As we venture farther into the Irish countryside, I've been coming across more and more instances of Irish folklore. As a lover of fantasy and fairy-tales, I've decided that, in these last few days, I'll do some short research posts on some of the different creatures featured in Irish folktales.
Creature Feature 01: The Púca, (also pooka or phooka)
The word "Púca" may come from the Irish word for "spirit" or "ghost," or the Old Norse "pook" or "puki" meaning "nature spirit". These are shape-shifting faeries, found in rural and port towns. They are said to prefer to take the forms of black horses, rabbits, goats, or some manner of goblin. While there is a broad range of phisical appearances, all highlight the púca's fur being black, usually with glowing red or golden eyes (and mane in the case of a horse). The oldest tales tend to lean towards the púca as a horse, though today, artistic interpretation of them are very varied.
What exactly the púca does is vary vague. In most tales, as stated by historian Thoman Keightley, the púca are neither good nor bad. They enjoy confusing travelers and are very clever. In other tales, such as those of Lady Wilde, however, púca come to help poor farmers, much like the elves in "The Elves and the Shoemaker" myth, while in other tales, they are much more dangerous creatures and take the form of demonic creatures to hunt down people and kill them. The myth of the púca is so vague that the term is sometimes used to just mean "an Irish faerie" rather than a specific shapeshifting gobin.
Either way, the púca certainly represent the feeling of mystery that surround most fairy-tales, and are certainly interesting in the variety of folk tales they offer. Whether as demon horses or clever goblins, púca have been used and used again in tales from the ancient Irish myths all the way to modern fantasy stories, and are likely to continue to appear here and there over time....
The word "Púca" may come from the Irish word for "spirit" or "ghost," or the Old Norse "pook" or "puki" meaning "nature spirit". These are shape-shifting faeries, found in rural and port towns. They are said to prefer to take the forms of black horses, rabbits, goats, or some manner of goblin. While there is a broad range of phisical appearances, all highlight the púca's fur being black, usually with glowing red or golden eyes (and mane in the case of a horse). The oldest tales tend to lean towards the púca as a horse, though today, artistic interpretation of them are very varied.
What exactly the púca does is vary vague. In most tales, as stated by historian Thoman Keightley, the púca are neither good nor bad. They enjoy confusing travelers and are very clever. In other tales, such as those of Lady Wilde, however, púca come to help poor farmers, much like the elves in "The Elves and the Shoemaker" myth, while in other tales, they are much more dangerous creatures and take the form of demonic creatures to hunt down people and kill them. The myth of the púca is so vague that the term is sometimes used to just mean "an Irish faerie" rather than a specific shapeshifting gobin.
Either way, the púca certainly represent the feeling of mystery that surround most fairy-tales, and are certainly interesting in the variety of folk tales they offer. Whether as demon horses or clever goblins, púca have been used and used again in tales from the ancient Irish myths all the way to modern fantasy stories, and are likely to continue to appear here and there over time....