Fairy List

Extracted from Hederson's Books

Brag

Sir Outhbert Sharpe, in his Bislioprick Garland, tells us of the Picktree Brag, a spirit as mischievous and uncannie as the Dunnie, who appeared in widely different shapes on different occasions. Sometimes it was like a calf, with a white handkerchief round its neck, and a bushy tail; sometimes, in form of a coach- horse, it trotted " along the lonin afore folk, settin' up a great nicker and a whinny now and then." Again it appeared as a " dick-ass," as four men holding up a white sheet, or as a naked man without a head. Sir Cuthbert's informant, an ancient dame, told him how her uncle had a white suit of clothes, and the first time he ever put them on he met the Brag, and never did he put them on again but some misfortune befel him. Once, in that very suit, returning from a christening, he encountered the Brag, and being a bold man, he leapt upon its back; " but, when he came to the four lonin ends, the Brag joggled him so sore, that he could hardly keep his seat ; and at last it threw him into the middle o' the pond, and ran away, setting up a great nicker and laugh, just for all the world like a Christian."