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 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, a Welsh scholar of Celtic culture and folklore, records a story from
Monmouthshire 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 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, began behaving like a
boggart, wreaking havoc across the whole town. An old wise man, however, managed to summon him and banish him to the
Red Sea. 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 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 and the story is also told in western
North America. 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 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 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. The Holman Clavel Inn in
Somerset 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 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. 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. He is said to have fled before the
sign of the cross.
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, 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, 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, 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. 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 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, analogous to the Roman
fauns and Greek
satyrs. 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 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 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. 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; 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 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==