Time for Spring Cleaning!

The Brownie Handbook, 1965 Girl Guides of Canada (Meadow Sweet Grove collection)

​The beautiful Spring weather has finally arrived in Meadow Sweet Grove.  Warm air, beautiful blossoms, chirping birds ... the garden is beckoning! But, looking around, the house is a mess, and really, really needs its annual Spring cleaning.  The rain made it so hard for the fairies to take carpets outside to beat and to wash linens and air them on the line ... and now is the time to do these things!  But the garden is so enchanting with so much life showing and it needs attention too ... what to do?  Time to call in the helpful house fairies!

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Brownies and Elves, The Helpful House Fairies

Drowning in clutter?  Too many things to clean and scrub and make fresh now that Spring is here?  The helpful Brownie or House Elf can come to your rescue.  Brownies loves to keep things neat and tidy and they are relatively cheap to employ.  A little milk, bread and honey (maybe the odd shiny trinket or coin) and they are happy and content.  Remember never, ever to thank them (they don't like that).  Just leave your offering in a little wee dish and they will always be by your side.

Here is my quick summary of "the brownie story" from The Brownie Handbook:

"The Wind sighed and the Owl wondered why.  Spring had come to Canada so why not be glad?  The Wind explained to the Owl that the house below the pines had a Mother, Father, Grandmother and two little girls.  Everyone worked hard except the two little girls.  The Wind, in consultation with the Owl, decided to blow a breeze in the window;  "What a lovely breeze!" Grandmother said as she sat in her rocker sewing.  "I smell violets and mayflowers!"  "Let's go and pick some Jane," Mary said.  "Maybe we can go paddling in the creek, too."  Grandmother frowned, "But you haven't made your beds yet, and the breakfast dishes are still on the table." "Oh, Mother will look after those when she comes in from the garden" ... and so it goes on.  Grandmother tells the girls about long ago, in her childhood, when she first heard of the Brownies, those friendly little elves who used to come in the night to her Highland home to help with the chores.   She remembers hearing them clattering in the kitchen late at night.  Mary and Jane are surprised that Grandmother actually heard little fairies and of course want to know if she'd ever actually seen them.  Grandmother explained that no, that was part of the magic, they worked quietly,  saw what needed to be done and did it without being told. 

​Mary and Jane aren't sure that these Brownies could exist in Canada as well but Grandmother explains that the Owl outside probably knows those answers.

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Show me the elf, I looked in the water and there saw ...

So Mary goes out in the moonlight and calls into the darkness of the pine branches.   To which the Owl answers, "Whoooo?"  Mary introduces herself and asks if he has ever seen any Brownies that might help out Mother, Father and Grandmother with all the housework.  He instructs her to go and stand by the big toadstool in the moonlight, by the side of the pond, turn around three times (the magic number) and say, "Twist me and turn me and show me the elf, I looked in the water and there saw ..." 

And that's the magic - the answer is in ourselves ... but I'm going to leave out a little milk, bread and honey anyway just in case.  ;)

​Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017 ​​​

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