Hunting Crafts Of The Easter Hag

“Magnus Tilda's mother was certainly an Easter-hag, she was. And she had two milk-hares, a big one and a little one. People said she had made them out of knitting needles and heddle-withes and rags. They would milk other people's cows and then run home and spit up the milk. She has a kettle in the barn and every morning it was full. Once Sandberg ran into them in the forest and he shot both the big one and the little one. But it took him three shots to bring down each one. And dogs are usually not reluctant to claim their share, but Sandberg's dog was so frightened it didn't dare run up to them, for their guts ran off into the bushes like evil snakes, so anyone could see there was witchcraft involved.”

[Tveta Småland. Collected before 1905 by Bärnhard Karlgren from 'Madame' Sandberg, from Hästbron and printed in Karlgren “Folk-sägner från Mo härader” (1908). Translated into English by John Lindow (“Swedish Legends & Folktales”, University Of California Press, 1978)].