Brag

No cosmogonic or theogonic origin is recorded in the provided source. The brag is treated in local tradition and the summarized record as a localized animate presence rather than a deity, ancestor spirit, or member of a formal supernatural hierarchy.

The brag is a shapeshifter whose visible appearances vary by account. Source material records it most often taking the form of a horse or donkey (the guise used to offer rides). The Picktree Brag is reported to take additional forms — a calf with a white handkerchief around its neck, a naked headless man, and even four men holding a white sheet. At Humbleknowe a brag was never seen but was reported to make hideous noises in the night, indicating that auditory-only manifestations are part of its repertoire.

According to the recorded account, the brag habitually shapeshifts (frequently into equine or domestic-animal forms and occasionally into grotesque human figures) and uses deception to entice humans to ride it; it then bucks riders off into ponds or bushes and runs away laughing. The provided source attributes these shapeshifting, auditory-manifestation, and ride-and-buck prank behaviors to the brag; no wider powers are recorded there.