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Elroy O' Leary
MythologyLeprechauns rarely appear in what would be classed as a folk tale; in almost all cases the interest of these stories centres round a human hero. Stories about leprechauns are generally very brief and generally have local names and scenery attached to them. The tales are usually told conversationally as any other occurrence might be told, whereas there is a certain solemnity about the repetition of a folk-tale proper.
Image:Leprechaun engraving 1858.jpg A leprechaun is shown crafting shoes in this Engraving made in 1858. In previous years leprechauns had a less homogenised appearance. Among the most popular of beliefs about leprechauns is that they are extremely wealthy and like to hide their gold in secret locations, which can only be revealed if a person were to actually capture and interrogate a leprechaun for its money. By nature, leprechauns are said to be ill-natured and mischievous, with a mind for cunning. Many tales present the leprechaun as outwitting a human, as in the following examples. Examples of tales involving leprechaunsA farmer or young lad captures a leprechaun and forces him to reveal the location of his buried treasure. The leprechaun assures him that the treasure is buried in an open field beneath a particular ragwort plant. The farmer ties a red ribbon to the plant, first extracting a promise from the leprechaun not to remove the ribbon. Releasing the leprechaun, he leaves to get a shovel. Upon his return he finds that every weed in the field has been tied with an identical red ribbon, thus making it impossible to find the treasure. In another story, a young girl finds a leprechaun and bids him show her the location of his buried money. She takes him up in her hand and sets out to find the treasure, but all of a sudden she hears a loud buzzing behind her. The leprechaun shouts at her that she is being chased by a swarm of bees, but when she looks around there are no bees and the leprechaun has vanished. In a popular tale of Cork Kerry, the daughter of a beekeeper sees the old fairie and asks him for the finest shoes in Southwest Ireland. He agrees to make them for her from as much bee's wax as she can carry. Upon her return, despite carrying her father's life savings, the sprite says he needs more. The girl robs the neighbor's hives but is killed by the bees. The loss of the wax ruins both families and they are forced to move North. In other stories they are told of riding shepherds' dogs through the night, leaving the dogs exhausted and dirty in the morning. It is said that at the end of a rainbow, you may find a leprechaun and his treasured pot of gold. AppearanceThe leprechaun originally had a different appearance depending on where in Ireland he was found. Prior to the 20th century, it was generally agreed that the leprechaun wore red and not green. Samuel Lover, writing in 1831, describes the leprechaun as,
Yeats, in his 1888 book entitled Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry describes the leprechaun as follows:
In a poem entitled The Lepracaun; or, Fairy Shoemaker, the 18th century Irish poet William Allingham describes the appearance of the leprechaun as: Image:Leprechaun or Clurichaun.png A cluricaun with a jug of wine. The cluricaun is often confused with the leprechaun.
Some commentators accuse Allingham of leaving the legacy of the modern image of the leprechaun described below. The modern image of the leprechaun is almost invariant: he is depicted wearing an emerald green frock coat, and bestowed with the knowledge of the location of buried treasure, often in a crock of gold. Related creaturesThe leprechaun is related to the clurichaun and the far darrig in that he is a solitary creature. Some writers even go as far as to substitute these second two less well-known spirits for the leprechaun in stories or tales to reach a wider audience. The cluricaun is considered by some to be merely a leprechaun on a spree . In politicsIn the politics of the Republic of Ireland, leprechauns have been used to refer to the twee aspects of the tourist industry in Ireland . This can be seen from this example of John A. Costello addressing the Oireachtas in 1963:
Leprechauns have also been used in jokes regarding fiscal irresponsibility, the idea being that the politician or political party being attacked has found a pot of gold, or is going to ask a leprechaun for the location of such a pot, accommodating their spending. The term leprechaun language, has been used by some Unionists in Northern Ireland, and is a pejorative for the Irish language. Popular cultureMovies, television cartoons and advertising have popularized a specific image of leprechauns that bears scant resemblance to anything found in the cycles of Irish mythology. Many Irish people find the popularised image of a leprechaun to be little more than a series of offensive Irish stereotypes and a trivialisation of Ireland's rich and ancient culture. The stereotypical image of a leprechaun bedecked in green is particularly strong in the United States, where it is widely used for a variety of purposes, both commercial and non-commercial. See alsoWikisource has original text related to this article:
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