POOKA

FAIRY HORSES

The Pooka is one of the famous 'breeds"  of Fairies and it is usually a somewhat dangerous and mischievous one known for its abilities to shape change. 

It takes many guises depending on what part of Ireland you travel in.  It has been known to take the shape of a small deformed goblin which demands a portion of the crops every year from the farmers.  It is customary for the reapers of the crops to leave behind offerings for the pooka or otherwise suffer destruction of the crops and other forms of vandalism. 

It sometimes take the shape of  an eagle with an impressive wingspan.  Other times it is in the shape of a small black goat. 

The most famous shape that the pooka takes however is a very sleek and powerful black horse with yellow eyes, smelling of sulfur and having a wild flowing mane.  It attacks travelers after dark and one who attempts to ride it,  is usually killed by falling off and landing in a bog, being thrown off of a cliff or drowned in the bottom of a body of water.  Its kick could crush a mans bones to his death. If you could ride it, you could tame it, but only one person in legend was ever famed for being able to do so.

The  famous Irish High King by the name of Brian Boru was said to have tamed the Pooka by taking three hairs from its tail and making a bridle out of them.  At the first tug of the reins the hairs turned into steel and he rode the pooka to total exhaustion exacting the promise it would not attack Christians or Irishman from that day forward.  This it allegedly did and was thought to be not quite so troublesome after that account. 

Very rarely the Pooka chose to be helpful now and then.

The Pooka's sacred day is November 1st.  On this day the Pooka was known to speak to humans and give prophetic oracles for the year until the next November and many gifts and offerings were left for it. 

At times it would gallop by houses and call out the names of certain people it wanted to take for a ride.  If they refused the person's homes were violently vandalized.

It was said to prefer living in high mountainous regions and near bodies of water.  Its other domain is to haunt the dreams of drunkards whom they shake off their backs in the fog at dawn. 

The Pooka is very similar to the Nightmare and some think that this fairy legend is possibly where the concept of the "nightmare" comes from. 

Persephone RC