Realms of Fantasy and Myth: Week 30 - Leprechauns

Jun 15, 201018 min read

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Published: Jun 15, 2010

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Realms of Fantasy and Myth: Week 30 - Leprechauns

Welcome to the thirtieth issue of my fantasy news article! I hope you enjoy it, and please, show the featured artists some love and recognition through pageviews,

's and

's!
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This week's creature feature is: Leprechauns

From Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprecha… :

The name leprechaun derives from the Irish word leipreachán, defined by Patrick Dinneen as "a pigmy, a sprite, a leprechaun".
The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and mending shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes. According to Yeats, the great wealth of these fairies comes from the "treasure-crocks, buried of old in war-time", which they have uncovered and appropriated. According to McAnally the leprechaun is the son of an "evil spirit" and a "degenerate fairy" and is "not wholly good nor wholly evil".
The leprechaun originally had a different appearance depending on where in Ireland he was found. Prior to the 20th century, it was generally held that the leprechaun wore red, not green. Samuel Lover, writing in 1831, describes the leprechaun as, "quite a beau in his dress, notwithstanding, for he wears a red square-cut coat, richly laced with gold, and inexpressible of the same, cocked hat, shoes and buckles."
The modern image of the leprechaun is almost invariant: he is depicted as having red hair (often with a beard), wearing an emerald green frock coat.
Films, television cartoons and advertising have popularized a specific dim-witted image of leprechauns which bears scant resemblance to anything found in the cycles of Irish mythology.

Now, for the features! Works are featured from various categories, in no particular order:

A Little Leprechaun Luck by Humanimorphism

Shamus a Leprechaun sculpture by pixiwillow

Lucky Leprechaun with Grostieta by mechangel2002

I Catched The Leprechaun by CrimeOfPassion

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This St. Patrick's Day... by lindowyn-stock

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St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun by RedFenyx

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Did you get featured and want to pay it forward? Do you know of an artist with amazing fantasy art? Are YOU one?
Just leave a comment on this article with a link to your favorite deviation or deviant, and I'll pick out the ones that really stand out to me to feature on the appropriate week!
Also, do you have a favorite fantasy creature that I haven't covered yet? Leave a comment suggesting which ones you would like to see!

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Thank you so much for viewing, and come back next week for a different inhabitant of the Realms of Fantasy and Myth!