When most people think of Irish folklore, they think of leprechauns, and possibly banshees. But the rural Irish imagination was populated by far more than those two types of beings. The poet and Irish nationalist William Butler Yeats was fascinated by the various invisible creatures he learned about from the farmers and fishermen he encountered as he traveled around his beautiful green island. He published stories about ghosts, giants, and witches, but also wrote about fairies. He classified the fairy folk into two categories: the sociable trooping fairies and the solitary fairies. The Pooka, the Far Darrig, and the Water Horse are examples of the solitary fairies, and I have written stories about each of them below. However, though my stories are original, they are based upon authentic Irish folklore. In other words, I did not invent the Pooka, the Far Darrig, or the Water Horse, only the three stories about them that follow.
David Wigginton 