It was also understood that he could enforce order on the household by punishing idle maids who did not meet his high expectations, through inappropriately pinching and nipping them. Consequently, Goodfellow was often praised, or indeed feared, as the strict disciplinarian of the home and its housekeepers. Links to external websites are not maintained by Six Things. That'll show you the sort of person I am. Some of us' -- he went on, with his mouth full -- 'couldn't abide Salt, or Horse-shoes over a door, or Mountain-ash berries, or Running Water, or Cold Iron, or the sound of Church bells.
But I'm Puck! Puck continues to pop up in popular culture. For example, the six-foot tall invisible rabbit in the classic Jimmy Stewart film Harvey is said to be a Pooka. Of course, there are several movie and television versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream. A year old Mickey Rooney was a youthful Puck, a wild child, in the film. Stanley Tucci played a much-older, somewhat wearier Puck in the film. Stage versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream abound.
Peter Brook's staging for the Royal Shakespeare Company, set in a sparse white box of a stage is considered a landmark in 20th century theatre. Paul Kane played Puck in the original run of Brook's Dream , and he relied on circus tricks for his fairy magic. And if being a movie star didn't give Puck a swelled head, having a moon named after him must have.
The tenth moon of Uranus was discovered in It's named Puck. In Raymond E. Feist's novel Faerie Tale , Puck appears as one of a variety of characters haunting upstate New York. It's possible that the true Puck in the story is Ariel, a fellow Shakespearean fairy this one from The Tempest and another moon of Uranus. One of Ariel's shape-changing alter-egos is Wayland Smith, a legendary blacksmith and a character in Puck of Pook's Hill.
Jacky Rowan, the heroine of Canadian author Charles de Lint's contemporary fantasy novel, Jack the Giant-Killer is referred to as a puck. One of the characters, noting the similarity to Kipling's book, wondered which had come first.
These novels are collected in Jack of Kinrowan. The connection with Robin Hood is still strong. And in Parke Godwin's Sherwood , Robin takes his name from the forest sprite. His mother even calls him Puck-Robin. This gruff yet good-natured former mercenary is named for both the Shakespearean imp and the hockey puck.
Judd's acrobat stunts fit both types of Pucks. But whoever could ever see the Puck of legend with the boxer's cauliflower ear that the Marvel Comics' Puck has?
In , Marvel briefly featured another Puck, the teenaged half-Japanese daughter of the original. His first appearance is in issue 19, where he and the other real faeries are invited to attend the first performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. With a hedgehog-like appearance, this Puck has some of the darker elements of the legend. For example, upon hearing the Shakespearean passage quoted above, the real Peaseblossom comments, "'I am that merry wanderer of the night'? I am that giggling-dangerous-totally-bloody-psychotic-menance-to-life and limb, more like it.
At the end of the comic, the faeries prepared to the depart the mortal realm for good. Auberon asks Puck to hurry along. Go you all. Your Puck will stay -- the last hobgoblin in a dreary world.
Ho ho ho! One 16th century expression for being lost was, "Robin Goodfellow has been with you tonight. In general, he's a merry fellow, whether his mirth is for good or for ill, and has been referred to as "the jester of the fairies.
Some claim he is a shape-shifter that often takes the form of a donkey or pony or perhaps a bird. Others claim he is a hairy little man. Later appearances give him a similarity to Pan from Greek mythology, giving him the appearance of a faun or satyr. One 17th century play depicts him as having a tight-fitting leather suit with red-tinted hands and face and carrying a flail.
Most accounts agree that Robin is red-haired. The reason for this puck, this "nature spirit," being named Robin Goodfellow can only be speculated, but the fact that he has this name may trace this specific puck back to the 15th century. Back then, it had become common practice to give things "common" names. This was touched upon briefly in my Jack Frost origins post, where I pointed out that "Jack" had become a slang term for a funny or clever fellow seen in the many nursery rhymes and expressions that name things "Jack".
You may recall the little songbird called a robin, named "Robin Redbreast" during this period. In truth, the robin's censored is orange, but there was no English word for such a color for another century. It is also worth nothing that, just as "Robin Redbreast" was a nickname for an entire species of bird, sometimes Robin Goodfellows or Pucks were spoken of in the plural, seen as a type of creature rather than a singular being of that name. Others did think of him as one singular fairy or hobgoblin.
