Far darrig (fear dearg)

No cosmogonic origin or creation myth for the far darrig is present in the supplied sources. Instead the figure is recorded in nineteenth- and twentieth-century collections and summaries of Irish folktales (for example Crofton Croker's Munster account, and later indexed summaries), where it is classified among solitary fairies alongside figures such as the leprechaun and clurichaun. The extant material frames the far darrig as a type within the Irish sidhe/otherworldly folk rather than as a deity or ancestral spirit.

Sources consistently note red dress—specifically a red coat and cap—and generally small stature, though size descriptions vary. A Munster account (Croker, 1832) describes a figure about 2.5 feet tall with a wrinkled face, long grey hair and a sugarloaf hat; other descriptions call them 'rather fat' or nickname them 'Rat Boys' for dark, hairy skin, long snouts and skinny tails. Some summaries add that they can change size, and overall accounts emphasize variability across informants.

Primary behaviour is trickery and practical joking, described explicitly as including 'gruesome joking.' Traditions attribute to the far darrig baby-switching (replacing babies with changelings) and a 'some connection to nightmares,' indicating an ability to affect infant fate and sleep or dream-states in folk explanations. They are said to be sociable in certain respects—smoking by campfires, thinking, and eating meals if offered—and sources stress that refusing a far darrig's request invites unlucky and imaginative punishments; conversely, their presence in a house is sometimes said to bring good luck.