The Púca · The One That Turns into a Horse

The púca is a thing that comes out at night in the Irish countryside. It takes the shape of a black horse, a hare, a goat or a person with no clear face, carries someone on its back all night and leaves them on a field bank at dawn.

Whatever it takes a liking to is said to grow rough, and its “gifts” always carry a price; the households that accept them often come to misfortune afterwards.

The old way of dealing with it is plain: pull a blade of grass it has touched, or simply sit still where you are. The older people say that as long as you do not climb on its back yourself, it can do nothing with you.

Folklore / Tipperary · Ireland / Time immemorial