Bran the Brownie
Helen Chapman
Copyright 2012
Helen Chapman
Published by
Clowder Publishing
P.O. Box 492
Westmoreland, TN 37186
Brownies are first cousins to gnomes, though they usually stand a little taller, and rather slimmer than gnomes, and both brownies and gnomes are members of the Fairy Folk.
Fairies and faeries are not quite the same thing. Faerie are small winged sprites that live in forests, glades and gardens, and are sometimes friendly to humans. But they are just one clan in the Fairy Folk. The Fairy Folk includes all the spirit creatures that live outdoors, such as brownies, gnomes, giants, and trolls, as well as faeries, and we must always call them by their correct names. Otherwise we might offend them, and offending a member of the Fairy Folk can be very unlucky.
Brownies are mischievous little people, and like bothering humans. They do not bother us much. But they are fond of doing annoying little things, like hiding one sock of a pair put into a washing machine, or spiriting keys away, just when one needs them most. They are not really unkind, but they do like a good laugh, and nothing makes a brownie laugh more than to see a human spin into a panic. You may sometimes hear a brownie giggle when you first lose something, and then find it right where you thought you left it.
Bran was the only brownie in Tara's garden, and he rapidly grew bored. He tried interesting Tanner, Tara's leatherworking gnome, in pulling a prank on Tara's family, but Tanner just made him a new pair of boots. Bran then tried Tina, Tara's faerie, and even called her by her proper name of Rhiannon, but Tina just flew away. He thought of trying Ray Ann, Tara's Paisley Dragon. But he was not very fond of Ray Ann, because Ray Ann always laughed and singed the top of his hat and the collar of his coat when he spoke to her.
However one morning, after he had shared his breakfast tea and toast with marmalade with Tanner, Bran had an idea. He knew that he really needed another brownie to play pranks on humans, but reckoned that he might well be able to play a small joke or two on his own on the other fairy folk who lived in the garden with him instead. He decided to start with Ray Ann, to get his own back for having his hat and collar singed.
The singeing was not really Ray Ann's fault, because dragons naturally breathe out a little fire and smoke when they are talking, and Bran tended to stand too close when he was listening. But he was not a very bright brownie, and never realised that he might hear anything Ray Ann said just as well by standing a little further away. He was also not very sure how to play a prank, because he had been made in a resin factory, and had never met any other Brownies. But he had some ideas, and decided to try them out, though nobody had taught him the difference between laughing pranks and pestering pranks.
So he planned and schemed, and schemed and planned, and then very carefully gathered a long piece of cord and two corks, and waited until he judged the time right for pranking.
Fairy Folk like to play all day and through most of the night, and Tara's little friends slept from very late at night, just before the moon set, until she called them in for breakfast. They slept curled up in amongst the flowers in the garden, and sometimes also rested during the day when they were tired, taking their places in the garden as little statues.
Bran decided to play his prank on Ray Ann one night when the Paisley Dragon was fast asleep and dreaming dragon dreams. He carefully tied one end of his cord, which he had taken from Tara's mother's sewing basket, around Ray Ann's paisley tail, and then tied the other end to a tree, so that Ray Ann would be held good and fast when she woke up and tried to run around. Then, very very carefully, he placed a cork in each of Ray Ann's nostrils. Dragon nostrils are very large, to allow their smoke to breathe out without burning their faces, and he pushed the corks in gently, to make them stay in place. Then he sat back and waited. But while he waited, he fell asleep.
Tara came out in the morning to call her little friends in for breakfast. She had filled a jar with glow worms the previous evening before going to bed, and wanted to feed them to Ray Ann. But she looked up in astonishment as she walked towards the pond, because she could see Ray Ann flying round and round in circles at the end of what looked like a length of string.
She excitedly called her father. 'Daddy, Daddy, look! Ray Ann is flying!'
Tara's father joined her, and they both watched Ray Ann in astonishment. Then Tara's father realized that Ray Ann was not really flying, in the way that Tina, or dragonflies, might fly. She just seemed to be floating in the air, and he saw the cord tied to Ray Ann's tail.
He reached up to take the cord, and very carefully began to pull Ray Ann down towards him, and realized what had happened. Bran had stuffed his corks much too tightly into her dragon nose, stopping her smoke from getting out, and her smoke was puffing her up, just like a balloon.
Tara went off to waken Bran, Tanner and Tina, and Tanner realized exactly what had happened the moment he saw Ray Ann all puffed up. He looked around for a stout holly branch and dealt Bran a resounding thwack around his ears, first on one side of his head, and then on the other.
Bran woke with a start, rubbing the back of his head. He looked completely baffled, until Tanner told him that he had almost puffed Ray Ann up near to bursting.
Bran felt very guilty, because he had not realized that stopping up Ray Ann's nostrils would make her float. He had only thought he would stop her from puffing out flames and smoke.
Meanwhile Tara and her father and the little folk stood around Ray Ann, wondering how to unpuff her. Tara's father scratched his head thoughtfully. He had never met a dragon before, and had no idea how to get corks out of Ray Ann's nostrils. He asked Tanner, because Tanner seemed to be the oldest and wisest amongst them, not least because he had a beard. But Tanner was equally stuck for an answer, and said in a small, gruff voice: 'No, sir. I reckon I don't know how to get a cork out of a dragon's nostril. It seems to me that it will just push in further if you press on it. I can't say what you should do at all. Perhaps you could ask Rhiannon.'
So Tara's father asked Rhiannon, the faerie, whom Tara also called Tina. But Rhiannon shook her tiny faerie head as well. 'I'm sorry, sir, but I can't help either. I really do not know anything about dragon noses, other than they blow smoke. Don't you think, sir, you should wake Ray Ann and ask her?'
