Celebrating St. Patrick's Day
Disclaimer: I only own the Labyrinth DVD, the board game, and a piece of fan art my daughter bought for me at New Orleans ComicCon last year.
I do not have a Beta so all mistakes are mine and I promise there will be some since I have not written in so long. Also, never been to Ireland so all mistakes are mine and Google's.
Sarah had saved up for 3 years to pay for a Spring Break trip once she was 18 years old. She was not like most students wanting to hit the beach or go someplace warm, she had been saving to go to Ireland. All those hours waiting tables for small tips along with other odd jobs like tutoring, babysitting, and other weird jobs had paid off. Sarah was now on her dream trip and was staying at a small hostel in Dublin.
Sarah's Spring Break this year happened to fall in mid March. So as luck would have it, good or bad, she was going to be in Ireland for their annual St. Patrick's Day festival. She would get to see how the holiday was celebrated in Ireland. It could not be any worse than the bar crawls and rivers dyed green back home.
March 17th started off like any other day. Cool and cloudy in the morning but luckily it gave way to sunshine and warming temperatures by 9 o'clock that morning. This meant that there would be good weather for the festival and parade that was being held on O'Connell Street. Sarah had decided to follow the tradition of "wearing of the green" and had on a pair of jeans, a green poet's shirt and her favorite tan vest that she wore during her trip through the Labyrinth.
After getting breakfast of a traditional Irish Breakfast filled with eggs, tea, toast, mushrooms, bacon, sausage, and black pudding Sarah was ready to head off for the day. She had not eaten the whole meal but was so full that she did not think she would be able to eat again until supper time.
Talking to herself as she left, Sarah gave herself her usual pep talk of "Come one feet" as she headed for the door.
Sarah left the hostel and headed for O'Connell street since she wanted a chance to look around before the parade began. A short walk later and Sarah found herself surrounded by all kinds of booths in a market area. There were so many different ones to explore. The first booth she stopped at was selling hats of various styles and colors. She happened to see a hat with a large feather plume that reminded her of the hat worn by Sir Didymus. The next booth she stopped at was selling all kinds of gems and stones. She also saw a few painted rocks that she thought Ludo would have liked. The last booth she studied was full of knick knacks and trinkets. This made her smile as she thought of Hoggle and his "treasures". Thinking of her friends from the Labyrinth always put a smile on her face.
Sarah found a spot along the parade route and settled in for the parade. Within half an hour that parade had begun and Sarah enjoyed watching the Irish dancers, the military drum corps, and other groups as they marched down the street. This parade was much more enjoyable than the ones back home filled with floats and people dressed in bad leprechaun costumes.
With the day still young and the streets extremely crowded Sarah decided to head towards the nearby Phoenix Park. She had learned that this park was one of the oldest and largest in Europe. It was famous for not only its size but as the home to a herd of Fallow deer that roamed the park.
Sarah entered the park and walked among its expansive grounds. The park was full of plants that she had never seen before along with wonderful green grass to walk on. She wandered past the Wellington Monument and realized that it too was an obelisk, just like the smaller one back home in her park. The one she had dressed up as a princess and practiced the lines that led her to the Goblin King. Here she would not need to say the right words since she was traveling alone.
Sarah found a quiet spot along a the pathway and took a seat on the ground overlooking Ashdown Castle. As she looked at the historic castle memories of another castle came to mind.
"This one is smaller and probably not as old", she thought to herself. To be honest, she wasn't sure how old the goblin kingdom was.
While enjoying the peacefulness of park Sarah was now beginning to feel lonely as most everyone she had seen today were enjoying the day with large groups of family or friends. Now feeling out of place Sarah mumbled to herself " I wish I had friend here to celebrate with me. I look so out of place," never thinking that someone would actually be listening to her.
Suddenly a gentle breeze came up out of nowhere and Sarah could feel a presence behind her. There next to her was a shadow of another person, one that she was pretty sure was not human. Before she could even turn around to see she heard his familiar voice.
"I thought you'd never ask Precious. Although I am not granting you three wishes or offering you a pot of gold. I'm no leprechaun", Jareth whispered in her ear as he kneeled behind her.
His voice sent a shiver down her back. Sarah's first thought was "How can he be here? I didn't wish- oh crap."
Sarah turned and saw a now standing Jareth behind her wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a green tee shirt. Neither left her imagination anything to work with. With Jareth now standing there Sarah got up so that they were more eye to eye. She wanted to look him in the eye and hoped for a truthful answer to her question. "I know I wished for someone to be here with me but shouldn't you be back in the Underground? Don't you have a kingdom to run or a runner to torment?"
"Precious, I love a good party as much as the next goblin. Ask any of them in my castle and they will tell you this. As for a runner, no, there is no one currently trying to rescue a child they wished away. And besides a trip above ground is always a nice way to spend time. Even if I am not 100% sure where we are as so much has changed in the last decade or so."
"Jareth what did you mean about the pot of gold and three wishes?"
"Sarah, I can deduce that we are in Ireland based on the flags that I see. Here they call goblins by the wrong name. They call them leprechauns but they are not the same. Hogwart would be offended if someone called him a leprechaun since that is an insult back home. Hogbreath looks like their leprechauns and likes his shiny trinkets so someone might get the wrong idea about him."
Sarah stood there and let this sink in for a moment. Looking back on it Hoggle did match the description of a leprechaun in Irish folklore. She was now glad that she never asked any of her friends what type of creature they were. Although it wouldn't matter to her anyway. Sarah was broken out of her stupor when Jareth asked "Precious, where exactly are we and why are we both wearing green? It is not my favorite color."
"We are in Dublin, Ireland. More specifically we are in Phoenix Park. And we are wearing green like pretty much everyone else here as today is St. Patrick's Day. It is a big celebration here. We are wearing green since it is the color Ireland is known for."
Jareth had a look of confusion on his face when she explained this. "Ireland I know who is this Patrick guy and why does he get a day of celebration and revelation?"
Sarah let out a quick chuckle and proceeded to explain to the history of St. Patrick's Day and that while it had been a church holiday it had grown and was now celebrated in many places. This included a rundown of the type of things he might see once they left the park.
" I am more familiar with Samhain but this looks to be as big a celebration if not similar," Jareth commented as he offered her his arm. " Shall we join in the festivities?"
Sarah was not sure what to expect of her new "date" for the day but had to admit it would be better than being alone. Arm in arm they walked out of the park back towards the festivities around Dublin.