Night Chase
Once upon a time, there was a woman. One evening, as she was going to bed, she thought, "Tomorrow I must get up at the crack of dawn to make it to the market on time."She planned to sell eggs and butter at the market.
She went to bed early and woke up when it was still pitch dark. She didn’t have a clock, and she didn’t know how to tell time by the moon or the stars, so she decided it was already time to get up, even though midnight hadn’t even struck yet.
And so, in that strange, dark hour, she led her sleepy horse out of the stable, fastened two woven baskets—one with butter and the other with eggs—onto its back, threw a cloak over her shoulders, mounted the horse, and set off on her journey. Her path to the city led through Heather Moor—a peculiar place, not at all suitable for nighttime strolls.
She hadn’t gone far when she suddenly heard the loud barking of dogs and, by the light of the stars—fortunately, the sky was clear that night, and the stars were shining brightly—she saw a hare running.
The hare dashed straight toward her and, just before reaching her, leaped onto a hedge, as if to say, "Come, take me and hide me!"
This woman generally disliked hunting, so she didn’t need much convincing. She took the trembling hare off the hedge, hid it in one of her baskets, and continued on her way as if nothing had happened.
However, very soon she heard the barking of dogs again and immediately saw a strange rider on a horse—oh, just imagine!—a horse without a head. The rider was entirely black, and his head—thank goodness it was still there!—was also black, with little horns poking out from under his jockey’s cap. To make matters worse, when she looked down, she saw that instead of feet in stirrups, he had cloven hooves!
The black rider on the headless horse was surrounded by large black dogs, who had surely been drawn by the scent of the hare. The dogs were also quite unusual. They had little horns on their heads, and when they wagged their tails, sparks flew in all directions. When the woman sniffed the air, she caught the smell of sulfur. It was terrifying!
But she was a brave woman, and once she had decided to save the hare and hide it in her basket, she would never give it up. Besides, she knew that while the devil might be clever, he wasn’t a magician! He couldn’t possibly guess where the hare had gone.
Indeed, the devil bowed to her and very politely asked if she had seen which way the hare had run. She shook her head: no, she hadn’t seen or known anything. He then blew his horn, spurred his headless horse, and galloped away from Heather Moor, with the black dogs following him. Soon they were all out of sight, much to the woman’s relief, as you can imagine.
Before she could catch her breath, the lid of the basket—where she thought the hare, half-dead from fear, was hiding—flipped open, and out rose a beautiful young lady dressed all in white.
"I admire your courage, dear woman," said the beautiful lady. "You have saved me from cruel torment. When I was an ordinary woman, I committed a terrible sin and was punished for it. On earth and underground, evil spirits pursued me, and there was only one way to escape them—to get behind them while they were chasing me. For years, I couldn’t manage it! Now you have helped me, and I will reward you for it. From now on, all your hens will lay two eggs at once, your cows will give milk year-round, and your husband will never win an argument with you again!"
With these words, the kind fairy disappeared. The woman never saw her again, but everything turned out exactly as the fairy had promised.
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