Abstract

During Oedipa Maas's first evening at the Echo Courts motel, where she meets with the lawyer Metzger, "On the doorsill," we read, "the Paranoids, as we leave milk to propitiate the leprechaun, had set a fifth of Jack Daniels" (40). J. Kerry Grant's Companion to The Crying of Lot 49 notes, "While Irish folklore is replete with tales involving the propitiation of leprechauns, I have been unable to find any specific reference to the leaving of milk for that purpose" (41). Grant has an ally of sorts in the Irish innkeeper, Tatie (J. M. Kerrigan), in the film The Luck of the Irish, who informs and admonishes the visiting American freelancer, Stephen Fitzgerald (Tyrone Power). When Fitzgerald returns downstairs from his room to retrieve some forgotten items, he observes Tatie taking a bottle from the bar and quietly, and somewhat drunkenly, placing it outside the front door.

How to Cite:

Philippo, C. K., (2008) “A Note on Propitiating Leprechauns in The Crying of Lot 49”, Pynchon Notes , 245-248. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/pn.38