Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts

126 Fictions of the Irish Celts.
does not like to be looked at too curiously. He likewise
takes food, which is thoughtfully left aside for him, and
his continued presence in a house brings good fortune
with it. Croker says that this little red-capped and redcoated
power heads the native forces against the fairies
of foreign parts ; and if any mortals come in their direct
course, they will for the nonce bridle and saddle them,
and convert them into special war-horses, rewarding them
by " hands " of tobacco or other delicacies when the fight
is done.
The supernatural agent of the next legend will not fit
comfortably in any of the divisions of the spiritual world
made by Grimm, Croker, Keightley, and others. He
would be the Lubber-Fiend of Milton, or the Brownie of
Scotland, or the Kobold of the North, but for once
having been a " christened man." Every one up to the
mere alphabet of fairy lore, knows that the pooka does
not condescend to household drudgery, but his towns-
folk would give the sprite in question no other name \
and in consequence, the present editor of the tale does
not feel entitled to take any liberties with it. A girl of
Kilcock thus related the story to us.
THE KILDARE POOKA.
Mr. H R , when he was alive, used to live a
good deal in Dublin, and he was once a great while out
of the country on account of the " Ninety-eight " business.
But the servants kept on in the big house at Rath ,
all the same as if the family was at home. Well, they
used to be frightened out of their lives after going to
their beds, with the banging of the kitchen door and the
clattering of the fire-irons, and the pots, and plates, and