Joan the Wad is a mythological character in English folklore. Specifically, she is Queen of the pixies (or piskeys), a race of tiny creatures usually associated with the area of Cornwall and Devon. Wad is a dialect word for torch.[1] Not much has been written on Joan, as the folklore of Cornwall relied on oral tradition for hundred of years. She has been associated with Jack o' the Lantern, a will-o'-the-wisp type character who leads travellers astray on lonely moors, hence the rhyme:
- Jack o' the lantern! Joan the wad,
- Who tickled the maid and made her mad
- Light me home, the weather's bad.[2]
However, Joan is also thought to be lucky, and another rhyme runs:
- Good fortune will nod, if you carry upon you Joan the Wad
Even today people will carry small figures of her for good luck.[3]
References
- ^ Answers.com / OUP
- ^ Dr Jonathan Couch, History of Polperro (1871)
- ^ Joan the Wad and the Cornish Piskeys
