{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40772/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40772","id":"gutenberg_40772","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40772","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Folklore","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Occultism"],"text":"HUMAN ANIMALS\n\n\n\n\n                            HUMAN ANIMALS\n\n\n\n                                  BY\n                             FRANK HAMEL\n\n\n\n\n\n                              AUTHOR OF\n      \"THE DAUPHINES OF FRANCE,\" \"FAIR WOMEN AT FONTAINEBLEAU,\"\n                              ETC., ETC.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               NEW YORK\n                       FREDERICK A. STOKES Co.\n                              PUBLISHERS\n\n\n\n\n                               PREFACE\n\n\nFrom the abundant records and traditions dealing with the curious\nbelief that certain men and women can transform themselves into\nanimals I have collected a number of instances and examples which\nthrow fresh light on the subject both from the point of view of\nfolk-lore and occultism. The causes of transformation are various:\ncontact with a wer-animal, touching what he has touched, wearing an\nanimal skin, rubbing the body with ointment, slipping on a girdle,\nbuckling on a strap, and many other expedients, magical and otherwise,\nmay bring about the metamorphosis. Removing the skin, burning it, or\npiercing it with the stab of a knife, or the shot from a gun, so that\nblood is drawn, are among the best-known methods for causing the human\nshape to be resumed, but the stab should be on the brow or between the\neyes, and the bullet should be made of silver and is all the better\nfor having been blessed in a chapel of St. Hubert, otherwise the\nattempt to break the enchantment may fail. The penalty for being a\nwer-animal is death, but sentence is not passed until after some\nordeal has been gone through, such as dipping the finger into boiling\nresin, innocence being established if the finger be drawn out unhurt.\nAny wound inflicted on the transformed animal is simultaneously\ninflicted on the human body, and in many other characteristics the\nnature of the wer-animal is similar to that of the witch or wizard.\n\nIn \"Balder the Beautiful\" Dr. J. G. Frazer, after telling many typical\nstories, endeavours to establish a parallelism between witches and\nwer-animals, the analogy appearing to confirm the view that the reason\nfor burning a bewitched animal alive is a belief that the human being\nis in the animal, and that by burning you compel him to assume another\nshape. Since the sum of energy in the universe is held to be constant\nand invariable, the chain of transformation is thus continued, and\nform follows form, endlessly linked together. By some such theory the\nphenomena of life and death may be explained and the doctrine of\nimmortality, usually applied only to the soul of man, can be\nreasonably extended to animals.\n\nThe belief that human and animal souls possess power and entity when\nexternalised and apart from the living body is less widely held than\nthat of persistence after death. It is one that bears strongly on the\nsubject of animal transformation, as well as on the affinity which\ncertain animals possess for some families, an affinity that is akin to\ntotemism.\n\nThese preliminary suggestions will enable readers to grasp the scope\nof my book, which is intended to provide a comprehensive view of the\nsubject and to familiarise them with the nature of the phenomena, even\nthough it has been well-nigh impossible to classify and tabulate them\nfully, or to explain them satisfactorily.\n\nI wish to express my thanks to Miss J. A. Middleton, author of \"The\nGrey Ghost Book,\" for her kindness in reading my work in MS., and to\nher and others for suggesting interesting material.\n\n                                       FRANK HAMEL\n\n  _London_, 1915\n\n\n\n\n                                  TO\n                               C. A. W.\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS\n\n\n  CHAPTER                                                      PAGE\n\n           PREFACE                                              vii\n\n      I.   INTRODUCTORY                                           1\n\n     II.   TRANSFORMATION                                         5\n\n    III.   THE BUSH-SOUL                                         15\n\n     IV.   HUMAN SOULS IN ANIMAL BODIES                          23\n\n      V.   ANIMAL DANCES                                         28\n\n     VI.   MAN-ANIMAL AND ANIMAL-MAN                             39\n\n    VII.   SCAPEGOAT AND SAINT                                   45\n\n   VIII.   THE WER-WOLF TRIALS                                   54\n\n     IX.   THE WER-WOLF IN MYTH AND LEGEND                       65\n\n      X.   LION- AND TIGER-MEN                                   78\n\n     XI.   WER-FOX AND WER-VIXEN                                 88\n\n    XII.   WITCHES                                              103\n\n   XIII.   FAMILIARS                                            120\n\n    XIV.   TRANSFORMATION IN FOLK-LORE AND FAIRY-TALE           131\n\n     XV.   TRANSFORMATION IN FOLK-LORE AND FAIRY-TALE\n              (_continued_)                                     143\n\n    XVI.   FABULOUS ANIMALS AND MONSTERS                        159\n\n   XVII.   HUMAN SERPENTS                                       173\n\n  XVIII.   CAT AND COCK PHANTOMS                                189\n\n    XIX.   BIRD-WOMEN                                           202\n\n     XX.   FAMILY ANIMALS                                       215\n\n    XXI.   ANIMAL GHOSTS                                        236\n\n   XXII.   THE PHANTASMAL DOUBLE                                261\n\n  XXIII.   ANIMAL ELEMENTALS                                    270\n\n   XXIV.   ANIMAL SPIRITS IN CEREMONIAL MAGIC                   283\n\n    XXV.   CONCLUSION                                           293\n\n\n\n\n                            HUMAN ANIMALS\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER I\n\n                             INTRODUCTORY\n\n\nThe belief that men can change into animals and animals into men is as\nold as life itself. It originates in the theory that all things are\ncreated from one substance, mind or spirit, which according to\naccident or design takes a distinctive appearance, to mortal eye, of\nshape, colour, and solidity. Transformation from one form to another\nthen becomes a thinkable proposition, especially if it be admitted\nthat plastic thought in the spirit world takes on changed forms and\nconditions more readily than in the world of matter. The belief of\nprimitive races that all created beings have an immortal soul dwelling\nin a material body applies equally to the brute creation and to the\nhuman race. \"In the beginning of things,\" says Leland, \"men were as\nanimals and animals as men.\"[1] The savage endows brutes with similar\nintelligence and emotions to his own. He does not distinguish between\nthe essential nature of man, of various beasts, and even of inanimate\nobjects, except where outward form is concerned; and he senses, even\nmore clearly than his civilised brother, the psychic bonds which unite\nman and the animals. Folk-lore abounds in incidents which are based on\nthe impermanence of form and which tell of people changing into\nanimals or animals changing into human beings.\n\nThe scientific problems of to-day which deal with the theory of\nbreaking up matter into electrons may quite possibly have a bearing on\nthis subject and may not be so far removed, as appears at first sight\nto be the case, from the intuitive beliefs of the savage.\n\nTransformation was held to be accomplished in various ways, a\nsorcerer, a witch or the evil one himself being the agent through whom\nthe change was effected. Certain people have had ascribed to them the\npower of self-transformation, a curious psychical gift which to this\nday appeals to imaginative people, and which may be regarded as a\nprojection of mind in animal form.\n\nChanges may be voluntary or involuntary, self-transformation belonging\nmore frequently to the former class and transformation by sorcery,\nwitchcraft or black magic more often to the latter class. The motives\nof a human being who wishes to change into an animal are naturally\nregarded with suspicion. Greed, cruelty, and cannibalism are\naccusations brought against those who were tried in the Middle Ages\nfor the crime of lycanthropy, the transformation into a wolf or other\nwild beast. The desire to taste human flesh is a horrible but not\nimprobable reason for the offence. The wish to inspire fear or to gain\npersonal power over others are motives for impersonating wild and\nfearsome animals, as effective where superstitious people are\nconcerned as the less common faculty of transforming actual flesh.\n\nSavage races do not necessarily connect the idea of transformation with\nany thought of evil. They find the plan of impersonating an animal in\nits lair, for the sake of safety, say, extremely useful. They have also\nthe best of reasons for developing a special attribute, such as the keen\nscent of the hound, the long sight of the eagle, the natural protective\npower against cold possessed by the wolf and so forth, imitative\nsuggestion which occurs in many of their primitive customs. Thus the\nCherokee Indian when starting on a winter's journey endeavours by\nsinging and other mimetic action to identify himself with the wolf, the\nfox, the opossum or other wild animal, of which the feet are regarded by\nhim as impervious to frost-bite. The words he chants mean, \"I become a\nreal wolf, a real deer, a real fox, and a real opossum.\"[2] Then he\ngives a long howl to imitate the wolf or barks like a fox and paws and\nscratches the ground. Thus he establishes a belief in transformation by\nsympathetic or hom\u0153opathic magic, and starts forth on his difficult\njourney in perfect confidence, the power of auto-suggestion aiding him\non his way. Such customs are closely allied with the superstitions of\nthe dark ages, when it was assumed without question that bodily\ntransformation took place.\n\nInvoluntary change into animal shape was thought to occur as a\npunishment for crime, and was looked upon as a judgment of the gods.\nFew beliefs are more common among savages than that reincarnation in a\nlower form is the result of sin in a previous existence. Bats\nespecially are held to be the abode of the souls of the dead, and to\nsome races they are sacrosanct for this reason. Most animals have been\nlooked upon as a possible receptacle of man's soul, and many primitive\ntribes believe that man can choose in which animal body he prefers to\ndwell. In the Solomon Islands, for instance, a dying man informs the\nmembers of his family in what sort of animal shape he expects to live\nagain. One among hundreds of similar superstitions is that if a cat\njumps over a corpse, the soul of the deceased enters its body.\n\nMurder of what is holy, and the offering of human sacrifices are two\noffences punishable by transformation, but once transformed, the\nsoul-animal wins respect rather than contempt, and care is taken that\nno injury shall befall it, lest a relative or friend should suffer. A\nsavage avoids harming his own family animal, but does not hesitate to\nkill the soul-animal into which a member of a hostile tribe has\nentered. Should such an animal die, the soul is thought by many races\nto pass into another body of the same type, but other tribes,\nespecially in Madagascar, believe that the death of the animal\nreleases the human soul that had lodged within it.\n\nA more original idea is that certain human beings possess animal\ndoubles and that the soul-animal roams at large while the man remains\nvisible in his ordinary form, and many of the vampire and wer-wolf\nstories are traceable to this belief. The Toradjas of Central Celebes\nbelieve that the inside parts only of the man take on the animal\nshape, a state which they term _lamboyo_. The _lamboyo_ may be\ndistinguished from an ordinary animal by being misshapen to some\nextent, for instance, a buffalo may have only one horn, or a dog may\nhave a pig's snout. The _lamboyo_, like the vampire, has a preference\nfor human victims, whom he grievously tortures and maims.\n\nFar more beautiful is the myth of _tanoana_, the divine essence in man\nwhich goes forth from his body, as in sleep, and, being of the same\nnature as the soul of the animal, allows of interchange to take place\nbetween the human and the animal bodies.\n\nEven amongst the most practical and enlightened people of to-day\npsychic experiences in which animals have played a part are of common\nenough occurrence, and a survey of the grounds on which man and animal\nshapes and spirits meet may help them to understand things which, to\nour limited human intelligence, appear at least strange, if not\naltogether inexplicable.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Leland, C. G., \"Algonquin Legends of New England,\" Boston 1884, p.\n31.\n\n[2] Frazer, J. G., \"The Golden Bough,\" \"The Magic Art,\" 1911, Vol. I,\npp. 155-6.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II\n\n                            TRANSFORMATION\n\n\nHow did man come to change into an animal? Folklore and superstition\ndescribe a number of ways. The most common method appears to have been\nthe wearing of the skin of the animal in question. One drew it over\none's shoulders, mask and all, and awaited results. These were not\nalways satisfactory, and if any delay occurred it was better to strip\noff the clothes, rub the limbs with a potent ointment and murmur a\nlong incantation. Such things, if we may believe tradition, invariably\ndid the trick. But there were many other ways of bringing about the\ndesired state. According to Grimm,[3] transformation could be effected\nby tying a strap of human skin round the body; others say the skin\nmust be a girdle made from the animal's hide.... It also sufficed to\nshift the buckle of a certain strap to the ninth hole. To drink water\nout of the footprint made by the animal, to partake of its brains, to\ndrink from certain enchanted streams, to haunt the lair of a wer-wolf,\nto eat his food or come into personal contact with him or his\nbelongings were all means of voluntary or involuntary transformation\nwhich, according to its nature, might be permanent or merely\ntransitory. Livonian wer-wolves were initiated by drinking a cup of\nbeer of a special character accompanied by a particular incantation.\nOther countries had magical procedure which differed in detail, if not\nin the main features. As a rule the devil was supposed to have had a\nhand in the transformation process, and one man accused of the crime\ndeclared that a female devil had presented him with a belt and\nwhenever he buckled it he was changed into a wolf spontaneously. This\ngentleman, when he was back in human shape, was always heard to remark\nin surprise that he had not the faintest idea where the bristles went\nwhich had adorned him when in wolfish form.\n\nA return to human body was sometimes easy, sometimes extremely\ndifficult. The girdle or skin being removed was often sufficient to\nremove the enchantment too. Plunging into water or rolling over and\nover in dew were said to be equally efficacious. A considerably slower\nmethod was to kneel in one spot for a hundred years, long enough, one\nwould imagine to deter anyone from ill-judged ambitions to prowl\naround the world in animal shape. Other cures, however, were simpler,\nsuch as being saluted with the sign of the cross, or to be called\nthree times loudly by the baptismal name, or to be struck three blows\non the forehead by a knife, or to have three drops of blood drawn from\nsome part of the body. In many cases one other person besides the\ntransformed man was in possession of certain formul\u00e6 necessary for\nrestoring him to a normal appearance, and if by any accident this\nperson was killed or otherwise removed from the sphere of action, woe\nbetide him in animal shape, for he probably had to retain it during\nthe rest of his natural existence.\n\nThere is a legend in Lorraine that if stalks of grass are pulled up,\nblessed and thrown against a tree, wolves spring forth, being\ntransformed from the men who threw the grass. To become a she-bear it\nis only necessary to put a slip of wood into one's mouth; when the\nwood is taken out human shape returns.\n\nAnother myth, mentioned by Grimm, is that at certain times of night\nwer-wolves turn into three-legged dogs and can only be freed by\nsomeone crying out \"wer-wolf.\"\n\nSeven and nine are important numbers in transformation. When seven\ngirls are born of one marriage, one is thought to turn into a wer-wolf\nand the seventh child of the seventh child is predestined to the same\nfate. The spell is said to last nine days. Anyone who puts on a\nwolf-shirt is transformed into a wolf for this period and returns to\nhuman shape on the tenth day. Grimm says the seal is supposed to doff\nhis fishy skin every ninth day and for one day become a man, and there\nis a common saying that a cat twenty years old turns into a witch, and\na witch of a hundred turns back into a cat.\n\nHaving taken the body of a beast, man becomes known as a wer-animal,\nwer being probably derived from the Latin _vir_.[4] He then assumes\nthe characteristics of the natural animal, with additional strength,\nagility, and ferocity.\n\nIn medi\u00e6val times powers of transformation seem to have been sought\nafter and were even regarded as a privilege. Although often acquired for\nevil purposes, among primitive peoples to change into an animal did not\nnecessarily imply a descent in the scale of being. To them there is but\na slight line of demarcation between the animal world and mankind. They\nare not influenced so much by the idea of human degradation as by a\nbeautiful belief in the brotherhood and fellowship of all creation.\n\nLycanthropy is the technical name for the pathological condition of a\nman who believes he has become an animal. The word means literally\nwolf-man, the wolf being chosen as the most dangerous animal known in\nEuropean countries, though the tiger, hy\u00e6na, or any other wild animal\nserves the purpose equally well.\n\nThe symptoms exhibited by the wer-animal are at first extreme\nrestlessness and anxiety. He develops, sometimes instantaneously,\nsometimes by degrees, the instincts of the kind of creature into which\nhe has been transformed, often acquiring enormous strength and the\nspecial characteristics of the animal. If it be carnivorous by nature\nhe has a lust to kill, and he can do what the animal does as well as\nwhat he was naturally capable of doing. His body is in the shape of an\nanimal, but his eyes, according to some accounts, remain unchanged,\nand the human being looks out of these windows of his soul. His\nintelligence will probably, however, be darkened by the shadow of\nmalignity or passion usual to the lower creation.\n\nAs early as 1579, Wierius described lycanthropia as a disease, and\ndeclared the Arabs called it _Chatrap_, after an animal. Another name\nwas _Tipule_. (Latin race.) The victims had sunken eyes and could not\nsee well, the tongue was dry and they were thirsty, the saliva being\ndried up. To cure them they had to be well-fed, much bathed, and given\ndrugs which were used in melancholic diseases. Before an attack the\nhead was rubbed with soporific herbs, opium was applied to the nose\nand the patient was dosed with a narcotic.\n\nWhen under the delusion that he is changed into a wolf the wer-animal\ngives vent to a long howl and starts off with a rush to the nearest\nforest, where he prowls about through the night seeking his victims.\nThese he kills in the ordinary manner of a wild beast, tearing asunder\ntheir limbs and feasting on their flesh. In some countries his method\nis more elaborate and it is supposed that the wer-wolf, having chosen\nhis victim, exerts certain occult powers to numb his faculties and,\ncutting up the body, extracts the liver, which he eats and then joins\nthe parts of the body together again so that the friends of the dead\nman know not how he came to lose his life.\n\nHaving satisfied his thirst for blood, the man-wolf, at the wane of\nhis madness, once more seeks human shape, and then it is probable that\nhe suffers for his abnormal appetites. Reaction leaves him weak and\ndebilitated, with dry throat and tongue, feeble vision, hollow and\ndiscoloured cheeks, and sore places where he was hurt by his victim\nstruggling for life.\n\nSome subjects of lycanthropia, or imitative madness, endure still\ngreater horrors, and the case of a patient who trembled with terror at\nhis own condition is quoted by M. Morel in his \"\u00c9tudes Cliniques.\"[5]\n\"See this mouth,\" he cried, touching his lips with his fingers, \"it is\nthe mouth of a wolf, and see the long hairs which cover my body and my\npaws. Let me bound away into the woods so you may shoot me there!\"\nWhen his family endeavoured to caress him, he cried out that they were\nembracing a wolf. He asked for raw meat, the only food he could touch,\nbut on tearing it apart he found it not to his liking as it had not\nbeen freshly killed. Thus he went through the tortures of the damned\nuntil released by death.\n\nAnother victim of the disease is mentioned by Fincelius in his second\nBook of Wonders. He says that \"at Padua in the year 1541 a certain\nhusbandman did seem to himself wolf, and did leap upon many in the\nfields, and did kill them. And that at last he was taken not without\nmuch difficulty, and did confidently affirm that he was a true wolf,\nonly that the difference was in the _skin turned in with the hairs_.\nAnd therefore that, having put off all humanity and being truly\ntruculent and voracious, he did smite and cut off his legs and arms,\nthereby to try the truth of the matter, but the innocency of the man\nbeing known, they committed him to the chirurgeon's to be cured, but\nthat he died not many days after. Which instance is sufficient to\noverthrow the vain opinion of those men that believe that a man or\nwoman may be really transubstantiated into a wolf, dog, cat, squirrel\nor the like without the operation of an omnipotent power.\"\n\nIn spite of the unpleasant consequences with which lycanthropy seems\nto be connected there is little doubt that transformation used to be\nregarded as a useful and sometimes even profitable relaxation. Those\nwho were already initiated into its mysteries were generally willing\nto help others to obtain proficiency, and a draught from the hand of\nan expert was considered enough to produce the desired condition in\nthe novice.\n\nPredestination to become a wer-animal is thought to be distinguished\nby some peculiarity in the appearance, such as the meeting of the\neyebrows, and the tendency to transform is believed to wax and wane\nwith the seasons and to be subject to the influence of the moon.\n\nThe head, claws, and hairy skin of a wer-wolf are like those of a real\nwolf, but the great test of identity lies in his lack of tail, and in\nhis clothes, which are sure to be found not far from the scene of\nslaughter.\n\nWhen doubt is felt whether a wer-wolf is a human being or a real wolf,\nsteel or iron is thrown at the animal under suspicion. When this is\ndone to a genuine wer-wolf the skin is said to split crosswise on the\nforehead and the naked man comes out through the opening. Sometimes\nthe wer-wolf is frozen with the cold and then he is invulnerable to\nordinary weapons. The only way to wound him is to shoot at him with\nballs of elder pith or bullets of inherited silver.