Why does Brownies have a fairytale theme?

It hadn’t occurred to me that it’s a bit odd but for outsiders, the whole thing with the adults being called Owls, the dancing around a toadstool, the (old) Six names being things like Elves, Imps and Pixies… what’s going on there?

Long story short, when our Founder, Lord Baden-Powell (BP) created Scouts, they were kind of a military spin-off. The Guides were a softer military spin-off of the Scouts – until quite recently, the major ethos was to be useful and helpful and gain skills that would do good. That lots of it was fun was really an accidental side-effect, although undoubtedly the far bigger reason why both Movements grew as they did.

So when the little sisters started demanding something to do, they had to helpful and as BP just couldn’t argue that the under-10s could realistically be any direct use in battle (the older ones could use their bushcraft and outdoor skills to deliver messages etc), they had to be useful at home. He named them after a helpful little fairy creature – Brownies.

These days, our under-10s in their brown and yellow uniforms are so ubiquitous that it sounds weird to say that brownies are fairy creatures. The only place you’ll find them now is in Enid Blyton books and in old Brownie handbooks that still contain the Brownie Story.

It went like this.

Once there were two children. Their names, gender and race depend on the edition of the handbook but let’s call them Hallie and Annie. They lived in a cottage with their mother, father and baby brother and they were all very untidy.

One day, with all the cooking, cleaning and childcare upon her, Mum said “I wish we had a brownie to help with all this”.

“What’s a brownie?” said Hallie and Annie.

“It’s a helpful little fairy creature that comes into the house ar night to tidy up,” said Mum.

Hallie and Annie agreed a brownie would be useful so they crept off into the woods to ask the Wise Owl where they could find one. After various adventures and scrapes, they found the Wise Owl.

“Go deep into the forest until you find the magic pond,” Wise Owl said. “Say the words ‘Twist me and turn me and show me the elf, I looked in the water and there saw…” and when you complete the words, you’ll find the brownie.”

Cue more adventures but eventually Hallie and Annie found the magic pond and did the spell – but all they saw in the water was their own reflections. They went back to Wise Owl crying with disappointment.

“You didn’t find the brownie?” Wise Owl said.

“No, I only saw myself!” wailed Hallie.

“Hmmm. Did you say the words? Twist me and turn me and show me the elf, I looked in the water and there saw…”

“Myself!” Annie finished.

“Well… don’t you think that fits?” Wise Owl asked.

And so the children realised they were the brownies. They went home smiling and at night they secretly tidied up until Mum said “There must be a brownie here after all!”

Thus the theme. Leaders take their name from the owl in the woods, most units have a ceremonial toadstool that they make a circle around and most units still use a mirror as a pond in their Promise ceremony – although as the story has fallen out of fashion, most girls have no idea why they’re doing it. The Six names remained fairy creatures for at least the first 90 years, then Girlguiding added woodland creatures like Foxes, Squirrels and Badgers to the options. Recently they’ve changed the system so Guides and Brownies pick the same options for their Patrols and Sixes and these are a mix of woodland creatures, more exotic animals like Elephants, Polar Bears and Penguins, and mythical creatures. I’ve not yet met a unit that uses these, mostly because if one Six is allowed to be Unicorns, everyone wants to be Unicorns.

The theme remains but the reasons fade into the sands of time.