Brownie
A household spirit in the folklore of Scotland and northern England, generally described as a shaggy-haired little man about 3 feet (1 meter) tall, sometimes dressed in shabby brown clothes and sometimes naked. Meg Mullach, or Hairy Meg, is an example of a female brownie, but in most accounts they are male.
Brownies attached themselves to a particular household or farm. They came out at night to complete tasks left unfinished by servants or farm laborers, tending to livestock, threshing grain, reaping crops, cleaning the house and barns, churning butter, and taking care of numerous other chores. In return, housewives left out treats, placing a bowl of cream, or a tidbit of freshly baked bread or cake where the brownie was likely to find it by chance. It was important not to offer a brownie direct payment for his services, as this invariably led to his departure. Some say this was because brownies were only bound to work until considered worthy of payment; others that the brownie was too much of a free spirit to accept the bondage of human clothes or wages. The Cauld Lad of Hilton is one of many examples of a brownie who ceased his services when he was given the gift of clothing. In Cornwall, a pisky sometimes performed a similar role to a brownie, helping with the threshing of the corn. But when the pisky threshers were given new clothes, they vanished, never to return. In one unusual case a Lincolnshire brownie was annually given a linen shirt. One year the farmer substituted a shirt of coarse hemp and the brownie took offense at the poor quality of the garment and left.
Criticizing a brownie’s work was another sure way to cause offense and turn him from an industrious helper into a troublesome, mischievous boggart. However, when treated with respect, a brownie was very loyal to the master or mistress of the household, chiding and scolding lazy servants and laborers, and even fetching the midwife when his mistress went into labor.
See also Aiken Drum, Bodachan Sabhaill, Boggart, Bongas, Brownie-Clod, Bwbachod, Bwca, Tom Cockle, Dobbs, Dobie, Fenodoree, Gruagach, Haltija, Hob, Hobgoblin, Kaboutermannekin, Killmoulis, Kobold, Kodinhaltia, Korrigan, Niagriusar, Nisse, Phouka, Portunes, Puddlefoot, Redcaps, Silkies, Urisk, Wag-at-the-Wa’.
Brownie-Clod
A brownie of the Scottish Highlands with a frolicsome temperament, always playing tricks and with a tendency to throw grass clods at passing strangers, hence his name. A simple being, he was tricked into taking on the task of threshing as much corn as two men for the whole winter by the promise of a cape and hood. The tricksters eventually relented when they saw how hard he worked and gave him the clothes, whereupon Brownie-Clod stopped work in a flash and made off with his gift.
Bucca
A Cornish spirit inhabiting the shoreline between high and low tide, to whom fishermen left offerings of fish in order to ensure a good catch in their nets.
The Cornish tales of William Bottrell in Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (2 vols, 1870–1973) name two buccas, Bucca-dhu (Black Spirit) and Bucca-gwidden (White Spirit) and Bucca-boo as a corruption of the former, meaning “Old Nick, or one of his near relations.”
Buggane
The Buggane is described in Manx Fairy Tales by S. Morrison (1911) as “a great big ugly beast” with a “thick gruff voice of a giant” who is so mad with rage at a woman baking after sunset that he captures her and carries her at great speed toward a waterfall. Just as she fears her end is nigh, she remembers the knife she carries, cuts the strings of her apron, and tumbles to the ground, while the Buggane’s headlong flight pitches him into the roaring waterfall instead.
Bugul-Noz
Described as “a colossal spirit called Teus or Bugelnoz, who appears clothed in white between midnight and two in the morning” in Legends and Romances of Brittany by Lewis Spence (1917), the Bugelnoz’s task is “to rescue victims from the devil, and should he spread his mouth over them they are secure from the Father of Evil.” However, later depictions of this Breton “Night Shepherd” portray him as so exceedingly ugly that he hides away in deep forests, a lonely and unhappy spirit.
Bullbeggar
In The Discoverie of Witchcraft by R. Scot, first published in 1584, bulbeggars are described as “terrifying goblins.” Elsewhere in old texts the bullbeggar is depicted as a cautionary bugbear, an ugly or deformed man useful as a threat with which to control misbehaving children.
See also Nursery Bogies.
Bunyip
A malevolent water spirit in Aboriginal mythology, taking many forms and haunting waterholes and rivers, and feared because of its huge size and predatory nature. A description in The Geelong Advertiser newspaper of 1845 says:
The bunyip, then, is represented as uniting the characteristics of a bird and an alligator. It has a head resembling an emu, with a long bill … Its body and legs partake of the nature of the alligator. The hind legs are remarkably thick and strong, and the fore legs are much longer, but still of great