Beyond the seven mountains and the seven valleys there was a beautiful village. All the houses in it were built in a circle, and right in the middle there was a big pond. Every year when winter came, the pond froze over and all the people who lived in that village went skating on it. Everybody went there. Young and old, girls and boys.
There was a little boy who lived in a house near the pond. His name was David. He was curious and wanted to know everything. He had lots of questions and he wanted answers. Every night, he would curl up on his bed by the window and look out over the pond. He wanted to see it freeze over. He wondered what magic was happening at night that the pond was completely frozen in the morning. His mother always told him it was nature, but he knew there was more to it.
One night when he couldn’t sleep, he looked at the pond again. His eyes were slowly closing when suddenly he heard a strange sound. A tinkling sound. Like someone was already skating on the pond. He slowly looked out the window. He couldn’t believe his eyes. A leprechaun was skating on the surface of the pond. He was smaller, his silver glow lit up the water, and he threw ice around with every movement. He wasn’t wearing skates, but he rode beautifully. Every time he bounced, there was a soft and silent clink. He skated across the pond. It took him a while, but he finally did it. All over the pond, the leprechaun made a frozen ice. He walked around the pond and kept looking around. It looked as if he was looking for something. “Well, too bad. I would have had something to eat after all that effort, but there’s nothing here.” The little leprechaun muttered to himself. Then he ran out onto the ice, turned around three times with a jump, made one last clink, and disappeared.
David kept looking out the window and thinking about what he had seen. Every other night he waited by the window for the leprechaun to reappear. He didn’t appear for a long time because the pond was still frozen. But one day he did come. He had to repair the ice surface so that it was frozen enough. David was beside himself with happiness that he had lived to see it. He remembered the leprechaun saying he would like something to eat. So he put some cookies wrapped in a scarf and some milk on the edge of the pond. He hoped the ice leprechaun liked it.
David watched the leprechaun as he was grooming the ice. Then he approached the package he found on the edge. His eyes lit up as he unwrapped it. It was the first time he’d ever gotten anything. He stuffed it all in his mouth, drank the milk, and even as it ran down his chin, he shouted in all directions, “Thank you! I don’t know who gave it here, but thank you so much! You don’t have to be afraid of me, next time come out and skate with me.”
David was very happy. From then on, every time it got cold and it started to freeze, he would sit by the window dressed, with his skates in one hand and a scarf with cookies and milk in the other. He was waiting for his friend the leprechaun. And even though he was an adult by then, their friendship didn’t end, it only grew stronger.
