In the year 1580 an elderly witch by the name of Nansi Goch (Nancy the redhead) lived in the village of Llanidloes, Powys. In her young days she possessed glorious red hair but because she was supposed to have consorted with Satan, no man young or old would bother to court her. Her home was now a dilapidated old cottage in the centre of Llanidloes, though no one went near her. The once lovely hair was now white and sparse and her clothes were in rags. Everyone in the village was afraid to cause her any offence and so anything she begged for in the way of food they gave, and warned any newcomers to the village to do the same. Tales did however spread that as a witch she could turn anyone into a horse and ride him or her through the night until they died of exhaustion, or their injuries. The old folk insisted that Nansi had tortured at least two people who had offended her by turning them into horses and riding them through the night. A young widow who lived a few doors down from the witch's hovel unwittingly caused some offence to Nansi and her friends warned her of the consequences. One night a noise woke the woman up from her sleep, where she saw a large hare walking across her tiny bedroom. She thought at first that she was dreaming, but then the hare leaped up onto the bed and then back off. It continued to do this all through the night leaving just before dawn. There was no need to tell the woman that Nansi had taken the form of a hare to torment her as punishment for the unintentional slight. For the following three nights the hare again visited the woman, performing the same ritual of jumping on and off the bed and leaving just as it was getting light. The woman was now of the belief that she would go mad from lack of sleep, if she could not stop these nocturnal visitations. She decided to seek the advice of a wise man in the next village, a journey of 5 miles or so, but after four days of the nightly visits she felt too exhausted to walk that far. As she sat knitting by the firelight she began to think of what she had heard about witches. Especially that they hated iron in any shape or form. She went out to the outhouse and returned with a heavy iron headed hammer. When bedtime arrived she carried this upstairs got undressed and got into bed with the hammer at her side. Leaving a rushlight on by her side it was not long before the cursed hare returned for it's nightly sport. This time however as it leapt onto the bed, she hit out with the iron headed hammer landing a heavy blow on the hares head, which gave out a loud wail and vanished as quickly as it had arrived. The woman fell asleep very soon and was not troubled again that night. Her best friend arrived next morning finding the woman looking much better than the days before. Upon hearing the story of the last night's encounter she insisted on going to the witch's cottage to see if she was unharmed. Although the woman feared for the safety she too wished to know for certain that it was Nansi that had been tormenting her. When the friend returned she said, "You can expect no more nocturnal visits from that old witch". She had found Nansi huddled in her chair nursing a badly cut eye, so it seemed obvious that it was indeed Nansi who was to blame for the hare's visits. Both the woman and her friend knew that once a person had drawn blood by means of iron, the witch could no longer assume the form of a hare to scare anyone. This delighted the woman whose nights Nansi had made a misery. Not only would she be able to sleep at night, but also she had not had to make the long journey to the wise man in the next village, or pay his fee.
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