He was sitting on a short wall, dangling his feet and whistling some old-times tune, when I walked by just below him. His bright red hair and freckled face made him stand out quite a bit already, but just as I was walking past, he leapt down and presented himself with a wide grin:
"Hey, I'm Connor, and I guess you've been expecting me."
Unable to produce a coherent reply, I just gave him a confused look, indicating that I had no idea what he was talking about. He may have been expecting this much, as he tried to juggle my memory:
"Oh, c'mon, just look at me! Who else could I be, but your friendly leprechaun you've been wanting to meet.
Now I remembered, that after a cherub and a zombie it was a leprechaun I wanted to write a post about, as part of a blogging challenge. And this guy certainly fit the image: only about five feet tall, ginger as they come, and sporting a cocky grin. His clothes certainly looked contemporary, wearing Chuck Taylors and standard blue jeans, though the sneakers were emerald green, and his combination of the Boston Celtics jersey with a Notre Dame ball cap did have something leprechauny in it.
"And before you ask, I am most certainly real, at least as much as your cheeky cherub or your depressive zombie. Me at least you can talk to!"
Great, now here was this allegedly mythical character, grinning and talking to me. I might as well find out all about his kind, straight from the horses mouth.
"What is leprechaun?" Connor burst out laughing. "I thought you were familiar with Lucky Charms, pots of gold, swinging shillelaghs, and all that paddywhackery."
I assured him I was, having grown up in popular culture, even though its Irish aspect made it to me through the American filter. What I was most interested in, however, was what was beyond all the stereotypes attached to his type of beings.
"I guess I'll have to disappoint you there, my friend," the leprechaun said, turning suddenly serious. As a mythological creature, there really is not much beyond what all of you humans say about us collectively. But that also means, we change over time. Take my colors of choice, for example: Nowadays everyone knows leprechauns wear green, but not so long ago, we dressed in red! Kinda like the old fat winter guy with the beard, who traded his blue robe for a red suit."
By now I was all ears. I understand how our tales and legends bring certain concepts to life, and in certain rare circumstances they even appear to interact with us. So I kept pressing on regarding the typical characteristics of his kind.
"Well, what do you think? Clearly I'm based on you guys! I like me a stiff drink, I enjoy a good brawl, and most of all I love the ladies. Also, the occasional practical joke is always worth a good laugh, and it keeps us from getting old too quickly. And yes I know, with these everyday-folks traits I may as well run around on goat legs and blow a pan pipe, which I used to do a long time ago...
Finally I just had to ask about his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, as I simply needed to know what was up with that. What was behind that story?
"Aha, I knew it!" Connor exclaimed with a wicked laugh. "Just like all of you, you're interested in my pot of gold! Well, let me tell you, though I assume you should have guessed it by now: These days I keep my gold safer than ever. The pot has taken a new form," and with this he pulled out a cold wallet, dangling it in front of my face.
"Do you like my new pot? It looks like it's right here, but to get to it you must travel to the end of the rainbow. And not even any type of rainbow. Mine is a long line of code, consisting of yet more pieces of code, arranged in a chain... Truly, getting there makes the old way of sliding down rainbows seem easy. So no one can get to my gold!"
Looking at his face, I put on my own greedy smile, and told him with a wink that I didn't care about his modern pot of gold, as I had my own. He gave off a fierce laugh, then admitted:
"See, like I told you: I am not that much different from all you real humans. The main difference is, I guess, that I'll still be around once you guys are gone, as long as someone keeps telling stories about me. Any stories will do, really, since I don't mind the change."
Before departing I asked him if he would be back anytime.
"I don't see why I should. After all, what I've told you should be enough for your challenge post. Oh, and don't assume what worked for me is going to work for other fantasy beings in the same way. I mean, don't expect dragons or goblins to just appear like me, only so that you can have some writing material. In fact, the only reason why I showed up, was because I actually enjoy the arts: music, prose, motion pictures, you name it. So make sure you put some effort into that post of yours."
With that he lifted his ball cap, and asked me with a wink: "Do you wanna see a great exit?" Suddenly a rainbow poured out of his cap, dying the pavement in different colors. Without saying another word Connor jumped into it. In the end all I could see was a colorful void opening up, and my friendly leprechaun sliding down the rainbow into another world, filled with fantastic fantasy creatures. Now that I knew that they were around, I felt excited. Maybe one day I would meet some more of them.