The name for this plucky little bird, the robin, was probably in part due to the alliteration with "redbreast" but also because the robin played a trickster role in much of classic British folklore. At this same time, "Robin" was even known to be a nickname for the ultimate malevolent trickster of medieval lore, the Devil.
Robin Goodfellow was sometimes even said to be the Devil himself. So Robin must have seemed like a fitting name for the trickster woodland puck that could help you but also spell your doom on a lonely traveler's path. But the devil connection leads to another theory on the origin of Robin Goodfellow's name.
Some think, being an old puki, Puck or Robin Goodfellow is actually an old god possibly the Green Man, who we will discuss later. Some say that this god's name was, in fact, Robin and may have been connected to the orange-breasted bird of the same name.
With the Christianization of the British Isles, pagan gods and spirits were often relabeled demons to try to keep converted Christians who still believed in them from worshiping them. If the beliefs were particularly powerful, these old gods may even be said to be the devil himself in disguise.
The fact that he is also called Puck, an alternate name for a nature spirit, god, or ghost across most of northern Europe, adds credence to this theory. Even today, there are witch covens and neo-pagan groups who refer to their god as "Robin," a traditional name for such a god in many parts of the British Isles. So Robin, made a demon or devil by Christian followers seeking to kill pagan idols, may in fact have been the name of a powerful god, made into a small and inconsequential trickster as he became less relevant.
Robin is said to haunt and live in areas of standing stones, which is where ancient gods of the British Isles were worshiped. It is believed this green god may have been the god of vegetation and the forest and the spring and summer seasons. But what of the term "Good-fellow," you may ask?
It is possible that it was meant as a bit of irony, as being the devil or even being a mild trickster was anything but "good," and the devil or his fairy demons were often said to trick you into thinking they were good and pleasant once again, drawing on the Trickster archetype. It's also possible that "Good-fellow" came from a reference to the god that Puck may have originated from, who people wanted blessings from the god.
But I personally think the origins of the "Good-fellow" part of his name may have more to do with his connection to hobgoblin and brownie lore. Rowling Got the Idea for Dobby.
The most benevolent part of Robin Goodfellow lore is that which connects him to helpful household spirits, like the brownie and hobgoblin. In fact, the hobgoblin may owe its very name to Robin. Unlike its modern RPG incarnations today, which often depict an ugly, foul-smelling, villainous creature, the hobgoblin of traditional British mythology was normally a very positive creature. They were very small, hairy, naked men who had an aversion to clothes and did work around the home at night while the hosts slept, like dusting, ironing, and needlework.
All they asked in return was a bit of food. They could be a bit mischievous in their works at times, often jokers, but they did their work well. But if they are offended, which could be done by forgetting to feed them, destroying part of their home, or leaving them clothes, they would leave the home, often after doing some sort of nefarious work out of revenge.
This is very similar to the brownies of Lowland Scotland, who are similar in appearance and function but a less mischievous in their work and often less vindictive when offended though they will still leave the home if they are. There is evidence that hobgolbins and Robin Goodfellows were the same creatures. Puritans of the early North American British colonies referred to both hobgoblins and Robin Goodfellows as demons that a good Christian was not to believe in as they are magical spirits that are not God Himself , and often used the two terms interchangeably.
The modern idea of Robin Goodfellow, or as he's more commonly known, Puck, largely comes from Shakespeare's comedy play A Midsummer Night's Dream my personal favorite of Shakespeare's works , written in It is said that, at the time of Shakespeare, the belief in Robin Goodfellow and creatures like him, such as hobgoblins and brownies, were a dying trend, as stated by Reginald Scot in While there is mention of a Robin Goodfellow ballad written in , many believe it was Shakespeare who is largely responsible for reviving interest in the character.
Most modern depictions of Puck or Goodfellow draw from this play in some way or another. He is introduced in the second scene, where he is described as a "shrewd and knavish sprite" and "that merry wanderer of the night" but also said to bring good luck to those who are kind to him. He is a servant and jester of Oberon, the fairy king, and is largely responsible for the actions of the play by his interpretation of Oberon's commands.
