Chasing Rainbows, Conclusion

A week later, Seamus was trying to think of something to do that didn’t involve spending money, since he had by now found out that he’d been tricked, and he couldn’t go back and find the leprechaun because there hadn’t been any rain or rainbows all week. Seamus decided to go to the local museum. He was greeted by the curator, a short, wizened old man with a pipe and a name tag that said “Leth”. Seamus asked about it, and the old man replied, “I know it’s an unusual name. It’s short for Lethter. See, me mam wanted to name me Lester, but she had a lisp. So, Leth Brogan at your service” he bowed. “May I show you our newest exhibit? It’s very historically important, and our little museum’s extremely lucky to have it.” The curator showed Seamus into the one well-lit room in the building. There Seamus saw a display case made of bullet-proof glass two feet thick, holding a single tiny gold coin that looked very familiar. When he asked the curator, the old man replied, “Oh, that’s the rarest coin in the world. There don’t seem to be any others like it anywhere. It’s a Finn Mac Coul farthing, and dates back to before the time o’ King Arthur.”

“Such a little coin…” muttered Seamus. “Is it valuable?” he asked, beginning to get a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Well, sure it’s not for sale at any price,” replied the curator, wiping the display case with a rag, “but if someone was to find another, any collector would pay whatever was asked. Why, if you filled a cauldron the size of a bathtub with gold, it would be just enough to buy that little coin there.”

Seamus exploded, “He tricked me again, he tricked me again, next time there’s a rainbow I’ll kill him!” and stormed out of the museum. Mr. Leth Brogan followed Seamus to the front door and called after him, “Sir, wouldn’t you like to stay and see our collection of shoe buckles? It’s quite impressive…”, but Seamus kept running down the street.

The curator sat down, used the rag to shine the buckles on his shoes, mused aloud, “What an amazin’ly stupid man”, and was gone.

© John M. Munzer