Old man Cromby surveyed the damage done to his turnip patch with distaste. All around him lay the remains of half chewed turnips, and piles of earth dug up by some mischievious animal. He realised with some regret that he would have to employ the services of the Leech, to sort this matter out.

He walked out into the woods at the end of the village, and made his way to the Leech’s house, where he found her in front of the cottage chopping up some logs to throw into her fire.

“Hail, Leech!” I have some work for you.

The Leech smiled and carried on chopping her wood.

Old man Cromby knew the ways of the Leech, and was unperturbed.

“Some mischievious animal has torn up my turnip patch, and I think there is some dark magic afoot.”

The Leech finished chopping her wood, stretched her arms to the sun, and smiled again.

“I’ll have to look at the result of this dark magic, and see if I can make amends, Old man Cromby.”

The Leech went into her cottage, fetched a shawl, which she threw over her head, and she and Old man Cromby walked through the woods to Old man Cromby’s turnip patch.

…

The Leech surveyed the damage with a wry smile, and said “ ‘Tis the work of a devil hare.”

The Old man’s heart missed a beat. There was a moment’s silence, and then the Old man continued: “… and what’s to be done about it?”

The Leech immediately replied: “It needs to be codswallopped, that’s what needs to be done.”

The Old man’s face fell.

“But codswallopping is expensive.”

“Nonetheless, ‘tis codswallopping only that can cure this ill.” the Leech replied.

The Old man reached into his pocket, and withdrew four large bronze coins, which he handed to the Leech.

“Exactly the figure I was thinking of!” said the Leech.

…

Later that day, the Leech was at work in the patch. She formed little clay walls using her nimble fingers that led in a funnel to the gate at the end of the patch.

At the other end, she built a wall, only a few inches high, closing off the area in a loop which covered the patch.

She then took a wooden bucket filled with asses milk, and slowly poured it into the bowl of earth which she had created.

After this work had been done, she lay in hiding behind the hedge, beside the gate, and waited for the devil hare to come.

Two days, and two nights she spent waiting for the devil creature to come. She waited with patience, making no sound, and eventually her patience was rewarded with the pattering sound of tiny feet.

The hare jumped into the turnip patch over the clay wall that the Leech had built, and immediately slipped on the asses milk in the created bowl. The hare skidded along the length of the patch, having broken one of its legs in the furore.

The hare came to a halt by the gate.

Immediately, the Leech picked it up, broke its neck on a beam of the gate, and smiled.

She threw the devil creature on the ground, by the gate, where it immediately crumbled to dust.

…

Later that day, Old man Cromby came to survey the work of the Leech.

He paused at the pile of dust, by the gate, and pulled out a sieve from his knapsack.

He proceeded to sieve the pile of dust. Left on the sieve, as the dust poured through its grating were a handful of dragon’s teeth.

The Old man made his way out of the patch, and set off to the blackened moor, at the end of the village.

The Old man struggled to climb the moor, as the prime of his life had long since been gone, and he was now in his autumn years.

The Old man walked across the blackened plateau of the moor, and came to a spot, which he thought was right.

He reached into his pocket to collect the dragon’s teeth, and threw them into the howling wind.

Down from the sky came a golden column of light, and from its base scampered away, with a pronounced limp, a black hare.

…

Many a child has seen the outline of a black hare limping across the plateau of the blackened moor.

On telling such a story to its mother. The child will be cautioned that it has seen the devil hare.

The child will be told the story of how the hare was codswallopped by the Leech, who lives in the woods beyond the village. Of how the ghost of the hare was set free by Old man Cromby, who threw the dragon’s teeth, which were left in a pile of dust as the hare died, into the wind on the blackened moor.

And many a small child shivers with fright at the story of the devil hare, which they saw that day running across the moor with a devilish glow.

Brian McGill Thursday 6th October 2022