Belle sighed to herself in frustration as she laid down her shepherdess crook. Just to be positive, she counted the sheep again and found that she was one short. Honestly, she had fallen asleep for just a moment and now one of her sheep were gone. But how could she have possibly stayed awake on this wonderful day? It was early spring, and the smell of rosemary and jasmine drifted in the air, lulling her in its gentle caress. Everything was in bloom, all green and bright colors.

"It isn't my fault," she grumbled to herself, as she started off in the direction of the field of sheep. "Father shouldn't have indulged Miles in his silly notion." Her mind flicked back to this morning, at the breakfast table.

It had been her parents, herself, her twin brother Miles and her older brother Dorian at breakfast that morning, the usual crowd. Miles had been chattering away about how he thought that he should teach Cassie how to hunt. Cassie was their sheepdog, rather, Belle's sheepdog. Cassie and her had been great companions ever since the O'Leary family had decided to invest in a small flock of sheep.

And now, Miles was talking about teaching her to hunt of all things. "Miles, you're being silly. Cassie is an Icelandic Sheepdog. She's meant to herd things, not to kill them."

"Well, I don't know, Belle." Her father said, a twinkle in his eye. "Cassie usually clears the barn of any rats and things, so why not a few squirrels or rabbits?"

"Father does have a point, Belle," Miles said haughtily, his nose in the air. "There hasn't been a single rat in the barn because of Cassie."

Belle stared at her brother, openmouthed. She could not believe that he was being so uppity about the entire affair. Cassie was her dog, not his. "You can't have her anyway," She said triumphantly after a moment of panicked thinking. "I need her to help me with the sheep."

"Now now, Belle," her mother admonished, handing her a bowl of porridge, "I'm sure you could handle one day without Cassie, if only to appease your brother. Would it really be that bad?"

In desperation, Belle had looked to her other brother Dorian. He always took her side in things like this, when he bothered to speak up. This wasn't one of those times. At the present moment he seemed too preoccupied with his breakfast to care about the current conversation.

Belle pouted and stirred her porridge to cool it. "Okay," she said reluctantly. Her father had kissed her on the forehead for being what he called a 'good sport' and she had smiled weakly back at him.

Now, as Belle walked off towards the forest in search of the lost lamb, she repented her decision to give in so easily. How would she ever explain this to her parents? Belle had never lost a sheep before, and she had been a shepherdess since she was twelve! That was three years without one casualty.

At least the forest was as bright as the meadow, or nearly. True, there was a bit more shade, but the new leaves that filtered the light tinted it green. Belle thought that she could hear the far off sound of a bell and went toward it. The sheep that had gone missing was one of the lambs, and she always tied bells around their necks in case they started to wander. This was the first time she had been grateful for her insistent habit.

She was rather enjoying her brisk walk through the forest, despite her reason. Belle just hoped that the flock was okay with neither Cassie nor her there to oversee them. She quickly pushed this thought away and picked up her pace.

Along with the sound of the bell, she could hear the sound of a brook. The silly lamb had probably gone off to get a drink. Sighing in aspiration, Belle picked up her skirt of blue-dyed muslin and walked a bit quicker.

There she was. The lamb raised it's head and looked at Belle, who promptly caught it by the bell around its neck and scorned it. "Can't you stay with the others? Come now, we have to get you back to your mother."

Belle stood up, beginning to pull the lamb along behind her. But that was when she saw it. For a moment she was absolutely still, gaping in awe at the sight. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

When she regained at least part of her senses, Belle fell to her needs and scooped up a handful of the plentiful gold coins, her other hand burrowed in the sheep's wool. Gold and silver coins weren't the only thing in the cauldron, however: it was filled with jewels, crowns, tiaras, necklaces…everything. To Belle it seemed enough to buy the world with.

The oddest thing was that it was just sitting there behind a bush, nearly in plain view. Belle was stunned, and now she heard a cry of surprise and someone was pulling on her hair.

Belle turned and saw what she could only guess was a leprechaun. When she was in this kneeling position, his head only came up to her shoulder. His hair was a shock of red and his beard matched. He was wearing an outfit of black breeches and a green jerkin and matching hat. His ears were pointed and he had a pipe in his hand.

"Hello," Belle said, not without a small tremor in her voice. She had never met a leprechaun before, and wondered if they were nice. "Is all of this yours, sir?" she asked, speaking of course of the fortune at her knees.

"Yes it is, lass," the leprechaun said looking her over carefully. His eyes were a shade of gold that set Belle on edge. "What might your name be?" he asked her.

"Arabella, sir, but my family and everyone in the village just calls me Belle." She said quickly. Then the little man smiled at her, setting her at ease. Perhaps he wasn't the evil creature she had at first suspected him of being.

"Well now, Belle, you can call me Seamus. I'm a leprechaun, and you seem to have stumbled on my pot of gold. Tell me, what are you doing in this forest in the middle of a fine spring day such as this?"

"I had to find my lamb, Mr. Seamus. It wandered off from the flock." She told him, still holding onto said lamb, who was happily chomping away on some nearby grass.

