Leprechaun

Also called Leipreachán.

A solitary fairy shoemaker from Irish folklore, famed for guarding a hidden pot of gold and for the cunning bargains he strikes with anyone who manages to catch him.

Tradition: Irish folklore
Region: Ireland (place of origin)
Trait family: The Tricksters
Symbols: Shoe

Near this figure

Bariaua Vanishes into thin air when threatened · Shy elusive avoids humans
Troll Trickery and cunning · Treasure guardian
Carbuncle Treasure guardian · Shy elusive avoids humans
Akhtya Trickery and cunning
Cercopes Trickery and cunning
Dinewan Trickery and cunning

and 2 more

Stihi Treasure guardian
Tragopan Shy elusive avoids humans

Symbols

Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.

Shoe bears image-domain The shoe denotes the shod foot of civilisation, marking rank, ownership and travel, carried off in tales of recognition, and magically swift in seven- league form.
why
He is frequently pictured mending a single shoe, and the tapping of his cobbler's hammer is said to be the sound by which he can be located.

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Behaviour

Shy elusive avoids humans
why
His temperament is commonly described as mischievous, bad-tempered, or sly, and in some tellings he is solitary by nature, avoiding contact with humans and other fairies alike.
Treasure guardian
why
The Leprechaun's best-known possession is a hidden hoard of gold, which in many tellings he buries or stores at the end of a rainbow, and which he guards jealously.
Vanishes into thin air when threatened
why
In some tellings he possesses the power to vanish or teleport away the instant a captor's attention lapses, which functions as his primary defense against being permanently bound to his word.

Utility powers

Trickery and cunning
why
Folklore holds that a human who physically catches a Leprechaun can compel him to reveal the location of this treasure or grant three wishes, but the Leprechaun is renowned for using trickery and wordplay to escape captivity or to break his end of the bargain through deceptive technicalities.

Roles

Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.