Colt pixie explained

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. The earliest surviving written reference dates to the early 16th century (I shall be ready at thine elbow to plaie the parte of Hobgoblin or Collepixie).^{[1] [2]}

The phrase "as ragged as a colt pixie" was common in the New Forest at least as recently as the early 20th century.^{[3] [4] [5]} 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.^{[6] [3]}

Colloquial survivals

• The fossil echini are called colt-pixies' heads
• Cold Pixie's Cave is the name of a barrow in the New Forest, near Lyndhurst^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Shadowdrake.com . House Shadow Drake - Water Horses and Other Fairy Steeds . 18 November 2011 . 27 September 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110927144745/http://www.shadowdrake.com/waterhorse.html . dead . dmy .
2. Web site: Colypixy. Pandius.com. 18 November 2011.
3. Book: Wright, J.. The English dialect dictionary. 703. 1898. Рипол Классик . 9785878652940 .
4. Wise, John. The New Forest: Its History and its Scenery (1863)
5. Web site: Lettice Lisle, by the author of 'Stone Edge'.. Lady Frances Parthenope . Verney. 1870. 124.
6. Book: Complete Poems of William Barnes. Oxford University Press. 223. 978-0-19-956752-2 . Barnes . William . 17 August 2023 .
7. Web site: Cold Pixie's Cave. The Modern Antiquarian . 14 July 2020.