Brownie (folklore)  

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A brownie or broonie (Scots), also known as a Template:Lang or Template:Lang (Scottish Gaelic), is a household spirit or Hobgoblin from Scottish folklore 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. 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 boggarts.

Brownies originated as domestic tutelary spirits, very similar to the Lares 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 if a person attempts to baptize him, he will leave forever.

Although the name brownie originated as a dialectal word used only in the UK, it has since become the standard term for all such creatures throughout the UK and Ireland. 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's poem L'Allegro. They became popular in works of children's literature in the late nineteenth century and continue to appear in works of modern fantasy. The Brownies in the Girl Guides are named after a short story by Juliana Horatia Ewing based on brownie folklore.

Origin

[[File:Vettii.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Roman Lararium, or household shrine to the Lares, from the House of the Vettii in Pompeii. Brownies bear many similarities to the Roman Lares.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn]]

Brownies originated as domestic tutelary spirits, very similar to the Lares of ancient Roman tradition, who were envisioned as the protective spirits of deceased ancestors.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Brownies and Lares are both regarded as solitary and devoted to serving the members of the house.Template:Sfn Both are said to be hairy and dress in ragsTemplate:Sfn and both are said to demand offerings of food or dairy.Template:Sfn Like Lares, brownies were associated with the deadTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and a brownie is sometimes described as the ghost of a deceased servant who once worked in the home.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Those who saw him described him as a naked boy.Template:Sfn He was said to clean up anything that was untidy and make messes of things that were tidy.Template:Sfn The Menehune of Hawaiian folklore have been compared to brownies as well, seeing they are portrayed as a race of dwarf people who carry out work during night time.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Brownie (folklore)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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