There are countless faerie-like figures from around Europe; Skogsrå, Metsänneito, Witte Wieven, Aos Sí to name but a few.
The Dryads, from Ancient Greece, are the female spirits of trees, especially oaks. In Greek, the word for “oak” is 𝑑𝑟𝑦𝑠.
The fungus we see here is known in English as the Dryad’s Saddle, 𝐶𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑠. As the scientific name translates as “waxy-pored scaly fungus”, I can see why the common name has found favour.
Some dryads, the Hamadryads, are tied to a particular tree, their lives are one and the same. Very ‘𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖’, also the theme of yesterday’s post.
Kill the tree; kill the hamadryad. They don’t need to ride anything.