William Allingham (1824–1889)

Poem about finding a leprecaun.

This beautifully illustrated edition was a favourite read-out-loud to my children and the quality of the pictures made up for the somewhat pedestrian although undoubtedly catchy rhymes. This is one of the few - if not the only - poem my husband knows at all and while I doubt my daughters would care now if I tossed their childhood book, he would never allow it!

Doesn't grab us very well, though it is a good description of the *original* fairies (before they were disneyfied).

As noted, the poem concerns the theft and death of a young girl. She's shown waking up on the endpage, but really, it's clear that she's intended to have died. Read before you buy.