Most everyone has a basic idea of what a leprechaun is. Short, bearded dude, wearing green, keeps pots of gold at the end of rainbows. In fact, if you can manage to catch one they might offer you their gold if you let them go.

Of course, like most folklore, there’s a bit more to them than pop culture would have you believe. So let’s go ahead an take a look!

To begin, leprechauns wearing green isn’t even a constant, as in some areas they actually wear red. They are, however, almost universally depicted as short, usually old, usually bearded, and wearing archaic clothes.

Hell, in some areas they’re not even called leprechauns, and have so many names that I couldn’t possibly list them here. To try and keep things simple, I’m going to just go with the name most people would know.

One thing that is a constant, however, is that they are also extremely wealthy, keeping their gold in a pot. If you can catch one, they will offer you their riches if you let them go. However, considering that they are fairies, they will try to trick you to get out of it, so you can’t really trust them to deliver.

One thing I didn’t know is that leprechauns are keen cobblers. By which I mean shoemakers, and not pie-like fruit deserts. This may actually explain why they’re so rich: everyone needs shoes, after all. Their name actually may have been derived from leath bhrogan, which is Irish for shoemaker.

As I did mention before, they are fairies, and as any keen student of folklore will tell you, don’t fuck with the fae. Though they’re more mischievous than actively malicious, some stories have them doing things like kidnapping or murdering children. So there’s that.

Of course we have many stories about these creatures, and one of the more interesting ones I’ve heard dates back to the middle ages. In this story, the high king Fergus mac Léti’s day gets off to a pretty bad start. Because three leprechauns have snatched him from his bed and dragged him off to the ocean in his sleep. The cold water wakes him up, though, and he’s not pleased. He manages to seize them, and they offer him three wishes in

So how did leprechauns get so entrenched in pop culture? Well, if you’re in the US like me, this is largely through immigration. The 1840s and 1850s saw a huge wave of Irish immigration due to the Irish Potato Famine. And, of course, the immigrants brought their folklore with them. This is how we get things like the University of Notre Dame mascot, the Lucky Charms guy, and schlocky horror films starring Warwick Davis.

Probably one of the weirdest things I’ve learned is that they lent their name to a genetic disorder: Donohue’s syndrome, or” leprechaunism.” This syndrome involves a severe insulin resistance, excessive body hair, low-set ears, large eyes, and low muscle mass and body fat.

It should be noted though, that leprechaunism is considered kinda derogatory, so isn’t really that widely used.

And that’s a quick rundown on leprechauns. Does anyone know where I can find one, by the way? Mama’s got student loans to pay off.