THE FAMILIAR SPIRIT OF A WITCH SHOT IN THE FORM OF A HARE.
From the following story which I heard at Talybont, in North Cardiganshire, it seems that witches did not always transform themselves. In some cases it was thought that the hare was not the witch herself, but the old hag’s Familiar Spirit assuming the shape of a hare in her stead; but the life of the witch was so closely connected with the Familiar, that when the Familiar was shot, the witch suffered.
The tale is as follows:—
There was an old woman at Llanfihangel Genau’r Glyn, who was supposed to be a witch. One day a man in the neighbourhood shot a hare with a piece of silver coin. At the very time when the hare was shot, the old woman who was a witch was at home washing, but fell into the tub, wounded and bleeding. It was supposed by the people of the neighbourhood that the hare which was shot was the old hag’s familiar spirit.