Fachen

In both Scottish and Irish folklore, the Fachen (aka Fachan, Fachin or Peg Leg Jack) is a malevolent fairy with an appearance so frightening that it reportedly induced heart attacks in anyone who saw it. It wields a spiked club, and uses it to chase away (and kill, if it can) anything that comes near it. It hates all other life, and will destroy whole farms and orchards in a single day. It is active all year, but you can recognize its lair quite easily, due to there being no trees, animals or grass, just barren ground. It only has one arm and leg, so it compensates for being extremely strong in those limbs.

Appearance:

Descriptions tend to vary and include such physical features as a single eye, a rooster like crest, a mane of black feathers tufted at the top and a very wide mouth. The Fachen also was reported to have a single foot and in some cases is said to have only half a body.One of the strangest physical features of the Fachen was its mangled, arm like appendage which is said to have jutted out of its torso. It was said that with this strong, singular, mangled arm, the Fachen could destroy an entire orchard with a chain in one night.

Legend:

A story in John Francis Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands features a Fachen by the name of Nesnas Mhiccallain who was defeated in a race by the story's hero, Murachadh Mac Brian, who would later become king of Ireland. In Campbell's book the Fachen was also referred to as Direach Ghlinn Eitich, or the Dwarf of Glen Etive.

The Fachen is Monster in My Pocket #114, and resembles a strange, feathery insectile creature.

In a story written by John Francis Campbell the Fachan is described....

"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."

The tale, written in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, tells of a Fachan by the name of Nesnas Mhiccallain being defeated in a race by the Irish hero Murachadh Mac Brian. Through this deed he subsequently becomes the king of Ireland.

The lore of this solitary faery, the Fachan, says that he is madly jealous of the gift of flight and those who have it. He spends all his time brooding on it, bitter that he does not possess it, bitter at such a oversight by the deities! He hates all living things, not just those who fly, and will not tolerate them in his lands. Thus he is rather a lonely figure though it is doubtful that this bothers him.