The leprechaun is a small fairy-like creature male of the Folklore Irish, which can be compared with the Lutin of the French folklore. He became later a character of fiction.

The leprechaun in the folklore

In the modern culture

The films, drawing-animated and publicity popularized a specific image of the leprechauns, without resemblance to the details found in the cycles of Irish mythology. Many people in Ireland find in this deformed image of the leprechaun, series of stereotypes wounding of the Irishman, and a trivialisation of the rich and ancient culture of the country.

The stereotyped image of a leprechaun vêtu of green, is particularly strong in the United States, where it is usually employed for a variety of goals, commercial or not-commercial.

Prototype

The modern prototype of the leprechaun is a red-headed bearded old man, who lives with the foot of a Arc-en-ciel, where it hides a pot filled with Or. He is generally equipped with Vert, and would carry a Trèfle to four sheets. It is also said that it is very sarcastic and that it does not like that the foreigners come to disturb it. It would have created the rainbow besides so that nobody can see it.

Its principal activity is to manufacture and polish tiny shoes with its size, decorated of a gold loop.

Leprechauns with the cinema, on television and in the video games

• It makes an appearance in the series Charmed , where it is shown like a semi-man distributing the chance or the bad luck with the beings, thanks to gold nuggets which it hides with the foot of the rainbows (to call the rainbow, it must recite a formula and the rainbow appears). It also appears in 1962 in an episode of the series My beloved witch ( Bewitched ) season 2 episode 26 ( the gold Pot/ The Leprechaun ) of which he is the hero.

• the leprechaun is also the hero of a saga of films of horror in which it is incarnated by Warwick Davis:
• 1993 : Leprechaun
• 1994 : Leprechaun 2: Been engaged De Leprechaun
• 1995: Leprechaun 3: Leprechaun has Las Vegas
• 1996: Leprechaun 4 In space: Leprechaun Destination Cosmos
• 2000: Leprechaun in the hood (new in France)
• 2003: Leprechaun: back 2 tha hood (new in France)

But of other films and telefilms refer to him:

• 1981 : The Leprechaun' S Christmas Gold
• 1995: Leapin' leprechauns
• 1996 : Spellbreaker: Secrecy off the Leprechauns
• 1997: has very unlucky leprechaun
• 1999: The Magical Legend off the Leprechauns with Whoopi Goldberg

• Leprechaun is also present in the video game Heroes off Might and Magic IV .

• Leprechaun is also the mascot of the cereal mark Lucky Charms .

• It also appears in episodes 10 to 12 of season 11 of south park

Bonds