School: Rathcormac (roll number 8463)
- Location:
- Rathcormack, Co. Sligo
- Teacher: M. Bean Uí Fhéinneadha
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0158, Page 051
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Old Stories
“Lepreachans are small men dressed in green, and a red cap and black pointed shoes.”
No.4. Leipreachans are small men dressed in green, and a red cap and black pointed shoes. He is one foot and six inches in height, and lives in a forth.
He mends shoes for fairies and he earns money by that He stores his money in a black pot under a tree, and when any person catches him, and when he tries to get away, and fails three times the pot of gold is yours.
This is the story I heard about a man and a leipreachan:-
There was a man one time, and his name was Mick Meenan and he caught a leipreachan. The leipreachan said if he would let him go he would give him a pot of gold. He told the man to come out in the morning and he would see a ribbon on a tree, and he should dig there and get a crock of gold.
He let the leipreachan go in the morning, and he went out to the field, and saw a ribbon on every tree. He thought he had a lot of gold, and he started to dig the field, and when he was nearly finished, he heard lauhing behind him, and he looked round, and saw all the fairies and the leipreachan laughing and jumping with joy, because he was made a fool of.
He returned home very sorry, and told his wife what had happened, and he said that he(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Mary Cunningham
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 11