I set him free at recess in front of everyone, and nobody saw him but me.Left behind: green footprints across the four square court. Last line: the custodian saw those.
I caught a leprechaun by playing my recorder badly in the garden until he came to complain.Why it worked: he could not stand the wrong note. First words: It goes up there, not down.
He tricked me into looking at the window, and the box was empty when I looked back.Left behind: one gold button, which was mine to begin with.
I caught a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow I drew in chalk on the driveway.Why it worked: he came to check on his gold. First words: This is the wrong end.
I caught a leprechaun by leaving out my tap shoes with one tap loose.Why it worked: he heard the loose nail from the garden. First words: Hold the heel still.
I caught a leprechaun by playing my recorder badly in the garden until he came to complain.Why it worked: he could not stand the wrong note. First words: It goes up there, not down.
I caught a leprechaun by pretending I was not trying to catch a leprechaun.Why it worked: he came close to find out why not. First words: Do you not want gold?
I caught a leprechaun in a bucket at the bottom of the playground slide.Why it worked: he slid for fun and did not look first. First words: Again. Wait, no.
I caught a leprechaun in a glove, the left one of a pair.Why it worked: he took the thumb for a doorway. First words: Five rooms and no stairs.
I caught a leprechaun in a jar of green glitter with the lid resting loose.Why it worked: he stopped to look at himself. First words: I look better in red, you know.
I caught a leprechaun in a mixing bowl by counting chocolate coins out loud and getting it wrong.Why it worked: he had to correct me. First words: That is eleven, not twelve.
I caught a leprechaun in a paper cup that I lowered on a string, with a paper clover inside.Why it worked: he leaned in to count the leaves. First words: Three. I knew it.
I caught a leprechaun in a pillowcase I hung on the clothesline like a tent.Why it worked: he lives alone and wanted a nap out of the wind. First words: Five more minutes.
I caught a leprechaun in a shoebox, with one untied sneaker for bait.Why it worked: he mends shoes and could not walk past it. First words: Who ties a knot like that?
I caught a leprechaun in a teapot with the lid off.Why it worked: he was hiding from my cat. First words: Is it gone?
I caught a leprechaun in an empty cereal box, by leaving the top open and the lights off.Why it worked: he thought he was playing a trick on me. First words: Is this the big size?
I caught a leprechaun in my little brother's toy dump truck.Why it worked: he was using it to move his gold. First words: I was only borrowing it.
I caught a leprechaun in my lunchbox, which I lined with a green napkin.Why it worked: it looked like a small, tidy house. First words: Where is the kitchen?
I caught a leprechaun in my rain boot, which I left out with a hole in the toe.Why it worked: a shoe that needs mending is his whole job. First words: This will take two nights.
I caught a leprechaun in the lost-and-found bin at school, among forty odd shoes.Why it worked: he was sorting them into pairs. First words: You people are careless.
I caught a leprechaun in the mailbox, with a letter addressed to The Shoemaker.Why it worked: nobody ever writes to him. First words: Is there a stamp for my reply?
I caught a leprechaun in the paper-bag maze I built for the class hamster.Why it worked: he was sure he could beat it. First words: I let you win.
I caught a leprechaun on my wall, where I made a rainbow with a flashlight and a glass of water.Why it worked: he ran to guard the end of it. First words: Where is the pot?
I caught a leprechaun under a colander propped on a pencil, with a gold button underneath.Why it worked: he took the button for a coin. First words: I can see you through the holes.
I caught a leprechaun with a ladder of craft sticks that led up into my dad's hat.Why it worked: he had to know whose hat it was. First words: Far too big. Whose is it?
I caught a leprechaun with a sign that said NO LEPRECHAUNS ALLOWED.Why it worked: he cannot leave a dare alone. First words: Says who?
I caught a leprechaun with a tiny workbench I built from a box and two thread spools.Why it worked: his own bench has a wobble. First words: I will rent it by the week.
I caught a leprechaun with a trail of shiny pennies that ended in the laundry basket.Why it worked: he had to count every one. First words: These are not gold. I checked.
What he offered 25
He offered me a rainbow of my own.The catch: it needs rain every day to stay. Next: I asked for a small one, for the bathtub.
He offered me a secret instead of gold.The catch: I can never tell it. Next: I am still not telling it, even in this story.
He offered me a wish that comes true in fifty years.The catch: I have to remember it. Next: I wrote it down and hid the paper somewhere safe.
He offered me anything in his pockets.The catch: I had to guess what it was first. Next: I guessed a hammer, and I was right.
He offered me gold or a friend.The catch: the friend was him, and he is a lot of work. Next: he moved into my sock drawer.
He offered me good luck for a year.The catch: he would not say whose luck it used to be. Next: my sister lost her lucky sock.
He offered me half his gold if I could count it.The catch: he kept adding coins while I counted. Next: I counted him instead. One leprechaun, cheating.
