A WITCH IN THE FORM OF AN HARE SHOT BY A FARM SERVANT.
The following tale was told me by a Mrs. Edwards, Ysbytty Ystwyth, in Cardiganshire:—
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.