There are analyzed two poems of the XIX century and shown the way the folklore image is changed in literature. There is shown that a brownie is a popular personage in the Russian literature of the XIX century. There are described the features of a folklore personage that are transferred to literature and shown the way the brownie causes literary play. There is revealed the idea that a folklore tradition gives the grounds for a literary one.

There is considered the functioning of the folklore personage in the Russian literature of the end of the XVIII - beginning of the XIX centuries. There are described two tendencies in the image of a brownie: careful attitude to the tradition and mockery of superstitious beliefs. There is logically developed the idea that very often the image of a brownie in the text allows penetration of the traditional culture as a whole, which becomes the object of the artistic reflection.