‘Twas long ago in Tír na nÓg when the light went out for all.
For Shamus O’ Reilly begat the crown and there began the fall.
Ireland’s bright, green-crested hills became black and dark and cruel,
For Shamus O’ Reilly’s heart of ice did create a cursed rule.
“Shamus the Great,” he thought to himself, as he sat on his throne of greed.
“Shamus the Miser,” thought everyone else, as they watched him do his deeds.

The Emerald Isles shown so bright when his father wore the crown,
But the new king’s greed and selfishness brought the Irish spirit down.
He fell in love with everything that he knew most others had.
This envy drove his mind to a state and he became most sick and mad.
Eibhlín was the goddess of light and Shamus knew that she must be stopped,
For no one else could have in their lives what even in his heart Shamus could have not.

Shamus brooded for hours in his palace room, determined to defeat the light.
When at his door a woman appeared—a demon beauty of the night.
Briana, the goddess of nobility and power, had heard Shamus’ thoughtful cry,
Her sister’s beauty drove her to hate and she wished for the king to try
And kidnap the woman from her sleeping cloud, the arrogant beacon she claimed.
And with Briana’s presence, the king concocted a plan to end the dame.
“Shamus the Great,” he thought to himself, as he silently praised his plan.
“Shamus the Puppet,” thought Briana the Green as she scoffed the stupid man.

And so Shamus O’ Reilly did as he thought and had his forger make a coin,
And kidnapped Eibhlín from her bed in the clouds and forced her to adjoin
To the coin’s inside, and as soon as she was trapped between its walls,
The light in all of Ireland ceased, and darkness began to fall.
The only source of blaze could be seen from Shamus’ new lucky charm.
What his greedy heart didn’t realize was the kidnapping would raise an alarm.

Shamus O’ Reilly believed himself to be greater than the gods,
So when he kidnapped Eibhlín, he didn’t think to weigh the odds.
Ainmire was the king of the gods, and Eibhlín his favorite daughter.
When he saw she was gone he called three element gods: Wind, Fire & Water.
He commanded them to go retrieve his girl from this arrogant, leprechaun nobility.
But when the Elements went to search, the darkness bound their ability.
They gave up and Shamus gloated and kissed his symbol of blaze he possessed,
He did not hear the cries of the gods or the people of the land protest.
“Shamus the Great,” he thought to himself, as he danced in his brightened palace.
“Shamus the Cruel,” thought the gods and the people, cursing his name with malice.

Ainmire tried all he knew to get his daughter back.
Not one warrior, god, or prince could find her or what they lacked.
After many days of sorrow and strife, the Father God received a visitor,
A small but lively leprechaun girl—Éabhla the cunning trickster.
“You cannot fight this man with brawn, for you cannot even find him.
What you need is to be quick and sly, for greed is that which binds him.
I have a plan, dear Ainmire, to retrieve Eibhlín from his hands.
I know where to find him and how to restore light to the Irish lands.”

And with the permission of the almighty God, Éabhla found that day
To the palace of Shamus O’ Reilly using her sly and cunning ways.
She knocked on the doors of the extravagant place and told the king when he came
That she was a fortune-teller and knew something that no one had to their name.
He could be the first if he followed her to the road outside,
And in his greed Shamus did as she said, not even questioning if she’d lied.

But as he approached the road, his coin focused only on Éabhla’s head,
Instead of following her the whole way, he walked through a trap and tripped instead.
The gold flew from his selfish hands and before he could even cry,
It bounced onto the road and flew into the darkened sky.
The token grew to incredible size and stayed to linger there,
It burst to flame and light shone out from every brilliant flare.
The green-crested hills of Tír na nÓg now gleamed with grassy moss,
And the Goddess of the Light became the Goddess of the Sun and a rainbow spread across.
“Shamus the Great?” Shamus asked himself, as he was driven from the land.
“Shamus the Fool!” cried everyone else as they laughed and took their stand.

And to this day the Emerald Isles shine bright with their sun-beamed skies.
But when it rains the people say Shamus’ face appears there darkened as he cries.