Editing English folklore (section)

=== Creatures ===
[[Dragon]]s are giant winged reptiles that breathe fire, poison and acid. They are usually associated with treasure rooms, waterfalls, and hollowed out tree stumps.

A [[Wyvern]] is a smaller relative of dragons with two legs rather than four. It also has smaller wings and cannot breathe fire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Snelling |first1=Roy |title=Dragons of Somerset |date=2015 |publisher=Spiritual Genesis Books |isbn=978-1-78301-632-7 |page=13}}</ref>

The [[Black dog (folklore)|black dog]] is a creature which foreshadows calamity or causes it. It is a combination of [[Odysseus]]' Argos and [[Hades]]' [[Cerberus]] from [[Greek mythology]], and [[Fenrir]] from [[Norse mythology]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zmarzlinski |first=Adam |date=2020 |title=The Black Dog: Origins and Symbolic Characteristics of the Spectral Canine |journal=Cultural Analysis |volume=18}}</ref> The first collection of sightings of the black dog around Great Britain, [[Ethel Rudkin|Ethel Rudkin's]] 1938 article reports that the dog has black fur, abnormally large eyes, and a huge body.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rudkin |first=Ethel |year=1938 |title=The Black Dog |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1257762 |journal=Folklore |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=111–131 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1938.9718739 |jstor=1257762 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The black dog is a common motif in folklore and appears in many traditional English stories and tales. They often denote death and misfortune close at hand and appear and disappear into thin air.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Quaile |first=Sheilagh |date=2013 |title='The black dog that worries you at home': The Black Dog Motif in Modern English Folklore and Literacy Culture |journal=The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History |volume=1 |issue=1 }}</ref>

A [[boggart]] is, depending on local or regional tradition, a malevolent ''[[genius loci]]'' inhabiting fields, marshes or other topographical features. The household boggart causes objects to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. They can possess small animals, fields, churches, or houses so they can play tricks on the civilians with their chilling laugh. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee. In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, for when the boggart was given a name, it could not be reasoned with nor persuaded, but would become uncontrollable and destructive.<ref>{{cite book |last=Guiley |first=Rosemary Ellen |author-link=Rosemary Ellen Guiley |date=2007 |title=The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits |location=New York |publisher=[[Facts On File]], Inc.}}</ref>

A [[Brownie (folklore)|brownie]] is a type of [[Hob (folklore)|hob]] (household spirit), similar to a [[hobgoblin]]. Brownies are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. However, they do not like to be seen and will only work at night, traditionally in exchange for small gifts or food. Among food, they especially enjoy porridge and honey. They usually abandon the house if their gifts are called payments, or if the owners of the house misuse them. Brownies make their homes in an unused part of the house.<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=M. |date=1716 |title=A description of the Western Islands of Scotland |location=London |publisher=A. Bell |pages=391, 67}}</ref>

A [[Dwarf (folklore)|dwarf]] is a human-shaped entity that dwells in mountains and in the earth, and is associated with wisdom, smithing, mining, and crafting. The term had only started to be used in the 19th century as a translation for the German, French, and [[Scandinavia]]n words which describe dwarfs.{{r|Simpson & Roud}}

[[Ogre]]s are usually tall, strong, violent, greedy, and remarkably dull monsters and they originate from French culture. In folktales they are likely to be defeated by being outsmarted.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warner |first=M. |title=Paternity and Fatherhood |chapter=Why do Ogres Eat Babies? Monstrous Paternity in Myth and Fairytales |year=1998 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13816-6_18 |pages=195–203 |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-13816-6_18 |isbn=978-1-349-13818-0 |via=Springer Link}}</ref>

The [[Will-o'-the-wisp]] is a folk explanation of strange, flickering lights seen around [[marsh]]es and [[bog]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Silcock |first1=Fred |editor1-last=Czechura |editor1-first=Gregory |editor2-last=Debus |editor2-first=Stephen J. S. |title=Australian raptor studies II (Birds of Australia Monograph 3) |date=1997 |publisher=Birds Australia |location=Hawthorn East |isbn=978-1-875122-08-0 |chapter=A review of accounts of luminosity in Barn Owls ''Tyto alba'' |url=https://www.owlpages.com/owls/articles.php?a=18 |language=en |via=The Owl Pages}}</ref> Some perceive them as souls of unbaptized infants which lead travellers off the forest path and into danger, while others perceive them as trickster [[Fairy|fairies]] or [[Sprite (folklore)|sprites]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Katharine |last=Briggs |author-link=Katharine Mary Briggs |date=1976 |title=An Encyclopedia of Fairies |publisher=[[Pantheon Books]] |page=381 |isbn=0-394-40918-3}}</ref>