In a flash Mitchell... put his thumb in his mouth. When everyone began confirming that all was lost, he pulled his thumb out again and shot an arrow from an unseen bow he had hidden in his diaper. It landed on shore just before the Taibhse Lochlannach touched shore.
The Taibhse Lochlannach again let out an evil gáire. “It is written that the first to touch the shore would win. An arrow is not sufficient!” Mitchell simply smiled and waited from Franklin to retrieve his arrow from the sand. About the same time Franklin arrived with the arrow in his mouth, Seanathair Smith arrived on the island. Mitchell explained, gugu gah maga.
It was Seanathair Smith’s turn to laugh. He explained, “Before the arrow was shot, Mitchell bit off a tip of his fingernail and placed it on the arrow. The fingernail from the hand of a Smith legally touched the island first. You have lost!”
The Taibhse Lochlannach let out an evil gáire once again as he said he would be ready in a thousand years time to claim the island and he disappeared.
Seanathair Smith took Mitchell in his arms as they left for the castle to claim Queen Ruth. “How did you ever think to use a finger nail to claim victory?”
“I remember the story of the first Prince and wondered why he chopped off his whole hand when a finger would have been sufficient. I guess a red finger wouldn’t be so inspiring as a red hand on the Ulster flag, but I am not one for dramatics. I prepped my fingernail on the beach just before we started the competition, just in case. I was ready when I had to go to plan B.
A bark from Franklin brought them back to the present. Mitchell explained as they arrived at the castle that Franklin was actually the King of the Leprechauns on Oileán Thiar and that Seanathair Smith was the guardian of the leprechauns. You see, the word leprechaun comes form the Irish words leath bhrogan which mean shoemaker. Smith comes from the word Sheaghshee which means protector of the leprechaun. The treasure of the leprechaun is rightly the property of Seanathair Smith. An dhte treasure of the leprechaun is Queen Ruth. Everyone smiled because they already knew this. As they walked through the castle to claim the treasure, Franklin barked, Mitchell translated and Seanathair Smith translated into Gaelic:
Glac bog an saol agus glacfaidh an saol bog tú
Take the world nice and easy, and the world will take you the same.
Take the world nice and easy, and the world will take you the same.
