The Blue Lagoon [antikvár]

Part One Chapter 1 Mr Button Left-handed Paddy Patrick Button was sitting on a box in the part of the ship Northumberland where the sailors lived. He seemed to be dreaming of the strange stories of his oWn country, Ireland. The other men called him 'Left-handed Paddy' because he did everything wrong. If there was a mistake that a man could make, Paddy made it. The Northumberland was an old sailing ship, and the men on her came from every country in Europe. There was a fearful storm as she came round Cape Horn on her way from New Orleans to San Francisco. For thirty days the men fought against wind and waves, but now the ship lay on a windless sea, like glass, in the South Pacific. Leprechaun Mr Button filled his pipe. 'Patrick,' said one of the other men, 'what was that story you were telling last night about a lip-me-dawn?' 'A what?' asked Mr Button, as he lit his pipe. 'It was about a green thing,' said another man. 'Oh! a leprechaun. Yes; my mother's sister had one in Ireland.' 'What was it like?8' 'It was a little man, rio bigger than your finger. You could have put him in your pocket. She kept him in a box, but if he got out he would run after the hens, make the eggs go bad, turn over the pot on the fire.