We have all heard of Leprechauns haven’t we. Tiny and elaborately dressed beings just hanging around with a pot of gold waiting for us to ask them for a share.
West Gippsland Gazette 10 Nov 1908 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68683945
I have always had a problem with this. Why on earth would they want to share their gold with me? Fairy gold should be guarded by dragons (insert mental picture of Smaug curled over a huge pile of dwarf gold here) not just there for the asking!
This article from County Westmeath in August 1908 tells the story of a strange person who had been seen in the district for some time, mostly by children, and who was assumed to be a leprechaun.
For two months there had been sightings of this mythological being until he was apprehended by two policemen.
That is a surprise because usually these stories end with “and we never saw him again”.
The policemen took this unusual person to the workhouse in Mullingar where he was looked upon with awe and interest by the other inmates.
The workhouse sounds more like a prison-house doesn’t it, with ‘inmates’ and the fact that he was locked up inside and the crowds clamouring for a sighting were locked outside.
This strange person didn’t appear to have much in the way of gold with him, nor was he able to communicate properly either. What was it, I wonder, that made them suggest he was one of the fairy folk? That he was small?
Was he wearing the expected leprechaun garb? I always thought of leprechauns as quite articulate beings too, always ready with a rhyme, or maybe I just read too many fairy tales.
The article also says he was wearing workhouse clothes so I have to wonder what happened to what he was wearing when he was found.
What it seems these policemen found is a person, likely dressed in rags, small of stature and inarticulate, not looking like a leprechaun or guarding a pot of gold. Hmmm… how long was it do you think before they gave up trying to find his pot of gold and just let him ‘escape’?
Buried words and Bushwa. 
Poor guy. Imagine getting confused with a Leprechaun.
I would love to know what his story was. With a plentiful supply of tobacco he doesn’t seem too sad about being locked up though.
An opportune mention of Smaug there as I’m sure he’s put in an appearance by now in your neighbouring New Zealand. With the news that they’ve sliced The Hobbit up into three pieces, to serve it up as a mock-trilogy, – ker-ching! – it may be years before he’s seen on screen though.
Ker-ching is right… I’m glad thay aren’t shoving it all into one movie and cutting it short but 3 movies sounds a bit like money grabbing and yes, it will be so long between movies I may grow old and die before the end 😉
The Hobbit was my favourite book as a child and I still have my much loved copy with the gold leaf and the picture of Smaug on the cover. I remember telling the Sunday School teacher that it was a much more interesting book than the one she was teaching us about too….I don’t think that I lasted too long there after that, funnily enough.
I hear the fresh faced Benedict Cumberbatch is doing the voice of Smaug. I wonder if it is going to be a Gollum style performance capture as well? I would love to see the dvd extras then!
I had heard Mr. Cumberbatch was in it, but I didn’t know who he was. I’m looking forward (at some point on TV in 2121) seeing former Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy.
I had to look up which part Sylvester McCoy would be playing and now I have an idea as to why the Hobbit will be a three parter. If he is being bought in to play an originally small part, now expanded, what on earth are the other things they have changed?!
Nooooo!!!!! They can’t change my book!! You are right though, the release will be soooo far in the future (growing horror just thinking about it). They are probably hoping we will forget about the changes they have made in our excitement to finally see it.
What’s Green , sometimes contagious and causes sore feet? The Lepercorn of course. Hey, stop groaning back there. Not bad for spur of the moment.
This actually cracked me up…. it was a late night for me though, my excuse is that I’m not awake yet 😉
Sounds like leprechaun may have been the old fashioned name for dwarf? Or is that midget?
The start of the article does go along with the usual description of a leprechaun though, so I expect that they were referring to the type of leprechaun we know from fairy tales.
In 1908 you would think that they would have been able to clearly identify the difference between a little person and a mythical creature with a pot-o-gold! I think what probably threw them off was that this person had been exlusive for some time and then appeared unable to communicate when finally caught. They were looking for the leprechaun that the children reported, not just an unfortunate person, living rough.
Humans love looking for the mystery, don’t they?!
Yes I think we do. Maybe that’s the downside of having such active imaginations – we always want something more fantastical!
Life would be very boring if we didn’t live by our imaginations, though, wouldn’t it? 😀
lmao – no fear of that happening!
Very cool tale, my friend!
Whenever I read these misinterpretations of the (likely) truth I always wonder what future generations are going to read in to the news reports and urban myths of today…. 🙂 How silly will we look to them!?