\n\nWhen the victim is attacked by a human animal the injured person's\nclothes are stripped from his body. The genuine animal tears them in\nshreds. If the wer-animal has been transformed by means of a strap of\nhuman skin, his tail is then certain to be truncated.\n\nIn the following Hessian folk-story, which concerns a poverty-stricken\nmarried couple, a large ring was used to bring about the metamorphosis.\n\nThe wife always contrived to have meat for every meal and the husband\nnever knew how she managed it. After much questioning she agreed to tell\nhim, and taking him to a field where sheep were grazing she threw a ring\nover herself and became a wer-wolf. She seized one sheep and was running\noff with it when the man, who had promised not to call her by name\nduring the performance, cried out, \"Oh, Margaret!\" and as he did so the\nwolf disappeared and the woman stood there with no clothes on.\n\nA very similar story is told of a nobleman who fell short of food\nwhile traversing a wide tract of country in Russia with a party of\nfriends. He transformed himself into a wolf and caught several sheep,\nwhich provided an excellent meal for the travellers.\n\nIn India a story is current that there was once a man who was able to\nchange himself into a tiger, but who found it very difficult to resume\nhis normal shape. When he wished to become human again, it was\nnecessary for a particular friend of his to cite a certain formula.\nThe friend died and as this catastrophe limited the tiger-man's powers\nhe determined to teach the proper formula to his wife.\n\nA few days later, having enjoyed a glorious hunt and devoured several\nantelopes, he trotted up to his wife in the disguise of a tiger, hoping\nshe would not forget how to work the spell. When she saw the dangerous\nmonster approaching her she began to scream. The animal jumped round\nabout her, trying to remind her by dumb show of what she had to do, but\nthe greater efforts he made the more frightened she grew and the louder\nbecame her cries. So annoyed was the man-tiger by her aggravating\nstupidity that he thought, \"This is the most irritating woman I ever\nsaw,\" and, flying into a terrible passion, he attacked and slew her.\nThen to his regret he remembered that no other human being knew the\nincantation necessary for his release and that he would have to remain a\ntiger for the rest of his days. He grew to hate all human beings after\nthat and killed men whenever the chance occurred.\n\nIn the Sanjor and Nerbudda territories there is a saying that if a tiger\nhas killed a man he will never slay another, because the dead man's\nspirit rides on his head and forces him to seek more lawful prey.\n\nSome African tribes believe that tailless tigers are transformed men,\nprobably because the wer-animal is frequently said to have no tail.\n\nIn early Christian times the wer-wolf was often regarded as a victim\nof the evil machinations of a sorcerer. There is a story in the\nseventh century of a man-wolf who defended the head of St. Edward the\nMartyr from the onslaught of other wild beasts. The apostles Peter and\nPaul, according to a Russian folk-tale, turned an evil-minded husband\nand wife into bears as a judgment for their sins.\n\nAn object which may have been an inducement to transformation was the\nhope of acquiring second sight, a gift with which many animals are\nthought to be endowed.\n\nIn the last century in France a connection of the old _loup-garou_\nexisted in the person of the _meneur des loups_, who was said to have\nthe gift of charming or taming wolves, which followed him across waste\nlands on midnight rambles after the style in which the rats followed\nthe piping of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.\n\nThe _loup-garou_ of the French is found in Italy under the name of the\n_lupo manaro_ or _versiero_. The _lupo manaro_ of the Middle Ages was\na witch dressed as a wolf, but the same term was applied to a certain\nhobgoblin who was peculiar to the city of Blois and whose chief\noccupation seems to have been to inspire deadly fear in young\nchildren. The _lupo marino_, which might be thought to be another kind\nof wolf, is the name of a most ravenous fish, which does not appear to\nhave had human attributes.\n\nThe great Gaston de Foix, known as Ph\u0153bus, who is famed for his book\non the chase, expresses his opinion that the term _garou_ in\n_loup-garou_ is an ellipse of the phrase _gardez-vous_.\n\nWhen wolves grew scarce in England it became the fashion for those who\nwished to be transformed to change into cats, weasels, or harmless\nhares; rather a mild amusement after the adventuresome exploits of the\nman-attacking beasts of prey, but one which led to some extraordinary\nproceedings akin to black magic.\n\nIn some old French Records the account is given of a man who buried a\nblack cat in a box at a spot where four cross-roads met. In the box he\nplaced bread soaked in holy water and holy oil, sufficient to keep the\nanimal alive for three days. His intention was to dig up his innocent\nvictim, slay him, and make a girdle of his skin, by which means he\nexpected to be able to transform himself into an animal and gain the\ngift of clairvoyance. Unfortunately for his projects, however, the\nburied animal was exhumed by hounds. The whole affair came to public\nknowledge and ended in the courts, where the guilty man was condemned\nfor sorcery.\n\nAnother man whose friend threw doubts on his power to change into\nanimal shape, quickly turned into a wolf to prove that his comrade was\nwrong and, being set upon by a pack of dogs, was deprived by them of\none eye before he could resume his normal appearance.\n\nA thief acted more cleverly. Being condemned to the gibbet, he saved his\nskin by taking the form of a wolf directly his would-be executioners\nopened the door of the cell in which he was imprisoned. During the panic\nof dismay which greeted the sight of him, he escaped into the woods.\n\nOne of the most marvellous stories of wer-wolves is related by\nGiraldus Cambrensis in his \"Topography of Ireland.\"[6] A priest was\njourneying from Ulster to Meath accompanied only by a single youth\nwhen they were benighted in a wood.\n\nThey had kindled a fire when a huge wolf approached them and spoke,\ntelling the travellers to fear nothing.\n\nThe priest adjured him by all that was sacred not to do them harm and\nbegged him to say \"what creature it was that in the shape of a beast\nuttered human words.\"\n\nThe story told by the wolf is as follows:--\n\n\"There are two of us, a man and a woman, natives of Ossory, who,\nthrough the curse of one Natalis, saint and abbot, are compelled every\nseven years to put off their human form and assume that of wolves. At\nthe end of seven years, if they chance to survive, two others being\nsubstituted, they return to their former shape. Now, she who is my\npartner in this visitation lies dangerously sick not far from hence. I\nbeseech you, inspired by divine charity, to give her the consolations\nof your priestly office.\"\n\nThe priest followed the mysterious speaker into the thicket and\nperformed the rites of the Church over the dying she-wolf, as far as\nthe last Communion. But the wolf was not satisfied, and begged him to\ncomplete his good offices. The priest said this was impossible as he\nwas not provided with the wherewithal for giving the viaticum. Then\nthe man-wolf pointed to the priest's neck, suspended round which he\ncarried a missal and consecrated wafers, entreating him not to deny\nthe aid provided by Divine Providence. To remove the priest's doubts\nhe tore off the she-wolf's skin and exposed the body of an old woman.\nThe last Communion having been given, the wolf replaced the skin and\nreverently thanked the priest for the benefit which he had conferred.\n\nThese representative incidents go far to show how deeply ingrained is\nthe belief in transformation among primitive people, but it is necessary\nto go back still further into the origins of folk-lore to discover the\nbedrock of thought in which the human-animal theory takes its rise.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[3] \"Teutonic Mythology.\"\n\n[4] This appears to be the usually adopted explanation, but on p. 67 a\nsuggestion is made regarding the word _versipelles_, which may throw a\ndifferent light on the derivation.\n\n[5] Vol. II, p. 58.\n\n[6] \"The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis,\" 1863. Bohn's\nLibrary p. 79 _et seq._\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER III\n\n                            THE BUSH-SOUL\n\n\nThe animal which savage races take as a symbol of the family becomes\ntheir totem. Many believe that their ancestors were originally\nanimals, fishes, or reptiles, and are so accustomed to this idea that\ntransformation appears simple and natural to them. They hold that the\nsouls of the dead pass into one or another animal form.\n\n\"Wise people,\" says the Bhagavad Gita, \"see the same soul (Atman) in\nthe Brahman, in worms and in insects, in the dog and the elephant, in\nbeasts, cows, gadflies, and gnats.\"\n\n\"Nothing is more strikingly characteristic of primitive thinking than\nthe close community of nature which it assumes between man and brute,\"\nwrites Fiske. \"The doctrine of metempsychosis, which is found in some\nshape or other all over the world, implies a fundamental identity\nbetween the two; the Hindu is taught to respect the flocks browsing in\nthe meadow, and will on no account lift his hand against a cow, for\nwho knows but it may be his own grandmother?\"[7]\n\nThe primeval worship of ancestors and the savage customs of totemism\nare connected with this belief in transformation.\n\nPrimitive man cannot grasp the idea of death as final. He believes\nthat the man who has passed away is still capable of communicating\nwith the living, and the idea of the persistence of the dead is to him\nthe reality. Even though a dead man has thrown off the body like a\nmask, his appearance remains the same and he is still possessed of\nhuman powers, perhaps intensified by the experience he has undergone.\nHe can show himself to his friends, and may do so preferably after\nnightfall. He is then wrapped to some extent in mystery, and connected\nwith strange sights, movements, and sounds.\n\nGifted with new powers he may appear as an animal, perhaps in order to\nharm his enemies or warn people of evil. His howling may be heard\nabove the sound of the tempest. Perhaps he rides on the night-wind,\nperhaps he comes in the form of a hound, as a messenger of death, and\nbays under the window of the sick a warning that death is at hand.\nAgain, he may come as a ravening wolf to devour some victim of his\ngreed. Thus the savage mind fails to distinguish between the real and\nthe imaginative and, basing his beliefs on the stories about his own\ntribal totem, is convinced that his ancestors may career about his\nhome in the form of lion, leopard, serpent or other tutelary genius.\nThis curious mental process expands with what it feeds on until the\nshade of distinction between wolf-like ghosts and corporeal human\nwolves is obliterated and the metempsychosis is complete.\n\nIn \"Life Amongst the Modocs,\"[8] Joaquin Miller tells a poetic story\nof the descent of the Indians from the grizzly bear.\n\nOne severe spring-time many thousands of years ago there was a storm\non the summit of Mount Shasta and the Great Spirit sent his fair\ndaughter to speak to the storm and bid it stop, but he told her not to\nlook forth from the hole in the top of the mountain lest she should be\ncaught in the wind and come to disaster.\n\nCuriosity, however, caused her to forget her father's instructions and\nshe put her head out to look at the far-distant ocean, white with\nstorm. As she did so the wind caught her long red hair and she was\nblown down the mountain-side which was covered with ice and snow, so\nthat she slid to the dark belt of firs below the snow rim.