Near the gentleman lived the old witch, and she had the power of turning
at will into a hare. The gentleman was a great hare hunter, but the
hounds could never catch this hare; it always disappeared in a mill,
running between the wings and jumping in at an open window, though they
stationed two men and a dog at the spot, when it immediately turned into
the old witch. And the old miller never suspected, for the old woman
used to take him a peck of corn to grind a few days before any hunt,
telling him she would call for it on the afternoon of the day of the
hunt. So that when she arrived she was expected.
One day she had been taunting the gentleman as he returned from a hunt,
that he could never catch the hare, and he struck her with his whip,
saying “Get away, you witchcraft!”
Whereupon she witched him, and he fell ill, and was cured as we have
seen.
When he got well he watched the old witch, and saw she often visited the
house of an old miser who lived near by with his beautiful niece. Now
all the people in the village touched their hats most respectfully to
this old miser, for they knew he had dealings with the witch, and they
were as much afraid of him as of her; but everyone loved the miser’s
kind and beautiful niece.