The Castle of Gedeu

The Castle of Gedeu was haunted. One evening a man lay down under a tree near the castle to rest. Moments later, witches and ghosts appeared and began making a commotion in the tree. The branches creaked and an ominous whispering filled the air. The man fled as fast as he could.

Near the castle there also lay a felled oak under which a fire had once been seen. Whenever the oak was moved, it was back in its old place the next day. It was suspected that a ghost had been banished to the oak and kept returning it to its spot.

One day poachers saw a hare leap into the wood. The animal made a terrible racket, as though it were no ordinary creature. A little further on ran a black dog, and shortly after a cat came along. The poachers found it strange that all these animals appeared at once.

When the poachers struck at the cat with a stick, the animal attacked them with a ferocity they had never seen in a cat before. The poachers fled in haste, convinced that these were no ordinary animals but enchanted beings.

The poachers ran through the forest until they reached a turnstile. There they saw a hare sitting, watching them with large eyes. To their horror, the hare opened its mouth and spoke: “Can you get through? Otherwise I shall move out of the way.”

The men froze with fright. A talking hare was something they had never encountered. They fled without looking back and never returned to the Castle of Gedeu. The tale of the talking hare was told throughout the village, and from that day on no one dared venture near the cursed castle at night.