\n\nThis district belonged to the grizzly bears. They were not really\nbeasts then, but lived in caves, walked on two legs, talked and used\nclubs to fight with, instead of their teeth and claws as they do now.\nAn old grizzly found the red-haired girl and took her home, where she\nwas reared with the bears' offspring. In time she was married to the\neldest son of the family. Their children did not resemble either of\ntheir parents exactly, but partook somewhat of the nature and likeness\nof both. Thus was the red man created, for these children were the\nfirst Indians.\n\nThe legend goes on to tell how angry the Great Spirit was when he\nheard what had befallen his daughter and that he punished the\ngrizzlies by making them walk on all-fours like other beasts, and on\naccount of this legend of their origin, the Indians about Mount Shasta\nnever kill a bear, and if a bear kills an Indian the latter's body is\nburnt and all who pass the spot cast a stone upon it till a large heap\nis gathered, and Indians will point out to this day that bears are\nmore like men than any other animal.\n\nThe members of a totem clan call themselves by the name of the totem,\nand numerous clans are connected with various animals, such, for\ninstance, as the Crane clan of the Ojibways who think they are\ndescended from a pair of cranes which settled near Lake Superior where\nthey became transformed by the Great Spirit into a man and a woman.\nThe Osages are descended from the union between a snail and a beaver.\nThe snail burst its shell, grew arms and legs and became a handsome\nhuman being who wedded a beaver maiden.\n\nIn Bechuanaland when a crocodile clansman sees a crocodile he spits on\nthe ground and says, \"There is sin,\" for fear the sight should give\nhim inflammation of the eyes. Yet the crocodile is his father, and he\ncelebrates it at his festivals and marks his cattle with an incision\nin the ear that resembles the mouth of his totem animal.\n\nThe inhabitants of the Ellice Island in the South Pacific believe the\nisland was first inhabited by the porcupine fish, whose offspring became\nmen and women. The snake clan among the Moquis of Arizona say they are\ndescended from a woman who gave birth to snakes, and they indulge in\nextraordinary snake dances to propitiate their tutelary genius.\n\nIn Indonesia many stories are told of women who have brought forth\nanimals. Sometimes the woman gives birth to twins, one being a human\nbeing and one a beast.[9] At Balen in New Guinea a native told a\nmissionary that his ancestress had given birth to a boy and also to an\niguana, and since then he had had a great respect for iguanas.\n\nThe turtle clan of the Iroquois believe themselves to be descended\nfrom a fat turtle, which, burdened by the weight of its shell in\nwalking, threw it off after great exertions and developed gradually\ninto a human being.[10]\n\nPeople of the cray-fish clan of the Choctaws were said to have lived\noriginally underground as cray-fish, only coming to the surface of the\nmud occasionally. Some kindly Choctaws captured these fish, taught\nthem to walk after cutting off their toe-nails and adopted them into\nthe tribe.\n\nThe Masai race in Uganda have a theory that some of their ancestors\nreturn to earth after death in the shape of serpents, generally\npythons or cobras, and when a Masai marries, he introduces his wife to\nthe tutelary snake of the tribe, and she is told to recognise it and\nnever harm it. The fetish snake is often consulted by people in\ntrouble, because they think they will get valuable advice based on\nthe experience of their ancestors[11].\n\nThe people of Miri believe themselves to be related to large deer, and\nsuppose that their dead relatives become deer. The Bakongs, another\ngroup of Mohammedan Malasians, believe their friends become bear-cats\nafter death. The Papuans of New Guinea hold that at death souls of\nhuman beings pass into animals such as cassowaries, fish, or pigs.\nThey do not eat these sacred creatures, which are taboo.\n\nThe taboos include all animals which must not be killed. They enjoy\nlocal sanctity, and are never eaten or even touched. Taboo animals are\nthought to give favourable and unfavourable omens. Death is sometimes\nforetold by their means.\n\nThese instances of the supposed connection between savage races and\ncertain animals might be multiplied a hundredfold, and they lead to\ninteresting developments of the transformation theory.\n\nThe belief that beasts are the dwelling-places of the souls of\ndepraved men is a variation of the idea that depraved men were\ninhabited by demons.\n\nIn Australia and America it is customary for savages to have what is\ncalled \"a medicine animal,\" something in the nature of a tutelary\ngenius or second soul. The natives of Central America call this animal\n_nagual_, the Algonquins _manitou_, the Eskimo _tornaq_, and amongst\nthe last-named people it is usually a bear. Others call it simply the\nbush-soul.\n\nThe young Tinkhlet Indian goes out hunting the otter, and when he has\nkilled his prey he cuts out its tongue, which he uses as a charm,\nwearing it round his neck and believing that he now understands the\nlanguage of all animals. In other races various animals are killed in\norder that part of their body may be used as a talisman. A _nagual_\nmay be obtained in other ways, perhaps through dreaming of the right\nanimal, or by having it chosen by the magician of the tribe. It then\nbecomes sacred, and should it die the man dies too.\n\nThe West African negroes believe that a man can have as many as four\nsouls, one of which lives in animal form out in the bush, and is then\ncalled his bush-soul. If this animal soul is trapped or shot, the man\nhimself dies. Nor will a native kill his bush-soul, for this would\nsurely be the cause of his own end. Bush-souls are often regarded as\nan hereditary possession, generally passing from father to son and\nfrom mother to daughter. Among many primitive peoples the belief\nexists that the human being can and does actually change into this\ntutelary animal genius. In Iceland, for instance, it is believed that\nvarious members of a family have a kind of animal double called\n_fylgja_, in the shape of a dog or bird.\n\nThe Yakuts of Siberia believe that every wizard has one of his souls\nincarnate in an animal. \"Nobody can find my external soul,\" said one\nfamous wizard, \"it lies hidden far away in the stony mountains of\nEdzhigansk.\" Once a year at the melting of the snow, these souls\nappear amongst the dwellings of men in the shape of animals, invisible\nto all but the wizards themselves. Strong ones hurry about noisily,\nbut the weak ones move furtively as though afraid. Sometimes they\nfight, and the sorcerer whose soul is worsted in the battle falls ill\nand may even die. The souls of cowardly wizards are in the form of\ndogs, and they give their human double no peace, but gnaw at his heart\nand tear his body. Powerful wizards have souls incarnate in stallions,\nelks, boars, eagles, and black bears.\n\nThe Samoyeds in the Turukhinsk region believe that sorcerers have a\nfamiliar in the shape of a boar, and that they lead him by a magic\nbelt. If the boar dies the sorcerer too must die. Sometimes battles\noccur between sorcerers who send forth their familiars to encounter\none another before they themselves meet in the flesh.\n\nThe Melanesians of Mota in the New Hebrides, call the soul the _atai_,\nand they believe that every person has a second self which is visible\nand is, in fact, the reflection in animal form of his own personality.\nHe and his _atai_ would rejoice or grieve, live and die together.\n\nSome of the Melanesians also believe that they have special relation\nto some animal or reptile with which their life is bound up and which\nis named _tamaniu_. The _tamaniu_, like the _atai_, has an objective\nand material existence.\n\nWhen its owner wishes to injure anyone he sends his familiar to do so;\nif an eel it would tear or bite, if a shark probably swallow him. If\nthe owner falls ill, he examines his familiar to discover what is\nwrong. The imps or familiars of witches embody the same idea.\n\nDr. W. H. R. Rivers quotes the case of a man whose _tamaniu_ was a\nlizard[12]. The owner was blind and asked a friend to help him with the\nceremony of examination. He told his friend to go and see the animal,\nusing the words \"Look at me,\" referring to the lizard as himself. The\nman went alone to the banyan tree where the lizard was to be found, but\nwhen he came there he was too frightened to call upon the animal. He was\nsent a second time in the company of the sick man's son and others, and\nwhen they reached the tree the man called out the lizard's name,\nRosasangwowut, and the _tamaniu_ appeared. It was a very large animal,\nlarger than the ordinary lizards in Mota. It appeared to be sluggish and\nwalked as a sick man would walk. The blind man's son then asked the\n_tamaniu_ if it was ill and the creature nodded its head and moved\nslowly back to the tree. They went back and told the man that his\nfamiliar was ill, and soon afterwards he died. At the same time the\nbanyan tree fell, which was taken as a sign that the _tamaniu_ died too.\nThis is an uncanny story which brings out strongly the psychic\nconnection between the man and his representative animal.\n\nIn Melanesia a native doctor was once attending a patient when a large\neagle hawk soared past the house and a hunter was about to shoot it\nwhen the doctor called out in alarm, \"Don't fire, that is my spirit!\nIf you kill it I shall die.\" He also said, \"If you see a rat to-night,\ndon't drive it away, it's my spirit, or a snake may come to-night,\nwhich will be my spirit.\" Apparently the doctor had the power to send\nhis familiar in animal form for the purpose of working a cure.\n\nAt Ongek in the Gaboon a French missionary spent the night in the hut of\na Fan chief. He was awakened before daylight by the rustling of dry\nleaves and, lighting a torch, perceived a huge black poisonous serpent,\ncoiled and ready to strike. He was about to shoot the horrible reptile\nwhen his arm was suddenly struck up by the chief, who, extinguishing the\ntorch, cried, \"Don't fire, I beg of you. In killing the snake you would\nkill me. That serpent is my _elangela_. Fear nothing!\" Speaking thus he\nseized and caressed the noisome reptile, which showed emotions of\ndelight rather than fear or anger. Then the chief bore away his serpent\nand laid it in another hut, lying down beside it, after exhorting the\nmissionary never to speak of what he had seen.[13]\n\nFrom this occurrence it will easily be gathered that it is highly\ndangerous to kill a _tamaniu_, _nagual_, or _manitou_.\n\nThe possibility of the soul existing temporarily apart from the body\nis believed by most savages, and civilised races, such as the Romans,\nhave held identical ideas. \"The _nagual_,\" writes W. Northcote Thomas\nin his valuable article on Animals,[14] \"is the lineal ancestor of the\n_genius_ of the Romans, no less than of the _guides_ of modern\nspiritualism.\" This statement gives ample food for thought.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[7] Fiske, J., \"Myths and Myth-makers,\" 1873, p. 74.\n\n[8] 1873, pp. 242-7.\n\n[9] Frazer, \"Totemism,\" Vol. II, p. 58.\n\n[10] _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 5.\n\n[11] \"The Uganda Protectorate,\" by Sir Harry Johnston, 1902, Vol. II,\np. 832.\n\n[12] \"Totemism in Polynesia and Melanesia\" in \"Journal of the Royal\nAnthropological Institute,\" 1909, Vol. XXXIX, p. 177.\n\n[13] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" \"Balder the Beautiful,\" 1913, Vol. II, p.\n200, etc.\n\n[14] Hastings' \"Encyclop\u00e6dia of Religion and Ethics,\" 1908, Vol. I.