A colt pixie (also colepixie, colepixy, collepixie, collpixie, colt-pixie, colt pixy, and cold pixie) is a creature from English folklore in Southern England and South West 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.12 Erasmus's 16th century translation Apophthegmatum opus includes the line: "I shall be ready at thine elbow to plaie the parte of Hobgoblin or Collepixie."3
The phrase "as ragged as a colt pixie" was common in the New Forest at least as recently as the early 20th century.456 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.74
Colloquial survivals
- Fossil echinoids are sometimes called colt-pixies' heads
- Cold Pixie's Cave is the name of a barrow in the New Forest, near Lyndhurst8
References
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.
- Erasmus, Desiderius; Udall, Nicholas (1877). The apophthegmes of Erasmus. Boston, Lincolnshire : R.Roberts.
- Wright, J. (1898). The English dialect dictionary. Рипол Классик. p. 703. ISBN 9785878652940.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - 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.
- Barnes, William (17 August 2023). Complete Poems of William Barnes. Oxford University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-19-956752-2.
- "Cold Pixie's Cave". The Modern Antiquarian. Retrieved 14 July 2020.