One type of brownie, but, according to William Henderson in Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties (p.247), he is not nearly so acute as a brownie, and people are often heard saying, 'She's but a Dobie,' or, 'Ye stupid Dobie!'

It used to be the custom in unsettled times on the Border to bury one's valuables and commit them to the charge of a brownie. If no brownie was to be had, people used to fall back on a dobie, which was always willing, but very gullible. There was, however, another use of the name as a tutelary family ghost. It will be remembered that the Cauld Lad of Hilton, who behaved like a brownie and was laid in the traditional way by a gift of clothes, was supposed to be the ghost of a stableboy killed by one of the Lords of Hilton. In the same way the silkie is often described as a ghost, and Lady Wilde describes the Irish banshee as the spirit of some beautiful girl of the family, dead long ago but still concerned with its fortunes. In something the same way, the Dobie of Morthan Tower, Rokeby, is said to be the ghost of a long-past wife of the Lord of Rokeby, who was murdered by her jealous husband in the glen below. It is said that the blood which dripped from his dagger left indelible stains on the stairs. This dobie was more of a ghost than a hobgoblin, for it seemed to haunt the house in a ghostly way, and neither keened nor undertook domestic duties. In the end it was laid, not by a gift of clothes but by exorcism.