Happy Saint Patrick's Day, You Pesky Leprechaun

Saint Patrick's Day Parade 2025

     Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!! Well maybe I'm a day or two late but time is irrelevant and now is better than ever to talk about The Crock of Gold by James Stephens. This story takes its reader on a wonderful path of folklore and fantasy; it has philosophers, leprechauns, gods (Pan and Angus Og), and so much more. I'm aware that Saint Patrick's Day is more than just shamrocks and leprechauns, although those are important too. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral

However, it's more significantly a day to celebrate one of Irelands most famous Patron Saints. While in Dublin I was able to visit Saint Patrick's Cathedral and it was beautiful. Unbeknownst to me at the time but now I'm aware that this cathedral is Anglican. Still, I visited it, and it was wonderful. Like the journey in The Crock of Gold, the cathedral had its own trek. Saint Patrick was said to have passed through Dublin in the 5th Century. Since then, the Cathedral has undergone numerous reconstructions, including that of its religious title.

Causeway

The Crock of Gold revolved around the thieving and search for a certain treasure (the crock of gold) which was originally in the leprechaun's possession. As I once stated before, this story was a journey. It began with a philosopher and his wife, but things became complicated very quickly. Their children Brigid and Seumas get lured into a tree, Pan lures Caitilin with the music of his pipes, but is later "rescued" by Angus Og, the philosopher is accused of murder because of those pesky leprechauns, and in the end the gods return to their own country and await the day when old Irish gods can leave their caves to rule the land with laughter and song.

It's a wonderful story that makes me think back to the Causeway. They're both magical and I can't help but relate one to the other. My trek through the causeway seemed like an adventure in itself, it was beautiful and almost other- worldly because I'd never seen anything like it before. This story although magical and mythical did seem very disheveled which took me to my experience at the parade. I remember someone saying while everyone was lined up and the atmosphere was a bit chaotic that this is the true Irish fashion, it was something along the lines of "no one knows what going on but it'll all workout in the end". This is how I felt about the story; it was humorous and chaotic, but it was a wonderful experience. 

The Crock of Gold can't be summed up into one moment because I see it everywhere. It's in the parade, it's at the Causeway, it's in religion and fantasy, and it's a reminder of old Ireland so I hear it in songs, and poems and now I'll never get away from it especially if there's a leprechaun involved.