Folk-Lore of West and Mid-WalesDavies, Jonathan Ceredig
History
Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales
Davies, Jonathan Ceredig
Folklore -- Wales; Wales -- Social life and customs
An old witch who lived at Tregaron, went to Trecefel, a large farm in
the neighbourhood, to beg for the use of a small corner of a field to
grow some potatoes for herself. The farmer himself was away from home
at the time, but his wife was willing, as she was afraid of offending
the witch. The head servant, however, refused her request, and sent
her away, which naturally made her very angry, and in departing she
used threatening words. One day, soon after this, the same servant
was out in the field, and he noticed a hare in the hedge continually
looking at him, and watching all his movements. It occurred to him at
last that this creature was the old witch he had offended, appearing
in the form of a hare, and somehow or other he had not the least doubt
in his mind about it, so he procured a gun and fired, but the shot
did not inflict any injury on the hare. In the evening, when he met
some of his friends at a house in the village, the man servant told
them everything about the hare and of his suspicion that she was the
witch. One of his friends told him that ordinary shots or bullets were
no good to shoot a witch with, but that it was necessary for him to
load his gun with a bent four-penny silver coin. He tried this, and
the next time he fired the hare rolled over screaming terribly. Soon
after this, people called to see the old woman in her cottage, and
found that she had such a wound in her leg that she could hardly
move. Dr. Rowland was sent for, and when he came and examined her
leg he found a fourpenny silver coin in two pieces in it. "You old
witch," said he, "I am not going to take any trouble with you again:
death is good enough for your sort," and die she did.
The possibility of injuring or marking the witch in her assumed form
so deeply that the bruise remained a mark on her in her natural form
was a common belief.
A WITCH IN THE FORM OF A HARE HUNTED BY A PEMBROKESHIRE SQUIRE'S
HOUNDS.
The following tale was told me by Mrs. Mary Thomas, Bengal, near
Fishguard:--
The Squire of Llanstinan, was a great huntsman, but whenever he
went out with his hounds, a certain hare always baffled and escaped
from the dogs. He followed her for miles and miles, day after day,
but always failed to catch the animal. At last the people began to
suspect that this hare must have been a witch in the shape of a hare,
and the gentleman was advised to get "a horse and a dog of the same
colour," and he did so. So the next time he was hunting he had a
horse and a dog of the same colour, and they were soon gaining ground
on the hare; but when the dog was on the very point of catching the
animal, the hare suddenly disappeared through a hole in the door of a
cottage. The Squire hurried to the spot and instantly opened the door,
but to his great surprise the hare had assumed the form of an old
woman, and he shouted out: "Oh! ti Mari sydd yna." (It is you Mary!)
A WITCH IN THE FORM OF A HARE HUNTED IN CARDIGANSHIRE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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