Brownie elf: Encyclopedia - Brownie elf

Brownie (elf)

A brownie, broonie (Lowland Scots) or ùruisg/brùnaidh (Scottish Gaelic) is a legendary kind of elf popular in folklore around England and Scotland. He is the British counterpart of the Scandinavian tomte, the Russian domovoi or the German Heinzelmännchen. Customarily they are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. However, brownies do not like to be seen and will only work at night, perhaps in exchange for small gifts or food. They usually abandon the house if their gifts are called payments, or if they are offered gifts of clothes (no matter how shabby their own clothes are). In some stories, brownies have no noses.

The ùruisg had the qualities of man and spirit curiously commingled. He had a peculiar fondness for solitude at certain seasons of the year. About the end of Harvest he became more sociable, and hovered about farmyards, stables and cattle-houses. He had a particular fondness for the products of the dairy, and was a fearful intruder on milkmaids, who made regular libations of milk or cream to charm him off, or to procure his favour. He could be seen supposedly only by those who had the second sight; yet I have heard of instances where he made himself visible to people not so gifted. He is said to have been a jolly personable being with a broad blue bonnet, flowing yellow hair, and a long walking staff.

Every manor house had its ùruisg, and in the kitchen, close by the fire was a seat, which was left unoccupied for him. The house of a proprietor on the banks of the River Tay was even at the beginning of the twentieth century believed to have been haunted by this sprite, and a particular apartment therein has been for centuries called "Seòmar Bhrùnaidh" (Brownie’s room). When irritated through neglect or disrespectful treatment he would not hesitate to become wantonly mischievous. He was notwithstanding, rather gainly and good-natured rather that formidable. Though, on the whole, a lazy, lounging hobgoblin, he would often bestir himself on behalf of those who understood his humours, and suited themselves thereto. When in this mood, he was known to perform many arduous exploits in kitchen barn and stable, with marvellous precision and rapidity. These kind turns were done without bribe, fee or reward, for the offer of any one of these would banish him forever. Kind treatment was all he ever wished for, and it never failed to procure his favour.

Brand in his description of Zetland observes:

The brownies seldom discoursed with man, but they held frequent and affectionate converse with one another. They had their general assemblies too, and on those occasions they commonly selected for their rendezvous the rocky recesses of some remote torrent, whence their loud voices, mingling with the water’s roar, carried to the ears of some wondering superstition detached parts of their unearthly colloquies. In a certain district of the Scottish Highlands, "Peallaidh an Spùit" (Peallaidh of the Spout), "Stochdail a’ Chùirt", and "Brùnaidh an Easain" (Brownie of the little waterfall) were names of note at those congresses, and they still live in legends which continue to amuse old age and infancy. Every stream in Breadalbane had an ùruisg once according to Watson the Scottish place name expert, and their king was Peallaidh. (Peallaidh's name is preserved in "Obair Pheallaidh”, known in English as “Aberfeldy".) It may be the case, that ùruisg was conflated with some water sprite, or that ùruisg were originally water sprites conflated with brownies.

Brownie elf - Modern culture

Brownies were popularized in the humoristic poems of Canadian artist and author Palmer Cox.

By extension, the name of Brownies was given to the junior branch of the Girl Guides (American Girl Scouts).

The Cleveland Browns are often called the Brownies by their fans and used a brownie elf as an official mascot from their beginings in 1946 until owner Art Modell phased it out in the mid-1960's. It was revived on a limited basis by the Browns since the team returned in 1999. During the 2004 Season, The Brownie appeared on the Team's sideline ponchos and equipment trunks and there are stories about the Browns making more use of it for the 2005 Season.

The defunct St. Louis Browns baseball team also used the brownie as a mascot.

The House Elves featured in the Harry Potter series have characteristics of brownies.

In the book "Dragon Rider" brownies were depicted as cat-like, mushroom-eating creatures that live alongside dragons.

This article incorporates additional text from “Dwelly’s [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary” (1911) (Ùruisg) with corrections and additions

See also

• Domovoi (Slavic)
• Household deity
  • Lares (Roman deities)
  • List of Lithuanian household gods
• Legendary creature
• Tomte (Scandinavia)
• Tonttu, aka Haltija (Finland)
• Sprite (creature)

Categories: Dwelly | Elves | English folklore | Fairies | Scottish folklore

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Brownie elf", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki