Redcaps, Silkies, Urisk, Wag-at-the-Wa’.
Brownie-Clod
A brownie of the Scottish Highlands with a frolicsome temperament, always playing tricks and with a tendency to throw grass clods at passing strangers, hence his name. A simple being, he was tricked into taking on the task of threshing as much corn as two men for the whole winter by the promise of a cape and hood. The tricksters eventually relented when they saw how hard he worked and gave him the clothes, whereupon Brownie-Clod stopped work in a flash and made off with his gift.
Bucca
A Cornish spirit inhabiting the shoreline between high and low tide, to whom fishermen left offerings of fish in order to ensure a good catch in their nets.
The Cornish tales of William Bottrell in Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (2 vols, 1870–1973) name two buccas, Bucca-dhu (Black Spirit) and Bucca-gwidden (White Spirit) and Bucca-boo as a corruption of the former, meaning “Old Nick, or one of his near relations.”
Buggane
The Buggane is described in Manx Fairy Tales by S. Morrison (1911) as “a great big ugly beast” with a “thick gruff voice of a giant” who is so mad with rage at a woman baking after sunset that he captures her and carries her at great speed toward a waterfall. Just as she fears her end is nigh, she remembers the knife she carries, cuts the strings of her apron, and tumbles to the ground, while the Buggane’s headlong flight pitches him into the roaring waterfall instead.
Bugul-Noz
Described as “a colossal spirit called Teus or Bugelnoz, who appears clothed in white between midnight and two in the morning” in Legends and Romances of Brittany by Lewis Spence (1917), the Bugelnoz’s task is “to rescue victims from the devil, and should he spread his mouth over them they are secure from the Father of Evil.” However, later depictions of this Breton “Night Shepherd” portray him as so exceedingly ugly that he hides away in deep forests, a lonely and unhappy spirit.
Bullbeggar
In The Discoverie of Witchcraft by R. Scot, first published in 1584, bulbeggars are described as “terrifying goblins.” Elsewhere in old texts the bullbeggar is depicted as a cautionary bugbear, an ugly or deformed man useful as a threat with which to control misbehaving children.
See also Nursery Bogies.
Bunyip
A malevolent water spirit in Aboriginal mythology, taking many forms and haunting waterholes and rivers, and feared because of its huge size and predatory nature. A description in The Geelong Advertiser newspaper of 1845 says:
The bunyip, then, is represented as uniting the characteristics of a bird and an alligator. It has a head resembling an emu, with a long bill … Its body and legs partake of the nature of the alligator. The hind legs are remarkably thick and strong, and the fore legs are much longer, but still of great strength.
Ancient fossilized bones found by anthropologists and shown to Aborigine elders in the nineteenth century were instantly identified by them as bunyip bones, and drawings and cave paintings exist depicting the many fantastical embodiments of the bunyip.
Bushyasta
A daeva (demon) in Zoroastrian texts, a spirit of indolence and lethargy, who attempts to thwart the good energy of mortals by exhorting them to sleep away their lives.
Buttery Spirits
The fattest fairies, found in inns and taverns where the landlord is deceiving his customers by using inferior meat and watered-down beer. The only food the insatiable buttery spirits devour is either stolen or dishonestly presented as fine fare; in this way the portly spirits inadvertently prevent the landlord from profiting from his duplicity.
Bwbach
See Bwbachod.
Bwbachod
Also known as the bwca or bwbach, the bwbachod is a Welsh household spirit that belongs to the same family as the brownie.
The bwbachod rewards tidiness. To enlist the help of one, traditionally Welsh maids would sweep the kitchen, set a good fire last thing at night, leave the churn filled with cream on the whitened hearth, and leave a basin of fresh cream on the hob. In the morning, if she was in luck, she would find that the bwbachod had emptied the basin of cream and plied the churn-dasher so well that she had only to give a thump or two to bring out the butter in a great lump.
Bwbachod have a dislike of teetotallers and like to harass them. In British Goblins (1880), Wirt Sikes relates the story of a bwbachod who took an especial dislike to a preacher who was much fonder of his prayers than of good ale. Being in favor of people who sat around the hearth with a drink and a pipe, the bwbachod took to pestering the preacher, knocking the stool from beneath his elbows when he was praying, jangling the fire irons, or frightening him by grinning in at the window. He finally succeeded in frightening the preacher away by appearing as his double, which was considered to be an omen of death. The preacher mounted his horse the next day and rode away, looking back over his shoulder at the bwbachod, who was grinning from ear to ear.
Bwca
(Pronounced booka.) An industrious Welsh brownie, working at night on household tasks such as spinning, washing, and ironing in return for bread and milk. He is happy to work without being seen, or his name being known, but if he is spied on he will immediately depart, never to return.
See also Bwbachod.
Cabyll Ushtey
A Manx water horse said to frequent the banks of lakes after dark. There is some debate as to whether it is as dangerous as its Scottish counterpart, the greedy each uisge, but it is believed to seize cattle and occasionally steal children.
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