Colt pixie
A colt pixie (also colepixie, colepixy, collepixie, collpixie, colt-pixie, colt pixy, and cold pixie) is a creature from English folklore in the South and South West of England (especially the New Forest and Dorset). According to local mythology, it is a type of Pixie which takes the form of a scruffy, pale horse or pony to lead travellers and other livestock astray (similar to a Will-o'-the-wisp), and is often associated with Puck. The earliest surviving written reference dates to the early 16th century (I shall be ready at thine elbow to plaie the parte of Hobgoblin or Collepixie).[1][2]
The phrase "as ragged as a colt pixie" was common in the New Forest at least as recently as the early 20th century.[3][4][5] In the dialect of Dorset "to colt-pixy" meant to beat down the remaining apples after a crop has been harvested, i.e. to take the colts' horde.[6][3]
Popular culture
Colt Pixies, and various traditional stories about them, feature in Brice Stratford's 2022 book, New Forest Myths and Folklore.[7]
Colloquial survivals
- The fossil echini are called colt-pixies' heads
- Cold Pixie's Cave is the name of a barrow in the New Forest, near Lyndhurst[8]
References
- ^ "House Shadow Drake - Water Horses and Other Fairy Steeds". Shadowdrake.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
- ^ "Colypixy". Pandius.com. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
- ^ a b Wright, J. (1898). "The English dialect dictionary". p. 703.
- ^ Wise, John. The New Forest: Its History and its Scenery (1863)
- ^ Verney, Lady Frances Parthenope (1870). "Lettice Lisle, by the author of 'Stone Edge'". p. 124.
- ^ "Complete Poems of William Barnes". p. 223.
- ^ Stratford, Brice. New Foret Myths and Folklore, The History Press, 2022
- ^ "Cold Pixie's Cave". The Modern Antiquarian. Retrieved 14 July 2020.