The Silver Coin

Rhoswen froze in place when she spied a wee bit of movement against the farmhouse wall. There seemed to be a short, dark, figure of a man peering back at her. The young girl locked eyes with the impish little man as he sat in the shadow of the corner, just outside of the light cast from under the candle cover. Of course she had heard of braunies before. The stories were told by everyone she had ever known in her twelve years of life, but she never imagined she would see one for herself. The braunie put forward his tiny hand, and turning it over, revealed a shiny silver coin. The girl gasped at the sight of it. She wondered if it was meant as a gift, or perhaps a reward for all of the hard work she had done for the household that day. Tentatively, she reached out her own small hand, work roughened palm side up, and received the silver coin. She brought it into the light to examine it's surface. For a moment, she saw a pattern of leaves with indecipherable runes wound through them, but the light shifted and then she saw it as an old silver penny of King David the First. When she looked back at the corner where the braunie sat, he had entirely vanished.

All the following day, things went queerly. The cows took an extra long time to milk, but they gave a bit more, which was enough to churn an extra cup of butter. A cat jumped out and frightened her as she carried the milk up to the house, but she found a shilling in the mud by the horse barn. The horse got out and wandered down the road, but when she went to fetch him, a man offered sixpence for his service. She said she would check with the master of the house, which she did, and was rewarded with another shilling. Later on, the sheep wandered off into the wrong pasture and got into some burrs. Once she caught up to them, their wool was all full of prickly little balls. She spent a long time in picking them all out, but while she worked she found a gold bracelet that belonged to her mistress. She got the sheep back to their paddock, and returned the bracelet to her gratefull mistress, who swore her to secrecy. By that time, she had to rush to get her other chores done, and didn't do them as well as she would have liked. She went to bed weary and out of sorts.

In the middle of the night, she woke to noises in the house. At first, she was frightened, and sat very still to listen. There was a scurrying sound, like small feet scampering acroos the floor. Somewhat relieved, she figured that the cat must have got in through an unlocked window, and got up to let her out. She lit a candle and went to check the windows, but they were shut tight. She whispered for the cat, looking all around, but she couldn't find her. As she searched, she noticed that all the work she had left from the day seemed to have been done after all. Now, how could that be, she wondered. An inkling of an answer tickled her thoughts, and she figured she had better do something about it. So, she krept to the larder and found a bit of cheese, and a crumb of bread, which she placed neatly into a saucer. She also poured some water from a pitcher into a baby quaich. All these things she placed upon the window sill, and then she lay down to sleep.

The next day passed as remarkably as had the previous one. So did the following day, and the day after that. In fact, every day of Rhoswen's life from the day that she received the silver coin was filled with good fortune and strange happenstance. Rhoswen accumulated wealth quite easily, which she put aside for her dowry, and as a contingency plan in case she never had need of a dowry. She needn't have worried about that, however.

Six years passed in that way, and Rhoswen was married to a strapping young fellow by the name of Barnabas MacDyke. Within a year, they had a son, who she named Soirse. He grew up strong and handsome, and was very lucky in games of chance. He began to be known by his peers as Sonsie Soirse.
When he turned sixteen, Rhoswen gave him the silver coin, and told him never to part with it, and to keep it safe always. Soirse swore that he would do just as she asked. He put the coin into a little leather pouch that he wore on a cord around his neck, and never took it off until he passed it on to his daughter, Bonnie. Bonnie kept the silver piece until her own son, Aonghas, turned sixteen. Aonghas lost the coin in a game of chance, to his cousin, Fergus MacDyke. Fergus kept the silver coin for many years. Then, one day in Glasgow, he had the misfortune of meeting a snake oil salesman named "Devil Bill" Rockefeller, who got the coin away from him by trickery and theft. The fortunes of the whole MacDyke clan began to go sour that day.

Devil Bill promised the silver coin to a witch, Machikada McSpiel, in exchange for teaching him how to sell a human soul. She was a cunning woman, and knew that the simple penny was actually a powerful charm of the fae folk. She believed that the coin could absorb bad luck and channel it for casting powerful hexes, or even enable it's user to draw gold from common matter. However, Devil Bill cheated the witch, and gave the silver coin to his underling, Burt, for safe keeping. Burt was unable to see it as anything but a common American dime, and inadvertently paid it to a shoeshine boy. That shoeshine boy just happened to be Fergus MacDyke's own son, Scrimgeoure. The silver coin had found it's own way back into the hands of the family belonging to the bearer who was chosen by the braunie.

The MacDyke clan became prosperous once more, and young Scrimgeoure set off to seek greater fortune in America, inspired by his first and favorite dime, the silver coin. Unbeknownst to him, he was followed by Machikada McSpiel, who was intent on claiming what was promised to her by Devil Bill. The snake oil salesman, who was an American himself, had returned to his homeland. By some strange coincidence, his family had struck it rich in the petroleum business.

When the immigration papers for Scrimgeoure were being processed, a strange thing happened that affected his new life ever after. The clerk had the triple misfortune of being partially blind, partially deaf, and partial to the bottle. When he entered Scrimgeoure's name on the form, he printed it as Scroogemere MacDyk, and Scrimgeoure found himself obliged to answer to Scroogemere, or the diminutive, Scrooge, for as long as he continued to live in the United States of America. But that did not stop him from becoming insanely wealthy. It seemed that his every endeavor was blessed. Even when he lost, it somehow led to a greater victory. His competitors, befuddled by his ability to make money as if by magic, began to refer to him as a lucky duck.

Over many following decades, as Scrooge kept hold of the silver coin, he became the richest man in the world. Naturally his fame spread, and eventually he was found by Machikada McSpiel, despite the change of his name. There were several instances where the witch's machinations got the dime away from Scrooge for a short duration, during which time it's appearance altered somewhat, owing to the fae glamour with which it was wrought. But, through it all, it maintained the semblance of an American dime, and it always returned to the descendant of Rhoswen MacDyke.

No one knows the true age of Scrooge MacDyke, but some say that he is one hundred and forty seven years old, or more, and still thriving like a young man. They say that the grim reaper will not come for him, fearing the silver coin. They say that the reaper fears what may happen if that silver coin, with more than a century of bad luck imprisoned within it, were to be given to the spectral ferryman as the fare for passage of Scrooge's soul. Who can say what the truth may be? But, wouldn't it be nice, to have a coin like that of your own?