Shortly after the rain stopped, and the sun managed to burst a hole in the thick, grey clouds, three men set off to gather farm supplies for the coming winter. They walked many miles, as they lived quite far from town. They were accompanied by four of their strongest bulls, all of whom were lashed to a Conestoga wagon of the type that the settlers used. Continuing on their way, they came upon a lone tree. Usually ignored, this particular tree on this particular day was the end of a rainbow. Out of boredom, the men walked to the tree. To their surprise there was indeed a pot of gold…and a leprechaun. The leprechaun was perched in the tree only about four feet off the ground. As they approached, the leprechaun seemed to be asleep. One of the men reached into the pot and picked up a gold coin.

“Aye” The leprechaun greeted them with his thick Irish accent as he yawned and stretched.
“Since you have found the end of the rainbow”, he began, “you may keep the gold as a reward.”
Before the men could say a word, the leprechaun vaporized into the humid air.
“But one more thing.” The men whipped around, in surprise to find the leprechaun standing on the pot of gold.
“Gold will make good men do evil, and satisfied men become desperate for it.”
Then he vanished.

The men stared at one another for several minutes. Finally, one of the trio announced that he was going to get rope and planks to make a sled in order to get the gold to their wagon. Under normal circumstances, the wagon would have been brought to the gold, however, the tree was surrounded by thick scrub brush under which lay small boulders and a narrow path that also included a rope bridge over a small gulley, provided the only access. As soon as the man was out of earshot, the two others agreed to kill the man who went to get the sled materials.
Unknown to the other two, the third man plotted as well. While he was carrying the materials across the bridge, he paused, as if he’d dropped something. He bent over like he was picking up a dropped plank, and while he did so, he slit the rope. Just enough to support his weight. When he reached the other two, they jumped him and killed him. Then they assembled the sled and began to drag it back to the wagon.

As they crossed the bridge, the damaged rope gave way under the weight of the gold. The two remaining men, and the sled with the pot of gold fell about twenty feet. The pot shattered upon impact, spreading the gold over the bottom of the gulley, and the two men fell to their deaths.

Standing on the edge of the gulley, the leprechaun shook his head in disappointment and disgust.

Stupid Humans He thought, Why can’t they learn to share?