Brownie

Isis

Member
According to Scottish folklore, a brownie is a household fairy who cleans the house at night while the mortals sleep. I wish I had one!
 

Allie-Gator

Member
Can we share one? LOL I need a Brownie in the worst way. I wonder what payment you would have to give to a Brownie to clean house for you? The payment may be too high for us to afford, in one way or the other.
 

Artemis

Member
I think that is the legend of the brownie scouts. Before you become a girl scout you have to be a brownie scout first? That's the way it was during my elder sister's time. I'd like to have a brownie to clean my house too.
 

Toni

Active Member
Brownies clean your house at night and fix anything that is broken in exchange for food, ususally a bowl of porridge. Brownies are ecstatic when you make clothes for them.
 

Nadai

Active Member
Brownies clean your house at night and fix anything that is broken in exchange for food, ususally a bowl of porridge. Brownies are ecstatic when you make clothes for them.

I wonder what sized clothes you'd have to make for a Brownie. Would they be offended to receive clothes that are too big or small? Maybe before bed you could leave a note asking for measurements;)
 

Toni

Active Member
I wonder what sized clothes you'd have to make for a Brownie. Would they be offended to receive clothes that are too big or small? Maybe before bed you could leave a note asking for measurements;)
I'm guessing that since this is mythology and we are perhaps dealing with a magical creature of sorts, if the clothes were too big or too small, they would "magically" fit anyway. Some brownies did not appreciate new clothes. Good story - http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/tfm130.htm:D
 

Insights

New Member
Is a brownie the same as a gnome or elf? I never knew they were mythical. I always wondered where they came up with the name brownie for girlscouts when I was a kid. I thought they were girls who specialized in making brownies or something.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
Is a brownie the same as a gnome or elf? I never knew they were mythical. I always wondered where they came up with the name brownie for girlscouts when I was a kid. I thought they were girls who specialized in making brownies or something.
The terms fairies and elves can be vague at times.
A Brownie can be a type of fairy I suppose, in a loose sense.
A gnome is a term used by occultists when discussing spirits that live in the earth.
Salamanders live in fire and Sylphs live in the air. Undines live in water.
Gnomes can be seen as dwarf-like, and since brownies are pictured as being small, they might
have some overlapping features with Gnomes.
 
Brownies clean your house at night and fix anything that is broken in exchange for food, ususally a bowl of porridge. Brownies are ecstatic when you make clothes for them.
So would you say that the hobgoblin is the Germanic equivalent?

Also, do you have a source for brownies loving clothes made for them? Seems similar to the shoemaking-variety elf.
 

Nadai

Active Member
So would you say that the hobgoblin is the Germanic equivalent?

Also, do you have a source for brownies loving clothes made for them? Seems similar to the shoemaking-variety elf.
Maybe they're cousins.
...or maybe a different spin on the same myth like the differences between Roman and Greek.
 
Maybe they're cousins.
...or maybe a different spin on the same myth like the differences between Roman and Greek.
I'm not greatly familiar with little people*, but from what I do know, your proposition seems very likely, and what I have wondered about also.


* The subject seemed to contain far too much overlap and too many dead ends to justify my giving it as much attention as I have other elements in mythology! I intend to do a good amount of studying on them, just...not yet.
 

WinterWitch

Member
Brownies are fairies. In some studies a fairy is an elf. So essentially a Brownie is both fairy and an elf. As far as cleaning the house; however, is it wrong that I wouldn't mind having a Brownie Scout clean the house? I could pay them with milk and cookies!
 

greekgoddess31

Active Member
Fairies come in many different varieties, Brownies are just one variation. I wouldn't mind having one to clean my house but all magic comes with a price.
 

RLynn

Active Member
There's a Brownie in the Little, Big novel by John Crowley. One of the characters, Sylvie, leaves an offering for him of milk and and an egg. When he found it, "he drank the milk and sucked the egg and thanked her with all his heart."
 
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