The Magic Churn
A butter churn that witches were believed to bewitch or to work from afar. In Swedish folk belief a witch (trollkona) could send a 'mjölkhare', a butter or cream hare, to steal milk from neighbours' cows and churns, or charm a churn so that butter would not come. Counter-magic included heating a knife in the fire and running it through the churn to break the spell. The milk hare — a small creature conjured by magic — was sent to suck the neighbours' cows dry or to draw the cream from their churns into the witch's own. When a churn refused to give butter, the household suspected such theft, and