Fairy etiquette is a strict and exacting art. Different
types of fairies observe many different standards of manners, and the ignorant or
uninformed risk many dangers when dealing incorrectly with the fairy folk.
Brownies and their ilk (the bwca in Wales, the bodach in
Scotland, the Manx fynnoderee, sometimes the pixies of Devon and Cornwall, and the hobs
and lobs around the British isles) often perform services for families and farmers.
Domestic brownies will clean and scrub floors and
dust shelves, while farm brownies will harvest and thresh corn and other crops. Generally
they ask little except that their privacy be observed and that a bowl of milk be left out
for them every night. The brownies consider this a fair trade, and will become offended if
anything else is offered to them. Many be the farmer who, upon seeing the naked brownie
working for him, thought to offer it a new suit of clothes. In every case, the brownie
immediately left their service.
Sometimes the brownie would put on his new suit and think
himself to fine and dandy for work; othertimes they felt the clothes were an insult to
their previous station. There is also the tale of a miserly Lincolnshire farmer whose
brownie grew accustomed to being left a new linen shirt every new year, but then finally
the farmer grew tired of the expense and left a coarse sack out. The brownie sang a quick
song before it ran away:
Harden, harden, harden hemp!
I will neither grind nor stamp.
Had you given me linen gear,
I had served you many a year,
Thrift may go, bad luck may stay,
I shall travel far away!
Offending a domestic brownie can have far worse
repercussions. Many times the brownie will stick around in the cozy house, but will make
itself a nuisance instead of an asset. It will curdle milk, drag furniture across the
floor at night, bang pots and plates together, and occasionally even assault the
residents. It is almost impossible to rid a home of an ill-tempered brownie, and it is
very difficult to win again the favor of an offended brownie
