Read Ebook: The Book of Were-Wolves by Baring Gould S Sabine

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Ebook has 724 lines and 58454 words, and 15 pages

INTRODUCTORY

LYCANTHROPY AMONG THE ANCIENTS

Definition of Lycanthropy--Marcellus Sidetes--Virgil--Herodotus--Ovid--Pliny--Agriopas--Story from Petronius--Arcadian Legends--Explanation offered

THE WERE-WOLF IN THE NORTH

Norse Traditions--Manner in which the Change was effected--Vlundar Kvda--Instances from the V?lsung Saga--Hrolf's Saga--Kraka--Faro?se Poem--Helga Kvida--Vatnsdaela Saga--Eyrbyggja Saga

THE ORIGIN OF THE SCANDINAVIAN WERE-WOLF

Advantage of the Study of Norse Literature--Bear and Wolf-skin Dresses--The Berserkir--Their Rage--The Story of Thorir--Passages from the Aigla--The Evening Wolf--Skallagrim and his Son-Derivation of the Word "Hamr:" of "Vargr"--Laws affecting Outlaws--"To become a Boar"--Recapitulation

THE WERE-WOLF IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Stories from Olaus Magnus of Livonian Were-wolves--Story from Bishop Majolus--Story of Albertus Pericofcius--Similar occurrence at Prague--Saint Patrick--Strange incident related by John of N?remberg--Bisclaveret--Courland Were-wolves--Pierre Vidal--Pavian Lycanthropist--Bodin's Stories--Forestus' Account of a Lycanthropist--Neapolitan Were-wolf

Pierre Bourgot and Michel Verdung--'Me Hermit of S. Bonnot--The Gandillon Family--Thievenne Paget--The Tailor of Ch?lons--Roulet 69

JEAN GRENIER

On the Sand-dunes--A Wolf attacks Marguerite Poirier--Jean Grenier brought to Trial--His Confessions--Charges of Cannibalism proved--His Sentence--Behaviour in the Monastery--Visit of Del'ancre 85

FOLK-LORE RELATING TO WERE-WOLVES

Barrenness of English Folk-lore--Devonshire Traditions--Derivation of Were-wolf--Cannibalism in Scotland--The Angus Robber--The Carle of Perth--French Superstitions--Norwegian Traditions--Danish Tales of Were-wolves--Holstein Stories--The Werewolf in the Netherlands--Among the Greeks; the Serbs; the White Russians; the Poles; the Russians--A Russian Receipt for becoming a Were-wolf--The Bohemian Vlkodlak--Armenian Story--Indian Tales--Abyssinian Budas--American Transformation Tales--A Slovakian Household Tale--Similar Greek, B?arnais, and Icelandic Tales

NATURAL CAUSES OF LYCANTHROPY

Innate Cruelty--Its Three Forms--Dumollard--Andreas Bichel--A Dutch Priest--Other instances of Inherent Cruelty--Cruelty united to Refinement--A Hungarian Bather in Blood--Suddenness with which the Passion is developed--Cannibalism; in pregnant Women; in Maniacs--Hallucination; how Produced--Salves--The Story of Lucius--Self-deception 130

MYTHOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF THE WERE-WOLF MYTH

Metempsychosis--Sympathy between Men and Beasts--Finnbog and the Bear--Osage and the Beaver--The Connexion of Soul and Body--Buddism--Case of Mr. Holloway--Popular ideas concerning the Body--The derivation of the German Leichnam--Feather Dresses--Transmigration of Souls--A Basque Story--Story from the Pantschatantra--Savage ideas regarding Natural Phenomena--Thunder, Lightning, and Cloud--The origin of the Dragon--John of Bromton's Dragon a Waterspout--The Legend of Typhoeus--Allegorizing of the Effects of a Hurricane--Anthropomorphosis--The Cirrus Cloud, a Heavenly Swan--Urvaci--The Storm-cloud a Daemon--Vritra and Rakschasas--Story of a Brahmin and a Rakschasas

THE MAR?CHAL DE REZT I: THE INVESTIGATION OF CHARGES

Introduction--History of Gilles de Laval--The Castle of Machecoul--Surrender of the Marshal--Examination of Witnesses--Letter of De Retz--The Duke of Brittany reluctant to move--The Bishop of Nantes

THE MAR?CHAL DE REZT II: THE TRIAL

The Appearance of the Marshal--Pierre de l'Hospital--The Requisition--The Trial adjourned--Meeting of the Marshal and his Servants--The Confession of Henriet--Pontou persuaded to confess all--The adjourned Trial not hurried on--The hesitation of the Duke of Brittany

The adjourned Trial--The Marshal Confesses--The Case handed over to the Ecclesiastical Tribunal--Prompt steps taken by the Bishop--The Sentence--Ratified by the Secular Court--The Execution

A GALICIAN WERE-WOLF

The Inhabitants of Austrian Galicia--The Hamlet of Polomyja--Summer Evening in the Forest--The Beggar Swiatek--A Girl disappears--A School-boy vanishes--A Servant-girl lost--Another Boy carried of--The Discovery made by the Publican of Polomyja--Swiatek locked up--Brought to Dabkow--Commits suicide

ANOMALOUS CASE--THE HUMAN HYENA

Ghouls--Story from Fornari--Quotation from Apuleius--Incident mentioned by Marcassus--Cemeteries of Paris violated--Discovery of Violator--Confession of M. Bertrand

A SERMON ON WERE-WOLVES

The Discourses of Dr. Johann--The Sermon--Remarks

THE BOOK OF WERE-WOLVES.

INTRODUCTORY.

I shall never forget the walk I took one night in Vienne, after having accomplished the examination of an unknown Druidical relic, the Pierre labie, at La Rondelle, near Champigni. I had learned of the existence of this cromlech only on my arrival at Champigni in the afternoon, and I had started to visit the curiosity without calculating the time it would take me to reach it and to return. Suffice it to say that I discovered the venerable pile of grey stones as the sun set, and that I expended the last lights of evening in planning and sketching. I then turned my face homeward. My walk of about ten miles had wearied me, coming at the end of a long day's posting, and I had lamed myself in scrambling over some stones to the Gaulish relic.

A small hamlet was at no great distance, and I betook myself thither, in the hopes of hiring a trap to convey me to the posthouse, but I was disappointed. Few in the place could speak French, and the priest, when I applied to him, assured me that he believed there was no better conveyance in the place than a common charrue with its solid wooden wheels; nor was a riding horse to be procured. The good man offered to house me for the night; but I was obliged to decline, as my family intended starting early on the following morning.

Out spake then the mayor--"Monsieur can never go back to-night across the flats, because of the--the--" and his voice dropped; "the loups-garoux."

"He says that he must return!" replied the priest in patois. "But who will go with him?"

"Ah, ha,! M. le Cur?. It is all very well for one of us to accompany him, but think of the coming back alone!"

"Then two must go with him," said the priest, and you can take care of each other as you return."

"Picou tells me that he saw the were-wolf only this day se'nnight," said a peasant; "he was down by the hedge of his buckwheat field, and the sun had set, and he was thinking of coming home, when he heard a rustle on the far side of the hedge. He looked over, and there stood the wolf as big as a calf against the horizon, its tongue out, and its eyes glaring like marsh-fires. Mon Dieu! catch me going over the marais to-night. Why, what could two men do if they were attacked by that wolf-fiend?"

"It is tempting Providence," said one of the elders of the village;" no man must expect the help of God if he throws himself wilfully in the way of danger. Is it not so, M. le Cur?? I heard you say as much from the pulpit on the first Sunday in Lent, preaching from the Gospel."

"That is true," observed several, shaking their heads.

"His tongue hanging out, and his eyes glaring like marsh-fires!" said the confidant of Picou.

"Mon Dieu! if I met the monster, I should run," quoth another.

"I quite believe you, Cortrez; I can answer for it that you would," said the mayor.

"As big as a calf," threw in Picou's friend.

"But what is the young monsieur to do?" asked the priest, looking from one to another.

"Never mind," said I, who had been quietly listening to their patois, which I understood. "Never mind; I will walk back by myself, and if I meet the loup-garou I will crop his ears and tail, and send them to M. le Maire with my compliments."

A sigh of relief from the assembly, as they found themselves clear of the difficulty.

"Il est Anglais," said the mayor, shaking his head, as though he meant that an Englishman might face the devil with impunity.

A melancholy flat was the marais, looking desolate enough by day, but now, in the gloaming, tenfold as desolate. The sky was perfectly clear, and of a soft, blue-grey tinge; illumined by the new moon, a curve of light approaching its western bed. To the horizon reached a fen, blacked with pools of stagnant water, from which the frogs kept up an incessant trill through the summer night. Heath and fern covered the ground, but near the water grew dense masses of flag and bulrush, amongst which the light wind sighed wearily. Here and there stood a sandy knoll, capped with firs, looking like black splashes against the grey sky; not a sign of habitation anywhere; the only trace of men being the white, straight road extending for miles across the fen.

That this district harboured wolves is not improbable, and I confess that I armed myself with a strong stick at the first clump of trees through which the road dived.

This was my first introduction to were-wolves, and the circumstance of finding the superstition still so prevalent, first gave me the idea of investigating the history and the habits of these mythical creatures.

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