The leprechaun of Irish folklore

In the beginning, before there was humankind in the form even of Adam and Eve, God had created the angels to worship Himself. That all did not do so is well known: The Archangel Lucifer thought himself an equal to Himself and fomented a rebellion amongst the angel legions, arch and otherwise. It was touch and go for a while - not because God was ever in doubt of losing, mind you, but because the Almighty Father wanted to see who among his heavenly creations had faith in Himself - and humility in themselves (jealousy, you see, being the root of Lucifer's failings). The Archangels Michael and Gabriel were, of the course, to be seen at the forefront of God's legions, casting down Lucifer and his jealous crowd with the zeal of the righteous. Angels cannot be extinguished save by God's hand, however, and the Lord thought it fitting that they should be banished from His sight rather than ceasing to be. This was suffering more than Lucifer thought he could stand. About to set off on his downward journey to eternal exile, he turned back to God and taunted: "Sure and You're casting us away - but what of those who feared to join the fray?" For, indeed, there were those among the heavenly legions who had not joined sides. God was in a quandary: f

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from Gaul, from Wales, Scotland, and so forth. One of the earliest written Irish works, in the 7th Century A.D., recounts this process: Leabhar Gabhßla - The Book of Invasions. Each group had been settled in its previous "home" long enough to develop individualistic tribal traditions and mythologies, yet each shared in common a dominant Celtic worldview. The Celtic world outside of Ireland was fixed by Rome. The vast power of the Roman Empire inexorably set in place as status quo the ethnic compositions of the lands over which it held sway - even so far west as Britain. The influence of Latin culture and international trade dominated the "known" world until the Empire's decline and the onslaught of Dark Age chaos. Ireland was influenced by the Empire via the successful introduction of the Roman Catholic Church in the 5th Century A.D. - but that was a success made on Irish terms. Insulated from the power and cultural might of Rome, the Irish developed a Catholicism steeped in Celtic tradition and speaking the Gaelic tongue in its churches and monasteries, in addition to the Church Latin. The 5th through 8th Centuries are often referred to as Ireland's "Golden Age." It was interrupted in the late 8th Century, when Vikin
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Approximate Word count = 4695
Approximate Pages = 19 (250 words per page)