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IV\n\n                     HUMAN SOULS IN ANIMAL BODIES\n\n\nAt all periods of the world's history and in every country people have\nbelieved in the \"external soul\" of a man appearing in animal form. For\ninstance, in the island of Florida the natives tell the story of an\nalligator which used to come out of the sea and visit the village in\nwhich the man whose ghost it was had dwelt. It was known by his name\nand was on friendly terms with the natives, allowing children to ride\non its back.[15]\n\nIn Syria there are stories of girls being carried off by bears and\ngiving birth to human-animal offspring. The Creeks believe the\noffspring to be bears which later turn into men. Japan is famous for\nits white bear-god and the Tartars believe that earth spirits take the\nform of bears.\n\nThe Gilyaks believe that if one of their race is killed by a bear, his\nsoul transmigrates into the animal's body. Californian Indians have\nbeen heard to plead hard for the life of a she-bear. They said its\nwrinkled face was like the withered features of a dead grandmother\nwhose soul had entered into the animal.\n\nOne of the Omaha clans believe they are descended from bison and the\nmales wear their hair in imitation of the animal which is their totem.\n\nThe Ewe negroes of Togoland ascribe to the souls of buffaloes and\nleopards the power of killing the hunter who slew them, or of\nmisleading him in the chase so that he confuses men with animals and\ngets into difficulties from being accused of murdering the former. The\nsouls of these dangerous animals are thought to haunt and plague the\nhunter, perhaps by making him crazy, so that when he finds his way\nback into the town he loses all his property and is sold into slavery.\nA quaint ceremony is performed to prevent such power emanating from\nthe dead prey.\n\nThe Baganda natives are in deadly terror of the ghosts of the\nbuffaloes they have killed, believing that they may work harm to them.\n\nThe crocodile especially has played a large part in these beliefs\nabout human and ghostly animals.\n\nNatives in Simbang, in German New Guinea, are convinced that their\nrelatives turn into crocodiles, and they recognise a certain crocodile\nknown by the name of \"Old Butong\" as head of the family. They say he\nwas born of a woman. Mary Kingsley tells a similar story in her\n\"Travels in West Africa,\" describing human beings, who, disguised as\nalligators, swim in the creeks, attack the canoes and carry off the\ncrew. The natives believe in the spirit of the man actually possessing\nthe animal's body.\n\nIn New Guinea and the East Indies as well as in West Africa crocodiles\nare thought to be the abodes of the souls of ancestors, and the victim\nof this dangerous reptile is said to have incurred the vengeance of\nsome human being who has taken the form of the animal, while those who\nkill crocodiles become themselves transformed after death. Spenser's\n\"cruell craftie crocodile\" was held to be sacred in Egypt, and the god\nSebek was said to take its shape whenever he so desired.\n\nThe Malagasy view is that the crocodile is the ally of a magician\nduring his lifetime, and that he can send him forth as a familiar to\nwreak harm upon his enemies.\n\nThe alligator is closely allied to the crocodile. Among the legends of\nthe Arawak Indians of British Guiana is one about a half human beast of\nthis species which received its extraordinary markings in the following\nmanner: Arawadi, the sun-god, coming to earth saw an alligator\ndisporting himself on the banks of a stream which he had preserved\nspecially for fish. To get rid of the enemy he seized and smote him with\na hard club upon the head and tail, but the alligator, crying out to him\nto stay his hand, promised in return for clemency a beauteous\nwater-sprite to be his bride. Arawadi agreed to the proposal.\n\n      \"The reptile's wounds were healed. Those blows\n       No more his hide assail;\n       But still their marks are seen, 'tis said,\n       Indented on his battered head\n       And notched along his tail!\"\n\nThe domestic animals, bulls, cows, horses, asses, cats, and dogs, have\nbeen regarded at one time or another as gifted with human powers, or\nas suitable vehicles for the reception of human souls. The Tlaxcallans\nbelieve that man can be transformed into a dog. The wild dog, the\ncoyote, according to the ideas of the Navajos, may be a bad man\ntransformed at death for his sins.\n\nArmenians sacrifice an ass at the graves of people who owe them money,\ntheir belief being that if payment is not forthcoming the ancestor's\nsouls will enter asses' bodies.\n\nThe Corn Spirit is supposed to take the form of a cat, and in some\nplaces in Germany children have been warned not to go into the\ncorn-fields because \"The cat sits there.\" In Silesia the reaper who\ncuts the last corn is called the \"Tom-cat\" and is dressed up in\nrye-stalks, wearing a long plaited tail. Sometimes another man\naccompanies him called \"the female cat.\"\n\nThe Lapps of the North Cape are said to consult a black cat when in\ntrouble, and they regard it more as a human being than as an animal.\n\nThe cat is among the soul-animals familiar to the inhabitants of the\nBritish Islands, who, owing to this country's immunity from wild\nbeasts, are satisfied to \"humanise\" the milder species of creatures\nsuch as the ant, butterfly, gull, moth, sparrow, and swan.\n\nIn the parish of Ballymoyer in Ireland butterflies are said to be the\nsouls of grandfathers, whilst the Malagasy trace their descent from a\nmoth, believing that a man was changed into a moth when he died. Many\nraces believe that moths and butterflies are the souls of the dead.\n\nIn the Solomon Islands, if a native declared he intended to transmigrate\ninto a butterfly, his children, on seeing one of these insects would cry\n\"That is Daddy\" and make some suitable offering of food. Witches have\nbeen known to have butterflies and moths as familiars.\n\nIn Cornwall ants are thought to be the souls of children who died\nwithout baptism. Hindus also associate this insect with the souls of\nthe dead, and natives of New Guinea believe that a second death occurs\nafter the first and that the soul is transformed into an ant.\n\nThe Athabascan Dog-Ribs believe that an ant inserted beneath the skin\nof the palm endows the owner of the hand with the gift of prophecy.\n\nThe Sudanese think that a wer-man has to approach an ants' nest before\nbeing transformed into a hy\u00e6na.\n\nBesides the ant the bat is regarded as a mysterious creature, and this\nform was frequently assumed by Chamalcan, god of the Cakchiquels.\nLarge bats abound in an island on the Ivory Coast in West Africa and\nare regarded as embodying the souls of the dead. In Tonga the same\nsuperstition holds good. Bats and birds appear so similar when flying\nat dusk that it is natural to find that birds also are often the form\nin which human spirits take wing.\n\nThe Warrar races of Guiana have a very poetical belief about the\nspirits of the departed. They visit the fair isle of Trinidad,\n\n      \"Where souls of good men they could find,\n       In glittering humming-birds confined.\"\n\nThe Arawaks believe that vultures belong to a race which lives in a\ncountry above the sky. When at home the vultures cease to be birds and\nassume the shape and habits of human beings.\n\nThe Kalitas hold that when a man dies his soul is carried to\nspirit-land by a little bird, and if he has been an evil-doer during\nhis lifetime, a hawk overtakes and swallows the bird.\n\nIn County Mayo swans are the souls of virgins who have been remarkable\nfor the purity of their lives. This idea is as beautiful as the\nBohemian tradition that children hop about the meadows in the form of\nfrogs is quaint.\n\nAn old Hindu story that monkeys were originally men has a distinctly\ncomic side to it. They contracted debts and when called upon to pay\nfled from their creditors by changing into monkeys and putting their\ntails between their legs. In this undignified position they made off\nat full speed into the jungle.\n\nThe stories of human souls in various animal bodies would fill a\nvolume, and perhaps one of the most picturesque ideas of the kind is\nthat of the Cornish fisherfolk who say they see the spirits of their\ndrowning companions transformed into animal shapes as they pass away\nfrom this earth.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[15] Frazer, J. G., \"The Golden Bough,\" \"Spirits of the Corn and of\nthe Wild,\" 1912, Vol. II, p. 297. See also \"Balder the Beautiful,\"\n1913, Vol. II, pp. 196-218, \"The External Soul in Animals.\"\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER V\n\n                            ANIMAL DANCES\n\n\nThe ceremonial dances and festivals of primitive races in which animal\nmasks and skins are used are closely connected with the idea of\nancestor worship and with transformation. After careful study of the\nsubject it will be regarded as certain that the performers, by means\nof mimic action, rhythmic and imitative sounds, as well as by narcotic\ndrugs and pungent or penetrating perfumes, induce in themselves an\nhypnotic or excited state in which they believe they change into the\nactual animal they represent.\n\nSome of the dances are infinitely elaborate in detail, and are so\ncomplicated in their various figures and their symbolic intention that\nprimitive ideas are almost lost sight of, but a certain fundamental\nsimilarity can be found in them all which is based on root ideas of\nanimal worship, the desire to propitiate animals in the chase, the\nbelief in animal gods, or spirits of ancestors appearing in animal\nform and the desire to bring about, by sacrifice and offering, the\nfertility of the species.\n\nSuch exercises are both religious and magical, to secure charms\nagainst bodily ills, and for good hunting as well as for recreation.\nIn special family dances the performers mimic the actions and cries of\ntheir totemic animals.\n\nIn its most primitive form the animal disguise was used by savages\nwhen acting in the capacity of a decoy, with the object of securing\nfood and clothing. The early Indian when trapping buffalo went forth\ncarrying a dress made of the skin of a buffalo, wearing its head and\nhorns over his own head. As soon as he had induced the herd to pursue\nhim, he led them into a trap or ambush, or over a precipice which was\nfatal to many of them.\n\nThe Eskimo, when hunting the seal, wears a sealskin garment which\nmakes him look so much like his prey that at a distance he is only\ndistinguished from it with difficulty. When close to the animal he\nutters sounds like those of a blowing seal.\n\nAlso when hunting deer he imitates their grunt, and two hunters on the\nsame track carry guns on their shoulders to resemble the animal's\nantlers. Zuni hunters after deer wear cotton shirts with the sleeves\nrolled up to the elbow, the back and front of the shirt being coloured\nso as to represent the animal's body, the arms stained to represent\nthe deer's forelegs. Head and antlers are carried on the shoulders,\nand the stalkers approach the game, browsing as they go.\n\nOut of the simple imitation of animal motions and cries for the\npurpose of decoy, the dance grew more complicated, with wild whirling\nfigures and elaborate dresses and masks. From a useful and necessary\ndisguise for purposes of obtaining food, the wolf-robe and mask\nbecame, in unscrupulous hands, an instrument for personal\naggrandisement and gain through intimidation. The hideous animal-mask\nwas first used as a shield or protection for the face in defence\nagainst the onslaught upon an opposing force. Then it became an\ninstrument with which to inspire terror and fear in those who beheld\nit from the point of view of its ugliness or frightfulness, and\nfinally it was worn as a device or symbol of superhuman agencies. At\nthis stage it formed an integral part of the paraphernalia used in\nreligious performances, and when worn during ceremonial the wearer\nbecame imbued in some mysterious manner with the spirit of the being\nrepresented by the mask.\n\nTo gain the characteristics of an animal a wizard attached crow and\nowl plumes to his head, that he might have the eyes of a crow and\nquickly become aware of the approach of man, or of the owl that he\nmight travel by night.\n\nA Zuni man, hearing the hoot of an owl, yet recognising it as human,\ndiscovered one of his own race hidden in the thicket. \"Ah,\" he cried,\n\"why do you wear those plumes upon your head? Aha! you must be a\nwizard!\"\n\nThe Omaha coyote dance is performed by warriors to keep up their\nspirits. Each dancer wears an animal skin, and imitates the action of a\ncoyote, trotting and glancing round. In dance and song the performers\nimagine themselves to be transformed into the animal. In the Omaha\nbuffalo dance, four men are attired in great shaggy skins, the horns\nabove their heads and the hair hanging down below the chest. Other\ndances are in imitation of wolves, grizzly bears, horses or tigers.\n\nPawnees dance the bison dance in war habit and with bison skins and\nhorns over their heads. The Creeks dance similarly, uttering sounds in\nimitation of the bison, their bodies bent almost double and two staffs\nbeing held to represent the animal's forelegs.\n\nThe initiation day has at its root the idea of transforming the man\ninto a member of the kin by giving him a share of the nature of the\nanimal. Dances may give magical power over the animal to be chased,\nand are performed before a hunting expedition. In the dance the animal\ngoes down before the onslaught of the hunter, and so the real animal,\nit is hoped, will fall a victim to his weapons. Dances after hunting\nare of a protective nature, so that the soul of the slaughtered animal\nmay have no evil effect upon the slayer. Another form of animal dance\nis performed with a view to increase the number of animals. Among the\nMandan Indians, for instance, an animal festival is held, at which a\nman, painted black to represent the evil one, enters a village from\nthe prairie, chases and terrifies the women and acts the part of a\nbuffalo in a dance which is intended to ensure a good supply of this\nvaluable animal during the year to come. Other American tribes have a\nsimilar masquerade, in which males, dressed in buffalo skins, take the\npart of male buffaloes and the females personify the female animals,\nwith a view to bringing about an increase of the species.\n\nLegendary animals, or spirits, are also represented in the elaborate\nmasked pantomimes of the Indian tribes in North West America. The\nexplanation given by the natives is that the ceremonial was instituted\nin ancient days when man had still the form of an animal; and before\nthe great transformer had given him a distinctive shape. This\nceremonial, performed by man-animals, is a dramatised form of myth, in\nwhich the actors attempt to reproduce certain trance-states by\nsympathetic mimicry.\n\nThe Eskimos of Bering Strait perform remarkable dances in which\ncurious mythological beasts, said to inhabit sea and land, become\nvisible and occasionally play a part. Strange forms, probably of known\nanimals modified and adapted, are conjured to appear. The dance is\nbased on the old belief that in the early days all animate beings had\na dual existence, choosing to be men or animals as the will prompted\nthem. If an animal wished to be transformed into a man, the body was\ndrawn erect and the foreleg or wing was raised so that it pushed up\nthe jowl or beak, and thus changed the form and features into\nsomething more manlike. It is still believed by these races that\nanimals have this power, and the form taken is called _inua_ and\nrepresents the psychical part of the creature, at death appearing as\nits shade. The wizards are said to have the power of piercing the\nanimal mask and recognising the human features it conceals.\n\nMasks may also represent totemic animals, and the dancers are then\ntransformed into these special creatures, or at least are moved by\ntheir spiritual essence.\n\nSome of these masks are made with double faces, so that the muzzle of\nthe animal fits over and conceals the face of the _inua_ and the outer\nmask is hinged on or held in place by pegs so that it may be removed\nat any minute. The psychological moment when actual transformation\noccurs is symbolised at a particular part of the ceremony.\n\nThe wearer of the mask then becomes imbued with the true spirit of the\nanimal represented, and the dance turns into a species of thanksgiving\nfor the hunter's success.[16]\n\nDancing is sometimes used as a form of exorcism.\n\nIn Abyssinia a disorder similar to that of being possessed by a\n_bouda_, or sorcerer, is called _tigritiya_, and is a supposed\npossession by the devil in which the victim, who is generally a woman,\nbelieves that she has been transformed into an animal. Whatever the\npatient demands must be procured, for else she becomes sulky and,\ncovering up her head, remains for days without eating or speaking.\nSince the symptoms always include the wasting away of the attacked\nperson, this state is very dangerous.\n\nOrnaments of all kinds have to be borrowed in answer to her lightest\nwhim. She asks for the lion's skin worn by a warrior, his silver\nornaments, or other valuable articles difficult to procure. In some\ncases music is used as a means of charming away the _tigritiya_. Drums\nand other instruments strike up and the patient moves her body in time\nto the music and gradually increases her energy until the pace is\nfurious and her motions so violent that it seems likely she will\ndislocate her limbs, if not her neck. Having lain on a bed of\nsickness, reduced to a mere bag of bones, such fatiguing exercises\nappear uncanny, but it is on this dancing and on her incantations that\nthe ejection of the evil spirit depends.\n\nSome of the dances imitate the antics of bush-hogs and other animals\ndesirous of fun rather than of injury to human beings. In one of the\nAcawoio dances, each dancer has a kind of trumpet to which a rudely\ncarved figure of some animal or reptile is fixed, and he impersonates\nthis animal for the time being.[17]\n\nMusical instruments used in the dances are frequently made of animal\nskins, and the Indians attribute special virtues to the wolf-skin.\n\nIt is said that a tom-tom or drum made of this animal's skin can\nsilence any similar instrument made of sheep's skin from which no man\ncan emit a sound while the wolf-skin vibrates.\n\nReal animals often play a part in the ceremonial, especially snakes in\nthe serpent dances and sacred animals in such dances as are dedicated\nto their worship.\n\nIn China a big dog is dressed up like a man and is carried round in a\npalanquin to break up a drought.\n\nMasks and animal skins worn at dances are, of course, not confined to\nthe use of primitive races, but have been employed since ancient days\nin every kind of masque, dance, and pantomime. Much might be written\non their symbolic meaning, and attention may be drawn to the special\ninstance of the _festa asinaria_ of medi\u00e6val days at which dancers\nwore the heads of asses.\n\nBesides the masks and animal skins, ordinary clothing was often made\nto represent special animals. For instance, at Athens, Artemis was\nworshipped in ceremonies at which young maidens attired in saffron\ngowns danced a particular movement and were called \"bears.\"\n\nThe Royal family of Dahomey worship the leopard, and some of the\nking's wives are distinguished by the title of \"leopard wives\" and\nwear striped cloths to resemble the animal.\n\nMany savages paint a rude picture of the animal they represent upon\nthe clothes worn, and this is a special feature of some of the\nextraordinary snake dancers, especially amongst the Moquis.\n\nThese dances as well as those of the Hopis are expressions of clan\ntotemism rather than of snake worship. Several figures in the Maya\ncodices represent human beings, evidently personifying deities and\nwearing the symbolic masks of animal gods. One of the human figures in\nthe Codex Cortesianus wears the mask of a snake. The Hopi usually\ncarries only the head of the animal personified, but the Mexican dresses\nin the skin. In some examples the head-dress is most elaborate, the head\nbeing painted green, with open mouth and red lips dotted with black, two\npendant white, tooth-shaped projections hanging from the upper jaw. From\nthe mouth a red tongue lolls. The eye is oval, with curved lines drawn\nupon the pupil, and the whole is capped by a crescentic figure towering\nabove the head. Three triangular-shaped plumes extend from the cap, and\nover the nose a red-coloured flap hangs. Though usually green, the heads\nare sometimes painted white or brown, but none is red or yellow. In the\nHopi folk-tales it is said that the waters of the world come from the\nbreasts of the great snake, and sometimes a female figure, bearing a\nsnake as a head-dress, is symbolised with water flowing from her\nbreasts. Another symbolic figure has a snake's body with curious\nmarkings and a head practically drawn in identical lines with that of a\nhuman being. No doubt this represents a man transformed into, or\npersonifying, a snake. At any rate, he wears the mask and represents the\nfeathered snake ceremonially.\n\nA number of animals are represented in Tusayan ceremonials and are then\ncalled _Katcinas_, which means the supernatural being personified, as\nwell as the dance or act of personification. Besides the coyote, the\nwolf, the cougar, the bear, the antelope, and the badger, which figure\nlargely among the supernatural beings found in the Sia ritual, the hawk,\nthe man eagle, the bee, butterfly, mountain sheep, and owl all play an\nimportant part in Tusayan ceremonial. No women wear _Katcina_ masks in a\nHopi ceremony, the female _Katcinas_ being invariably represented by\nmen. The masked dances amongst the Pueblos, in which animal\npersonifications take place and masks are worn, are called _Katcina_\ndances. They take place between January and August.[18]\n\nThe following strange ceremony is practised by Mexicans and is not\nunlike the Hopi snake dance. It is celebrated once in every eight\nyears about October or November.\n\nAfter fasting for some days, says one who has seen the dance, the\nnatives disguised themselves in all manner of animal and bird dresses,\nand came up dancing to the chosen spot where the rain-god had been\nplaced before a pool of water in which live snakes and frogs were\nswimming. The Macateca, which may be rendered \"those from Deerland,\"\nthen seized upon the wriggling reptiles with the mouth, never touching\nthem with the hand, and attempted to swallow them alive, dancing all\nthe time. He who managed to swallow the first snake cried out, \"papa,\npapa\" and danced round about the temple. After two days of these\nextraordinary exertions a procession was formed and all marched slowly\nfour times round the temple. Then came a feast of fruit and pastry\nwhich had been placed ready in baskets for the purpose, and the\nceremonial was ended. The old men and women present, knowing that\nthere would be no repetition of the dance for eight years, wept\nbitterly at the close of the performance.\n\nIn a festival in vogue among the Cholutecas, a slave of good figure,\nand no personal blemish, is dressed for forty days in the same animal\nskin and mask which represent the special god to be personified.\n\nThe dresses of the Moquis during their serpent dances are fashioned of\npainted cotton kilts, of a reddish-yellow colour, decorated with narrow\nbands of yellow and green, and bordered by a narrow black stripe. At\nthe bottom is a fringe of small bells of lead or tin. A snake is painted\nin the folds of the kilt, covered with white spots and bordered by\nnarrow white lines. The arms and legs of the dancers are naked, but\ndangling to their heels behind they wear skins of the fox or coyote.