The Irish Leprechaun is the Faeries' shoemaker and is known under various
names in different parts of Ireland: Cluricaune in Cork, Lurican in Kerry,
Lurikeen in Kildare and Lurigadaun in Tipperary. Although he works for the
Faeries, the Leprechaun is not of the same species. He is small, has
dark skin and wears strange clothes. His nature has something of the
manic-depressive about it: first he is quite happy, whistling merrily as he
nails a sole on to a shoe; a few minutes later, he is sullen and morose,
drunk on his home-made heather ale. The Leprechaun's two great loves are
tobacco and whiskey, and he is a first-rate con-man, impossible to out-fox.
No one, no matter how clever, has ever managed to cheat him out of his hidden
pot of gold or his magic shilling. At the last minute he always thinks of some
way to divert his captor's attention and vanishes in the twinkling of an eye.
-- From: A Field Guide to the Little People
-- by Nancy Arrowsmith & George Moorse.
