Leon knew he should have hidden his gold when he'd heard the rain. Every leprechaun knows rainbows lead humans to their gold, but he'd decided it was too dark for rainbows and gone back to sleep.

Now Leon had to find his gold before sunset or the king would be angry and turn him into a human. He set out to find it, following the humans' trail. He'd slept so long that most of the trail was gone. Finally, tired and hungry, he smelled his gold.

"Oh no, that smelly animal with round legs has eaten my gold!" Leon drew his sword and struck a mighty blow. The creature had hide like a rock. He stabbed his sword into one of the round legs. It hissed like a snake dragon and went flat on the bottom.

Leon fled as two humans approached. The biggest human made angry noises when he saw the leg was no longer round. He watched in stunned horror as the human opened a trap door in the beast's rear. He saw his gold next to one of those round legs.

"Oh!" Leon gasped. "That thing isn't alive. It's like a little house that moves. It can't move now because its leg isn't round any more!"

The human lifted the leg out and left the gold. Leon was frozen in terror, but he knew he had to get his gold or be turned into a human. He leapt in, grabbed his gold, and ran faster than any leprechaun ever had.

When he got home he invited all his friends to a big party so he could tell his fantastic tale.

And the moral of the story is, if you value something, keep it safe.