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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. |
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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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