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Leprawns, also called leprechauns,[1] were an unspecified type of Fay according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales.[2]
Leprawns entered into the world with Aulë and Yavanna along with many other types of Fays.[2]
In the first version of the poem Tinfang Warble, the titular character is described as an "old mad leprechaun"[1] or Leprawn.[3]
The poem Goblin Feet speaks of "tiny horns" played by "enchanted leprechauns".
Etymology[]
It is possible that Leprawn may have been "Tolkien's own peculiar adaptation of leprechaun".[4]
Real-life[]
In 2015, Philip and Carol Zaleski recounted in a book they wrote that Tolkien once declared "stoutly and with apparent sincerity" that "a small green shoe" in his pocket was "a leprechaun's shoe" as a "response to an undergraduate's query about the truth of dragons and other legends".[5] According to Bradley J. Birzer, the source for this reminiscence is a letter from Norman Power to Clyde S. Kilby that is kept at the Marion E. Wade Center.[6]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Parma Eldalamberon XVIII, "Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 2", PF17: Description of "Qenyatic (Adapted to English) Phonetic" with Poems, Commentary on PF17, pg. 122
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, III: "The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor", pg. 66
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, IV: "The Chaining of Melko", Commentary, pg. 108
- ↑ Peter Gilliver, Edmund Weiner and Jeremy Marshall, The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary, pg. 77
- ↑ Philip and Carol Zaleski, The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, pg. 370
- ↑ "Excerpt from a letter about JRRT, from Norman S. Power, Ladywood, Birmingham, England, author of THE FIRLAND SAGA," WCWC, Kilby Files, 3-8, "Tolkien the Man" from Tolkien and The Silmarillion. Cf. discussion at the Tolkien Society Facebook group (dated 13 August 2019)