The Scottish Brownie formed a class of being distinct in habit and
disposition from the freakish and mischievous elves. He was meagre,
shaggy, and wild in his appearance. Thus Cleland, in his satire against
the Highlanders, compares them to
"Faunes, or Brownies, if ye will,
Or Satyres come from Atlas Hill."
In the day-time he lurked in remote recesses of the old houses which he
delighted to haunt, and in the night sedulously employed himself in
discharging any laborious task which he thought might be acceptable to
the family to whose service he had devoted himself. But the Brownie does
not drudge from the hope of recompense. On the contrary, so delicate is
his attachment that the offer of reward, but particularly of food,
infallibly occasions his disappearance for ever. It is told of a
Brownie, who haunted a border family now extinct, that the lady having
fallen unexpectedly ill, and the servant, who was ordered to ride to
Jedburgh for the _sage-femme_, showing no great alertness in setting out,
the familiar spirit slipped on the greatcoat of the lingering domestic,
rode to the town on the laird's best horse, and returned with the midwife
_en croupe_. During the short space of his absence, the Tweed, which
they must necessarily ford, rose to a dangerous height. Brownie, who
transported his charge with all the rapidity of the ghostly lover of
Lenore, was not to be stopped by the obstacle. He plunged in with the
terrified old lady, and landed her in safety where her services were
wanted. Having put the horse into the stable (where it was afterwards
found in a woful plight), he proceeded to the room of the servant, whose
duty he had discharged, and finding him just in the act of drawing on his
boots, he administered to him a most merciless drubbing with his own
horsewhip. Such an important service excited the gratitude of the laird,
who, understanding that Brownie had been heard to express a wish to have
a green coat, ordered a vestment of the colour to be made, and left in
his haunts. Brownie took away the green coat, but was never seen more.
We may suppose that, tired of his domestic drudgery, he went in his new
livery to join the fairies.
The last Brownie known in Ettrick Forest resided in Bodsbeck, a wild and
solitary spot, near the head of Moffat Water, where he exercised his
functions undisturbed, till the scrupulous devotion of an old lady
induced her to "hire him away," as it was termed, by placing in his haunt
a porringer of milk and a piece of money. After receiving this hint to
depart, he was heard the whole night to howl and cry, "Farewell to bonnie
Bodsbeck!" which he was compelled to abandon for ever.