Pukwudgie

The term and many of the tales about pukwudgies derive from Algonquin-language little-people traditions (Ojibwe forms are recorded and popularized in the 19th century by Schoolcraft and later Longfellow). Schoolcraft published an Ojibwe folktale that features a small invisible being, and that Schoolcraft-to-Longfellow transmission encouraged use of the Ojibwe-derived name in New England narratives. The name literally links them to the wilderness ('person of the wilderness', 'little wild man of the forest') and denotes both individuals and a race; the specific older New England-language names for local little peoples are not recorded in the supplied sources.

Described in ethnographic summaries and later retellings as very short (often given as knee-high, roughly 2–3 feet tall), with gray skin and notably large noses, ears, and fingers. Sources note shape-changing aspects: some accounts indicate they can transform into animals such as cougars or quilled porcupines; popular secondary accounts also emphasize porcupine-like quills or animal-like facial features, but those embellishments are presented in contemporary retellings rather than core ethnographic citations.

Accounts record that pukwudgies can appear and disappear at will (invisibility/vanishing is emphasized in the Schoolcraft tradition) and may shapeshift into dangerous beasts (e.g., cougar or quilled porcupine). They are morally ambivalent: in some Wampanoag contexts they begin as helper spirits (whose bungling help can backfire) and in other accounts turn mischievous or menacing, capable of confusing or luring people and, in some stories, harming or killing (one source notes they 'may also have the power to bring harm to people by staring them down'). They are described as enemies of culture-hero figures such as Maushop and Granny Squanit in the adapted literature.