German folklore
A connection between Friar Rush and Hödekin, a kobold figure of German folklore, was suggested by the Shakespeare scholar George Lyman Kittredge, who noted the connection has been made in Reginald Scott's "Discoverie of Witchcraft", 1584. Kittredge (1900) criticizes the then-common identification of Friar Rush with Robin Goodfellow as simplistic.