Picktree Brag

Overview

William Henderson’s1879 account cites Sir Cuthbert Sharpe’s Bishoprick Garland for the Picktree Brag. An older woman is identified as the informant in the transmitted account. The Brag appears in varied forms: a calf with a white neckerchief and bushy tail, a coachhorse, a donkey, four men holding a white sheet, or a headless naked figure. These are alternatives in one collected account, not simultaneous anatomy.

The informant associates her uncle’s white suit with a run of misfortunes after meeting the sprite. Returning from a christening, he boldly mounts it. At the meeting of four lanes it jolts him until he can barely stay seated, then throws him into a pond and runs away with neighing laughter likened to a person’s laugh.

Henderson places it beside other northern mischievous spirits and compares its character to the Dunnie. This supplies a collector’s comparison, not a proven identity between the names. The selected account emphasizes humiliation and uncanny performance rather than a fixed monstrous body. The coachhorse illustration chooses a documented form; its coat and lighting are invented.

Origins & earliest records

Henderson1879 transmits Sharpe’s earlier account; no independently verified date for the uncle’s encounter.

Records & interpretation

Printed270, validated Wikisource scan292: complete Brag passage inspected, adjoining Hedley Kow opening kept distinct.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, second edition, p270

   William Henderson, citing Cuthbert Sharpe · 1879

   Complete Brag passage on printed270 inspected; Sharpe source is mediated, not original-volume collation.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary text or custodial scholarly editionNotes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, second edition, p270Research access: 2026-10-10

Image credits

Picktree Brag - AI-generated imagined folklore illustration.

AI-generated imagined Picktree Brag in the coachhorse form reported by Henderson, beside the pond associated with its prank. Coat, lighting and precise landscape are invented.