Tara's father was still holding firmly to the cord tied to Ray Ann's tail, and Ray Ann was still floating like a big, paisley balloon. He pulled gently on the cord until he was able to hold on to her tail, and pulled her close to him so that he could whisper into her little dragon ear. 'Ray Ann, it's time to wake up. Please wake up, Ray Ann.'
Ray Ann just huffed a little tongue of flame from her mouth, along with a trickle of smoke, and was quiet again, gently floating against Tara's father. Tara's father looked at Bran quite angrily. 'Did you put something in her ears as well, to make her deaf?'
Bran huddled anxiously behind Tina, and looked quite frightened. He knew now that he done something very naughty. 'No sir. Bran never put nuffin' in Ray Ann's ear. Bran just stuffed them corks in her nose holes.' He snuffled out his words, half swallowing them as he spoke, because brownies are not the bravest of creatures, and Bran was certainly not the bravest of brownies.
Tara's father thought for a minute, and looked at Rhiannon again. 'Could you try and wake her?' He paused, because he was a little afraid of what might if Ray Ann woke with a start. 'But very gently, so that she doesn't set fire to anything?'
Rhiannon fluttered her faerie wings and flew up beside Ray Ann. She called to Ray Ann to wake up, over and over again, calling each time a little louder, and finally, on her fifth call, R
ay Ann opened her eyes.
Ray Ann also tried to snort, because dragons always snort when they wake. But she only succeeded in puffing herself up, larger than ever.
She looked down at Tara and her father in bewilderment, because now she had puffed herself even larger. 'Why am I floating up here?' She sounded rather frightened.
Tara's father explained that Bran had played a naughty prank on her, and asked her whether she might have any idea about getting the corks our of her nostrils.
Ray Ann looked up at the sky, sucked in a mighty breath through her mouth, and blew out through her nose. But she only blew herself up even more, until she was almost as big as a funfair balloon.
Rhiannon scratched her tiny faerie head, and then suddenly had an idea. She rose on her wings until she was way above Ray Ann, and then flew off as fast as her wings could carry her.
She returned a few minutes later with a strange little man dressed all in brown. He was almost as small as she was, and she helped him over the garden fence by beating her little wings very fast indeed, placing him in front of Tara's father.
'This, Mr. Freddy, is Victor.' She always called Tara's father 'Mr. Freddy' because she was a very polite little faerie.
Tara's father bent over to shake Victor's tiny little brown hand, and then knelt on the grass beside him, whilst Rhiannon explained that Victor was a real brownie, not one from a garden center.
Tara's father pulled Ray Ann down towards the ground, so that Victor could see her clearly, and asked the little brownie how to unpuff her.
Victor looked at the little paisley dragon for a long thoughtful moment, and then spoke in a high thin little voice. 'Let me take a closer look, mister.'
Tara's father held out his hand, so that Victor could climb onto it, and then lifted the tiny brownie until he was level with Ray Ann. Victor touched her a couple of times, and then spoke firmly. 'You must make her sneeze.'
Tara's father looked at the little brownie, and then at Ray Ann, who now looked more than a little alarmed. 'How do we make her sneeze, Victor?'
Victor tapped the side of Ray Ann's nose. 'Tickle her nose, and if that don't work, feed her pepper.' Then he hopped quickly down, and was gone in a trice, scurrying under a gap in the fence back into his own garden.
Tara's father looked around at his companions. 'Well, just how do we tickle a dragon's nose?'
Tara smiled brightly. She had been very quiet all this time, but now she knew that she had just the right answer. 'Daddy, let's tickle Ray Ann's nose with a feather duster. That always makes me sneeze.'
Her father smiled approvingly, because he also thought her idea really very clever, and Tara ran back to the house to find a feather duster. But Tara's father also tied Ray Ann's cord very securely to a tree, because he did not want to send a little dragon zipping all over their neighborhood.
Tara ran back with the duster and handed it to her father, then stood safely back out of the way. Her father stepped back, until he could just touch Ray Ann's nose with the tip of the duster and tickled her gently under her nose.
Ray Ann took a deep breath, and then a second, and then with a loud Chooooo let out the biggest dragon sneeze possible, sending a jet of flame and smoke spilling across the garden, with two corks spinning and bobbing in the middle of the fire and smoke.
Her sneeze brought her straight back to her normal size, but she spent some time sniffing and snorting and wiping her nose with a little dragon handkerchief as Tara's father untied her tail.
She also looked at Bran with a very stern dragon look. 'Bran is a very bad Brownie.' It was all she would say to him, but it was enough, and Bran looked very ashamed.
'Don't be mad at Bran, Ray Ann,' he pleaded. 'Bran not bad Brownie. Bran don't know how to be good Brownie.'
Tina fluttered over and whispered for a moment to Tara's father, and Tara's father looked down at Bran and smiled. 'Rhiannon thinks you should and spend a little time with Victor next door, so that you can learn proper brownie ways.'
Bran looked considerably relieved. 'Oh, yes, Tara's Daddy. Bran like that muchly. Bran go now?'
Tara's father laughed. 'No, Bran, not yet. You haven't had your tea and toast and marmalade.' He took Tara's hand. 'I think we're probably all hungry now, after this adventure, and Ray Ann certainly deserves her glow worms. Let's all go inside for breakfast, and then you can go and learn how to be a good brownie.'
Bran bowed a little brownie bow of gratitude, because it was true, he really felt very hungry. 'Thank you, Tara's Daddy. Thank you.' He hopped and skipped up the path, and even forgot to try tripping Tanner up, which was another prank he had thought up. Because brownies are really good little people at heart, even if they do like playing pranks, and they are always on their best behavior when they know breakfast is waiting.