The Transformation of Witches
Witches were supposed to transform themselves into animals, especially that of an hare. And this belief is a very old one, for Giraldus Cambrensis seven hundred years ago in his “Topography of Ireland,” (Bonn’s edition) says: “It has also been a frequent complaint, from old times as well as in the present, that certain hags in Wales, as well as in Ireland and Scotland, changed themselves into the shape of hares, that, sucking teats under this counterfeit form, they might stealthily rob other people’s milk.” Tales illustrative of this very old belief are still extant in Wales, and John Griffiths, Maenclochog, in Pembrokeshire, related to me the story of: