Read Leprechaun in Late Winter Online
Authors: Mary Pope Osborne
Leprechaun in Late Winter (9 page)
Lady Augusta Gregory
“Look! It’s
her
!” said Annie.
The woman on the screen was middle-aged, but she still looked like Augusta. Her hair was parted neatly down the middle.
Jack read aloud from the screen:
Lady Augusta Gregory was born into a wealthy family in Galway, Ireland, in 1852. She wrote over forty plays and many poems and essays. She was a co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, the national theater of Ireland. Lady Gregory also learned the old language of Ireland and became well known for collecting Irish stories and legends and sharing them with the world
.
“Wow!” said Annie. “Augusta
did
have a brave heart and a fine mind! And she must have liked our play, since she wrote forty of her own and started her own theater.”
“Yeah,” said Jack. “She really turned out great.” This reminded him of a question he’d asked himself earlier. “I wonder what I’m good for? I didn’t know how to do anything on that Irish farm.”
“Me neither,” said Annie. “But hardly any kids today know how to do that kind of stuff.”
“So what would we do if all our machines and computers broke down?” said Jack.
“We’d have to figure out how to grow potatoes and make our own clothes and milk cows,” said Annie.
“I’d probably read some kind of instructions first, then give it a try,” said Jack.
“I’d probably give it a try first,” said Annie, “
then
read the instructions.”
Jack laughed.
“I know some stuff we’re good for,” said Annie.
“What?” said Jack.
“First, we’re good for helping each other,” said Annie.
“Yeah, but—” said Jack.
“No, really. We help each other all the time,” said Annie.
“That’s true,” said Jack.
“
And
we’re good for helping Augusta,” said
Annie, “and helping Louis Armstrong, Mozart, and Leonardo da Vinci. We put the smile on the Mona Lisa’s face, remember?”
Jack nodded. “Yep,” he said.
“And we’re good for saving an orphan penguin, a huge octopus, and the cities of Tokyo, Venice, and New York,” said Annie. “We’re good for rescuing a baby gorilla from a leopard, and schoolkids from a twister. We’re good for helping Shakespeare, Clara Barton, and George Washington. We’re good for rescuing two kids from a tsunami, a Lakota boy from a buffalo stampede, and a baby kangaroo and a koala from a forest fire. We’re good for—”
“Wait, stop,” said Jack. “Stop.”
“But that’s not even half of it,” said Annie.
“I know,” said Jack. “But that’s plenty. I’m inspired. I’m ready to write that story for homework. I’ll use my own experience. I have a little more than I thought.”
“Cool,” said Annie. She went back to reading about Lady Gregory on the computer.
Jack grabbed a pencil and pulled out his notebook. He moved to the couch and sat down. As late-winter light slanted into the living room, he began to write.
Irish Fairies
• There was a time when many people in Ireland believed in fairies who lived inside mounds of earth. The name for Irish fairies is
Sí
. In Ireland, the word
Sí
is pronounced
Shee
. To avoid confusion in my story, I refer to the fairies as the Shee.
• Leprechauns are a type of male Irish fairy. In folktales they often work as shoemakers or tailors and are thought to have hidden pots of gold. Leprechauns are featured on St. Patrick’s Day, a national holiday in Ireland celebrated on March 17.
Lady Gregory
• When she was a child, Lady Gregory’s full name was Isabella Augusta Persse, though everyone called her Augusta. After she grew up, she married Sir William Henry Gregory. As the wife of a knight, she was called Lady Gregory.
• Ireland’s most famous poet is William Butler Yeats (YATES). He was a very good friend of Lady Gregory’s. Together in 1904, they founded Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, the national theater of Ireland.
• William Butler Yeats often accompanied Lady Gregory when she visited cottages and collected Irish folklore. It was said that Lady Gregory had a natural genius for remembering the direct speech of storytellers. “In her many years of traveling, listening, transcribing and publishing, Lady Gregory … gave value to the stories, to the mind and the imagination of Irish country people” (Lucy McDiarmid and Maureen Waters, introduction to
Lady Gregory: Selected Writings)
.
Irish Language
• From the 1600s to the early 1900s, the language of Ireland, called
Irish Gaelic
, was replaced by English in many parts of Ireland. During the struggle for Irish independence in the twentieth century, the desire to learn the old language became very strong in Ireland. In 1922, Irish Gaelic became the official language of the country along with English. Today it is taught in Irish public schools. Lady Gregory’s knowledge of Irish Gaelic helped her when she visited cottages and collected stories.
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