He offered me his pot of gold, as soon as I could carry it.The catch: it was taller than my dad. Next: I asked for a wheelbarrow, and he asked whose wish that was.
He offered me one gold coin now or three wishes on Friday.The catch: he planned to be gone by Thursday. Next: I asked him to put Friday in writing.
He offered me the hat off his head.The catch: whoever wears it has to do the mischief. Next: I hid my teacher's chalk without meaning to.
He offered me the one shilling he carries in his purse.The catch: it was the only coin in there, and he looked sad. Next: I asked for a story instead.
He offered me three wishes if I let him go before the school bell.The catch: each wish had to fit inside his hat. Next: I measured the hat.
He offered one wish for my whole class.The catch: all twenty-two of us had to agree on it. Next: we voted until lunch.
He offered one wish to me and one to my dog.The catch: the dog went first. Next: we had forty tennis balls, and I had to think fast.
He offered to answer three questions truthfully.The catch: he counted Really? as the first. Next: I had two left, and I thought hard.
He offered to do my homework for a month.The catch: he writes everything in rhyme. Next: my math answer came back as a poem.
He offered to fix one thing I had broken.The catch: I had to say out loud what it was. Next: I told my mom about the vase myself.
He offered to make me the fastest runner in school.The catch: it works only in the shoes he made, which squeak. Next: I won, loudly.
He offered to mend every shoe in the house by morning.The catch: he mends them his way, with buckles. Next: my mother's running shoes jingled.
He offered to pay me rent for the shoebox.The catch: he pays in buttons. Next: I have the best button collection on my street.
He offered to play one joke on anyone I chose.The catch: he likes a joke to be fair. Next: I chose my brother, and the joke landed on both of us.
He offered to swap places with me for a day.The catch: he wanted to try third grade. Next: he got a gold star, and I got a very small bed.
He offered to teach me how to make shoes.The catch: the lessons were at midnight and the shoes were his size. Next: I made one boot, for a doll.
He offered to tell me where the rainbow ends.The catch: it ends somewhere new each time. Next: I asked for a map with a date on it.
He offered to turn my bicycle to gold.The catch: a gold bicycle is too heavy to pedal. Next: I asked for a gold bell and kept the bike.
The trick in the wish 25
I wished for a day off school, and he moved Saturday to Tuesday, so I missed Saturday.Fix: I asked for the calendar back the way it was.
I wished for a giant cookie, and it came too big for the door.Fix: we ate it on the lawn, and the whole street helped.
I wished for a horse, and a rocking horse came, with a real horse's appetite.Fix: it eats two apples a day and never needs a field.
I wished for a hundred wishes, and he gave me a hundred fishes.Fix: I spelled my next wish out loud, letter by letter.
I wished for a pet dragon, and he gave me a dragonfly on a leash of thread.Fix: I let it go, and it came back by itself every day.
I wished for a pot of gold, and he gave me a flowerpot painted gold.Fix: I planted beans in it. They came up yellow.
I wished for a puppy, and he gave me a picture of one.Fix: I wished I had been clearer, which used up wish two.
I wished for a room of my own, and he gave me the closet.Fix: I put up a sign and charged my sister one button to visit.
I wished for good luck, and he handed me an umbrella on a sunny day.Fix: I carried it anyway. It rained at three.
I wished for ice cream forever, and forever turned out to be one flavor.Fix: now I ask what flavor before I say yes. It was turnip.
I wished for more gold than I could count, so he gave me four coins and taught me to count to three.Fix: I learned four on my own, and he tipped his hat.
I wished for no more homework, and he ate it.Fix: my teacher did not believe me, so I brought him to school in my pocket.
I wished for snow in March, and it snowed, in my bedroom only.Fix: I built the snowman fast and wished for a mop.
I wished he would stop tricking me, and he said that was the best trick yet.Fix: I stopped wishing and asked what he would wish for.
I wished I could fly, and he handed me a kite.Fix: I flew the kite. It was a very good kite.
I wished my little brother would be quiet, and he gave my brother a drum made of felt.Fix: none needed. It was a fair trick, and I let it stand.
I wished never to do chores again, and the broom started doing them to me.Fix: I took the wish back and swept. The broom looked disappointed.
I wished to be invisible, and he told me to close my eyes.Fix: I said that was not what I meant. He said it was what I said.
I wished to be king of the playground, and he gave me a paper crown and all the playground's problems.Fix: I settled two arguments about the swings and resigned.
I wished to be rich, and he changed my name to Rich.Fix: I answered to it all day so he would think I did not mind.
I wished to be tall, and I was, until I stepped off the chair he had slid under me.Fix: I made the next wish with both feet on the floor.
I wished to be the best at soccer, and he made everyone else forget how to play.Fix: winning forty to nothing was boring, so I wished it back.
