60 ANGLING SKETCHES 



herd ran after them, and there he found them, tear- 

 ing at the old woman ; but the hare was twisted 

 round their necks, and she was crying, ' Tighten, 

 hare, tighten ! ' and it was choking them. So he 

 tore the hare off the dogs ; and then the old woman 

 begged him to save her from them, and she pro- 

 mised never to plague him again. ' But if the old 

 dog's teeth had been as sharp as the young one's, 

 she would have been a dead woman.' 



When this witch died she knew she could never 

 lie in safety in her grave ; but there was a very 

 safe churchyard in Aberdeenshire, a hundred and 

 fifty miles away, and if she could get into that she 

 would be at rest. And she rose out of her grave, 

 and off she went, and the Devil after her, on a black 

 horse ; but, praise to the swiftness of her feet, she 

 won the churchyard before him. Her first grave 

 swelled up, oh, as high as that green hillock ! 



Witches are still in active practice. There was 

 an old woman very miserly. She would alway be 

 taking one of her neighbours' sheep from the hills, 

 and they stood it for long ; they did not like to 

 meddle with her. At last it grew so bad that they 



