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The Witch as Hare or the Witch's Hare: Popular Legends and Beliefs in Nordic Tradition

1993; Routledge; Volume: 104; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0015587x.1993.9715854

1469-8315

Jan Wall,

Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

IN the Nordic countries notions of connections between witches and hares belong to three different tradition complexes. The first one is known from Denmark and sporadically from Southwest Sweden and southern Norway. It is a Continental belief, which is also current in the British Isles, namely the belief that a witch can transform herself into a hare and in that shape perform various mischievous or malignant deeds. The second belief exists in all Nordic countries except Denmark. Witches are supposed to be able to create a supernatural creature which is given life and sent out in order to steal milk or dairy produce; in Southwest Sweden, and once or twice in Norway, this creature is said to resemble a hare, although mostly looking somewhat different from a natural hare. The most common name for the animal is mjilkhare, 'milkhare', but there are several other names as well, mostly compounds with the word 'hare' in them. Except in the southwestern region the supernatural milk-thief is mostly said to look like a grey ball or a spool. Its name in those parts is generally derived from the verb bdra, 'to carry', the most common form is bjdra, 'a carrier'. That name is also dominant in the eastern part of southern Sweden, though there the creature is supposed to look like a hare. The area belongs roughly to the 'milkhare' region. An exception as far as the name and the animal shape is concerned is Norway, where the creature is called trollkatt, 'trollcat' whether it resembles a cat-as it sometimes does in the southern parts of the country-or the normal grey ball. A milkhare is usually said to be made from heddles and bits of wood or, in parts of the area, from bits of besoms and scrubbing brooms. The making of the creature may be accompanied by the witch selling herself to the Devil and a satanic pact. In northern Sweden and Finland the milk-thief is often given blood from the owner to bring it to life, or a communion wafer is used. Charms that promise the owner to the Devil, such as 'I give you blood, the Devil gives you vitality, you'll run on earth for me, I'll burn in Hell for you', are common. We will only occasionally refer to traditions and legends outside the region where the creature is supposed to resemble a hare, but we would like to stress the fact that differences in names and shapes are not necessarily of overwhelming importance. The fundamental idea that a woman-made object can be magically brought to life and sent out to do its owner's bidding is common to the whole area. There are certain slight indications that this belief might earlier have been spread over a larger part of Europe. On the Danish island Bornholm a bare and sporadically in southwest Sweden a milkhare might signify both a woman who has transformed herself into a hare and secretly sucks other people's cows, and a supernatural creature which has been made for the same purpose. A similar tradition is known from Norway where 'trollcat' on a few occasions signifies a female milkthief in cat shape. Finally and thirdly there exists in the Nordic countries a widespread tradition of a supernatural hare, the trollhare, 'trollhare', which is seen in the woods where it annoys