\n\nMarching solemnly round a sacred stone, they begin by shaking rattles\nand waving snake-wands to which eagle feathers are attached. After\nsome chanting, a number of women, dressed in white and red mantles,\ncome forward and scatter corn-meal from baskets with which they are\nprovided. Presently the head priest, followed by a number of male\nperformers, marching two and two, come forward towards the sacred\nrock, carrying live snakes in their mouths and hands. Some of the\nIndians tickle the heads, necks, and jaws of the wriggling serpents to\ndistract their attention from those who are grasping their bodies\nfirmly between their teeth.\n\nWhen the snake-carriers reach the further end of the space cleared for\nthe dance they spit the snakes out upon the ground and, facing the\nsacred rock, stamp the left foot twice, giving forth strange sounds,\nhalf grunt, half wail.\n\nFor nearly an hour this mad dance of wriggling snakes, rushing\nfigures, and clouds of whirling corn-meal continues and then the\nsnakes are released, the symbolic dance is over and the performers\nresume their ordinary clothes and, presumably, their natural human\nproclivities. The origin of this dance lies in the belief that the\nMoquis are descended from snakes and is told thus by the natives:--\n\n\"Many years ago the Moquis used to live on the other side of a high\nmountain beyond the San Juan River in Colorado. The chief thought he\nwould take a trip down the big river, so he made himself a boat of a\nhollow cottonwood log, took some provisions and started down. The\nstream carried him to the sea-shore, where he found some shells. When\nhe arrived on the beach he saw a number of houses on the cliff in\nwhich lived many men and women who had white under their eyes, and\nbelow that a white mark on their cheeks. That night he took one of the\nwomen as his wife. Shortly after his return the woman gave birth to\nsnakes, and this was the origin of the snake family or clan which\nmanages the dance. When she gave birth to these snakes they bit a\nnumber of the children of the Moquis. The Moquis then moved in a body\nto their present villages and they have this dance to conciliate the\nsnakes so they won't bite their children.\"[19]\n\nSnake worship and ancestor or spirit worship seems here combined in\nthe same rite, and the Moquis evidently believe in the transmigration\nof souls. The dancers belong to a Secret Society, a sort of Serpent\nBrotherhood.\n\nThe peculiar qualities said to distinguish departed relatives,\nreappearing in the form of snakes, from the ordinary reptiles are that\nthey will frequent the huts, never eat mice and show no fear of man.\n\"Sometimes,\" says Sir John Lubbock in his \"Origin of Civilisation,\"[20]\n\"a snake is recognised as the representative of a given man by some\npeculiar mark or scar, the absence of an eye, or some similar point of\nresemblance.\"\n\nThe noiseless movement and the rapid action of the serpent, combined\nwith its fascinating gaze and magnetic power, no doubt lead savages to\nview it as a possessor of wisdom and embodiment of spirits.\n\nThe Kobena and other Indians of Brazil perform masked dances in honour\nof their dead. They have a butterfly dance in which two performers\nrepresent large blue butterflies fluttering in the sunshine. Darting\nswallows are also mimicked by masked dancers, as well as vultures,\nowls, fish, jaguars, and, curiously enough, the sloth, in which dance\na man hangs for a long time to the bough of a tree or the cross-beam\nof a hut. Another strange sight is the sandfly dance, in which a swarm\nof masked men make the air dark with their antics.\n\nAll these performances are based on certain magical formul\u00e6. A\nmysterious force permeates the dancer, beneath his mask, and for the\ntime being he has become a mighty animal demon or spirit, capable of\nunlimited powers.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[16] See E. W. Nelson's \"The Eskimo about Bering Strait,\" in\n\"Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,\" 1899,\nPart II, p. 394 _et seq._\n\n[17] Brett, W. H., \"The Indian Tribes of Guiana,\" 1868, pp. 374-5.\n\n[18] _See_ Fewkes, J. W., \"Comparison of Sia and Tusayan Snake\nCeremonials\" and other tracts.\n\n[19] Bourke, J. G., \"The Snake-Dance of the Moquis of Arizona,\" 1884,\np. 177.\n\n[20] p. 180.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VI\n\n                      MAN-ANIMAL AND ANIMAL-MAN\n\n\nIn remote ages man and animal were closely bound by a thousand ties.\nUnder barbaric conditions human beings and animals lived, as it were,\nin touch with one another, they were next-door neighbours in the\nprimeval forests, their necessities were the same to a large extent\nand their tastes did not widely differ. Both were actuated by the need\nof shelter, food, and protection against enemies. Is it surprising,\nthen, that primitive man was closely allied to his less intelligent\nbrothers, and that he believed them to be endowed with feelings and\ndesires akin to his own?\n\nOwing to his powers of mental growth, however, it was not long before\nman's instincts developed above those of the beasts. He was still, in\nreality, a savage animal, but he had more skill and ingenuity in the\nart of killing, as soon as he began to realise that a stick, a stone,\nor other weapons could be used to beat out the life of other animals.\n\nGradually he found out that he possessed higher qualities on the\nmental plane, and that he had the power of conscious spiritual\ndevelopment which was apparently denied to brute creatures.\n\nMany writers have endeavoured to formulate the great kinship which\nexists amongst all created beings in this particular aspect of the\nevolution of soul.\n\n\"There is not any matter, nor any spirit, nor any creature, but it is\ncapable of a unity of some kind with other creatures,\" writes\nRuskin;[21] \"and in that unity is its perfection and theirs, and a\npleasure also for the beholding of all other creatures that can\nbehold. So the unity of spirits is partly in their sympathy and partly\nin their giving and taking, and always in their love; and these are\ntheir delight and their strength; for their strength is their\nco-working and army fellowship, and their delight is in their giving\nand receiving of alternate and perpetual good; their inseparable\ndependancy on each other's being, and their essential and perfect\ndepending on their Creator's.\"\n\n\"Let us label beings by what they are,\" says a more modern writer,[22]\n\"by the souls that are in them and the deeds they do--not by their\ncolour, which is pigment, nor by their composition, which is clay. There\nare philanthropists in feathers and patricians in fur, just as there are\ncannibals in the pulpit and saurians among the money-changers.\"\n\nThe great seer, Prentice Mulford, believed that the spirit of an animal\ncould actually be re-embodied in a man or woman, and he thought that its\nprominent characteristics would appear in that man or woman. The mother\nmight attract to her the spirit of some more intelligent or highly\ndeveloped savage animal. That spirit would then lose its identity as a\nquadruped and reappear in the body of the new-born child.\n\n\"Remember,\" he writes, \"that as to size and shape the spirit of a\nhorse need not be like the horse materialised in flesh and blood.\nSpirit takes hold of a mass of matter and holds that matter in\naccordance with its ruling desire and the amount of its intelligence.\nAn anaconda is but the faint spark of intelligence only awakened into\ndesire to swallow and digest. Such low forms of life as the reptile or\nfish have not even awakened into affection for their young. The\nreptile, as to spirit or intellect, is but a remove from the\nvegetable. Trees have life of their own; they are gregarious, and grow\nin communities. The spirit of the old tree reanimates the new one.\nThere is in the vegetable kingdom the unconscious desire for\nrefinement, for better forms of life. For this reason is the entire\nvegetable kingdom of a finer type than ages ago, when the world's\ntrees and plants, though immense in size, were coarse in fibre and in\ncorrespondence with the animal life about them.\"\n\nThe true evolution, then, is that of spirit, taking on itself through\nsuccessive ages many re-embodiments and adding to itself some new\nquality with each re-embodiment.\n\nThe survival of the fittest implies that the best qualities so gathered\ndo survive. The lower, coarse and more savage are gradually sloughed\noff. The best qualities in all animal forms of life eventually are\ngathered in a man. He has so gained or absorbed into himself courage\nfrom the lion, cunning from the fox, rapaciousness from vulture and\neagle. You often see the eagle or vulture beak on one person's face, the\nbulldog on that of another, the wolf, the fox, and so on. Faces hang out\nno false sign of the character of the spirit. Man, unconsciously\nrecognising this, uses the terms \"foxy,\" \"wolfish,\" \"snaky,\" and even\n\"hoggish,\" in describing the character of certain individuals.[23]\n\nMost people are able to find physical similarities between human beings\nand animals. The equine man who moves his ears is not rarely to be met\nwith. The person who uncovers his canine teeth in a snarl is an even\nmore common type. Short women who flap their arms and waddle in the\nstyle of penguins; tall ones who have the graceful sliding movement of\nthe giraffe; persons of either sex who jerk along with hops like\nfeathered creatures on a lawn are all to be met with any day.\n\nMrs. Heron stalks in with solemnity and stateliness, and cranes her\nneck to find something she has mislaid. She has a prying face, sharp\nnose, and small projecting chin.\n\nLion faces, tiger faces, cat faces, fox faces, fish faces, bird faces,\nsheep faces, and rat faces meet us at every turn.\n\nSheep men are mild in appearance, beaming with amiability,\ntruthfulness, and freedom from cant. Ox faces are more robust, with\nwider and broader features, and a certain flatness of face. People of\nthis appearance have good dispositions, good appetite, are stubborn in\nbargains perhaps, but reliable and trustworthy.\n\nHercules was depicted with a powerful neck, a small head, short and\ncurly hair, which bore a striking resemblance to a vigorous and\nuntamable bull, whilst Herod was like a fox, with thin face, cunning\neye, restless head and neck, artful and deceptive with highly strung\nnerves.\n\nThe weasel man is thin, tall, sharp-eyed, always in a hurry, and the\nnose that augurs badly is that which is strikingly similar to the beak\nof a parrot. The parrot-man is filled with a sense of his own\nimportance and is an endless prattler. Those who have a high and\nnarrow forehead and a nose that terminates like the beak of a crow are\nsure to be subject to vile passions.\n\nBeaumarchais said wittily, \"Boire sans soif et faire l'amour en tout\ntemps, c'est ce que distingue l'homme de la b\u00eate.\"\n\nArtists, too, have attempted to depict the animal spirit that dwells\nin human beings. Sir Joshua Reynolds painted two portraits of young\ngirls, one holding a cage with a mouse in it, the other a kitten. The\nformer is called Muscipula,[24] the latter Felina, and it may be\nsurmised that he intended to show in their features the imitative\nsympathy young children have with young animals, for Muscipula's\nexpression is that of the mouse.\n\nCharles Le Brun, the artist, worked out the same idea in a less\nsymbolic and more practical manner, from the physiognomical aspect, in\nhis series of drawings illustrative of the relation between human\nphysiognomy and brute creation which depict man's features\ntransformed in many animal countenances.\n\n\"Man is a talkative and religious ape,\" says J. Howard Moore in \"The\nUniversal Kinship,\"[25] and goes on to point out that while man has\nexpressed his opinion about animals constantly, he has never had the\nopportunity of hearing what animals have to say about human beings.