Kyle stumbled on a moss-draped tree root. "Slow down!" Kyle cried in a shrill, boyish voice that made his entire body, all three feet and seven inches of it, want to cringe.
The green-clad leprechaun turned and gave the boy an impatient frown. "Get a move on, boyo!" The leprechaun chided. "There be floors to scrub awaiting you."
Kyle, who had been until a mere half hour ago a 29-year-old man, had become a 8-year-old boy thanks to the leprechaun's magic. He had dropped from 6'3" and 208 pounds to a scrawny boy weighing about 55 pounds.
The leprechaun might only be two feet tall himself, but he had a deceptive strength. He gave a tug on the chain fastened to Kyle's new silver collar. "Time's a'wasting."
Kyle felt the crunch of fallen leaves and pine needles beneath his tiny, bare feet. He tried to take a stand. "This joke's gone on long enough," he declared, wishing fervently his voice retained even a modicum of its former solid masculinity. "You've had your fun, now change me back!"
Behind the leprechaun's red goatee lurked a frown tinged with arrogance. "We played our game, my wee one, and you lost," the short creature said with thin patience. "Now stop your complaining and step lively."
For greater emphasis, the leprechaun gave another sharp tug on the chain and poor Kyle found himself forced to trudge submissively in the leprechaun's wake.
They came to a great tree that looked the biggest in the forest. A knothole near the base of the trunk had formed a nearly perfect arch. The leprechaun tapped three times on the bark that framed the arch and a golden glow illuminated what had been the gloomy interior of the tree.
"I can't fit through..." Kyle started to say, but the leprechaun gave a mighty tug and plunged through the glowing opening, pulling Kyle with him.
The naked boy fell with a soft thud on a patch of cultivated earth between two enormous cabbage heads.
"Mind the cabbages," the leprechaun snarled at him and led the way out of the rows of huge cabbages growing within the fenced garden. They stepped through a swinging gate onto a cobblestone path that led to a strange home with a domed roof. The structure didn't look like much more than a hovel, but the leprechaun opened the door and led them inside. A comfortable, spacious, warm interior greeted owner and his new boy slave.
The leprechaun sighed loudly and reached up to detach the chain from Kyle's silver collar. Kyle tensed. Should he run?
"Don't waste your time, boyo," the leprechaun said, reading his thoughts. "That collar's magical."
The little creature must have sensed Kyle's doubts. "Try to remove it."
Kyle's hands, unbidden, tried to wrest the collar from around his neck and received a nasty shock.
The leprechaun laughed. "You made an agreement, boyo, and now you'll live up to it," he said. "I know you're thinking you don't have to do as you're told, but that collar will make you more obedient."
Kyle's fingers still tingled from the shock. "What do you want?"
"For starters, fetch some more logs from the woodpile out back and stoke my fire," he said, nodding at the glowing embers in the massive stone fireplace. "Get a move on before the fire's completely out."