Brownie

**Brownies** are a kind of sprite, though they are seen living independent of service, caring for their own homes, or exploring.

## Physical Description

Brownies are shorter by far than the average fae. They have 'flat faces . . . pinhole noses and hairy bodies'.

Gille Dubh rides a rooster as a mount. Brownies seem to always wear hats of some kind: both Gille Dubh and Luridan wear large hats, and the brownie Eran Iliakambar asked for directions to the Unseelie Court wore a green cap.

## Abilities

Gille Dubh can make food that reminds people of good memories.

The brownie Eran received directions from grew mushrooms where Eran's feet landed.

Luridan, despite being Seelie, is capable of lying, or at least gross exaggeration.

## Characteristics (culture, habits)

Brownies are a kind of sprite who will leave as soon as they are paid for a job.

Gille Dubh looks after a loch, which he allows other fae to use for cleaning themselves and resting. Brownies are 'normally cheerful and uninterested in war', and can also be playful, calm, polite, and empathetic, or fearsome, like Gille Dubh when confronting Gwyn ap Nudd. Both Luridan and Gille Dubh are also quite friendly to those they bear no ill will, and shared food with Eran and Mosk Manytrees. Luridan shared food with Gwyn, Augus Each Uisge, Eran, and Mosk. They also speak in a very poetical manner, which sometimes incorporates Scots. A saying Eran quoted when first encountering Luridan was 'Never trust a brownie to speak in a straight line'. Brownies can also be rather rude, like Luridan, or the brownies who cursed about Eran's rudeness when he was teleported onto their picnic and asked for directions.

They can live in small houses, like Gille Dubh, or travel, like Luridan.

The brownies who attacked Gwyn, the Nain Rouge, Eran, and Mosk, were unusual in their lust for combat, and carried shovels to fight with.

## Folklore/Mythology

'A brownie or broonie (Scots), also known as a *brùnaidh* or *gruagach* (Scottish Gaelic), is a household spirit 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.'

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 18 October 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2002562. Chapter 20: Nightmare.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 September 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/27454425. Chapter 2: I'll Not Feel Pity.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 21 September 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/37471571. Chapter 29: Don't Look.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 March 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/32210853. Chapter 17: So It Is.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 7 October 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/27929826. Chapter 4: Splendour.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 March 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/31845930. Chapter 16: Leave Be.
7. ↑ "Brownie (folklore)". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie\_(folklore). Accessed 6 May 2021.