes nothing is wrong so he continues on to the contest with his broken harp. When the contest begins the greedy boy starts to play and his strings mysteriously break all at once. Then when the man pulls out his harp to play, he finds a brand new golden harp that helps him play the most beautiful song in Ireland. He wins the contest and the king insists that he stay and play for all of his parties.
This is a cute story about the Irish custom of Leprechauns. I especially enjoyed the pictures in this book. They are so full of color and expression. They really make the book what it is. I think kids will be intrigued by this tale. St. Patrick’s Day is exciting for Elementary School kids. I can remember being scared to death that a leprechaun was going to pop out of my desk and pinch me if I forgot to wear green. This would obviously be a great book to read around St. Patrick’s Day to share the Irish perspective on Leprechauns.
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