Talk:Mother's Helping Hand/School/Non-Humans/Races/Leprechaun
FYI: By my research, Leprechans are not a creature of Irish folk-lore, and are just something that an Irish business man in the United States in the late 19th century came up with in order to market Italian culture as something more approachable, kinda like how sweet and sour chicken is really not Chinese but Americans like to eat it and think of it as Chinese.
Leprechauns ARE based off of something that DOES exist in Irish folk-lore though. The various and many-varried different types of "little people." Honestly, these "little people" are also perfectly described by how you've written up the Brownie, so an accurate representation of Leprechauns by the origin they were based off of would have them essentially being identical to Brownies in every conceivable way to the point it's not really worth having them be different species at all.
(That whole stuff about pots of gold and rainbows were parts of the marketing, that stuff doesn't exist anywhere in Irish folklore.) Jemini (talk) 16:19, 5 April 2020 (CEST)
Not sure where you got that and would like to see your reference as my research shows mentions of variations of the Leprechaun as far back as the eighth century as basement dwelling water and luck spirits called luchorpán, according to two of Britain's experts on Celtic lore John and Caitlin Mathews, they are also mentioned in an 18th century poem titled "The Lepracaun; Or, Fairy Shoemaker" by William Allingham.
And yes they are similar to Brownies, but lean more towards providing good luck and being cobblers than general house cleaning and repair. The legend of the pot of gold came later as a corruption of the belief that if you caught a Leprechaun they would give you three wishes for their freedom. If the wishes were overly greedy or selfish then the wish would be twisted, if not then would happen as intended.
I actually have a place for them in the Fey courts, that kinda blends the new and old versions, so as of right now, they will stay. --Telgar (talk) 18:09, 5 April 2020 (CEST)