Tradition / Region: Austrian Mythology
Alternate Names: –
Category: Rabbit (hare)
The Myth
The Devil appears as a black hare and is understood to be a manifestation of the Devil himself, taking animal form to deceive and claim human lives.
The legend takes place in an old farmhouse where a group of workers were threshing grain in autumn. During a break, they joked and challenged one another, and one of the farmhands boasted that a person could hang themselves even from a single straw. When the others doubted him, he insisted it was possible and agreed to prove it, asking them to cut him down immediately if he began to suffocate.
He tied a straw to a beam and placed it around his neck, attempting to demonstrate his claim. At that exact moment, a pitch-black hare with glowing red eyes suddenly ran through the barn. The sight startled everyone, and they all chased after it, completely forgetting the man hanging from the straw.
When they finally returned, exhausted and empty-handed, they found him dead, still hanging. The straw had not broken.
The black hare was understood to have been the Devil, appearing deliberately to distract the others and claim the life of the reckless man.
Sources
sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Der schwarze Hase. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/oberoesterreich/linz/derschwarzehase.html