Billy Blind
Encyclopedia
Brownie (folklore)
A brownie/brounie or urisk or brùnaidh, ùruisg, or gruagach is a legendary creature popular in folklore around Scotland and England...
. It appears, however, only in ballads, where it frequently advises the characters. It is probable that the character of Billy Blind is a folk memory
Folk memory
Folk memories is a term sometimes used to describe stories, folklore or myths about past events that have passed orally from generation to generation. The events described by the memories may date back hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years and often have a local significance...
of the god Woden
Woden
Woden or Wodan is a major deity of Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic polytheism. Together with his Norse counterpart Odin, Woden represents a development of the Proto-Germanic god *Wōdanaz....
or Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
from Germanic mythology, in his "more playful aspect" and the character seems to have been the same character as that of Blind Harie, the "blind man of the game" in Scotland.
In Child Ballad no 5c, Gil Brenton
Gil Brenton
Gil Brenton is Child ballad 5, Roud 22, existing in several variants.-Synopsis:A man has brought home a foreign woman to be his wife....
, it is Billy Blind that advises the hero that his bride is not the woman beside him, who is a virgin, but she is hiding in her bower and already pregnant.
In Child Ballad no 6, Willie's Lady
Willie's Lady
Willie's Lady is Child ballad number 6.A variant of this ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in Ballads Weird and Wonderful and illustrated by Vernon Hill.-Synopsis:...
, Willie's wife has been in labor and can not deliver because Willie's mother, a rank witch, is preventing her. Billy Blind advises Willie to make a wax figure of a baby and invite his mother to the christening. In her rage, the mother demands to know how all her magic was undone, listing all the things she's done, and Willie is able to undo them.
In Child Ballad no 53C, Young Bekie, he advises Burd Isobel that Young Bekie is about to marry another bride, and gives her assistance in the magical journey to reach him in time.
In Child Ballad no 110, The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter
The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter
"The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter" is an English ballad, collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 110.-Synopsis:A knight persuades a shepherd's daughter to give him her virginity. She chases after him to court, on foot while he is on horseback, and demands marriage. He attempts to...
, he appears in many of the variants to reveal the true births of the marrying couple: much higher than was apparent.
In modern fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, the Billy Blind appears in Peter S. Beagle
Peter S. Beagle
Peter Soyer Beagle is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. His most notable works include the novels The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place and Tamsin, and the award-winning story "Two Hearts".-Career:Beagle won early recognition from The Scholastic Art &...
's Tamsin
Tamsin (novel)
Tamsin is a 1999 fantasy novel by Peter S. Beagle. It won a Mythopoeic Award in 2000 for adult literature.-Plot summary:Jenny Gluckstein moves with her mother to a 300-year-old farm in Dorset, England, to live with her new stepfather and stepbrothers, Julian and Tony...
, where his main characteristic is constantly to give advice.
External links
- Young Bekie (Third version)