There are many superstitions and stories surrounding hares in Ireland. Indeed, hares have been held sacred in many cultures around the world. There is one story, in particular however, that turns up over and over: that of the milkhare. This story appears in many cultures around the world, but the Irish version typically involves a farmer whose cows are suddenly not giving as much milk as normal and discovers a hare (usually a white hare) who is stealing the milk. The farmer then attempts to kill the hare, usually by shooting at it. In most versions of the story, the hare escapes with only a minor wound, generally on a leg or flank, and the farmer tracks the animal to the house of a neighbour, where he finds the old lady of the house with an identical injury.
There are, of course, many variations of the story, but the basic form is always the same.
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne tells us that the story has likely been in Ireland at least since the Middle Ages and is based on the belief that “certain women were in the habit of turning themselves into hares for the purpose of stealing milk or butter” (Duibhne 1993 p.78).
The story also occurs in the Nordic tradition, with the difference that the milkhare is sometimes an actual woman who transfers, and sometimes a magical creature constructed of “heddles and bits of wood or, in parts if the area, from bits of besoms and scrubbing brooms” (Nildin-Wall & Wall 1993 p.2)
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References:
Dhuibhne, É. (1993). “’The Old Woman as Hare’: Structure and Meaning in an Irish Legend” Folklore, 104(1/2), 77-85. Available: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1260797[Accessed Jan 17th, 2018]
Nildin-Wall, B., & Wall, J. (1993). “The Witch as Hare or the Witch’s Hare: Popular Legends and Beliefs in Nordic Tradition” Folklore, 104(1/2), 67-76 Available: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1260796
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