Fear gorta

In Irish mythology, the fear gorta (Irish: Man of hunger / Man of famine; also known as the fear gortach) is a of hunger resembling an emaciated human.

According to Yeats' Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry the fear gorta walks the earth during times of famine, seeking alms from passers-by. In this version the fear gorta can be a potential source of good luck for generous individuals. Harvey relates a myth that the fear gorta was a of famine during the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s, and that the spirit originally arises from a patch of hungry grass (féar gortach).

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