Baldr is called "The Beautiful" and his physical beauty is unequalled amongst the gods. He has gold-colored hair and eyes as blue as the summer sky and he shines with a golden radiance. From his parents he has inherited wisdom and a love of nature. He practices herbal medicine. Odin engraved runes onto Baldr's tongue making him the most eloquent of the gods with unsurpassed diplomatic abilities including being able to persuade and reconcile. To see Baldr is to love him and he is popular amongst all the peoples of heaven and earth with the exception of Loki who resents him.

He is a god of light, eloquence and joy though the light aspect predominates. This is the light dispelling darkness, bringing health and energy and the wisdom which illuminates. He is thus sometimes associated with the Sowelu (Sigil) rune which has the same qualities though this rune directly represents the sun which in Norse mythology was feminine.

Baldr is however troubled by dark prophetic dreams of death and so Frigga goes to every possible source of harm and makes it swear not to injure Baldr. Only one plant, mistletoe, escapes the oath because Frigga considered it so weak and insignificant. Truly immortal now Baldr becomes a source of constant amusement for the gods who throw things at him, confident that he can come to no harm. Only Hodur, the blind god, cannot join in the games so Loki offers to guide his arm, putting into his hand a dart made from mistletoe. The dart hits and to everyone's horror Baldr is slain.

"When the Aesir did try to speak, weeping came first so that no one could tell the other of his grief in words. Odin, however, was the most affected by this disaster, since he understood what a loss and bereavement the death of Baldr was for the Aesir"

Brigid, which means "one who exaults herself," is Goddess of the Sacred Flame of Kildare (derived from "Cill Dara," which means "church of the oak") and often is considered to be the White Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess. She was Christianized as the "foster-mother" of Jesus Christ, and called St. Brigit, the daughter of the Druid Dougal the Brown. She sometimes also is associated with the Romano-Celtic goddess Aquae-Sulis in Bathe.

The brownie has a peculiar fondness for solitude at certain seasons of the year. About the end of Harvest he becomes more sociable, and hovers about farmyards, stables and cattle-houses. He has a particular fondness for the products of the dairy, and was a fearful intruder on milkmaids, who made regular libations of milk or cream to charm him off, or to procure his favour. The dairy-brownie is a jolly personable being with a broad blue bonnet, flowing yellow hair, and a long walking staff.

In the past, every manor house had its house-elf, and in the kitchen, close by the fire, was a seat which was left unoccupied for him. The house of a proprietor on the banks of the River Tay was even at the beginning of the twentieth century believed to have been haunted by this sprite, and a particular apartment therein has been for centuries called "Seòmar Bhrùnaidh" (Brownie’s room). When irritated through neglect or disrespectful treatment he will not hesitate to become wantonly mischievous. He is notwithstanding, rather gainly and good-natured rather than formidable. Though, on the whole, a lazy, lounging elf, he often bestirs himself on behalf of those who understand his humours, and suit themselves thereto. When in this mood, he is known to perform many arduous exploits in kitchen, barn and stable, with marvellous precision and rapidity. Unlike the nisse, these kind turns are done without bribe, fee or reward, for the offer of any one of these would banish him forever. Kind treatment is all he ever wished for, and it never failed to procure his favour.

In 1703, John Brand wrote in his description of Zetland that:
“Not above forty or fifty years ago, every family had a brownie, or evil spirit, so called, which served them, to which they gave a sacrifice for his service; as when they churned their milk, they took a part thereof, and sprinkled every corner of the house with it, for Brownie’s use; likewise, when they brewed, they had a stone which they called ‘Brownie’s stane’, wherein there was a little hole into which they poured some wort for a sacrifice to Brownie. They also had some stacks of corn, which they called Brownie’s Stacks, which, though they were not bound with straw ropes, or in any way fenced as other stacks used to be, yet the greatest storm of wind was not able to blow away straw off them.”

The brownies seldom discourse with man, but they hold frequent and affectionate converse with one another. They once had their general assemblies too, and on those occasions they commonly selected for their rendezvous the rocky recesses of some remote torrent, whence their loud voices, mingling with the water’s roar, carried to the ears of some wondering superstition detached parts of their unearthly colloquies. In a certain district of the Scottish Highlands, "Peallaidh an Spùit" (Peallaidh of the Spout), "Stochdail a’ Chùirt", and "Brùnaidh an Easain" (Brownie of the little waterfall) were names of note at those congresses. Every stream in Breadalbane had an ùruisg once according to Watson the Scottish place name expert, and their king was Peallaidh. (Peallaidh's name is preserved in "Obair Pheallaidh", known in English as "Aberfeldy".)

Real house elves are nothing like the ugly, servile beings portrayed by J.K. Rowling; they are headstrong and secretive and independent spirits. Rowling appears to have them mixed up with gnomes, which are far more knobbly than they are usually portrayed...