What is a brownie??
A brownie is a legendary kind of elf popular in folklore around England and Scotland.Customarily they
are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. Girl Scout Brownies get their name from a portion
of a book of moralizing stories called "Brownies and Other Tales" by Juliana Horatia Ewing, written in 1870. In
the story two boys learn that children can be helpful Brownies or idle and mischievous. To read the original story, go here:
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/ewing/brownies/brownies.html#I
While there are numerous versions of the Brownie story floating around, the current official version used by the
Girl Scouts can be found in the Brownie handbook. Due to copyright restrictions, it cannot be reprinted online.
However, the basic story is as follows.
Two children, Mary and Tommy, live with their grandmother and father. Since their father works all day, their
grandmother is not capable of doing much housework, and the children are lazy, their house is a mess.
One day, the grandmother comments that the house needs a brownie, which she describes as a special family helper
who sneaks in and does chores without being seen, all out of love for the family. When the children ask where
a brownie can be found, the grandmother replies that "only the wise old owl knows."
Mary goes to the woods to find the owl. When she does, the owl tells her that to find a brownie, Mary needs
to go to a pond, and twist herself around three times while saying this magic rhyme: "Twist me and turn me and show me the
elf. I looked in the water and saw ______." After she is done spinning, she should look in the water to see the
brownie, and discover the magic word that completes the rhyme.
Mary discovers that she ("myself") is the helpful brownie. She goes back home and tells her brother Tommy
about her discovery, and the two of them get up early in the morning to clean the house before their father and grandmother
get out of bed. When they awaken, the father and grandmother are thrilled to discover that they now have their own helpful
brownies.
The Brownie Girl Scout program encourages girls to do "a good turn," or a good deed, daily. And, in the UK and
Canada, Brownie leaders are referred to as "owls."
