6 h 19 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 19 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In an Irish pine wood, reason meets its match in leprechauns, wandering gods, and a hidden crock of gold.
Two old philosophers live with their wives in a pine wood, arguing about the nature of things. Nearby, leprechauns guard their buried gold. In James Stephens’s The Crock of Gold, these neighbours share a countryside where lofty ideas meet practical needs, and the Philosopher’s trust in reason faces tests that thought alone may not answer.
Meehawl MacMurrachu has a family to feed and finds himself caught in trouble surrounding the gold. His daughter, Caitilin Ny Murrachu, hears the pipes of Pan, while Angus Og brings the presence of Irish myth. As the story wanders towards towns, officials, and police, jokes about money and law sit beside a searching question: where does wisdom lie?
What you’ll discover
- Thinkers among the trees Meet proud philosophers whose grand arguments rub against the daily sense of their wives.
- Gold beneath the ground Enter the hidden world of cunning leprechauns and the trouble surrounding their guarded treasure.
- Gods with a playful streak Follow Pan and Angus Og into a countryside alive with music, beauty, and mischief.
- Wisdom beyond lofty talk Explore questions of learning, money, and law through sharp jokes and encounters with practical lives.
- Room to wander Enjoy loose episodes that move from household comedy to lyric poetry and quiet nature writing.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy Irish folklore, gentle satire and playful, poetic prose, and anyone who loves wandering stories of gods, leprechauns and the search for wisdom.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Two philosophers live in a pine wood
- The leprechauns guard a crock of gold
- Caitilin hears the pipes of Pan
- Angus Og brings the old gods back
- Reason, gold and the law meet trouble
- A story told in song, joke and mood
Who’s who
- The PhilosopherAn old thinker who lives in the pine wood and trusts in reason, though the world around him keeps testing that trust.
- The Thin Woman of Inis MagrathA wife in the philosophers' household whose sharp sense of daily life sits against the lofty talk around her.
- The Grey Woman of DromleenThe other wife of the wood, a firm presence who sees her husband's high ideas with a practical eye.
- Meehawl MacMurrachuA poor countryman with a family to feed, drawn into the trouble that surrounds the leprechauns and their gold.
- Caitilin Ny MurrachuMeehawl's young daughter, quiet and open to wonder, who is close to the music and beauty of the land.
- PanThe Greek god of the woods and wild things, who comes to Ireland with his pipes and a taste for mischief.
- Angus OgThe Irish god of love and youth, kindly and bright, who brings the old world of myth into the story.
- Seumas BegA boy of the countryside, quick and honest, who often sees more plainly than the adults around him.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 6 h 19 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Le Pot d’or
by James Stephens · 1912
In an Irish pine wood, philosophers debate wisdom while leprechauns guard gold and a poor family is drawn into trouble.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Crock of Gold is a comic fantasy novel by the Irish writer James Stephens, first published in 1912. It was written in the years of the Irish literary revival, when poets and storytellers were gathering up the old myths of Ireland and giving them new life.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two philosophers live in a pine wood
The story opens in a pine wood in Ireland, where two philosophers have built their lives around thought. They are old, serious and proud of their minds. They sit, they talk, they argue, and they believe that careful reasoning will lead them to the truth about the world.
They are not alone. Each has a wife, and the wives are more than shadows in the background. The Thin Woman of Inis Magrath and the Grey Woman of Dromleen are among the people the reader comes to know, each with her own temper and her own way of looking at her husband's lofty ideas. Stephens plays the household life against the grand thinking, and the contrast is part of the joke.
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What is The Crock of Gold about?
It is a comic Irish fantasy about two philosophers in a pine wood, the leprechauns and their gold, and the arrival of gods like Pan and Angus Og. Under the jokes it asks what real wisdom is.
Who wrote The Crock of Gold and when?
James Stephens, an Irish writer, published it in 1912. It belongs to the Irish literary revival, when writers drew on old Irish myth and folklore to create new work.
Who is Pan in The Crock of Gold?
Pan is the Greek god of woods, shepherds and wild nature. In the novel he comes to Ireland with his pipes and stands for desire, music and the living earth.
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