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IRISH GONCONER (LOVE TALKER)
The gonconer (or gancanagh) is a little creature of the
leprechaun type except than unlike the leprechaun, the
gonconer is an idler. He always appears with a pipe in his
mouth in lonely valleys, where he makes love to shepherdesses
and milkmaids.
The name gonconer comes from the Gaelic word gean-canagh
which means love talker.
Watch out for him because it definitely means bad luck is
on the way if you meet him. He is a real loner, a solitary
fairy who is the embodiment
of love and idleness. He always has a dudeen (pipe) in his
mouth.
He has no shadow, the birds stop singing and a mist
unfurls about him when he is around.
His favorite pastime is to seduce young
mortal maidens with his twinkling black eyes and
enchanting gentle voice. If they kiss him they are
doomed, for he disappears as quickly as he comes,
leaving them to pine to death.
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Variants: gancanagh, gean-canagh.
I met the
Love-Talker one eve in the glen,
He was handsomer than any of our handsome young men,
His eyes were blacker than the sloe, his voice sweeter far
Than the crooning of old Kevin's pipes beyond in Coolnagar.
I was bound for the milking with a heart fair and free–
My grief! my grief! that bitter hour drained the life from me;
I thought him human lover, though his lips on mine were cold,
And the breath of death blew keen on me within his hold.
I know not what way he came, no shadow fell behind,
But all the sighing rushes swayed beneath a fairy wind
The thrush ceased its singing, a mist crept about,
We two clung together–with the world shut out.
Ethna Carbury,
The Love Talker
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