He is seen as having many magical powers, including the ability to change the shape of both himself and others. He brags by saying that he has been a pest to local villagers by ruining ale and butter and clearly loves a good joke, constantly making practical jokes throughout the play and being a source for a lot of its humor. There is no physical description of Robin Goodfellow given in the play, but many modern renditions of this Shakespeare play portray him as being dressed in green and possibly also in leaves and having beautiful elf-like features to match common depictions of fairies.
Many times he's also given horns to relate him to his satyr look. And because of the popularity of Shakespeare, this look and nature is the Robin Goodfellow we see most often today. In fact, many historians and Robin Hood enthusiasts believe that, at one point in time, all of these characters were one and the same. Remember how I said Robin Goodfellow may once have come from a god, possibly named Robin? It's believed that this god may have been a figure we now call the Green Man, a green spring god.
Not much is known about this ancient figure, but he adorned many churches and cathedrals throughout Britain and was associated with the Mayday, a spring-welcoming English celebration with pagan roots that centered around Can't really speak any more on that on a children's forum Going back to the name "Robin" being used as a name for people associated with the woods, children born as a result of the Mayday festival were often given names such as "Robinson," "Robson," or "Hudson," basically names that mean "son of Robert" or "son of Robin.
While we know Robin Hood today as a character who robbed the rich and fed the poor, the very first written ballads of Robin Hood that we have on record tell of a very different character. The original Robin Hood was a cutthroat thief who would gladly keep spoils for himself but also helped those who were kind to him.
He was often portrayed as a fool and one ordinary people could overwhelm in hand-to-hand combat, but he got his strength from being a trickster character So connected are these characters that those who study trickster myths often lump them together as "Merry Robin, the British Trickster. Through the romanticization of his mythology, Robin Hood has grown beyond a trickster archetype and into an epic literary hero.
His ability to evolve with modern sensibilities and the timelessness of the hero who helps the underdogs has allowed him to outdo his former counterpart, Robin Goodfellow, in popularity. Whereas little Puck might be hard to spot in our media and the Green Man has all but faded from collective memory, Robin Hood continues to capture the imagination of children today in various books, movies, and TV shows.
Sometimes the two even appear together in the same media as separate characters or Robin Goodfellow is said to also be Robin Hood. Even today, he is seen more often as a spirit of spring and summer.
As a spring and summer spirit, Robin is a Summer Fey. And of course, like all old British lore worth its salt, Robin Goodfellow even shares a few similarities to tales of Arthurian Legend. According to his ballads from , his birth echoes that of tales of the birth of Merlin, the famous wizard figure of the British Isles who is known most popularly today as the magical adviser to King Arthur. And like Arthur, in that ballad Robin Goodfellow is son of a king Robin Goodfellow in the Media.
Despite the two having no actual mythological connection, I call Robin Goodfellow "Jack Frost's brother" for a few reasons. One is that he has a generic "fellow trickster" British name. Jack and Robin both denote this sort of character. Both are fairies or sprites of British origin. Both are connected with seasons, Jack with fall and winter, and Robin with spring and summer.
But they were always kind to children. Everyone knew about the fairies, and the good folk loved them. The selfish and greedy and nasty folk said fairies did not exist. Now there lived, in those long-ago days, a lad named Robin Goodfellow.
From the day he was born, his parents knew he must belong to the fairies. When Robin was just a baby, the fairies brought him wonderful gifts: embroidered pillows, silk slippers, chocolate cakes, wooden puppets.
Anytime Robin wished for something, the fairies heard his wish and fulfilled it. After a while, the neighbors grew jealous - and when the neighbors were nasty, Robin played tricks on them.
By the time Robin was 10, he was so mischievous, the neighbors were complaining night and day. At last Robin decided he must run away, and one fine early summer day, he did just that. He followed the road until he was hungry. He spied a tailor's shop and knocked on the door to ask for work and food. The tailor took him in, but when Robin discovered the tailor cheated customers, Robin began to play pranks on the tailor.
Soon the tailor asked him to leave. Robin traveled all that day. When he grew tired, he sat down by the roadside and closed his eyes. Just before he drifted off to sleep, he imagined he saw little creatures dancing on the grass to the sounds of tiny trumpets and miniature flutes.
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