Celtic fairy traditions
Leprechaun
Patrick Waters describes the leprechaun as a red-capped figure found near pure springs, generally making shoes. This concrete description differs from the survey’s more exalted portraits of the Sidhe. Another local narrative places a leprechaun in the role of a substituted child until iron prevents a further exchange. These accounts show that occupation, appearance, and narrative function vary.
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In the sources
Principal account
ReportedPatrick Waters describes the leprechaun as a red-capped figure found near pure springs, generally making shoes. This concrete description differs from the survey’s more exalted portraits of the Sidhe.
Further detail
ReportedAnother local narrative places a leprechaun in the role of a substituted child until iron prevents a further exchange. These accounts show that occupation, appearance, and narrative function vary.
Context & interpretation
Evans-Wentz combines named informants, manuscript narratives, and his own psychical theory in a 1911 survey. This entry preserves those distinctions: collected belief and literary tradition do not establish the physical existence of an Otherworld.
Original passages
Source 1
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
— * The leprechaun is a red-capped fellow who stays round pure springs, generally shoemaking * It happened that I had inOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 83
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0083
- Original scan leaf
- 84
- Recorded leaf number
- 84
- Current Reader position
- 79
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
who lived inside the moat, and a little leprechaun left in its place. The same exchange was made when the second child was born. At the birthOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 65
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0065
- Original scan leaf
- 66
- Recorded leaf number
- 66
- Current Reader position
- 61
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Banshee
A warning woman associated with family, mourning, and the dead.
Same subject and traditionBucca
A Cornish power that the survey distinguishes from ordinary fairies.
Same subject and traditionCornish Piskies
Fairy people whose presence is negotiated around Cornish homes and moors.
Same subject and traditionFenodyree
The Manx helper whose farm work ends when clothes are offered.