Shapeshifter

Stories tagged Shapeshifter:

• The Cattle Raid of Flidais Aug 13, 2025

  

  In the ancient days when the boundaries between the mortal world and the realm of the Tuatha Dé Danann were thin as morning mist, there lived a woman whose power over the wild creatures of Ireland was absolute. This is the tale of Flidais, whose beauty was matched only by her supernatural abilities, and how her magical cattle became the prize in a raid that would shake the very foundations of Ulster.

• The Púca of Ballynure Aug 13, 2025

  

  The púca comes after harvest when the nights edge earlier and the moon looks large enough to pluck. It is not wicked, exactly, but it is unpredictable as a foal and twice as quick. In Ballynure, where lanes fold between hedges like tucked blankets, everyone has a púca story.

  There was the miller, Seán Mór, who found a fine black horse outside his door one Michaelmas. It tossed its head, and Seán—who trusted horses more than men—swung up without asking. At once the horse became spring and shadow. It carried him over hedges as neatly as if the world were a book and the púca turned pages. They leapt the river in a single clean brush; they ran along the ridge of a stone wall without knocking one cap from its lichens. Seán laughed until tears washed the flour from his beard.

• The Pooka's Trick Aug 10, 2025

  

  In the wild hills of County Kerry, where the mist rolls in from the Atlantic Ocean and the ancient stone circles still stand guard over secrets older than memory, there lived a particularly mischievous spirit known as a Pooka. This Pooka was famous throughout the countryside for his love of playing tricks on unsuspecting travelers, especially those who were too proud or too foolish to show proper respect for the old ways.