Púca

The Púca (Pooka) is one of Irish folklore's great shape-shifters, said to come out at Oíche Shamhna (Halloween) when the veil between our world and the Otherworld is thinnest. One of his tricks is to visit the blackberry bushes and spit or worse on whatever fruit is left, which is why children are warned not to eat blackberries after Halloween.

I couldn't draw the Púca himself, so I drew the evidence instead. I think my drawing of this blackberry is rather elegant-looking but it’s hiding this much less elegant story!

There's more about how that warning came to be over on my blog.