Diamond Teeth

Farmer Jim lived in the beautiful, Irish countryside. He had a lovely big farm, with lots of fields and many animals. He had horses, cows, sheep, geese, hens, a few pigs and even a couple of sheepdogs.

Jim used to do a lot of ploughing, because he had potatoes and beet to grow. Sometimes he would also grow barley or wheat, from which bread could be made and he also had a large greenhouse in which he grew other nice stuff.

Every year when he was ploughing a certain field, he'd make sure that he didn't damage the little Fairy-Fort that lay in the middle and would always plough carefully around it. He'd heard people saying that these rings of mounded earth were the homes of the Fairies and they would get extremely angry if anybody touched or damaged them and could use their magical powers to get revenge!

One day, Farmer Jim got up and went to the barn to milk his cows, but found that they had no milk to give! Then he went to gather the eggs, but discovered that half of his hens had disappeared! He also noticed that some of the glass in his glasshouse had been broken and he was missing some bales of hay!

He couldn't understand it. Why would anybody do this to him? He had never been horrible to anyone in his life. Anyway, he had to go into town to get some groceries and decided that he'd ask around to see if his friends might know something.

At the market in town, Jim went into the Pub and bought himself a nice cool drink and a sandwich to eat. He told the barman what had happened and an old man, who used a walking stick, overheard him and came over to talk.

"That'll be the Fairies," he stated.

"It couldn't be," replied Jim, "shur haven't I left the Fairy-Fort alone all these years."

"Have you?" the old fellow asked.

"To be sure."

"Oh. Well in that case I don't know, but it sure sounds like their work to me."

"So what should I do?" Jim asked with desperation.

"I'd go an' ask them what's up," the old fellow advised.

"And how would I do that?"

"Just sit in the middle of the Fort and when they come out to chase you off, grab one. He'd be scared and would tell you anything to be let free."

Jim glanced at the barman, who threw his eyes to the heavens and tutted as the old man walked away.

"I think the poor fellow has gone a bit soft in the head," he said.

"Perhaps," Jim replied, "perhaps." But, secretly, he was seriously thinking about doing what the old man had suggested.

That midnight, when thousands of stars dotted the sky,

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