The Magical Legend Of The Leprechaun
You may end up being the luckiest person alive if you ever manage to catch a Leprechaun but there again it could bring more than enough trouble for what its worth.
A Leprechaun is a smart, devious little thing and who’ll do anything to escape capture even if it means turning you into a frog. They are the exception in the Faerie realm as they are the only Faerie that has a trade other than cattle trading. They are shoe-makers.
Who Are The Leprechauns of Ireland?
As part of Irish mythology and folklore the Leprechauns are part of our faerie folk, called by some as the “wee folk”. As a cousin of the clurichaun they are known to inhabited Ireland well before the arrival of the Celts.
Small enough for one to sit comfortable on your shoulder they are very smartly dressed in small suites with waist coats, hats and buckled shoes. As mischievous and intelligent folk they are general harmless to the general population in Ireland, although they are known to play the odd trick on farmers and local population of villages and towns.
It is said that every Leprechaun has a pot of gold, hidden deep in the Irish countryside. To protect the leprechaun’s pot of gold the Irish fairies gave them magical powers to use if ever captured by a human or an animal. Such magic an Irish leprechaun would perform to escape capture would be to grant three wishes or to vanish into thin air!
Leprechauns are also very keen musicians who play tin whistles, the Irish Harp and various other Irish traditional instruments. They are known to have wild music sessions at night which in Ireland are known as Ceili's with hundreds of Irish leprechauns gathering to dance, sing and drink. The leprechaun is fond of drinking Poteen, moonshine, but must not be mistaken by their Irish cousins the cluricauns who are drunken creatures who love to cause chaos around Ireland at night time, a headache for us humans.
William Butler Yeats once said,
"because of their love of dancing they (the Fae) will constantly need shoes"
He goes on to tell the story of a woman who had been spirited away by the Faeries and had been returned seven years later minus her toes. She had danced them off!!!
The famous 1959 movie Darby O’Gill and the little people show us a great example of who the Leprechauns are and how we vision them. We’ve found a great clip of this movie that you can watch below, click on the play button to start watching.
The King Leprechaun in this movie is called King Brian Connors. He gets caught by Darby O’Gill who is then granted the 3 wishes though does he spend them wisely?
You can buy the movie Darby O’Gill and the little people here.
Do Leprechauns exist and are they real?
Many people that have never been to Ireland before often ask are Leprechauns real? There are a simply answer to that question but we shall leave it up to your imagination to decide, after all we wouldnt want to spoil such a wonderful Irish myth.
How to catch a Leprechaun
Capturing a leprechaun isn't as easy as it sounds as they are intelligent wee creatures and can prove difficult to locate in the Irish countryside. One of the biggest signs of a Leprechaun being near by is from the rainbow shinning from the leprechauns pot of gold, a leprechaun is sure to be found near his pot of gold. One needs to be careful when approaching any leprechaun as they are extremely quick and will vanish at the sight of any humans close by but you can manage to creep up behind him with a net in hope to get the pot of gold or three wishes, but be careful what you wish for as the Leprechaun are smarter than us humans and are known to trick people. Read more on our how to catch a leprechaun story or even see some pictures of Leprechaun tattoos.
Other folklore stories
- About Irish Changelings
- Ghostly Banshees
- How to catch a Leprechaun
- The mighty Fionn MacCumhal
- The mystical Sidhe
