Tradition: Scottish Mythology
Alternative Names: Wag-at-the-Wa’
Category: House dweller
The Myth
Wag-at-the-Wa’ is an eccentric household spirit of the Scottish Borders, belonging to the brownie family. He appears as a grisly old man with short, crooked legs and a long tail, which he uses to keep his seat on a swinging pot-hook. Sometimes he wears a grey mantle with the remains of an old nightcap on his head, drawn down over the side of his face that has been disfigured by a harelip and a constant grimace. More commonly, he wears a red coat and blue breeches made of familiar woo, a traditional woollen fabric.
Wag-at-the-Wa’ is especially fond of human cheerfulness and the company of children. His usual seat is the swinging pot-hook above the kitchen fire. When the hook is empty, he sits on it and swings himself to and fro, laughing and chuckling at the merriment of the household. He enjoys watching children play and is delighted by the sound of a lively, cheerful home.
Despite his fondness for merriment, Wag-at-the-Wa’ has little patience for lazy cooks and kitchen servants. He punishes those who neglect their work, sometimes with a good deal of rough humour. His cheerfulness is considered a great credit to him, particularly because he suffers from a perpetual toothache. However, he is not especially concerned with the cleanliness or neatness of the house, and his presence can become a torment to slow or careless kitchen workers.
Wag-at-the-Wa’ also has an unusual fear of cold iron and, in some accounts, the sign of the cross. When the swinging pot-hook was marked with a cross to protect the fire from witches, the spirit was said to disappear. A tale recorded by William Henderson tells of a woman who visited a house where the pot-hook had been marked in this way. When she asked one of the women why the spirit no longer lived there, she was told that it would not remain in a house where such protection was practised.
Wag-at-the-Wa’ is therefore a distinctive Scottish brownie: a mischievous but cheerful household presence whose love of children and laughter contrasts with his harsh treatment of lazy servants and his fear of traditional protections against supernatural beings.
Sources
“Wag-at-the-Wa’.” Encyclopedia Mythica. https://pantheon.org/articles/w/wag-at-the-wa.html