Seamus sat down on a rock and lit his pipe with his thumb, a feat which Belle was mystified by. "Seeing how as you found me treasure, the laws by which I live dictate that you'll be getting to keep it." Belle opened her mouth to speak, but Seamus cut her off. "See here now, don't you know you aren't supposed to speak unless spoken to? Honestly. As I was about to say, I'd be willing to make a fair trade for me gold back."

Belle looked at him for a moment, considering. "What kind of a trade?" she asked finally.

"Why, a fair one of course." Seamus said with a twinkle in his eye that was akin to her father's.

Belle pursed her lips, not amused in the least. "No, that's not what I meant. I meant, what would you trade for it?"

"I suppose I could trade you some wishes for it. I'm one of the fay folk, don't you know, and so's I can do all sorts of magic."

"Wishes?" Belle asked suspiciously. Her hand tightened on the sheep and she stood up. "Could you follow me so we could talk about it, Mr. Seamus? I really need to get back to my flock, Miles took Cassie today."

Seamus jumped up and hopped on the lamb's back, who didn't seem to mind in the least that she now had a passenger. "Who're Miles and Cassie?" he asked conversationally as they walked through the forest and toward the meadow.

"Miles is my brother and Cassie is my sheepdog."

"Why has your brother got your sheepdog? He's not the one playing shepherd, is he?" Seamus asked, stretching and puffing smoke rings into the air.

"No, he thought it would be a good idea to teach Cassie how to hunt, sir," Belle said, stepping carefully over a fallen branch. The field was coming into view, and Belle silently counted the sheep. She smiled and tossed her long strawberry blond hair over a shoulder when she finished. Amazingly, no more of the sheep had wandered off.

Critically Belle looked up at the sun and noticed that it was about noon. The rumble in her belly told her that it was time to eat, so she sat down on the rock where her shepherdess crook and basket lay.

Seamus jumped off of the lamb and sat down next to her. Belle looked at him as she picked up her basket and asked, "Will it offend you if I eat? You may have some, if you like, Mr. Seamus. I've got plenty."

"Well, that depends on what you've got, lassie."

"A good-sized apple, some bread, some cheese, and some goat's milk." Belle told him, taking out each of the items in question.

"A bit of that apple looks mighty good." Seamus said, putting his pipe away.

"Oh," Belle said dubiously, frowning. "I'm afraid I haven't anything to cut it with."

"That's alright, lass. I can handle it." Amazingly, Seamus picked up the apple and cut it with his thumb in an action that Belle couldn't quite follow with her eyes. He handed the apple back to her with roughly a quarter missing. "Thank ye, lassie."

Belle decided that Seamus was unsettling, to say the least. As she ate her lunch and watched over her sheep, she snuck quick glances at Seamus. She was just beginning to realize that she was sharing her lunch with a leprechaun. Certainly this was in the very least a strange occurrence, considering that even though she had heard any number of stories about leprechauns, no one she knew had ever met one.

"So, what do you think of taking some wishes in return for me gold?" Seamus asked her.

Belle wrinkled her nose, which was lightly sprinkled with freckles. "I don't know. Would I be able to wish for anything?"

"Anything but more wishes, of course. That's always against the rules." Seamus winked at her, as if he was sharing a private joke. Belle smiled back. He was right, after all: wishing for more wishes was always against the rules.

"Well, how many would I get?"

"How many wishes do you think is worth all of that gold back in the woods? Now remember, lass, you can wish for anything but more wishes."

He did have a point there. In her opinion, just one wish would be worth all of those wishes, so long as it counted. However, since he had brought in his own bit of well-known legendry… "Three wishes seems fair to me, Mr. Seamus."

"Right-o. Three wishes it is, keeping to the tradition. Are there any more things we need to clarify?"

Belle thought for a moment, pondering. There had to be something else. "I don't want to have to make them all at once, Mr. Seamus. I want to be able to think about them for as long as I want."

"Fine," Seamus said, "But I don't want to have to pop up every time you think you know what you want, lass. I do have things to do, don't you know."

"That's fair enough. How about I come and visit you whenever I want to make a wish? Would that be okay?" Belle asked seriously.

"Oh, sure. Just go to the brook yer little lamb was at this morning, toss in a white rose petal and say the words 'I seek one of the fay.' One of us will appear and guide you to me."

Belle frowned at the little man. "Are you serious? You aren't lying to me or anything, are you?"

"No, bonnie lass! I could get in some serious trouble if I were to lie to you. Some of the other fay don't look kindly on lying straight to a mortal's face. I promise you'll be able to reach me if you follow my instructions."

"Okay," Belle said, a bit more relaxed. "I think that's it."

"Alright then," Seamus said, standing up and brushing off the seat of his breeches. "I, Seamus, one of the leprechauns," he intoned solemnly, closing his eyes, "Promise to grant this mortal three wishes under the terms we have specified over this meal." Seamus opened his eyes and smiled at Belle. "There you go, Miss Arabella. You've got my word as a leprechaun. I'll be seeing you around, then," he said, and promptly disappeared.