The perverse Erse

A sorrowful assistant professor of anthropology in a small-town pub recounts field research in rural Ireland, describing the capture of a purported leprechaun and the local lore about pots of gold and trickery. He narrates how the creature begged for release, attempted a serpentine transformation, and desperately sought shadowed concealment. When forced into sunlight its true appearance proved shocking: a vivid orange from head to toe. The revelation leaves the professor emotionally shaken and marked by an uncanny orange stain resembling a shamrock on his hand.