The Leprechaun: Shoemaker and Mythological Conscience

Whether everyone’s after his Lucky Charms or he’s the mascot of the Fighting Irish at Notre Dame, few Irish creatures are more popular than the famous leprechaun.

But the green-dressed, cheerful leprechauns abundant in society today are not the original leprechauns of legends, says Brian McFadden, assistant professor of English at Texas Tech University. The original leprechauns were more like shy elfish or fairy creatures, and they wore brown, green, tan or red clothes -- the colors of nature.

“Leprechauns are mischievous little sprites,” McFadden says. “They’re fun creatures, but they don’t trust humans. They horde gold, they’re into shoemaking, they might play the occasional little trick on people. But they sort of shun humankind. They don’t like us. They think we are greedy and warlike. They think we are always after their pot of gold.”

To figure out exactly what a leprechaun is, McFadden studied where the word “leprechaun” came from. The first possibility is “luchorpan” which means one who is small, short, or half-bodied. The second is “luch-chromain” which means little Lugh. A Lugh is one of the heroes of the mythical early Irish race. And the third possible derivation is “leath brogan” which means shoemaker.

And indeed, shoemaking does appear in many of the popular leprechaun stories, though each time, they are only seen making one shoe. However, the most popular stories have to do with the leprechaun’s pot of gold.

The Legends of the Leprechaun

When the Vikings inhabited Ireland, they stored hordes of treasure all over the land. According to the legends, when they left, they forgot to take several stashes of gold with them. The leprechauns found the gold and divided it among themselves. But they knew the riches of the Vikings had been collected through wicked deeds, and this deepened their mistrust of humans.

The leprechauns decided that humans could not have the gold because of what their greed would make them do. They stored the coins in pots and buried them deep underground where humans could not find them. However, according to the stories, a rainbow will end where a leprechaun has hidden his pot of gold.

Other legends show leprechauns possessing other benefits that humans would like to steal. Leprechauns can grant three wishes to a human who catches them. Also, leprechauns supposedly carry two pouches with them. One has a silver coin in it, and the other has a gold coin.

If you can trick the leprechaun into giving you the silver coin, you get it and another one will magically appear in the leprechaun’s pouch. But if you are greedy and want the gold coin, the gold coin will disappear once you let the leprechaun go. Disappearing leprechaun gold was even used by J.K. Rowling in the book "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

“There are two things you should know if you are ever fortunate enough to catch a leprechaun,” McFadden says. “You can’t ever let it out of your sight. If you look away even for a second, it will get away from you. And you have to be careful, or he will try to trick you.”

Move Over, Jiminy Cricket. The leprechaun was the first conscience.

Though Leprechauns make great characters in fairy tales, McFadden says that leprechauns play a much larger role in society than just a creature on which to base stories. Leprechauns as literary figures represent the human conscience.

“Any mythology is going to try to teach you something,” McFadden says. “Leprechauns point out our faults and failings. They give us that little tweak that lets us know, hey, you guys aren’t perfect. They play on our greed. They play on society’s faults. Money is always linked to leprechauns. They are basically saying ‘it’s your own greed, your own foolishness, your own error, your own pride that we are turning against you.’”

Leprechauns encourage people to act morally or steer away from negative traits, such as greed. They will help people or fix their farm equipment if the family is nice to them and does not try to take their treasures.

“Even today, there are people out in the country of Ireland that swear, ‘I haven’t had this truck to the mechanic in years! It’s probably the leprechauns helping me with it,’” McFadden says.

Leprechauns also represent a folk wisdom present in Ireland. They are often seen as older, wise and clever. Through their stories, they remind humans that they are fallible.

“They make you realize that no matter what you do, no matter how far along you are, there’s always something ahead that is beyond you or that you can learn from,” McFadden says. “No matter how smart you think you are, they are going to one-up you. Whenever they do something, there is a point to it. Wise people take that point.”