Rolling in Clover
Ready for a green beer yet, anyone? Green eggs? Ham? Anyone?
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What does “in clover” mean?
(Apparently “in clover” now means “in shit”, but it didn’t always. See below.)
Prosperous, living well. For example, After we make our first million, we’ll be in clover. This expression alludes to cattle happily feeding on clover. Slightly different versions are like pigs in clover and rolling in clover. [c. 1700]
Four-Leaf Clovers
The superstition of the four-leaf clover is thought to originate with the Druids. Apparently they believed the shamrock helped them to see evil spirits, thereby allowing them time to get away or find a safe hide-out. The four-leaf clover was also used to ward off evil as it provided a magical repellent that would turn away bad luck. The bearer of the clover was also able to see fairies and this became a very popular past-time with children in the middle ages. Young adventurers would go out each day to find four-leaf clovers and once they found them, would then proceed to look for fairies among the flowers and fields.
The three-leaf clover is also associated with good luck as it is believed to be a symbol for the Holy Trinity. By wearing a three- or a four-leaf clover, good luck is brought to the bearer.
The above is from The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry http://www.csicop.org/superstition/library/four-leaf_clovers/
Some of those ‘evil spirits’ mentioned were confused no doubt with these mischief makers. You can read stories of encounters at the link below.
http://paranormal.about.com/od/fairieslittlepeople/a/Encounters-With-Little-People.htm?nl=1
My favorite Little People story comes not from Ireland, but from Argentina:
In the Muncipality of Merlo a one hundred year old eucalyptus tree near a library
was said to be obscuring the visibility of motorists and causing problems with
telephone lines so the tree was scheduled for a trimming operation. Traffic halted
for a time while the work progressed and when traffic resumed, several motorists claimed to see strange figures illuminated by their headlights. They saw what appeared to be little men coming single file out of the tree and walking toward the library, wearing what one woman described as clothing of a “brownish hue”.
For years there were stories of “imp” sightings in the district, hidden among the
branches and leaves of the old tree and once the trimming operation was complete some claim because of the red wood of the eucalyptus it appeared as if the tree was bleeding.
UPDATE: Check out this video.
And this one:
