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A brownie or broonie ( Scots), also known as a or (
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
), is a
household spirit A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit int ...
or
hobgoblin A hobgoblin is a household spirit, appearing in English folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his '' A Midsummer Nigh ...
from
Scottish folklore Scottish folklore (Scottish Gaelic: ''Beul-aithris na h-Alba'') encompasses the folklore of the Scottish people from their earliest records until today. Folkloristics, Folklorists, both academic and amateur, have published a variety of works focu ...
that is said to come out at night while the owners of the house are asleep and perform various chores and farming tasks. The human owners of the house must leave a bowl of milk or cream or some other offering for the brownie, usually by the
hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a low, partial ...
. Brownies are described as easily offended and will leave their homes forever if they feel they have been insulted or in any way taken advantage of. Brownies are characteristically mischievous and are often said to punish or pull pranks on lazy servants. If angered, they are sometimes said to turn malicious, like
boggart A boggart is a supernatural being from English folklore. The dialectologist Elizabeth Mary WElizabeth Wright described the boggart as 'a generic name for an apparition'; folklorist Simon Young defines it as 'any ambivalent or evil solitary super ...
s. Brownies originated as domestic tutelary spirits, very similar to the
Lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ) were Tutelary deity#Ancient Rome, guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an ama ...
of ancient Roman tradition. Descriptions of brownies vary regionally, but they are usually described as ugly, brown-skinned, and covered in hair. In the oldest stories, they are usually human-sized or larger. In more recent times, they have come to be seen as small and wizened. They are often capable of turning invisible, and they sometimes appear in the shapes of animals. They are always either naked or dressed in rags. If a person attempts to present a brownie with clothing or
baptize Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...
it, it will leave forever. Regional variants in England and Scotland include hobs, silkies, and ùruisgs. Variants outside England and Scotland are the Welsh Bwbach and the Manx Fenodyree. Brownies have also appeared outside of folklore, including in
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
's poem ''
L'Allegro ''L'Allegro'' is a pastoral poem by John Milton published in his 1645 ''Poems''. ''L'Allegro'' (which means "the happy man" in Italian) has from its first appearance been paired with the contrasting pastoral poem, '' Il Penseroso'' ("the mela ...
''. They became popular in works of
children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...
in the late nineteenth century and continue to appear in works of modern fantasy. The Brownies in the
Girl Guides Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...
are named after a short story by
Juliana Horatia Ewing Juliana (variants Julianna, Giuliana, Iuliana, Yuliana, etc) is a feminine given name which is the feminine version of the Roman name Julianus. Juliana or Giuliana was the name of a number of early saints, notably Saint Julian the Hospitaller, whi ...
based on brownie folklore.


Origin

Brownies originated as domestic tutelary spirits, very similar to the
Lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ) were Tutelary deity#Ancient Rome, guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an ama ...
of ancient Roman tradition, who were envisioned as the protective spirits of deceased ancestors. Brownies and Lares are both regarded as solitary and devoted to serving the members of the house. Both are said to be hairy and dress in rags and both are said to demand offerings of food or dairy. Like Lares, brownies were associated with the dead and a brownie is sometimes described as the
ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
of a deceased servant who once worked in the home. The Cauld Lad of Hilton, for instance, was reputed to be the ghost of a stable boy who was murdered by one of the Lords of Hilton Castle in a fit of passion. Those who saw him described him as a naked boy. He was said to clean up anything that was untidy and make messes of things that were tidy. The
Menehune Menehune are a mythological race of dwarf people in Hawaiian tradition who are said to live in the deep forests and hidden valleys of the Hawaiian Islands, hidden and far away from human settlements. The Menehune are described as superb craft ...
of
Hawaiian folklore Folklore in Hawaii in modern times is a mixture of various aspects of Hawaiian mythology and various urban legends that have been passed on regarding various places in the Hawaiian islands. The following is a partial list of some of these legend ...
have been compared to brownies as well, seeing they are portrayed as a race of dwarf people who carry out work during night time. The family cult of deceased ancestors in ancient times centred around the hearth, which later became the place where offerings would be left for the brownie. The most significant difference between brownies and Lares is that, while Lares were permanently bound to the house in which they lived, brownies are seen as more mobile, capable of leaving or moving to another house if they became dissatisfied. One story describes a brownie who left the house after the stingy housewife fired all the servants because the brownie was doing all the work and refused to return until all the servants had been re-hired.


Traditions


Activities

Traditions about brownies are generally similar across different parts of Great Britain. They are said to inhabit homes and farms. They only work at night, performing necessary housework and farm tasks while the human residents of the home are asleep. The presence of the brownie is believed to ensure household prosperity and the human residents of the home are expected to leave offerings for the brownie, such as a bowl of cream or porridge, or a small cake. These are usually left on the
hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a low, partial ...
. The brownie will punish household servants who are lazy or slovenly by pinching them while they sleep, breaking or upsetting objects around them, or causing other mischief. Sometimes they are said to create noise at night or leave messes simply for their own amusement. In some early stories, brownies are described as guarding treasure, a non-domestic task outside of their usual repertoire. Brownies are almost always described as solitary creatures who work alone and avoid being seen. There is rarely said to be more than one brownie living in the same house. Usually, the brownie associated with a house is said to live in a specific place, such as a particular nearby cave, stream, rock, or pond. Some individual brownies are occasionally given names. Around 1650, a brownie at Overthwaite in
Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...
was known as "Tawny Boy" and a brownie from Hylton in
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
was known as the "
Cauld Lad of Hylton The Cauld Lad of Hylton is a ghost of murdered stable boy Robert Skelton, said to haunt the ruins of Hylton Castle (in Sunderland, Northern England).K. M. Briggs, ''The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature'', p 33 University of Chicago P ...
". Brownies are said to be motivated by "personal friendships and fancies" and may sometimes be moved to perform extra work outside of their normal duties, such as, in one story of a brownie from Balquam, fetching a
midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...
when the lady of the house went into labour. In 1703, John Brand wrote in his description of
Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...
that:


Appearance

Brownies are virtually always male, but female brownies, such as Meg Mullach (or "Hairy Meg"), have occasionally been described as well. They are usually envisioned as ugly and their appearances are sometimes described as frightening or unsettling to members of the houses in which they reside. They received their name from the fact that they are usually described as brown-skinned and completely covered in hair. In the earliest traditions, brownies are either the same size as humans or sometimes larger, but, in later accounts, they are described as "small, wizened, and shaggy". They are often characterized as short and rotund, a description that may be related to mid-seventeenth-century Scottish descriptions of
the Devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...
. Two Scottish witchcraft confessions, one by Thomas Shanks in 1649 and another by Margaret Comb in 1680, both describe meetings with a "thick little man". The man in these descriptions may have been conceived as a brownie. In the late nineteenth century, the Irish folklorist
Thomas Keightley Thomas Keightley (17 October 1789 – 4 November 1872) was an Irish writer known for his works on mythology and folklore, particularly ''Fairy Mythology'' (1828), later reprinted as ''The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little ...
described the brownie as "a personage of small stature, wrinkled visage, covered with short curly brown hair, and wearing a brown mantle and hood". Keightley, Thomas (1870).
The Brownie
. ''The Fairy Mythology''. London: H. G. Bohn.
Brownies are usually described as either naked or clothed in rags. Brownies of the Scottish Lowlands were said not to have noses, but instead had merely a single hole in the centre of their face. In
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...
, brownies are sometimes described as having no fingers or toes. Sometimes brownies are stated to appear like children, either naked or dressed in white tunics. Like the Phooka in Irish folklore, brownies are sometimes described as taking the forms of animals. As a rule, they can turn
invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light fr ...
, but they are supposed to rarely need this ability because they are already experts at sneaking and hiding. A story from
Peeblesshire Peeblesshire (), the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a Counties of Scotland, historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lanarkshire ...
tells of two maids who stole a bowl of milk and a
bannock Bannock may mean: * Bannock (British and Irish food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle served mainly in Scotland but consumed throughout the British Isles * Bannock (Indigenous American food), various types of bread, usually prepare ...
that had been left out for the brownie. They sat down together to eat them, but the brownie sat between them invisibly and whenever either of them tried to eat the bannock or drink the milk, the brownie would steal it from them. The two maids began arguing, each accusing the other of stealing her milk and bannock. Finally, the brownie laughed and cried out: "Ha, ha, ha! Brownie has't a'!"


Leaving the house

If the brownie feels he has been slighted or taken advantage of, he will vanish forever, taking the prosperity of the house with him. Sometimes the brownie is said to fly into a rage and wreck all his work before leaving. In extreme cases, brownies are even sometimes said to turn into malicious
boggart A boggart is a supernatural being from English folklore. The dialectologist Elizabeth Mary WElizabeth Wright described the boggart as 'a generic name for an apparition'; folklorist Simon Young defines it as 'any ambivalent or evil solitary super ...
s if angered or treated improperly. A brownie is said to take offence if a human observes him working, if a human criticizes him, or if a human laughs at him. Brownies are supposedly especially angered by anything they regard as contempt or condescension. The brownie at Cranshaws in
Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...
is said to have mown and thrashed the grain for years. Then someone commented that the grain had been poorly mown and stacked, so, that night, the brownie carried all the grain to Raven Crag two miles away and hurled it off the cliff, all the while muttering:
It's no' weel mow'd! It's no' weel mow'd!— Then it's ne'er be mow'd by me again; I'll scatter it owre the Raven Stane And they'll hae some wark ere it's mow'd again!
A brownie can also be driven away if someone attempts to
baptize Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...
him. In some stories, even the manner in which their bowls of cream are given is enough to drive the brownie away. The brownie of Bodsbeck, near the town of
Moffat Moffat is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire. Part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland, it lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. Moffat is arou ...
in Scotland, left for the nearby farm of Leithenhall after the owner of Bodsbeck called for him after pouring his cream, instead of letting him find the cream himself. Sometimes giving the brownie a name was enough to drive him away. A brownie who haunted Almor Burn near
Pitlochry Pitlochry (; or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire, and has a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census.Scotland's 2011 census. (n.p. ...
in
Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...
was often heard splashing and paddling in the water. He was said to go up to the nearby farm every night with wet feet and, if anything was untidy, he would put it in order, but, if anything was tidy, he would hurl it around and make a mess. The people of the area feared him and did not go near the road leading up from the water at night. A man returning from the market one night heard him splashing in the water and called out to him, addressing him by the nickname "Puddlefoot". Puddlefoot exclaimed in horror, "I've gotten a name! 'Tis Puddlefoot they call me!" Then he vanished forever and was never heard again.