I wished to have the last word, and he gave me a dictionary open to Z.Fix: I read him the last word. Neither of us could say it.
I wished to know what my cat was thinking, and she was thinking about my chair.Fix: I gave her the chair. We get along better.
I wished to stay up all night, and he took away the morning so the night would not end.Fix: I got very tired and wished for breakfast.
How it ended 25
A rainbow came out, and he said he had to go to work.Left behind: wet footprints heading toward it. Last line: I followed as far as the fence.
The bell rang, my time was up, and he went with a pop like a soap bubble.Left behind: a rainbow on the classroom ceiling that lasted until three.
He asked to see my trap one more time, from the outside.Left behind: me, in the trap. Last line: it was roomy for him and not for me.
He bowed and said goodbye in words I did not know.Left behind: the sound of them. Last line: I am still trying to spell it.
He climbed into my backpack and came to school as my show and tell.Left behind: at a quarter past two, an empty backpack and a class that believes me.
He dug out through the bottom of the shoebox with his hammer.Left behind: a perfectly round hole and the smell of shoe polish.
He escaped through the hole in my rain boot, which he had left unmended on purpose.Left behind: a note that said Nice try. Last line: next year, no holes.
He got away when I blinked.Left behind: a shoe the size of my thumb, with a new sole. Last line: I am keeping one eye open till next March.
He left while I was arguing about the wish.Left behind: the last word. Last line: it was Ha.
He never did escape, because I never did close the lid.Left behind: nothing. Last line: he visits every March, and he knocks first.
He rode out on the dog.Left behind: a dog who sits whenever he hears a tin whistle.
He stayed for supper first.Left behind: the thimble he used as a cup. Last line: he said the soda bread needed salt.
He taught me one trick and left by the mail slot.Left behind: the trick. Last line: watch closely. No, closer.
He traded his freedom for a promise to come back, and he did, once.Left behind: a coin on my windowsill, a year later. Last line: it was chocolate, but still.
He tricked me into looking at the window, and the box was empty when I looked back.Left behind: one gold button, which was mine to begin with.
He turned out to be on his way next door, to mend my neighbor's dancing shoes.Left behind: an invitation to watch. Last line: she has danced better ever since.
He wrote me a receipt for three wishes, to be paid later.Left behind: the receipt, in writing too small to read. Last line: I am saving for a magnifying glass.
I fell asleep guarding him.Left behind: my shoelaces, braided together. Last line: I hopped to breakfast.
I gave him back his hat, and he gave me back my lunch money.Left behind: an even trade. Last line: I counted it twice.
I kept the trap and let the leprechaun go.Left behind: his list of ways to improve the trap. Last line: number one was a window.
I let him go because he said his shoes would not mend themselves.Left behind: my sneakers, tied in a knot I cannot undo. Last line: I walk a little faster now.
I set him free at recess in front of everyone, and nobody saw him but me.Left behind: green footprints across the four square court. Last line: the custodian saw those.
I walked him home to the big oak and promised not to tell which one.Left behind: nothing, which was the deal. Last line: there are six big oaks. Good luck.
My little sister opened the box to say hello.Left behind: glitter on her nose and a very small laugh. Last line: she says he waved.
We shook hands on it, and he walked out the front door like a guest.Left behind: muddy prints the size of a thumbnail. Last line: my mother blamed the cat.
How it works
These 100 good ideas for an I caught a leprechaun story follow the four parts of the telling: how I caught him, what he offered, the trick in the wish, and how it ended. Each is written as I, ready to borrow.
Read the full guide
Leprechaun story ideas in four parts
Take one idea from each group and the story is planned. How I caught him gives the trap and his first words. What he offered gives the bargain and its catch. The trick in the wish gives a wish that goes wrong and the fix. How it ended gives the escape and what he left behind.
Why the bait is shoes and gold
In Irish folklore the leprechaun is a solitary little man who makes and mends shoes, enjoys practical jokes and has a pot of gold hidden where the rainbow ends. So the bait here is an untied sneaker, a boot with a hole, a gold button or a rainbow drawn in chalk.
Keep his first words. A leprechaun who complains about the trap is funnier than one who is scared.
End on what he left behind. It is your proof.
Questions and answers
What are good ideas for an I caught a leprechaun story?
Start with why the trap worked. I caught a leprechaun with a sign that said NO LEPRECHAUNS ALLOWED, because he cannot leave a dare alone. Then give him an offer with a catch in it.
What does a leprechaun do when he is caught?
In the old tales he bargains. In the earliest known story, three captured leprechauns grant three wishes in exchange for release. In an account from 1888, a person who catches one will not let go until he gives up wealth.
Do leprechauns wear green or red?
Green is the modern picture. Until the 20th century most people pictured the leprechaun in red, not green. One idea here uses that: the leprechaun caught in a jar of green glitter says he looks better in red.