Brownie

"PIXIES, FAIRIES, ELVES AND OTHER WEE FOLK." Http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com. N.p., 5 Mar. 2009. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. JPEG file. 

A Brownie is a part of Scottish folklore. Brownies are characterized as very tiny creatures. They are usually naked or have very little clothes on that are rags and they are usually males. Their often compared to goblins and they are especially known for their help in doing household chores. Brownies will clean a mortals house in return of a small gift or foods. However, they do not like to be seen while they are doing their work so mortals would oftentimes have to leave their payments to the goblins beforehand. Among their favorite rewards include a dish of cream, porridge, and honey. Brownies will abandon the home that they aid in if the mortals misuse them or if their gifts are called payments because they see it as more of an exchange of work for goods.  

 

"Brownie." The Hutchinson Dictionary of the Arts. 2004: n.p. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 04 Dec 2012.

Leprechaun

Google Image. 4 Dec. 2012. JPEG file.

The Leprechaun is widely recognized as an aged man, short, and usually in an intoxicated state and miserable. He is usually wearing wool and a green cloak with a cocked hat. His Irish name is "lobaircin" which means "small-bodied fellow". The folktale behind the Leprechaun is that he is an Irish fairy shoemaker who tricks greedy mortals out of a promised treasure. They are told to be very fast, once you take your eyes off a leprechaun he'll vanish so quickly without you even noticing. In addition, they are to be hiding their own treasure, such as gold, that humans could usually never obtain. The Leprechaun has been shown in movies today with the same characteristics that describe the Irish fairy. The movie "The Leprechaun" depicts a greedy Irish monster who goes on a killing spree in search for his precious gold. Although the character in the movie is a killer, his image and main ideal features from the folklore are kept pretty similar.

Harvey, Steenie. "Twilight Places: Ireland's Enduring Fairy Lore." World & I. March 1998: 186-193. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 04 Dec 2012.

Banshee

Lewis, Fairweather. "The Black Friar of Newstead Abbey and Friends: Death Omens." Fairweatherlewis.wordpress.com. N.p., 20 June 2010. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. JPEG file.

Banshee or "Bean si" translates as woman of the other world. Banshee was believed to be a woman, maybe an old pagan goddess, that was supposed to predict an oncoming death. This woman was told to have attached herself to Irish families making the families haunted and seducing other young woman then killing them. Banshee appeared to be a young woman wearing bloodstained clothes sometimes said to have had red hair and often spotted near water (lake or river). She would wail the most awful cry, loud and alarming. When her mourning was heard, people of the town would know that it was someone's time to pass on.

      

Harvey, Steenie. "Twilight Places: Ireland's Enduring Fairy Lore." World & I. March 1998: 186-193. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 04 Dec 2012.

Dullahan

World of Garnia. "Google Images." Google Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. .JPEG file.

Dullahan is often referred to as the Headless Horseman. The Headless Horsemen was told as an unsolved mystery of an Irish family who had lost their son in a bizarre accident. Ormond Mallory was the son who owned a horse who he had named Follow because the horse would go wherever Mallory told him to go and he even taught him to meet at his house when they hadn't spent the day together. It is told that Mallory went on a hunt with Follow and never returned home for dinner one Christmas night. As the family waited for him to come home they were shocked to see Follow at their door carrying a bloody body on his back wearing Mallory's clothes. His head was missing with a clean stump where Mallory's head should have been. Mallory's head was never recovered. It is now said that the shadows of Mallory and his horse lurk near his old residence around Christmas time each year.

Harvey, Steenie. "Twilight Places: Ireland's Enduring Fairy Lore." World & I. March 1998: 186-193. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 04 Dec 2012.

 Lewis, Fairweather. "Enter the Horseless Heads–Ahem. The Headless Horseman of Castle Sheela." Fairweatherlewis.wordpress.com. N.p., 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.