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.
Mr. Rees, Maesymeillion, Llandyssul, told me the following tale which he had heard from an old woman in the neighbourhood:--
Once there was a Major Brooks living in the parish of Llanarth, who kept hounds and was fond of hunting. One day, he was hunting a hare that a little boy of nine years old had started; but the hare not only managed to elude her pursuers, but even to turn back and attack the hounds. The hunting of this hare was attempted day after day, but with the same results; and the general opinion in the neighbourhood was, that this hare was nothing but an old witch who lived in that part, with whom the huntsman had quarrelled.
An old man in Carmarthenshire informed me that an old woman known as Peggy Abercamles, and her brother Will, in the neighbourhood of Cilcwm, in that county were seen running about at night in the form of hares.
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.