many of the irish coming into america thought of themselves as catholics , even if they knew nothing of the catechism , even if all they knew of religion was the bean sidhe , the banshee , who came to wail at the walls of a house where death soon would be , and saint bride , who was once bridget of the two sisters ( each of the three was a brigid , each was the same woman ) , and tales of finn , of ofsin , of conan the bald-even of the leprechauns , the little people ( and was that not the biggest joke of the irish , for the leprechauns in their day were the tallest of the mound folk ) ... all this and more mr. ibis told them in the kitchen that night .