At the end of the rainbow

It was a usual September morning. The sun had come up for a few hours now, but nobody could see it, due to the many clouds floating in the sky. Everything and everyone seemed to be just like any other day. The baker was baking bread, the boy on the bike handed out newspapers and the young witch with the seven cats was staring at the handsome wizard carrying water on the other side of the small village of Crosswell.

Someone yelled. A thud. The big, muscled wizard near the little statue said in a horribly deafening voice: 'OGDEN! OGDEN! 'Ere is 'e again? 'E always vanishes when it rains, what is 'e afraid of?'

A few houses away, Ogden jumped as he heard his name. Automatically, he looked at the clock: Quarter past nine, he is fifteen minutes late. He started walking, but his steps resembled a weird dance, for he was staring out his window for more than an hour, and his legs had almost forgotten how to move. This morning, when he had woken up, he saw it was raining again. It hadn't rained for almost two weeks. Once he noticed the rain had stopped he stared out the window for what seemed to him 5 minutes, while it was really one hour and 35 minutes.

He started getting read as quickly as possible. His boss' voice could reach his ears again, his name echoing through the little village. He was ready in less that five minutes. He grabbed his cloak, he opened the door and then he saw it, what he had been waiting for for nearly 3 years: A glorious, multicoloured arch, hanging over the village, waiting for its time to disappear again.

He got out of the house, but instead of running towards the little square, he turned left and then left again, reached the little broom shed at the back of his house and a second later he was piercing through the wind, following the seven colours he had so meticulously studied. This was his one chance to find out what truly was at the end of the rainbow.

It seemed like hours, but it could only have been minutes, that Ogden was flying, when he saw the great arch finally descending. All his feeling of impatience was replaced with excitement. It was a short while after when he finally saw the multicoloured line diving in the earth, vanishing between the trees of a great oak forest. There, Ogden saw something green moving around, was there someone waiting for him, or had his excitement that had now filled his lungs and reached his stomach, played tricks on him and he was just seeing the moving grass? When he flied a little lower he saw it clearly, a little man, dressed in green dancing around the end of the rainbow. As Ogden was getting closer the moves of the leprechaun were getting more vigorous, until it was no longer dancing, but jumping around like it was walking on burning coal.

Not until Ogden reached the little opening between all the great oak trees, did the little green man stop moving. It did so so abruptly, that Ogden thought it had just realised his presence. However, the little guy greeted him with a big smile and, while Ogden was looking curiously at the big golden tooth that had replaced a real one inside the leprechaun's mouth, it said: 'Finally! It's been a long time since someone visited me.' The leprechaun waited as if expecting Ogden to greet him with equal excitement. When it saw that he didn't, however, it continued: 'So what are you waiting for? What do you want me to give you?' Ogden gaped for a while, before muttering, using the little voice that remained inside him 'What- What do you mean?'
'But you reached the end of the rainbow! Didn't you know I would be waiting for you, waiting to give you anything you want?' said the green guy in astonishment. 'Love? Friends? Fame? A bag full of the world's finest chocolate? I swear these wishes keep getting weirder... So what do you want? Think carefully, I can only give you one thing!' it finished, without erasing its extraordinarily big smile, not even for a second.

Ogden did not wait for a second: 'Money!' was the the first thing that came to his mind and he blurted it out. The leprechaun twitched slightly, and its great smile was replaced by a look of skepticism. 'Are you sure?' it replied 'Money can be gained, while love or fame is more difficult to attain!'
'Sure.' replied Ogden. 'After all, money can buy you all those things you said. Money can buy you anything' The leprechaun now turned a slight red, that was however easy to notice, as it came in contrast with its full-green uniform. Every bit of smile had now slid off its face, only to be replaced by a look of rage. 'What you're saying is not true, nor is it right! Only narrow-minded wizards like you would think otherwise! But if that's what you want-' with a simple wave of his hand, a pot full of gold appeared right in front of Ogden.

'You take this,' said the leprechaun 'and I'll make sure that every other wizard that seeks for gold finds one of these as a punishment for his thoughts at the end of the rainbow. If they're clever, they'll find me.' Ogden didn't understand why the green guy was so mad. He only tied the pot onto his broom and left, very happy and proud of what he had just achieved.

Half an hour later he was in his home. He placed the pot of gold neatly on his table and slept. To his utter shock, however, he found the pot completely empty when he woke up. He thought someone had stole it, when he saw a small note written in green ink at the end of the pot:

"Money can buy happiness, as real as the gold in this pot."