By Lindy S. Hudis

The Leprechaun magically appeared in the forest, and the baby was intrigued.

“What is that creature? How beautiful is that?” she thought to herself. The Leprechaun smiled, and held out his green hand.

“Come, let me show you around my world.” he told her, grinning. Even though the baby couldn’t talk yet, she could communicate with smiles and gurgles. She excitedly took his hand, and he led her down a dirt path into the lush, green woods.
“Child, I will show you wonderful things, magical things, and I will teach you some tricks, too.” he said, tipping his giant green hat. The baby was only nineteen months old, so walking was a new and exciting challenge for her. The leprechaun was well aware of this, and kept his pace nice and slow, so she could keep up.

“This way, child.” The leprechaun beckoned with his tiny, dark-green hand, and led her down the path into the enchanted forest. The leprechaun began to skip, so the baby did too, or at least she tried to. The first thing they came to was a beautiful rose bush, with exquisite pink blooms.

“Child, smell this.” The leprechaun smiled, and picked a giant rose off the bush. When he handed it to her, she squealed in delight. She held it to her nose and took a long deep whiff.

“Oooh, how marvelous.” The baby thought. Suddenly, the bush began to shake, and the baby became frightened.

“Don’t worry, child. This is only the Rose Fairy saying hello.” The leprechaun grinned, tipping his hat at the pink and white fairy. The baby had never seen anything so fantastic in her life. The Rose Fairy had long, yellow hair and deep blue eyes. She was wearing a pink sparkling dress and pink shoes. When she smiled at the baby, the baby jumped up and down and clapped her hands together.

“Hello there, I’m the Rose Fairy.” She told the baby.

“Wow!” The baby thought to herself. “She is so beautiful.”

“I protect the roses, and I make sure they are in beautiful bloom each day.” the Rose Fairy grinned, the pink glitter in her hair glimmering in the bright sun.

“I am taking the baby on a walk through this magical forest. I want her to meet all of my friends.” The leprechaun said to the Rose Fairy.

“Oh, how delightful. May I walk through the forest with you?” the Rose Fairy asked, her big blue eyes shimmering.

“Of course.” The leprechaun said, and took hold of the baby’s hand. The Rose Fairy took the baby’s other hand and the three of them skipped down the path deep into the forest.

“This is so exciting. I have made two new friends, and I am discovering so many new and exciting things.” The baby thought, as a yellow butterfly flew by. The baby looked up at the sky, and couldn’t take her eyes off its blueness. All of this was so fresh and fantastic to her.

“Now, I want the baby to meet a friend of mine, since we are introducing her to all the creatures of the magic forest.” The Rose Fairy told the leprechaun.

“I know exactly who you want her to meet.” The leprechaun said with a wink, his long, green eyelashes fluttering.

“Yes, let’s take the baby to the Old Wizard’s Tree, there he will be.” The Rose Fairy smiled, and led the baby down the path to a large tree. The baby reached out to touch the brown bark, and felt it’s rough coolness. Suddenly, a long, pointy hat poked out through the lush, green bush.

“Hello, there Miss. Rose Fairy. Long time no see!” a shiny silver face emerged from the leaves.

“Hello there, Tree Wizard. I’d like for you to meet a friend of mine.” the Rose Fairy put her arm around the baby, who could only stare with awe.

“Hello, child. I am the Tree Wizard.” the silver faced man emerged from the huge tree and knelt down to smile at the baby. The Tree Wizard had an electrifying silver suit, with matching sliver shoes. He had purple eyes to match his purple, glittery hair.

“This is all so incredible. I can hardly wait to see more interesting things in this magical forest.” the baby jumped up and down and cooed with pleasure.

“Would you like to walk to the creek? It is just right this way.” The Tree Wizard grinned, and took the baby by her soft, little hand. The baby, beguiled by her three new friends, toddled as quickly as she could on her teensy legs down to the creek next to the huge tree.

“You see, this water flows all through the forest. All the creatures of the forest drink form this creek, and it gives us our magical powers.” The leprechaun explained, cupping his hand in the cool water and taking a nice, long sip.

“Would you like a drink, too?” The Rose Fairy smiled at the baby, as she stick her lips down to the water and took a sip.

“Oh, yes. Let me!” The baby got so excited that she ran as fast as she could to the edge of the creek. The baby must have not seen the muddy patch, because she lost her footing and fell right into the creek.

“Oh, my!” The Tree Wizard shook his head, and jumped into save her. The baby, however, was having fun splashing around in the cool, clear water.

“You know what this means?” The leprechaun asked the Tree Wizard and the Rose Fairy.

“Oh, yes. We sure do.” The Rose Fairy smiled knowingly. When you take a sip of the creek water, you get magnificent magical powers. When you fall into the creek, you get even bigger magical powers. Now, as the three of them knew all too well, the baby had magical powers, too. The Tree Wizard had managed to grab the baby, who was laughing, and cooing, and completely unaware of her new talents. The leprechaun knelt down to look the baby in the eye.

“Now, things are different, child. You have an ability to make what you think come true.” The leprechaun explained. As he was talking, the baby thought about how funny it would be if the leprechaun could fly. Without warning, the leprechaun suddenly flew up into the air and landed in a tree.

“How funny!” The baby thought, and laughed and giggled until her face hurt.
“Oh, my goodness.” The Rose Fairy shook her hands. The baby thought it would be funny if the Tree Wizard joined the leprechaun high in the branches, and poof, up the Tree Wizard went, too.

“Ohhhh, help. Get me down from here!” The Tree Wizard called. “We are stuck!”
“Oh, no!” cried the Rose Fairy. “What ever shall we do?” The baby, finding all of this funny, just giggled and cooed.

“CUT!”

The director yelled through his megaphone from the crane high above the set.

“Perfect.” the director of photography yelled.

“Great! Let’s print that take,” said the director.

“That’s a wrap on this location, then lunch, one-half-hour!” called the assistant director.

“Thank God, I’m burning up in this jacket.” Mark, the actor playing the leprechaun, huffed from a high branch of a tree as he started to remove the heavy article of clothing.

“Hold it” said Stephen, the stunt coordinator (and baby’s daddy), “we have to take the cables off first.” The stunt team carefully detached the safety cables, removed the jacket and helped Mark climb down a ladder from his lofty perch. Stephen handed the jacket to the wardrobe girl who escorted Mark back to his trailer to remove the harness hidden under his costume. The stunt team loaded up the large crash pads arranged around the base of the tree - just in case. The rest of the crew broke down the cameras, lights and all the other elements that make a film-set the magical, wondrous place it truly is. Everyone smiled at the baby, who smiled and cooed back, watching the crew work extra-carefully with the heavy equipment when they were near her. She observed it all with wonder and amazement from the safety of her mother’s arms...

“Wow, daddy is playing with the leprechaun. How exciting!” the baby thought to herself, as the busy crew scurried all around and the caterers began to prepare for the lunch break. She didn’t understand everything about what her daddy was doing, but it sure looked like fun. She waved at the leprechaun who waved back as he walked away. He seemed a little more serious now, but he was still nice.

“There’s daddy” said mommy, as daddy waved at baby Veronica. Daddy had been taking Veronica to movie sets since she was two weeks old, and Veronica loved being with her daddy. Every time she went, she met many people who were nice to her, but meeting a real live leprechaun was about the coolest thing ever. When she could talk, she’d tell her daddy how much she loved meeting the leprechaun. The movie set was as close to anything magical the baby had ever seen.

“Maybe when I grow up”, the baby mused, “I could work with my daddy. Then I could play with leprechauns everyday!” And the baby smiled.