Pop culture hasn't treated the Irish folklore fairy known as leprechaun with as much respect as it probably could have over the years.
Given it's a piece of folklore and, thus, a fictional being, I reckon people don't really care how they treat it.
Still, what we usually see is a little old man wearing a green hat, coat and pants and participating in a wee bit of mischief. Oh, and the mythical creature also hides that pot of gold you'll find at the end of the rainbow.
[Crichton leprechaun revisited: Meet the man who discovered the legend]
Yep, that's pretty much all we know, or really care to know, about leprechauns. That and, of course, what Hollywood and sports have shown us throughout the years.
You often see them as mascots for sports organizations (Boston Celtics, Notre Dame) and various products (Lucky Charms), or as villains in films (the "Leprechaun" franchise) or television ("The Simpsons," World Wrestling Entertainment).
Whatever the format, the depictions are usually stereotypical of Irish culture and based on 19th century caricatures.m The actual origin of the leprechaun is said to come from the medieval tale "Adventur of Fergus son of Leti," wherein a character falls alseep on a beach before waking up to find himself being dragged into the sea by three leprechauns.
But the entire leprechaun game completely changed in 2006, thanks to one particular "sighting" in one Alabama neighborhood. A sketch of a supposed Mobile leprechaun went viral as "witnesses" claimed to have seen the mythical creature in the Cricthon neighborhood of Mobile. Local NBC affiliate WPMI-TV would report the news before that video was posted on YouTube on St. Patrick's Day that year, becoming one of the first truly viral videos in YouTube's young history.
Anyway, click through the gallery above of pop culture's most famous leprechaun characters.
Source: http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/03/st_patricks_day_2015_leprechau.html
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