Irish Folkore and Fay: The Pooka

 

 

 

 

The pooka (or púca) are  some of the most feared shapshifting  creatures in Irish mythology.  

 

They were believed to bring either good or bad luck to those who see them and were especially feared around times of harvest. As a good or bad harvest could mean the difference between life and death during a hard winter.

They often take the form of a wild dog, with red sulfurous eyes, but could also take the form of a goblin or human with animal features. According to Celtic mythology, they are often written as evil and devilish.

However, there are also tales of them warning humans of accidents or being called on for protection.

 

 A similar fairy entity appears in the mythology of Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Channel Islands.

Often thought of as an animal spirit, some accounts believe it gets its name from Poc, meaning he-goat in Irish. In fact, Pooka is a changeling and can take an animal or human form; like a horse, donkey, cat, dog, bull, young man, or even a voluptuous young woman. The animal Pooka is usually jet black with fiery golden or red eyes. Some associate it with the devil!

 

 

They live deep in the mountains and hillside. Depending on the part of Ireland your in, Pooka was  either helpful or harmful. It's been known to help farmers for example, but it can also wreak havoc in a farm.

Though in general an encounter with y a poika usually seen as a bad oman. 

Poika is know for it's intelligence and deceptive nature and it's ability to lie convincingly to it's target. It is also considered a fertility spirit in some regions since it has the power to create or destroy.  Another one of it's abilities is  human speech, it is a gifted prophesier.

 

 November is the month of Pooka. In Ireland essentially at Halloween,  children went out dressed as pooka and collected treats or played pranks(early truck or treating) but others stayed indoors, fearful of stories they had heard of what Pooka did to children. The Pooka is considered a  bogeyman  in some places throughout Ireland.

 

 This  fay  is also  documented in the classic literature of Ireland and Britain. Irish poet and playwright W. B. Yeats depicts Pooka as an eagle, while Irish novelist and playwright Brian O’Nolan, who wrote under the pseudonym Flann O’Brien, was also so inspired. O’Brien’s masterpiece, At Swim-Two-Birds, features a character called Pooka MacPhillemey, a “member of devil class”. In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Puck is a mischievous and quick-witted sprite responsible for setting many of the play’s events in motion through his magic.

Often appearing as a horse, Pooka sometimes gallops across the countryside knocking down fences and gates and destroying crops. In this form, he likes to take a rider, usually a drunkard, on a wild ride all night and shake him off in the early morning. This person, already heavily inebriated, is also under the spell  and has no recollection of what happened usually. This often accounts for why some people who, having gotten very drunk, report that they have no idea what happened the previous night.

 

 

 The only man to ever successfully ride a Pooka was High King of Ireland and founder of O’Brien dynasty, Brian Boruma Mac Cennetig (941-1014), or more commonly known as Brian Boru. Brian managed to control the magic of the creature by using a special bridle that used three hairs of Pooka’s tail. Brian’s physical prowess meant he was able to stay on its back until it was exhausted Pooka then surrendered to Brian.

 

 

 

The king forced it to agree to two promises. First, it no longer tormented Christian people and ruined their property, and second it would never again attack an Irishman, except those who were drunk or were abroad with evil intent. Although Pooka agreed, it appears to have forgotten its promises over the years. 

There have been hundreds of pooka sightings all over the country throughout the centuries but the most famous story is an animal spirit that gave its name to Poulaphuca (Hole of Pooka) at the boundary of River Liffey between counties Kildare and Wicklow.

 Now a site of a hydroelectric power station, where the river flows through a narrow gorge before plunging 150 feet (46 meters) in three stages. Under the second drop there is a pool, and this is called Hole of Pooka. Irish author Padraig O’Farrell (1932-2004) tells a story which was inspired by the written account of an anonymous Kildare man. The writer also has an interesting postscript at the end:

 

   In November 1813, Kildare Hunt known as Killing Kildares set out. Having indulged in traditional stirrup cup at Tipper crossroads, near Naas, hunt failed to raise a fox until it was approaching Tipperkevin, north of Ballymore Eustace, county Kildare. Here a large fox appeared and led a course towards Liffey. Simultaneously, an un-mounted black horse appeared, that did not belong to any of riders. It was Pooka!
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"The terrain was difficult and fox ran fast, so that near Liffey, only one of members of hunt, a man named Grennan, and horse, who was really Pooka, remained with pack. The gorge was in full spate but hounds were gaining on their quarry and started to pick their way across rocks. Seeing danger, Grennan attempted to recall hounds, but Pooka ahead of them was tempting them onwards. The fox headed for ledge on narrow part of gorge then, seeing Pooka’s red eyes spitting fire, fox jumped. It missed ledge, falling into turbulent waters below. The Pooka easily leaped across gorge, disappearing into woodlands, but pack of hounds hard on scent of fox went headlong into pool.
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 "Looking down, Grennan saw fox and hounds trying desperately to swim to safety through swirling swell; other hounds dashed against rocks were yelping in pain and dying. He wept as most of pack went under. Suddenly his sorrow give way to terror, he heard a diabolical neighing, like an animal laughing – from woods opposite. Grennan knew then it was Pooka."

The writer of the original story describes how in the 1930s, as he stood above the valleys of Liffey and King’s River, a sudden sadness came over him and he wept at the sight of so many humble homes that would soon be submerged forever by Blessington Lakes, created to supply water for a power station at Poulaphuca.

Between 1938 and 1940 seventy-six houses were demolished and bridges at Humphreystown, Baltyboys, and Burgage were blown up before the entire valley was flooded for the hydroelectric power station. A Protestant church, St. Mark’s, built in 1682 was also submerged. To this day there have been many claims of people hearing bells tolling beneath the waters of lakes.

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