# III explained — The Crock of Gold

> Chapter companion for The Crock of Gold by James Stephens.

## What happens

Meehawl MacMurrachu visits the Philosopher to seek advice about his wife's missing washboard. The Philosopher delivers a lengthy discourse on the futility of washing, then deduces that the Leprecauns of Gort na Cloca Mora took it. He instructs Meehawl to search under a tree in the Gort, where Meehawl finds a crock of gold instead of the washboard, greatly enhancing the Philosopher's fame.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Folly of Reason

The Philosopher's elaborate logical reasoning about washing leads to an absurd conclusion—that the Leprecauns stole the washboard—yet it accidentally results in Meehawl finding gold, highlighting the ironic and unpredictable outcomes of over-reasoning.

## Character check-ins

### Meehawl MacMurrachu

Visits the Philosopher to ask about his wife's missing washboard; follows the Philosopher's advice and finds a crock of gold.

### Seumas Beg

Referred to as 'the Philosopher'; he advises Meehawl and deduces the Leprecauns took the washboard.

## Key lines

> We should seek, therefore, not how to make ourselves clean, but how to attain a more unique and splendid dirtiness, and perhaps the accumulated layers of matter might, by ordinary geologic compulsion, become incorporated with the human cuticle and so render clothing unnecessary

Instead of trying to get clean, we should aim for a more impressive kind of dirtiness, so that over time the dirt might become part of our skin and we wouldn't need clothes.

_The Philosopher's satirical argument against washing, advocating for embracing dirt as a natural state._

> There is a hole under a tree in the southeast of the field. Try what you will find in that hole.

Look in the hole beneath the tree at the southeast corner of the field and see what you discover there.

_The Philosopher directs Meehawl to the location where the Leprecauns' gold is hidden._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_crock_of_gold_se/chapters/iii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_crock_of_gold_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_crock_of_gold_se/chapters