A Dunnie is a small Brownie-like being in the

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

of the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England. The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...

s, specifically

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, the most famous being that of the ''Hazlerigg Dunnie'' of Hazlerigg in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Chatton Chatton is a village in Northumberland, in England. It is roughly to the east of Wooler. History Chatton has been occupied for many centuries. There has been a church on the site since the twelfth century. There is evidence of occupation ...

.''Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders'' By William Henderson, 1866, pages 227-228. The Dunnie has been known to take the form of a horse in order to trick a rider into mounting him before disappearing and leaving them in the muddiest part of the road. He also is said to disguise as

plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s only to vanish when the

ploughman A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, ...

takes him into the stalls. The Dunnie was also said to wander the crags and dales of the

Cheviots The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes T ...

singing: :"Cockenheugh there's gear enough, :Collierheugh there's mair, :For I've lost the key o' the Bounders, (or "It is also "I've lost the key o' the Bowden-door.") :An' I'm ruined for evermair." The Dunnie is thus thought to be a

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

of a

reiver Border Reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "England, Scotland and Europe: The ...

who hoarded his loot in the

fells A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, parts ...

and guards his ill-gotten gains to this day. In full the song of the dunnie goes: :"Cockenheugh there's gear enough, :Collierheugh there's mair, :For I've lost the key o' the Bounders" :" Ross for

rabbits Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated form ...

, and Elwick for kail, :Of a' the' towns e'er I saw Howick for

ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...

: :Howick for ale, and

Kyloe Kyloe is a civil parish in the county of Northumberland, about south-east of Berwick-upon-Tweed. According to the parish council, the main centres of population are Fenwick, Beal, and Berrington (in the western "panhandle" of the parish). T ...

for

scrubber Scrubber systems (e.g. chemical scrubbers, gas scrubbers) are a diverse group of air pollution control devices that can be used to remove some particulates and/or gases from industrial exhaust streams. An early application of a carbon dioxide scr ...

s, :Of a' the towns e'er I saw Lowick for

robbers Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

;- :Lowick for robbers, Buckton for

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

, :Of a' the towns e'er I saw Holy Island for need;- :Holy Island for need, and Grindon for kye, :Of a' the towns e'er I saw Doddington for

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

:- :Doddington for rye, Bowisdon for

rig Rig or RIG may refer to: Objects and structures * Rig (fishing), an arrangement of items used for fishing * Drilling rig, a structure housing equipment used to drill or extract oil from underground * Rig (stage lighting) * rig, a horse-drawn c ...

s, :Of a' the towns e'er I saw Barmoor for whigs:- :Barmour for whigs,

Tweedmouth Tweedmouth is part of the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland, England. It is located on the south bank of the River Tweed and is connected to Berwick town centre, on the north bank, by two road bridges and a railway bridge. Tweedmout ...

for

door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide securit ...

s, :Of a' the towns e'er I saw

Ancroft Ancroft is a village and civil parish (which includes the village of Scremerston) in Northumberland, England. Prior to 1844, Ancroft lay within the Islandshire exclave of County Durham. It is south of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and has a population ...

for

whores Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

:- :Ancroft for whores, and Spittal for

fishers Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia * Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elec ...

, :Of a' the towns e'er I saw Berrington for dishes."''Folk-lore: or, A collection of local rhymes, proverbs, sayings, prophecies, slogans, &c. relating to Northumberland, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Berwick-on-Tweed'',

Michael Aislabie Denham Michael Aislabie Denham (1801''1841 England Census'', ''1851 England Census'' – 10 September 1859) was an English merchant and collector of folklore. Life A native of Gainford, County Durham, Denham was in business at Kingston-upon-Hull in the ...

, 1858, pp. 136-137

References

{{Fairies Northumbrian folklore Northumbrian folkloric beings English legendary creatures Scottish legendary creatures Fairies Goblins English ghosts Undead Elves Scottish ghosts Brownies (folklore) Anglo-Scottish border