Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
Thomas Percy
1765
The above lines from Percy's Reliques describes Robin Goodfellow.
When Percy wrote his book in the mid eighteenth century the folklore he was saving for posterity was already ancient. Robin Goodfellow was another name for Puck, or Pook, a kind of mischevious nature-spirit who would furtively curdle milk, interfere with the fermentation of ale, mislead night-time travellers, sexually harrass maidens and cause other such harmless trouble.
170 years earlier Shakespeare had already made him a star.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
1594
The Irish knew him and his kin as Pooka.
These are all different names for what must be a mid-European cousin of the Mediterranean Pan, last officially worshipped in Greece over fourteen hundred years before Shakespeare, a horny forest spirit that is held in affection by country dwellers.
As Christianity took hold on Europe the older pagan beliefs and practises were at first tolerated, then frowned upon, then discouraged, and finally punished by incineration. Before the one god came to drive out the many the Greeks worshipped Pan, while at the same time the barbarian Northern tribes, such as the Celts and Germans, were worshipping their own gods, which must have included their own local equivalent.
Most references to these European Pans have gone, but there is an intruiging reference in, of all places, The Malleus Maleficarum.
In the Christian bible, book Exodus chapter 22 verse 18 it says "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"; and later on in Leviticus XX 6... "And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people". These 2,000 year old verses of uncertain provenance were all the justification necessary for the faithful to set about burning anyone they disliked with the usual glee, and so in order to help them a how-to-do-it manual was written.
In 1486 two monks, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, wrote The Malleus Maleficarum, or "Hammer of the Witches", an extraordinarily detailed treatise on witchcraft, including what it is, how to spot it and how to extract confessions from anyone you think might have been doing it.
Part 1 question 3 deals with the origins of familiar spirits, that is "what are demons ?". It concludes...
Satyrs are they who are called Pans in Greek and Incubi in Latin. And they are called Incubi from their practise of overlaying, that is debauching. For they often lust lecherously after women, and copulate with them; and the Gauls name them Dusii, because they are dilligent in this beastliness.
The reference for the term dusii is accredited to Saint Augustine (Dei Ciutate Dei, XV, 23). Pan is a singular Greek god, actually worshipped in ancient Greece, but there are endless references to a type of forest spirit that was not actually worshipped but simply affectionately believed in, and perhaps propitiated, all across iron age Europe. These spirits lived in the wild places and were famous for lusting after human women, known variously as satyrs, incubii, dusii and fig-fauns.
1500 years of Christianity later in medieval Europe these spirits were still firmly embedded in folk-lore, but were now known as Pucks, Pooks, Pooka and Robin Goodfellow.
The Christians called them demons so even they still believed in them. They just didn't like them.
When She danced on the water and the wind was Her horn
The Lady laughed and everything was born
And when She lit the sun and the light gave Him birth
The Lord of the Dance first appeared on the Earth.
"Dance then, whereever you may be
For I am the Lord of the Dance," said He
"And I'll lead you all, whereever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance," said He
I danced in the morning when the world was begun
I danced in the Moon and the Stars and the Sun
I was called from the darkness by the Song of the Earth
I joined in the singing and She gave me Birth
"Dance then, whereever you may be
For I am the Lord of the Dance," said He
"And I'll lead you all, whereever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance," said He
I dance at the Sabbat when you chant the spell
I dance and I sing that everyone be well
When the dance is over do not think I am gone
I live in the music so I still dance on
"Dance then, whereever you may be
For I am the Lord of the Dance," said He
"And I'll lead you all, whereever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance," said He
They cut me down but I leap up high
I am the Light that will never never die
I live in you if you live in me
I am the Lord of the Dance said He
"Dance then, whereever you may be
For I am the Lord of the Dance," said He
"And I'll lead you all, whereever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance," said He
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare
"Reliques of Ancient English Poetry" by Thomas Percy
"The Malleus Maleficarum" by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger
Return to the shrine homepage