Origin and History of the Leprechaun
The Leprechaun or "Artisan of the Brogue" is known in many stories as the Fairy Shoemaker with a hidden pot of gold! Irish children are told the story of the leprechaun and his hidden pot of gold to be found at the end of a rainbow. An old poem by Nora Chesson the famous English poet of Irish descent says "If you can catch the Leprechaun and keep him in your hold, He'll show you where lies buried a crock of fairy gold". Read the full text of the Leprechaun Poem as well as a beautiful story about a Leprechaun, we have even included some funny leprechaun jokes! Leprechaun Irish Symbol - Poem
The following poem entitled 'The Leprechaun' is by the famous English poet Nora Chesson (2 January 1871 – 14 April 1906). Nora Chesson nee Hopper was of Irish descent and was involved with the Irish Literary revival of the 1890's. She was highly praised for her poems and stories about Ireland in a book published in 1918 called 'Modern English Writers: Being a study of Imaginative literature 1890-1914'. She appeared in the section about 'Irish Poetesses' and was referred to as both Hopper (her maiden name) and Chesson (her married name). The Leprechaun by Nora Chesson
O have you seen the Leprechaun at darking of the moon?
have you seen the Leprechaun a-clouting fairy soon?
Beneath the sacred thorn-tree he sits and labours long,
And not a bird in Ireland can better him in song.
His eyes are changeful-coloured as any opal stone,
His mouth is sly and wistful with wisdom all his own;
His ears can hear the grass grow a hundred miles away,
He's younger than to-morrow, more old than yesterday.
If you can catch the Leprechaun and keep him in your hold,
He'll show you where lies buried a crock of fairy gold;
But you must never lose your grasp whatever wile he tries,
Though you see your cabin flaming before your very eyes.
But if you let him escape you, some wisdom you'll have won
By holding wisdom in your hand beneath the moon or sun ;
Though t'were only for a moment, and suddenly withdrawn.
Oh have you ever met him, the red-capped Leprechaun?
The Leprechaun - Published in the English Illustrated Magazine, 1903 |
