- Fachen
The Fachen (also spelled Fachan or Fachin)(also known as Peg Leg Jack [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Fachan] ) is a creature with only half a body in Scottish and
Scots-Irish folklore. Supposedly its appearance, which includes a mane of blackfeathers tufted at the top and a very wide mouth, is so frightening that it induces heart attacks. It can destroy an orchard with a chain in its strong, singular, withered arm, in a single night. A story inJohn Francis Campbell 's "Popular Tales of the West Highlands " features a Fachen named Nesnas Mhiccallain being defeated in a race by the story's hero,Murachadh Mac Brian , who became king ofIreland . In "Popular Tales of the West Highlands " the Fachen is described as follows:Ugly was the make of the Fachin; there was one hand out of the ridge of his chest, and one tuft out of the top of his head, it were easier to take a mountain from the root than to bend that tuft. [Katharine Briggs, A Dictionary of Fairies, Allen Lane - Penguin Books Ltd, 1976]
It is also known as Direach Ghlinn Eitidh, or the
Dwarf ofGlen Etive .Fachen is
Monster in My Pocket #114.References
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