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IRISH POOKA

Shapechanging tricksters. All pooka are tied to a specific type of animal and have aspects of that animal (whiskers, scales, feathers, ears, tails, etc.). They are able to shapechange into that animal, if unobserved. They are also great listeners, and can often persuade people in conversation to tell them some of their most protected secrets. They have a problem telling the truth though. The truth simply isn't interesting to a pooka, and they feel that they must always improve on it in some way.

Pookas are one of the most feared faeries in Ireland. They're always out and about after nightfall creating harm and mischief. Their main abode is the high mountaintops.

His most familiar guise is that of a sleek dark horse with yellow eyes and a thick mane. He roams large areas of the countryside at night knocking down fences and gates, scattering livestock, and trampling crops. The pooka likes to take a rider on a wild ride and shake him off in the grey of morning.  He especially likes drunkards. When it rains with sun shining that means he will be out that night. When berries are killed by frost it is the pooka's spit which is upon them and they should not be eaten.

The mere sight of him may prevent hens laying their eggs or cows giving milk, and it is the curse of all late night travelers as it is known to swoop them up on to its back and then throw them into muddy ditches or bog holes. The pooka has the power of human speech, and it has been known to stop in front of certain houses and call out the names of those it wants to take upon his midnight rides. If that person refuses, the pooka will vandalize their property because it is a very vindictive fairy.

Not all consider the pooka to be dangerous. Some areas of Ireland consider him to be helpful at times; issuing prophecies and warnings. There are reports of a "speaking horse" who appears on November 1st each year in Leinster, Ireland.

Only one man has ever managed to ride the pooka and that was King Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland. Using a special bridle containing three hairs from the pooka's tail, Brian managed to control the magic horse and stay on its back until, exhausted, it surrendered to his will. The king extracted two promises from it; firstly, that it would no longer torment Christian people and ruin their property and secondly, that it would never again attack an Irishman (all other nationalities are exempt) except those who are drunk or abroad with an evil intent. The latter it could attack with greater ferocity than before. The pooka agreed to these conditions. However, over the intervening years, it seems to have forgotten its bargain and attacks on property and sober travelers on their way home continue to this day.

Yet there are other tales of the pooka as a mysterious traveler who often stops along the side of the country home and talks for an hour or two.  A favorite opening line is “You are new here, I think. Many years ago I used to live in this house, …” followed by interesting tales, often of where the family fortune disappeared. It sometimes seems that conspiracy theories started with Irish pookas. Fortunes swindled away from families are one of the main topics of the tales told by these visitors. The odd thing about these visits is that the person seems so real, until they go. They just disappear, without warning, and with the listener hardly noticing they have gone. And they never leave any sign behind, or do any harm.

Some remote areas in Ireland have witnessed the pooka only instead of seeing him as a horse, they see a small, deformed goblin. He demands a share of the harvest and many farmers still leave a portion out called the "pooka's share".

Others see him as a large, hairy bogeyman.  There are also reports he takes the guise of an eagle or a black horned goat. Still, incredibly, others see him a large rabbit. The character of the Easter Bunny is non-Christian in origin. The miraculous rabbit who delivers eggs and candy, still a potent symbol in the 21st Century, has his origins in the Celtic fertility spirit known as the pooka. The pooka, you may remember, appeared as a 6" tall white bunny in the movie  Harvey the Rabbit.

The pooka is remembered in recent history as a trickster figure; it is from the name pooka that the term boogey man was eventually derived. A few thousand years back, the pooka was originally a central European god known as the Boga, a nature god similar to the Greeks' Pan. Some etymologists claim that the Slavic word Bog was derived from Boga. Bog of course, is the Slavic name for the Almighty, and is the predecessor of the English word God. You might find it amusing to tell your Christian friends that every time they invoke the name of God, they are, in fact, praying to a great horny rabbit.

In modern times, there remains much interest in the pooka. The Ireland of The Celtic Tiger and a rapidly expanding economy remains the home of the pooka. Other Irish little people or fairies are much less believable. They seem to appear only to people under stress, or perhaps to those who have taken too much alcohol. The fascination of the pookas is that they are encountered by people going about their normal affairs. A engineer out on field work or a person spending a busy day at home might meet one. Such people do not even realize that that anything unusual has taken place until perhaps an hour or so after the pooka has left. The Pooka does not say “Goodbye".

Variants: phooka, phouka, puca, puck, pwca.

Well, Harvey you can look at your clock... and stop it.
And you can go anywhere you like,
with anyone you like,
and stay as long as you like,
and when you get back...
not one minute will have ticked by.

Elwood P. Dowd, character from Harvey (1950)


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