In which sometimes you get treasure, but usually you just learn stuff

There's a little story I usually tell on birthdays, about the very old wise women setting around the table talking to a younger woman on her birthday. The younger one asks, "What do I need to get to become wise like you?"

And one of the old wise women tells her "Good judgment."

The younger one thinks about that for a moment, and then asks, "So, how do I get good judgment?"

The older ones tell her, "Experience."

The younger one gives that one a thought, and then asks, "So, how do I get experience?"

And the older ones grin and tell her, "Bad judgment."

This story is kind of like that.

The Field of Buttercups (Ireland)

A long time ago in the darkest part of winter, a young woman was walking home just at the end of day.  She heard a tapping sound coming from beyond a wall, and followed her ears to the sound.  And when she had climbed over the wall and peered down and beyond, what should she see but a leprechaun, a little man dressed all in green, and tap-tap-tapping with a tiny hammer on the sole of a tiny boot.

Quick as a blink, and quiet as a shadow, she sneaked up behind and then grabbed hold of the leprechaun by the collar, saying, “I’ve got you now, leprechaun, so you must take me to your pot of gold.”

But the leprechaun only made his eyes big and woggly, and said, “Oh, but what is that terrible thing behind you?  Turn quick and see!”

The young woman knew that if she took her eyes from the leprechaun, he would disappear and never be seen by her again, so she did not turn ‘round to look.  Instead she said, “I won’t fall for that old trick.  Take me now to the pot of gold!”

But the leprechaun only made his eyes small and drippy, and said, “Oh, but if you take my gold, then how shall I feed my wife and seventeen children, each one smaller than the last?  Won’t you shed a tear for their cold and hungry nights?”

The young woman felt the tears begin in her eyes, and she almost blinked to clear them away, but then she remembered not to take her eyes from the leprechaun.  “That is another trick, and I still see you.  Take me now to the pot of gold!”

So the leprechaun made his eyes quiet and solemn, and he led the young woman, up hills and down hills, around and over and down and through until at last they came to a great field of buttercups. 

There, in the middle of the field, he pointed to one buttercup plant and said “If you dig under that one, you will find treasure enough for you and all your family forever.  Now let me go and leave me be!”

Dig under it?  The ground was hard and rocky, and she did not carry a shovel or trowel.  The young woman untied a pretty green ribbon from her hair and tied it around the buttercup plant.  “If you promise and swear to leave my mark and not touch it nor move it while I go to fetch a shovel, I will let you go and leave you be.  Do you promise and swear?”

The leprechaun did promise and swear and so the young woman let him go and he disappeared and was never seen by her again.  She ran home and got a shovel and ran back to the field…

…where she found that each and every buttercup plant was tied up with a pretty green ribbon, exactly like her own. 

And as for the treasure, it has never been found.

image by Lennert Helje