Robin Goodfellow was the nickname of the
Devil in
England during the late
Middle Age, and especially during the
Renaissance. In art he was depicted as a
satyr, half man and half goat, with goat legs, horns and ears, wearing a beard and moustache, nude, with a broom in one hand and a torch in the other, and showing big genitalia and his phallus erected. The name is Middle English in origin, deriving from Old French
Robin, the pet form for the name Robert, which was commonly applied to the Devil in the mediaeval
France. He was later an inspiration to some classic authors.
According to the public domain 1898 edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
- [Robin Goodfellow was a] "drudging fiend," and merry domestic fairy, famous for mischievous pranks and practical jokes. At night-time he will sometimes do little services for the family over which he presides. The Scotch call this domestic spirit a brownie; the Germans, kobold or Knecht Ruprecht[?]. The Scandinavians called it Nissë God-dreng[?]. Puck, the jester of Fairy-court, is the same.
There is a reference to him in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night’s Dream[?], ii. 1.
- Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
- Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
- Called Robin Goodfellow...
- Those that Hob-goblin call you, and sweet Puck,
- You do their work, and they shall have good luck.