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The pooka could either be your best friend or your worst nightmare depending on their mood that day. Like a lot of Irish fairies, they're said to be a shapeshifter, but they often like to take the form of a dark black horse with golden or red glowing eyes. Pookas love to trick humans into wild rides with the sole purpose of terrifying the rider, then they dump them off exactly where they picked them up with nothing but a new terrible experience and a long walk home. During these wild nights they like to cause a little domestic chaos as well, breaking down fences, ruining crops while they're at it.
"During a fox hunt, a wild black horse with no rider appeared and began tempting the hounds to continue chasing the fox even as they neared a dangerous gorge ahead... The horse easily leaped across gorge, disappearing into woodlands, but the pack of hounds hard on scent of fox went headlong into pool. He wept as most of pack went under. Suddenly his sorrow gave way to terror, he heard a diabolical neighing, like an animal laughing, from woods opposite. They knew then it was Pooka."
They do however help rural farmers from time to time as long as the farmers have made offerings to them. It's said the farmers should leave a few stocks behind during harvest as a Pooka share in order to appease them and stop any potential mischief from happening in their property. Some stories even tell the farmers being able to befriend the Pooka, who then helps the farmers with their crops and brings the family happiness and prosperity.
