 |
| (Pixabay) |
- The story, The Field of Boliauns, is a leprechaun story. One day, Tom Fitzpatrick comes across a leprechaun as it is fixing it's shoe. He manages to catch him and orders him to take him to its gold. The leprechaun takes Tom to a field full of boliauns. It's difficult to find online exactly what a 'boliauns' is. According to some, it refers to leprechauns themselves, but it was obvious in the context of the story that it was a plant of some kind. I found a source that said it's ragweed. After leading Tom to the field, he takes him to a place under a tree and the leprechaun says that his gold treasure is buried underneath. Realizing that he doesn't have a spade, Tom ties a red garter around the nearby tree and makes the leprechaun promise not to touch it. Then, he lets the leprechaun go and goes home to get a spade. When Tom returns to the field, he sees that red garters are tied to every tree in it. He realizes that he'll never find the right spot and gives up.
- Leprechaun stories are interesting, because they serve as a sort of fairy trickster. Everyone wants something from them, but they are clever and always find a loophole to get out of giving it to them. Fairies are supposedly unable to tell a lie, so they have developed a glibness that allows them to misdirect with language, while never outright lying.
- I want to write a story about a leprechaun that has all of the trickster characteristics, but is also nice. Perhaps, he meets a poor young child who is kind and doesn't want anything from him. He keeps an eye on the child and one day decides to give it some of the gold by choice, not because he has been forced into it.
Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.
No comments:
Post a Comment