Charlie was a very quiet man who lived by himself in a little country bungalow. The bungalow where his Mother and Father had lived…..He’d been out of work for two years now, and was a very bored and lonely person. The only money he possessed was his tiny Army pension, and that all nearly went on rates and food etc…..It was Wednesday, and on this day each week, Charlie went to pay his respects at the local church, and then went for a stroll down the railway walk. The railway walk was beautiful and peaceful place where in the old days the trains use to run its full length, from the town into the country and back to town. Because the trains no longer chuffed their way along this stretch of countryside, the council people decided to turn it into a walking area. A beautiful job was made of creating the walk, and gorgeous flowers, shrubs and trees of many colours surrounded it. Charlie loved this walk very much!

It was evening when Charlie made his way back home. He was feeling extremely tired and he was looking forward to a quiet evening in front of his cheap old television. “Help! Help!” A very small thin shout could be heard from somewhere nearby. Charlie could swear that the frantic call came from somewhere extremely close to where he stood. He started to look around the tall grass growing in the ditches and on the steep banks that ran alongside of the railway walk. SUDDENLY! He saw at his feet the tiny figure of a man who was dressed from head to toe in emerald green. The little man was no bigger than fifteen centimetres tall. Lying upon the little man’s chest, was a large stone that was pinning him to the ground, and Charley could tell that it was causing him some considerable pain. Quickly and gently, Charlie removed the stone from the little man’s chest and helped him to his feet and Charlie asked, “Are you all right?” The little fellow was so full of thanks, “Thank you!” “Thank you!” “Thank you” he expounded. He then quite merrily said, “may I present myself sir, my name is Grindal Wax.” He then explained to Charlie what had happened to him, and how he happened to be in this awful and painful predicament

“Well you see” he said “I was out having a stroll with the local Leprechauns, and wee Goblins.” “Well now sir!” “We decided to play hide and seek.” “Let me just say Sir, and to be most honest and truthful as I always am,” “the other wee people have always been jealous of me, because you see Sir, this is my favourite game, and I have never yet lost.” “Well!” “By all the saints, I found this lovely little dip in the ground that was covered by moss.” “Well sure and all sir, and as God is my witness sir,” “because I had been trained by the SP-SAS” [Small People’s Special Air Services], “I used the knowledge I had learnt on their E & A [Escape & Avoid] course that such a hole was of course sent by God.” “ I pulled away the edge of the moss sir, and crawled into the hole.” “Now to be sure sir, and as truth is my middle name sir, I’ll be telling you what happened to be sure to be sure.”

“Well now!” “I crawled into the hole, and covered myself with the moss.” “The others never found me!” “I could hear them ranting and raving as small people do Sir, and calling for me to come out.” “In the end, they must have thought that I had just given up, and gone home.” “Oh dear me sir!” “I was rolling about in that fine little hole, with tears flowing down my face with laughter.” “ I was laughing so much sir, that when I crawled out of the hole, I fell heavily against the bank, causing this horrible little boulder to fall on me.” “May I bless you sir, and thank you for saving me” exclaimed the little man, and offering his hand to Charlie, he proclaimed. “Here’s my hand sir, and here’s my heart, May you and your fortune never part.” With a massive smile, the little man exclaimed.. “I really mean that sir! “As sure as I’m standing here to be sure. And with that, he disappeared. When Charlie arrived back at his home, which was always cold and damp, he found to his utmost amazement and despair that his wallet was missing from his back pocket. His wallet had contained all of the money he possessed for the next six months….He was distraught. “So much for doing a good deed” he thought with tears in his eyes.

Next morning, after a sad and listless night, Charlie thought that he should do something to take his mind off the bad event.
It might make him feel better, even if he was now penniless…He decided to do some gardening, and so with his trusty spade & fork, he started on a small patch that was overgrown. Charlie had only been digging for a few minutes, when his spade hit something hard with a loud CLUNK! It was an old iron bound chest. Charlie quickly dragged it to the surface. It was full of small gold bars. On top of the gold bars was an envelope addressed to Charley, It was his father’s handwriting on the front. Charlie quickly took the chest into his shack, and then called the Police and his Solicitor….
They both arrived at the same time, and after an examination of the contents of the envelope, the solicitor exclaimed, that the gold belonged to Charlie by legal rights. This was testified in the will contained in a waterproof envelope. The Gold and the Will had been left there by his long departed Father. Charlie had been serving in the Forces at the time of his Father’s death, and always assumed that his Dad had died penniless…

When the Police had departed, Charlie and the Solicitor decided to see if the contents of the chest, agreed with the list that had been held at the Solicitors office….A list that had been lodged by the father of Charlie, but had been hidden in the files for such a long time…..
They started to take all the gold out of the chest, whilst Charlie related to the Solicitor the adventure he had experienced with the little man in green on that late afternoon…
THEN! Charley stopped dead still, and his mouth dropped wide open. For there, AND to amazement of both of them, sitting on the bottom of the chest, WAS CHARLIE’S OWN WALLET!