The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic. John Matthews

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СКАЧАТЬ brownie (pronounced ‘broony’) is one of the small folk who generally act as house spirits. The brownie is a friendly being, about 3 ft tall, with brown shaggy hair and brown clothes who comes out at night to attend to the unfinished tasks of the housewife and servants. Brownies become associated with households in a very responsible way, attending to the daily running of the place, seeing to the animals, tending the land and giving good advice. In any household, the brownie will attach itself to one particular person and be their confidante. In return for all these duties, the brownie expects a small reward which must not be omitted unless you wish to offend him. A bowl of cream, a glass of milk or a bannock of oats or cake will ensure that your relationship with the brownie is secure. Brownies do not much like being addressed directly, so it is best just to leave your offering where it can be found and enjoyed. If you have cares and worries, then you mention these as you perform some ordinary task in such a way that the brownie can overhear you.

      There was a brownie who worked in the house of Maxwell, Laird of Dalswinton. He was particularly close to the old laird’s daughter. He had helped her arrange her marriage and oversaw everything about her welfare. So when she was seized with the pangs of childbirth, it was the brownie who helped that night, which was just as well as the river Nith was in spate and the midwife lived over the opposite bank. Taking his mistress’s fur coat and the best horse from the stable, he rode through the raging waters to the midwife who, in the murk of the night, merely thought that the servant was particularly small. As they rode, she cried, ‘Don’t go by the old pool in case we meet the brownie there.’ ‘Have no fear, good wife,’ cried the brownie in response, ‘You’ve met all the brownies you’re likely to meet.’ The midwife arrived in time to ease the brownie’s mistress. So glad was the old laird that he wanted to reward the brownie with the eternal salvation of baptism. Hiding in the stable with a stoup of holy water, the laird poured it over the brownie as he was about to unsaddle a horse. As soon as the holy water touched him, the brownie disappeared forever.

      The sure way to get rid of a brownie is to offer him clothing, as we learn in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books where Dobby the House Elf escapes his servile employment in the home of the unpleasant Lucius Malfoy when Harry Potter slips a sock into the book which Dobby then takes from his master. If you offend a brownie, you may find that you have suddenly got a boggart in the house, for that is what they become if you are not careful. Brownies do not like any kind of meanness, lying or sneaking. There are many stories which tell of how brownies punish servants who are going behind their employer’s back or otherwise misbehaving and not taking the maintenance of the household seriously. The helpfulness of brownies is most admirably seen in the tale on the previous page.

      BRUCHA

      These Irish monsters with iron bristles over their body and fiery eyes, like to enter orchards and vineyards, trampling down the trees and vines, then roll on the fruit so that it sticks to their bristles. These creatures only do their work against those who violate Sunday observance. Brucha appear to be related to the wingless locust that falls upon ripe harvests and also to the hedgehog or porcupine, of whom the same fruitrolling stories are told in the Physiologus.

      BUATA

      Among the people of New Britain, New Guinea, the Buata is a huge boar with curving tusks, immensely stronger and more intelligent than the average pig. The Buata speaks and understands human speech, which is useful, since it likes to eat humans. However, a cunning person can distract it by conversing with it and pretend to listen while making a quick getaway.

      BUCCA

      The bucca is a form of Cornish spirit or hobgoblin from the south-west of England. Buccas kept very much to themselves and need to be respected properly since they are spirits of the land and sea. Fishermen would always leave a fish for the bucca after they had a catch, and at harvest it was essential to leave a piece of bread and some beer when the harvesters had their lunch. From such respect, the bucca rapidly descended in people’s opinions to a mere bucca-boo (from which we get the term bugga-boo or bogeyman). No one now remembers him as being any different than a being with which to scare naughty children. The name bucca shares its linguistic root with creatures as diverse as Puck, Pukis, Pwca, Bwca and Buggane.

      BUCHIS

      In Egypt, this giant bull had hair that grew in the opposite direction of a normal animal. Its skin was like that of a chameleon, changing colour many times a day. Buchis was the animal of the god Menthu at Hermonthis.

      BUCKLAND SHAG

      Buckland Shag is the name for a water horse in Devon, England. It emerges from the water to trample its victims to death in a horrible manner. The red-stained rocks of that part of Devon are said to be the bloodstains of its victims. Its depredations ended when the Vicar of Buckland exorcized the beast with bell, book and candle, after which it troubled travellers no more.

      BUFFALO

      The buffalo is a bovine species most commonly found in warmer latitudes. What people call ‘buffalo’ in North America are really bison. Buffalo, in common with other cows and bulls, share qualities of life-sustaining fertility and gentleness as well as of virile power and wildness. Among the Zulus of Southern Africa, the buffalo is believed to be able to possess the soul of a human. The young men who tend the buffalo herds frequently draw blood from the vein of a living creature in order to partake of the animal’s strength and endurance. In many parts of Africa, it is only the male buffalo that is sacrificed and eaten, and sometimes only once a year. Among the Baule people of the Ivory Coast, Goli is name of the water buffalo, the protector of the village. Among the Senufo of the Ivory Coast, the buffalo Nasolo is an initiator. In Asia, black buffalo were sacrificed to the god of the chase, while the buffalo was one of the forms in which the Buddha chose to appear. In Hindu iconography, the god of the dead, Vana, rides upon a buffalo; in Hindu tradition, the great goddess, Durgha, slays the mighty buffalo, Mahisha. In Chinese lore, the buffalo is seen as a symbol of man’s unregenerate nature, which is why the sage Confucius is shown riding a buffalo, symbolizing his triumph over his animal nature. Taoist tales speak of how the buffalo is green in colour, or changes from black through to white as the spirit increasingly learns how to spurn base desires.

      BUGAL

      Among the Papuans of Keraki, the first beings were animals called the Gainjin who originally came from the sky world. Bugal the Snake and Wargar the Crocodile were the two who chose to remain on Earth after the other animals decided to return home following the first creation. They still roam the bush and haunt the coastal inlets.

      BUGGANE

      The buggane is a kind of goblin which hales from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. It is a swift shapeshifter and has a dangerous and often vicious turn to it. The one that lived in Spooty Wooar, the Big Waterfall, had the reputation of appearing like a great black calf which crossed the road and leapt into the pool making a sound like dragging chains. The story is told of how a buggane came in humanoid form to a house in Glen Rushen. He abducted a girl who had been working there, and put her over his back with the intention of dragging her down into the hollow where the waters fell. But, seeing how she would soon be drowned if she didn’t act quickly, the girl reached into her pocket for СКАЧАТЬ