Gifts of clothing

If the family gives the brownie a gift of clothing, he will leave forever and refuse to work for the family. The first mention in English of a brownie disappearing after being presented with clothes comes from Book Four, Chapter Ten of
Reginald Scot Reginald Scot (or Scott) ( – 9 October 1599) was an Englishman and Member of Parliament, the author of '' The Discoverie of Witchcraft'', which was published in 1584. It was written against the belief in witches, to show that witchcraft ...
's ''
The Discoverie of Witchcraft ''The Discoverie of Witchcraft'' is a book published by the English gentleman Reginald Scot in 1584, intended as an exposé of early modern witchcraft. It contains a small section intended to show how the public was fooled by charlatans, which i ...
'', published in 1584. Sometimes brownies are reported to recite couplets before disappearing. One brownie from Scotland is said to have angrily declared:
Red breeks and a ruffled sark! Ye'll no get me to do your wark!
Another brownie from Berwickshire is said to have declared:
Gie Brownie a coat, gie Brownie a sark, Ye'se get nae mair o' Brownie's wark.
Explanations differ regarding why brownies disappear when presented with clothes, but the most common explanation is that the brownie regards the gift of clothing as an insult. One story from
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
, first recorded in 1891, attempts to rationalize the motif by making a brownie who is accustomed to being presented with
linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...
shirts become enraged upon being presented with a shirt made of
sackcloth Sackcloth ( ''śaq'') is a coarsely woven fabric, usually made of goat's hair. The term in English often connotes the biblical usage, where the '' Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible'' remarks that haircloth would be a more appropriate rendering of ...
. The brownie in the story sings before disappearing:
Harden, harden, harden hamp, I will neither grind nor stamp; Had you given me linen gear, I have served you many a year. Thrift may go, bad luck may stay, I shall travel far away.
The Cauld Lad of Hilton seems to have wanted clothes and to have been grateful for the gift of them, yet still refused to stay after receiving them. At night, people were supposed to have heard him working and somberly singing:
Wae's me! Wae's me! The acorn is not yet Fallen from the tree, That's to grow to the wood, That's to make the cradle, That's to rock the bairn, That's to grow a man, That's to lay to me.
After the servants presented him with a green mantle and hood, he is supposed to have joyfully sung before disappearing:
Here's a cloak, and here's a hood! The Cauld Lad of Hilton will do no more good!
It is possible that the Cauld Lad may have simply thought himself "too grand for work", a motif attested to in other folk tales, or that the gift of clothing may have been seen as a means of freeing him from a curse. A brownie from
Jedburgh Jedburgh ( ; ; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire. History Jedburgh began as ''Jedworð'', the "worth" or enclosed settlem ...
is also said to have desired clothing. The servants are reported to have heard him one night saying, "Wae's me for a green sark!" The
laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...
ordered for a green shirt to be made for the brownie. It was left out for him and he disappeared forever. People assumed he had gone to
Fairyland Fairyland (Early Modern English: ''Faerie''; ( Scottish mythology; cf. (Norse mythology)) in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or ''fays''. Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of ...
.


Brownie sway

In the nineteenth century, the pothook used to hang pots over the fire was made with a crook in it, which was known in
Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...
as the "brownie's seat" or "brownie's sway". If the hook did not have crook on it, people would hang a
horseshoe A horseshoe is a product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toenail, altho ...
on it upside-down so the brownie would have a place to sit. The brownie at the Portway Inn in Staunton on Wye reportedly had a habit of stealing the family keys and the only way to retrieve them was for the whole family sit around the hearth and to set a piece of cake on the hob as an offering to the brownie. Then they would all sit with their eyes closed, absolutely silent, and the missing keys would be hurled at them from behind.


Placenames

In Scotland particularly there are many place-names relating to the brownie of folklore, these include Brownie’s Cave in
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...
and a Brownie’s Cave in
Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...
and Brownie's Chair at Cara (next to
Gigha Gigha ( ; ; ) or the Isle of Gigha (and formerly Gigha Island) is an island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of 163 people. The climate is mild with higher than average suns ...
).


Regional variants

Although the name ''brownie'' originated in the early 16th century as a dialect word used only in the Scottish Lowlands and along the English border, it has become the standard name for a variety of similar creatures appearing in the folklores of various cultures across Britain. Stories about brownies are generally more common in England and the Lowlands of Scotland than in Celtic areas. Nonetheless, stories of Celtic brownies are recorded.


The Welsh name for a brownie is (). Like brownies, are said to have violent tempers if angered. The twelfth-century Welsh historian
Gerald of Wales Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He ...
records how a inflicted havoc and mischief upon a certain household that had angered him. The 19th-century folklorist Wirt Sikes describes the as a "good-natured goblin" who performs chores for Welsh maids. He states that, right before she goes to bed, the maid must sweep the kitchen and make a fire in the fireplace and set a churn filled with cream by the fire with a fresh bowl of cream next to it. The next morning, "if she is in luck", she will find the bowl of cream had been drunk and the cream in the churn has been dashed. Sikes goes on to explain that, in addition to being a household spirit, the is also the name for a terrifying phantom believed to sweep people away on gusts of air. The is said to do this on the behalf of spirits of the restless dead, who cannot sleep because of the presence of hidden treasure. When these spirits fail to succeed in persuading a living mortal to remove the treasure, they have the whisk the person away instead. Briggs notes that this other aspect of the 's activities makes it much more closely resemble the Irish Phooka.
John Rhys John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
, a Welsh scholar of Celtic culture and folklore, records a story from
Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...
in his 1901 book ''Celtic Folklore'' about a young maid suspected of having fairy blood, who left a bowl of cream at the bottom of the stairs every night for a . One night, as a prank, she filled the bowl with stale urine. The attacked her, but she screamed and the was forced to flee to the neighboring farm of . A girl there fed him well and he did her
spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
for her, but she wanted to know his name, which he refused to tell. Then, one day when she pretended to be out, she heard him singing his name, , so he left and went to another farm, where he became close friends with the manservant, whose name was Moses. After Moses was killed in the
Battle of Bosworth Field The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field ( ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of House of Lancaster, Lancaster and House of York, York that extended across England in the latter half ...
, began behaving like a
boggart A boggart is a supernatural being from English folklore. The dialectologist Elizabeth Mary WElizabeth Wright described the boggart as 'a generic name for an apparition'; folklorist Simon Young defines it as 'any ambivalent or evil solitary super ...
, wreaking havoc across the whole town. An old wise man, however, managed to summon him and banish him to the
Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
. Elements of this story recur throughout other brownie stories.


The Manx name for a brownie is (). The is envisioned as a "hairy spirit of great strength", who is capable of
threshing Threshing or thrashing is the process of loosening the edible part of grain (or other crop) from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain. History of ...
an entire barn full of corn in a single night. The is regarded as generally unintelligent. One Manx folktale tells of how the once tried to round up a flock of sheep and had more trouble with a small, hornless, grey one than any of the others; the "sheep" he had so much difficulty with turned out to be a hare. The exact same mistake is also attributed to a brownie from
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
and the story is also told in western
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
. Like other brownies, the is believed to leave forever if he is presented with clothing. In one story, a farmer of Ballochrink gave the a gift of clothes in gratitude for all his work. The was offended and lifted up each item of clothing, reciting the various illnesses each one would bring him. The then left to hide away in Glen Rushen alone.


Hobs and hearth spirits

Especially in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
and Lancashire, brownies are known as " Hobs" due to their association with the hearth. Like brownies, Hobs would leave forever if presented with clothing. A Hob in Runswick Bay in
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
was said to live in a natural cave known as the "Hob-Hole", where parents would bring their children for the Hob to cure them of
whooping cough Whooping cough ( or ), also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable Pathogenic bacteria, bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common c ...
. The Holman Clavel Inn in
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
is also said to be inhabited by a mischievous Hob named Charlie. The story was recorded by the folklorist R. L. Tongue in 1964 immediately after he heard it from a woman who lived next door to the inn. Everyone in the locality knew about Charlie and he was believed to sit on the beam of
holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
wood over the fire, which was known as the "clavvy" or "clavey". Once, when the woman was having dinner with a local farmer, the servants set the table at the inn with "silver and linen", but, as soon as they left the room and came back, Charlie had put all the table settings back where they had come from because he did not like the farmer she was meeting with. Hobs are sometimes also known as "Lobs". Lob-Lie-by-the-Fire is the name of a large brownie who was said to perform farm labour. In Scotland, a similar hearth spirit was known as the Wag-at-the-Wa. The Wag-at-the-Wa was believed to sit on the pothook and it was believed that swinging the pothook served as an invitation for him to come visit. He was believed to pester idle servants, but he was said to enjoy the company of children. He is described as a hideous, short-legged old man with a long tail who always dressed in a red coat and blue breeches with an old nightcap atop his head and a bandage around his face, since he was constantly plagued by
toothache Toothaches, also known as dental pain or tooth pain,Segen JC. (2002). ''McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine''. The McGraw-Hill Companies. is pain in the teeth or their supporting structures, caused by dental diseases or referred ...
. He also sometimes wore a grey cloak. He was often reported to laugh alongside the rest of the family if they were laughing, but he was strongly opposed to the family drinking any beverages with more alcohol content than home-brewed
ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...
. He is said to have fled before the
sign of the cross Making the sign of the cross (), also known as blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is both a prayer and a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. It is a very significant prayer because Christians are acknowledging ...
.


Silkie

A female spirit known as the Silkie or Selkie, who received her name from the fact that she was always dressed in grey silk, appears in English and Scottish folklore. (Not to be confused with the homonymous
Selkie Selkies are mythological creatures that can shapeshift between seal and human forms by removing or putting on their seal skin. They feature prominently in the oral traditions and mythology of various cultures, especially those of Celtic and ...
, a type of seal shapeshifter.) Like a ghost, the Silkie is associated with the house rather than the family who lives there, but, like a brownie, she is said to perform chores for the family. A famous Silkie was reported to haunt Denton Hall in Northumberland. Briggs gives the report of a woman named Marjory Sowerby, who, as a little girl, had spoken with the last remaining Hoyles of Denten Hall, two old ladies, about the Silkie and its kindness to them. They told her that the Silkie would clean the hearth and kindle fires for them. They also mentioned "something about bunches of flowers left on the staircase". Sowerby left the area in around 1902 and, when she returned over half a century later after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Hoyles were both long dead and the house was owned by a man who did not believe in fairies. The stories about the Silkie were no longer told and instead the house was reputed to be haunted by a vicious
poltergeist In German folklore and ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; ; or ) is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descriptions of polter ...
, who made banging noise and other strange noises and pulled pranks on the man. The man eventually moved out. Briggs calls this an example of a brownie turning into a boggart. Silkies were also sometimes believed to appear suddenly on roads at night to lonely travellers and frighten them. Another Silkie is said to haunt the grounds of Fardel Hall in
Devonshire Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the wes ...
. This one is said to manifest in the form of a "beautiful young woman with long, golden hair, wearing a long silken gown" and supposedly guards a hoard of treasure buried on the grounds. Few people have seen the spirit, but many claim to have heard the rustling of her silk dress. She is believed to quietly strangle anyone who comes near finding the treasure.


The folklorist
John Gregorson Campbell John Gregorson Campbell (1836 – 22 November 1891) was a Scottish folklorist and Free Church minister at the Tiree and Coll parishes in Argyll, Scotland. An avid collector of traditional stories, he became Secretary to the Ossianic Socie ...
distinguishes between the English brownie, which lived in houses, and the Scottish ( also or ''urisk''), which lived outside in streams and waterfalls and was less likely to offer domestic help. Although brownies and s are very similar in character, they have different origins. s are sometimes described as half-man and half-goat. They are said to have "long hair, long teeth, and long claws". According to M. L. West, they may be Celtic survivals of goat-like nature spirits from
Proto-Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Ind ...
, analogous to the Roman
faun The faun (, ; , ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. Originally fauns of Roman mythology were ghosts ( genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their chief, the god Faunus. Before t ...
s and Greek
satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr (, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( ), and sileni (plural), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. ...
s. Passersby often reported seeing an sitting atop a rock at dusk, watching them go by. During the summer, the was supposed to remain in the solitude of the wilderness, but, during the winter, he would come down and visit the local farms at night or take up residence in a local mill. Wild s were troublemakers and vandals who perpetrated acts of butchery, arson, and ravaging, but, once domesticated, they were fiercely loyal. Wealthy and prominent families were said to have s as household servants. One chieftain of the MacFarlane clan was said to have been nursed and raised by the wife of an . The Graham clan of
Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...
told stories of an that had once worked for one of their ancestors as a drudge. The Maclachlan clan in Strathlachlan had an ùruisg servant named "Harry", possibly shortened from "the hairy one". The MacNeils of Taynish and the Frazers of Abertarff also claimed to have servants. were also known as ''s'' or ''kewachs''. A story on the island of
Eigg Eigg ( ; ) is one of the Small Isles in the Scotland, Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the island of Isle of Skye, Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With ...
told of a that lived in a cave. In some parts of Scotland, similar domestic spirits were called Shellycoats, a name whose origin is uncertain.


Other variants

A figure named " Billy Blind" or "Billy Blin", who bears close resemblances to both the brownie and the Irish
banshee A banshee ( ; Irish language, Modern Irish , from , "woman of the Tumulus#Ireland, fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or kee ...
, appears in ballads of the
Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England. The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...
. Unlike brownies, who usually provide practical domestic aid, Billy Blind usually only provides advice. He appears in the ballad of " Young Bekie", in which he warns Burd Isbel, the woman Bekie is pledged to marry, that Bekie is about to marry another woman. He also appears in the ballad of " Willie's Lady" in which he also provides advice, but offers no practical aid. Briggs notes stories of other household spirits from British folklore who are reputed to haunt specific locations. The "cellar ghost" is a spirit who guards wine in cellars from would-be thieves; Lazy Lawrence is said to protect orchards; Awd Goggie scares children away from eating unripe
gooseberries Gooseberry ( or (American and northern British) or (southern British)) is a common name for many species of ''Ribes'' (which also includes currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance, and also several unrelated pl ...
; and Melch Dick guards nut thickets. The Kilmoulis is a brownie-like creature from the Scottish Lowlands that is often said to inhabit mills. He is said to have no mouth, but an enormous nose that covers most of his face. He is fond of pranks and only the miller himself is able to control him. American businessman Arthur Stillwell reported that brownies told him to build a
Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad The Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad was a railway company that began operations in the 1890s and owned a main-line between Kansas City, Missouri, and Port Arthur, Texas. It was led by Arthur Stilwell before being thrown into receiversh ...
terminal and the town of Port Arthur. Stillwell claimed that brownies had spoken to him since he was four years old, and said he always took their advice regarding anything from where to build to whom he would marry. He later stated that the brownies had warned him not to build his terminal in Galveston as the town would be destroyed in a tidal wave.


Analysis


Classification

Brownies have traditionally been regarded as distinct and different from
fairies A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...
. In 1777, a
vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
of
Beetham Beetham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It is situated on the border with Lancashire, north of Carnforth. It is part of the Arnside and Silverdale, Arnside and Silverdale ...
wrote in his notes on local folklore, "A Browny is not a fairey, but a tawny color'd Being which will do a great deal of work for a Family, if used well." The writer
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
agreed in his ''
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' is an anthology of Border ballads, together with some from north-east Scotland and a few modern literary ballads, edited by Walter Scott. It was first published by Archibald Constable in Edinburgh in 1 ...
'', in which he states, "The Brownie formed a class of beings distinct in habit and disposition from the freakish and mischievous elves." Modern scholars, however, categorize brownies as household spirits, which is usually treated as a subcategorization of fairy. Brownies and other household spirits differ significantly from other fairies in folklore, however. Brownies are usually said to dwell alongside humans in houses, barns, and on farms; whereas other fairies are usually said to reside in places of remote wilderness. Brownies are usually regarded as harmless, unless they are angered; other types of folkloric fairies, however, are typically seen as dark and dangerous. Finally, brownies are unusual for their solitary nature, since most other types of fairies are often thought to live in large groups. Briggs notes that brownies are frequently associated with the dead and states that, like the banshee in Irish folklore, "a good case" could be made for brownies to be classified as ghosts. Nonetheless, she rejects this idea, commenting that the Brownie has "an adaptability, individuality and a homely tang which forbids one to think of him as merely a lingering and reminiscent image." In seventeenth-century Scotland, brownies were sometimes regarded as a kind of
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...
.
King James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
describes the brownie as a demon in his 1597 treatise ''
Daemonologie ''Daemonologie''—in full ''Dæmonologie, In Forme of a Dialogue, Divided into three Books: By the High and Mightie Prince, James &c.''—was first published in 1597 by King James VI of Scotland (later also James I of England) as a philosophi ...
'':


Functionalist analysis

The folklorist L. F. Newman states that the image of the brownie fits well into a Functionalist analysis of the "old, generous rural economy" of
pre-Industrial Pre-industrial society refers to social attributes and forms of political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the advent of the Industrial Revolution, which occurred from 1750 to 1850. ''Pre-industrial'' refers to a time befor ...
Britain, describing him as the epitome of what a good household servant of the era was supposed to be. Belief in brownies could be exploited by both masters and servants. The servants could blame the brownie for messes, breakages, and strange noises heard at night. Meanwhile, the masters of the house who employed them could use stories of the brownie to convince their servants to behave by telling them that the brownie would punish servants who were idle and reward those who performed their duties vigilantly. According to Susan Stewart, brownies also resolved the problem that human storytellers faced of the unending repetition and futility of labour. As immortal spirits, brownies could neither be worn out nor revitalized by working, so their work became seen as simply part of "a perpetual cycle that is akin to the activities of Nature herself."


Outside of folklore


Early literary appearances

An entity referred to as a "drudging goblin" or the "Lubbar Fend" is described in lines 105 to 114 of
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
's 1645
pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...
poem ''
L'Allegro ''L'Allegro'' is a pastoral poem by John Milton published in his 1645 ''Poems''. ''L'Allegro'' (which means "the happy man" in Italian) has from its first appearance been paired with the contrasting pastoral poem, '' Il Penseroso'' ("the mela ...
''. The "goblin" churns butter, brews drinks, makes dough rise, sweeps the floor, washes the dishes, and lays by the fire. According to Briggs, like most other early brownies, Milton's Lubbar Fend was probably envisioned as human-sized or larger. In many early literary appearances, the brownie turns out to be an ordinary person. The Scottish novelist
James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots language, Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a ...
incorporated brownie folklore into his novel '' The Brownie of Bodsbeck'' (1818). The novel is set in 1685, when the
Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...
s, a Scottish
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
movement, were being persecuted. Food goes missing from the farm of Walter of Chaplehope, leading villagers to suspect it is the "brownie of Bodsbeck". In the end, it turns out that the "brownie" was actually John Brown, the leader of the Covenanters. Hogg later wrote about brownies in his short story "The Brownie of Black Haggs" (1828). In this story, the evil Lady Wheelhope orders that any of her male servants who openly practises any form of religion must be given over to the military and shot. Female servants who practised religion are discreetly poisoned. A single mysterious servant named Merodach stands up to her. Merodach is described as having "the form of a boy, but the features of one a hundred years old" and his eyes "bear a strong resemblance to the eyes of a well-known species of monkey." Characters in the novel believe Merodach to be a brownie, although others claim that he is a "mongrel, between a Jew and an ape... a wizard... a
kelpie A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: '' each-uisge''), is a mythical shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. Legends of these shape-shifting water-horses, under various names, spread across the British Isles, appea ...
, or a fairy". Like folkloric brownies, Merodach's religion is overtly pagan and he detests the sight of the Bible. He also refuses to accept any form of payment. Lady Wheelhope hates him and attempts to kill him, but all her efforts mysteriously backfire, instead resulting in the deaths of those she loves. The novel never reveals whether Merodach is actually of supernatural origin or if he is merely a peculiar-looking servant. Charlotte and
Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel, ''Wuthering Heights''. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte and Anne Bront ...
were both familiar with Hogg's stories and his portrayal of Merodach may have greatly influenced Emily's portrayal of her character Heathcliff in ''
Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...
'' (1847). Brownies are also briefly referenced in Charlotte's novel '' Villette'' (1853). The late nineteenth century saw the growth and profusion of children's literature, which often incorporated fantasy. Brownies in particular were often thought of as especially appealing to children.
Juliana Horatia Ewing Juliana (variants Julianna, Giuliana, Iuliana, Yuliana, etc) is a feminine given name which is the feminine version of the Roman name Julianus. Juliana or Giuliana was the name of a number of early saints, notably Saint Julian the Hospitaller, whi ...
incorporated brownie folklore remembered from her childhood into her short story "The Brownies", first published in 1865 in '' The Monthly Packet'' and later incorporated into her 1871 collection of short stories ''The Brownies and Other Tales''. In the story, a selfish boy seeks a brownie to do his chores for him because he is too lazy to do them himself. A wise old owl tells him that brownies do not really exist and the only real brownies are good little children who do chores without being asked. The boy goes home and convinces his younger brother to join him in becoming the new household "brownies". Ewing's short story inspired the idea of calling helpful children "brownies".


Mass marketing

The
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
children's writer
Palmer Cox Palmer Cox (April 28, 1840 – July 24, 1924) was a Canadian illustrator and author, best known for '' The Brownies'', his series of humorous verse books and comic strips about the mischievous but kindhearted fairy-like sprites. The cartoons we ...
helped promote brownies in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
through his illustrated poems about them published in ''
St. Nicholas Magazine ''St. Nicholas'' was a popular monthly American children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873 and named after the Christian saint. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1 ...
''. Cox portrayed brownies as "tiny elf-like figures who often took on tasks en masse". These poems and illustrations were later collected and published in his book ''The Brownies: Their Book'' in 1887, which became the first of several such collections. In the 1890s, so-called "brownie-mania" swept across the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Cox effectively licensed out his brownie characters rather than selling them, something which he was among the first to do. He and his many business collaborators were able to market brownie-themed
tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, website, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original proper ...
merchandise, including boots,
cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...
s, stoves, dolls, and silverware. The popularity of Cox's poems, illustrations, and tie-in products cemented brownies as an element of North American children's literature and culture. Meanwhile, Cox could not copyright the name "brownie" because it was a creature from folklore, so unauthorized "brownie" products began to flood the market as well. The widespread "brownie" merchandise inspired
George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experiments in photography, he ...
to name his low-cost camera " Brownie". In 1919,
Juliette Gordon Low Juliette Gordon Low ( Gordon; October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927) was the American founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. Inspired by the work of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of Scout Movement, she joined the Girl Guide movement in England, fo ...
adopted " Brownies" as the name for the lowest age group in her organization of "
Girl Guides Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...
" on account of Ewing's short story. A brownie character named "Big Ears" appears in
Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...
's Noddy series of children's books, in which he is portrayed as living in a mushroom house just outside the village of Toytown. In Blyton's '' Book of Brownies'' (1926), a mischievous trio of brownies named Hop, Skip, and Jump attempt to sneak into a party hosted by the King of Fairyland by pretending to be Twirly-Whirly, the Great Conjuror from the Land of
Tiddlywinks Tiddlywinks is a game played on a flat felt mat with sets of small discs called winks, a pot, which is the target, and a collection of squidgers, which are also discs. Players use a squidger (nowadays made of plastic) to shoot a wink into fl ...
, and his two assistants.


