Monday 3 September 2012

Leprechaun Luck

If you go down to the woods today............ you might be lucky enough to see one of our handsome leprechauns!

But, just what are leprechauns? And where on earth does that funny name come from?
Well, they are a type of fairy that originally comes from Irish folk stories. They are usually depicted as old men and they wear red or green coats and big hats!


They are especially good at making and fixing shoes, which they do in return for big gold coins that they hide in their secret pot at the end of the rainbow. But, they are notoriously mischievous and they love to play practical jokes on the other fairies.

Legend has it that if a human catches one, they will be given three wishes in exchange for the leprechaun's freedom. But we don't know about that - we're yet to catch one here in Gypsy wood!

See if you can spot one in the woods today!

What's in a name?
The origin of the word "leprechaun" is thought to be varied, but one explanation could be that it comes from an Old Irish word luporchan, which is a mixture of the words for small (lu) and body (corps).





No comments:

Post a Comment