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The Leprechaun
These are tricky little fellows. Usually no taller than 2 ft., the Leprechaun is a solitary member of The Little People, a shoemaker or tailor by trade, and a trouble maker by passion.
He is said to own a pot or bag of gold, which he must surrender to whomsoever catches him. Nany axe the stories of people who have been duped by the Leprechaun in their attempts to take his gold; one such person was a certain Donal O'Donovan of County Kerry, who saw a Leprechaun burying a pot of gold in a field.
Placing his hat on the spot where the gold was buried, Donal hurried home to get a spade. When he returned, Donal found the field to be filled with spades, each stuck upright in the ground, and each bearing a hat similar to his own. Leprechauns are also known to come into houses late at night to make mischief, and some have been known to exchange a sleeping baby for a wicked fairy, a so called changeling.
To offset these bad habits, some leprechauns will attach themselves to a family or home, doing odd jobs around the house at night, and proving to be very pleasant companions indeed.
And the word "leprechaun"? Its roots are given by etymologists to be a combination of "lugh" (= small), and "corpan", a diminutive of "corp" (= body).
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