Puck
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be on the edge of society? Perhaps you feel like you're an outcast. Well imagine that you live forever, have no friends or family and other faeries aren't keen on having you around. More than that, people don't believe who you are. They think you might be slightly unbalanced and are scared of you. You go out of your way to play good natured tricks on people, to endear yourself to them, but all you manage to do is make them annoyed with you. That's how it is for Robin Goodfellow, an hobgoblin of old, who also goes by the pseudonym Puck.
And yet, he has all the attributes that you would find attractive. He's a handsome youth with a cheeky grin and deep brown eyes that sparkle with mischief. His chestnut brown hair is uncombed and abandoned. He's slim, athletic and bounds around with enormous energy, ruffling a girl's hair here and tripping a young boy there. Shakespaere was so taken with him, that young Robin inspired argueably his greatest comedy, in which Puck was cast as a major character, tricking the lovers of the piece into falling romantically for the wrong partner. You probably warmed to this trickster through his well publicised adventures with Oberon and Titania but think how soon you would tire of his pranks.
If you think of it from his point of view, you might have some sympathy. Constantly rejected and playing evermore extreme tricks to win his way back into your heart, only served to perpetuate his problem. There was just the one time when he managed to get it right. He got together a gang of men and took on the evil State, stealing back the extortionate taxes claimed by the king and redistributing this wealth to the poor. I'm sure you know the legend of Robin Hood but perhaps you hadn't realised that this was how this famous sprite shored up his reputation and got some good press. It didn't last. He soon returned to his mischievious ways and was again exiled.
I'm sure tales of Puck's dark side will shock you. Stories of his pranks became ever more disturbing. What started as silly games took on a sinister edge. None more so than when he progressed from simply pulling blankets off young maidens while they slept, to stripping them naked. You can imagine the embarrassment of these young ladies. After he tired of the thrill of naked women, he began to touch them. It's probably no surprise to you that a perpetual young man full of raging hormones with no outlet, moved onto serious assault of these sleeping women. He is quoted as father of a number of children of unmarried women throughout the middle-ages, though you might suspect some of these claims to be a convenient ruse. Nevertheless, like our ancestors, I'm sure you would have banished him for these alleged crimes too.
And yet, he has all the attributes that you would find attractive. He's a handsome youth with a cheeky grin and deep brown eyes that sparkle with mischief. His chestnut brown hair is uncombed and abandoned. He's slim, athletic and bounds around with enormous energy, ruffling a girl's hair here and tripping a young boy there. Shakespaere was so taken with him, that young Robin inspired argueably his greatest comedy, in which Puck was cast as a major character, tricking the lovers of the piece into falling romantically for the wrong partner. You probably warmed to this trickster through his well publicised adventures with Oberon and Titania but think how soon you would tire of his pranks.
If you think of it from his point of view, you might have some sympathy. Constantly rejected and playing evermore extreme tricks to win his way back into your heart, only served to perpetuate his problem. There was just the one time when he managed to get it right. He got together a gang of men and took on the evil State, stealing back the extortionate taxes claimed by the king and redistributing this wealth to the poor. I'm sure you know the legend of Robin Hood but perhaps you hadn't realised that this was how this famous sprite shored up his reputation and got some good press. It didn't last. He soon returned to his mischievious ways and was again exiled.
I'm sure tales of Puck's dark side will shock you. Stories of his pranks became ever more disturbing. What started as silly games took on a sinister edge. None more so than when he progressed from simply pulling blankets off young maidens while they slept, to stripping them naked. You can imagine the embarrassment of these young ladies. After he tired of the thrill of naked women, he began to touch them. It's probably no surprise to you that a perpetual young man full of raging hormones with no outlet, moved onto serious assault of these sleeping women. He is quoted as father of a number of children of unmarried women throughout the middle-ages, though you might suspect some of these claims to be a convenient ruse. Nevertheless, like our ancestors, I'm sure you would have banished him for these alleged crimes too.