Modern fantasy

The Fablehaven book series, written by
Brandon Mull Brandon Mull (born November 8, 1974) is an American author best known for his children's fantasy series, '' Fablehaven'', as well as '' Dragonwatch'', '' The Candy Shop War'', the ''Beyonders'' trilogy, and the ''Five Kingdoms'' series. He also ...
, describes the brownies living near the residence on the Fablehaven Sanctuary. These are human-like, save for their minuscule stature and leafy ears. They love to make desserts and will repair and improve (to their abilities) anything broken throughout the house overnight if given any ingredients, which they will use to make a dessert of their choosing. It is said that
chocolate brownie Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree ('' Theobroma cacao''); unprocessed, they ...
s were named after them due to being invented by the fairy brownies.
George MacDonald George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carrol ...
incorporated features of Scottish brownie lore in his nineteenth-century works ''
The Princess and the Goblin ''The Princess and the Goblin'' is a children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald. It was published in 1872 by Strahan & Co., with black-and-white illustrations by Arthur Hughes. Strahan had published the story and illustrations as a seria ...
'' and '' Sir Gibbie''—his brownies have no fingers on their hands. Warrior brownies appear in the 1988 fantasy film ''
Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...
'', directed by
Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...
. These brownies are portrayed as only a couple inches tall and are armed with bows and arrows. Though they are initially introduced as the kidnappers of a human infant, they turn out to be benevolent. Creatures known as "house elves" appear in the ''
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' series of books by
J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...
, published between 1997 and 2007. Similar to the traditional brownies of folklore, house elves are loyal to their masters and wear ragged garments. They are released by a gift of clothing, but house elves cannot leave on their own accord regardless of how they are treated. House elves also resemble brownies in appearance, being small, but they have larger heads and large, bat-like ears. Rowling's books also include
boggarts A boggart is a supernatural being from English folklore. The dialectologist Elizabeth Mary WElizabeth Wright described the boggart as 'a generic name for an apparition'; folklorist Simon Young defines it as 'any ambivalent or evil solitary super ...
, which are sometimes traditionally described as brownies turned malevolent. A brownie named Thimbletack plays an important role in the children's fantasy book series ''
The Spiderwick Chronicles ''The Spiderwick Chronicles'' is a series of children's fantasy books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. They chronicle the adventures of the Grace children, twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory, after they move into the Spider ...
'', written by
Holly Black Holly Black (; born November 10, 1971) is an American writer and editor best known for her children's and young adult fiction. Her most recent work is the ''New York Times'' bestselling young adult ''Folk of the Air'' series. She is also well kn ...
and
Tony DiTerlizzi Tony M. DiTerlizzi (born September 6, 1969) is an American fantasy artist, children's book creator, and motion picture producer. In the gaming industry, he is best known for his work in the collectible card game '' Magic: The Gathering'' and on ...
and published in five volumes from May 2003 to September 2004 by
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
. He lives inside the walls of the Spiderwick estate and is only visible when he wishes to be seen. He is described as "a little man about the size of a pencil" with eyes "black and beetles" and a nose that is "large and red". When angered, Thimbletack transforms into a malicious boggart. The series became an international bestseller and was translated into thirty languages. A film adaptation of the same name was released in 2008.


See also

*
Changeling A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found throughout much of European folklore. According to folklore, a changeling was a substitute left by a supernatural being when kidnapping a human being. ...
*
Domovoi In the Slavic paganism, Slavic religious tradition, Domovoy (, literally " he oneof the household"; also spelled ''Domovoi'', ''Domovoj'', and known as , (''Domovik''), (''Domovyk'') and (''Damavik'')) is the household spirit of a given k ...
(Slavic) * Haltija/Tonttu (Finnish) * Heinzelmännchen (German) *
Household deity A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit int ...
** Lithuanian household gods (list) *
Hungry ghost Hungry ghost is a term in Buddhism and Chinese traditional religion, representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. The term zh, c= 餓鬼, p=èguǐ, l=hungry ghost is the Chinese translation of the Sansk ...
*
Jack o' the bowl In Swiss folklore, Jack o' the bowl (or Jack-of-the-Bowl
) is a helpful Koro-pok-guru Korpokkur (; ), also written Koro-pok-kuru, korobokkuru, korbokkur, or koropokkur, koro-pok-guru, are a race of little people (mythology) in folklore of the Ainu people of the northern Japanese islands. The name is traditionally analysed as a tr ...
(Ainu) * Meg Mullach *
Tomte A (, ), (), , or () is a household spirit from Nordic folklore which has always been described as a small human-like creature wearing a red cap and gray clothing, doing house and stable chores, and expecting to be rewarded at least once a ye ...
(Scandinavian) *
Wirry-cow In Scotland, a wirry-cow () is a bugbear, goblin, ghost, ghoul or other frightful object. Sometimes the term is used for the Devil or a scarecrow. The word was used by Sir Walter Scott in his novel ''Guy Mannering''. The word is derived by Jo ...


Explanatory notes


References


Citations


General and cited references

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External links

* {{Authority control English legendary creatures Fairies Goblins Household deities Scottish legendary creatures Supernatural legends Tutelary deities