\nAlthough we know what a lion looks like when painted by a man, \"human\neyes have never yet been illumined by the sardonic lineaments of a man\npainted by a lion.\"[26]\n\nEmerson expressed something of the same idea when confronting the\ninmates of a stable or menagerie. \"What compassion,\" he cries, \"do\nthese imprisoning forms awaken! You may sometimes catch the glance of\na dog which lays a kind of claim to sympathy and brotherhood. What!\nsomewhat of me down there? Does he know it? Can he, too, as I, go out\nof himself, see himself, perceive relations? We fear lest the poor\nbrute should gain one dreadful glimpse of his condition, should learn\nin some moment the tough limitation of this fettering organisation. It\nwas in this glance that Ovid got the hint of his metamorphosis;\nCalidasa of his transmigration of souls.\n\n\"For these fables are our own thoughts carried out. What keeps these\nwild tales in circulation for thousands of years? What but the wild fact\nto which they suggest some approximation of theory! Nor is the fact\nquite solitary, for in varieties of our own species where organisation\nseems to predominate over the genius of man, in Kalmuck or Malay or\nFlathead Indian, we are sometimes pained by the same feeling; and\nsometimes, too, the sharp-witted prosperous white man awakens it. In a\nmixed assembly we have chanced to see not only a glance at Abdiel so\ngrand and keen, but also in other faces the features of the mink, of the\nbull, of the rat, and the barn-door fowl.\"[27]\n\nThe great Chinese Epic \"A Journey to Heaven,\" depicts the gradual\nevolution of the beast into man and the transformation of character from\nunpromising materials into saints worthy of heaven. The monkey's\nambition, the pig's love of ease and the horse's one talent of bearing\nburdens are all made to play their part in working out the salvation of\nman. One of the chief characters in the story is Sun Wu King, who\npersonates the irrepressible human mind, an inventive genius full of\nresource who begins with monkey inquisitiveness to discover the reasons\nof things and presently develops into a man of science and an inventor.\n\nThe pig impersonates man's lower nature and demons represent the untamed\npassions of man. One demon having once been a clever, handsome man,\nbecame extremely ugly with a snout like a pig and long flapping ears. He\ntells his story thus: \"Since I was born I have been stupid and loved\nease night and day. I received the pill of nine Transformations and\nstudied all the arts by which man could be united to the powers above\nand below, till at last I was able to fly with a light but strong body\nand was a guest in the celestial Court.\" Thence he was thrown out for\nmisdemeanours and made to take the shape of a pig, but gradually he was\nweaned to better things and lost his animal propensities.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[21] Ruskin, \"Frondes Agrestes,\" 1899, pp. 146-9.\n\n[22] Moore, T. H., \"The Universal Kinship,\" 1906, pp. 233-4.\n\n[23] Mulford, Prentice, \"The Gift of the Spirit,\" 1904. \"Re-embodiment\nUniversal in Nature,\" pp. 170-1.\n\n[24] The original painting is at Holland House.\n\n[25] 1906, p. 17.\n\n[26] _Ibid._, p. 233.\n\n[27] Emerson, \"Works,\" 1903, Vol. IV. \"Demonology,\" pp. 12-13.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VII\n\n                         SCAPEGOAT AND SAINT\n\n\nAccording to the tradition of the scapegoat, the evil or lower side of\nman can be transferred from him to an animal. In this process of\nremoving disease or sin, the bad spirit is expelled from the human\nbeing and enters the form of some beast. In India the scape-animal may\nbe a pig, buffalo, a goat or a black cock.\n\nThe Jews had the custom of bringing a goat to the door of the Tabernacle\nand the high priest laid the sins of the people upon the animal, sending\nit thereafter away with its burden into the wilderness.\n\nIn Thibet a human scapegoat, dressed in goat's skin, is kicked out of\nthe community as soon as the people have confessed their sins, and\nwealthy Moors keep a wild boar in their stables as a vehicle for the\nevil spirits to enter into which might otherwise injure their horses.\n\nThe Kaffirs sometimes take a goat in the presence of a sick man and\nconfess sins over him. Then a few drops of the patient's blood are\nallowed to fall on the animal's head and the sickness is thought to be\ntransferred, the animal being turned loose over the veld. The\nmedicine-men of the Baganda races perform a similar operation, taking\nhold of the animal and tying upon it some herbs they have passed over\nthe patient's body. Then the animal is driven away to waste land, and\nthe sick man is supposed to recover. The Baganda people transmit the\nsins of a dead man to a calf, the animal being led three times round\nthe bier and the hand of the dead man being placed on its head, by\nwhich act the calf takes upon itself the evil done by the deceased.\nThen the scapegoat is driven on to waste land, where it cannot\ncontaminate anybody.\n\nThus Christ, in the country of the Gadarenes, permitted devils to use\nswine as scapegoats when driving them out of two men possessed. The\nunclean spirits besought the favour of Him, and the whole herd of\nswine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in\nthe waters.\n\nSt. Regulus, archbishop of Arles and Senlis, was once confronted by a\nman possessed of a devil. The devil besought him, saying, \"If you cast\nme out suffer me to enter into the body of this ass,\" and the bishop\nsaid, \"Go!\" When the devil was about to enter into the ass, the\nanimal, aware of his intention, made the sign of the cross on the\nground with his fore-foot and the devil found it impossible to obtain\nhis body and had to pass on, leaving the ass unmolested.\n\nIn another scapegoat story the devil leaves the possessed man in the\nform of two worms:\n\nJean de la Roque was a young nobleman of vicious habits. St. Francis of\nPaula hearing of the youth's evil ways sent a messenger to arrest him\nand had him locked up in a monastery. Roque was furious at this manner\nof tampering with his liberty and, vowing vengeance on those who\ndetained him, beat on the door of his cell and uttered loud cries. At\nlast, exhausted by passion, he lay down on the floor and slept. Then St.\nFrancis entered the cell and, waking the young sinner, said to him\ncoldly, \"How now, friend, what thinkest thou? Pull from thine ear that\nwhich torments thee so.\" The young man, still half asleep, put his hand\nto his right ear and drew forth a hideous hairy worm of monstrous size.\nThen putting his hand to his left ear he drew forth another similar\nworm. Thus the devil by which he had been possessed came forth in the\nform of two worms, and the young man, returning to himself, threw\nhimself at the saint's feet and prayed for pardon. He was formally\nadmitted to the monastery and remained there as a monk until 1520.\n\nBirds, too, have been employed to carry away any evil,--from leprosy\nto freckles.\n\nThe idea of the scapegoat is closely bound up with, and typifies the\nsubstitution of the Christ for sinners and His eternal removal of\ntheir transgressions.\n\nIn the legends of the saints, also, animals take upon themselves the\nburden of sins committed and no human beings are more closely related to\nthe brute creation than the holy men, who frequently treated them as\nthough they were brothers. St. Francis of Assisi spoke to birds and\nanimals in the same tone that he used to his friends, and he often went\ninto solitudes and preached to the cattle of the field, the fishes of\nthe sea, the birds of the air, and the beasts of the forest; dumb\ncreatures which listened attentively to the words of wisdom which fell\nfrom his lips. One day when he was preaching at Alviano, the swallows\nwere twittering so loudly that he grew annoyed. Breaking off suddenly in\nhis discourse, he said, \"My sisters, the swallows, please keep peace\nwhile I am preaching.\" After that they disturbed him no more.\n\nThere are many stories in which saints are assisted in their work by\nanimals. St. Gentius made a wolf which had eaten one of his oxen help\nhim with the ploughing. St. Maidoc, having neither ox, horse nor ass,\nordered a sea-cow to come from the ocean, which she did and, being\nharnessed to the plough, she furrowed his fields. When St. Malo\nsettled down near Saintes, the neighbours made him a present of an\nass, which was one day killed by a wolf. St. Malo said to the wild\nbeast, \"Since you have killed my ass you must serve me instead.\" The\nwolf performed his duties admirably for many years without a grumble.\nA similar story is told about St. Santes of Urbino.\n\nWhen St. Ronan was accused of being a vampire, Grallo, King of\nQuimper, horrified to hear of such a monster, set dogs upon him to\nprove the truth of the statement. As the savage animals rushed towards\nhim the saint raised his right hand, made the sign of the cross, and\nsaid, \"Stop! in the name of the Lord.\" The animals became gentle at\nonce and fawned on the saint.\n\nThere are legends of the souls of saints being borne away by animals,\nof the souls of saints taking flight in the shape of birds, of saints\nchanging from one animal form to another, of saints being approached\nby the devil in the form of animals, and of saints being worshipped in\nanimal shape.\n\nAt the moment of the death of St. Vincent Ferrer, the windows of his\nbedchamber opened of their own accord and a number of winged creatures\nno larger than butterflies, white in colour and very beautiful, flew\ninto the house. As the saint drew his last breath these winged\ncreatures disappeared suddenly, leaving a delightful perfume behind\nthem. Everyone was convinced that the butterflies were angels who had\ncome to carry away the pure soul of the saint to paradise.\n\nThe same saint was said to be able to assume wings, whenever he\nwished, and, in the form of a bird-angel, to fly through the air in\nthe hope of consoling and comforting anyone who was in trouble and\nrequired his assistance.\n\nSt. Benedict (A.D. 480-543) was tempted by the devil in the form of a\nblackbird. The saint had retired to a cavern in Subiaco, about fifty\nmiles west of Rome, and the evil one resolved to do away with a holy\nman who might prove a great enemy to his kingdom upon earth. Taking\nthe form of a bird, he hovered around the hermit's dwelling-place,\nsometimes approaching so close that the saint had only to put out his\nhand to touch the bird. Becoming suspicious of the bird's motives,\nhowever, St. Benedict made the sign of the cross and the evil spirit\nvanished instantly.\n\nSt. Peter of Verona was also set upon by the devil, this time in the\nshape of a horse. The holy man attracted large crowds to his church,\nand the devil, growing jealous, rushed into the midst of the\ncongregation in the form of a black horse, stamping upon many present\nand causing a panic of fear among the rest. The saint made the sign of\nthe cross and the phantom vanished in a cloud of smoke.\n\nSometimes the devil appears to saints in the form of a bull, and can\nwork serious bodily harm, as in the case of St. Catherine of Sweden,\ndaughter of prince Ulpho, who was brought up in the convent of\nRisburgh. The abbess was at matins one morning and the devil, assuming\nthe form of a bull, tossed the child out of its cradle and left her\nhalf-dead in the middle of the floor. The abbess found her in this\ncondition on her return, and the bull, addressing the holy woman,\ncried, \"I should certainly have finished my work if God had permitted\nit,\" and then he vanished. The devil, according to tradition, has\noften been seen in the form of a dog,[28] and some of the saints were\nannoyed by such phantoms.\n\nSimon Magus, the sorcerer, sent unto Peter the Apostle certain devils\nin the likeness of dogs to devour him. St. Peter, \"not looking for\nsuch currish guests, consecrates certain morsels of bread and throws\nthem to the dog-devils, and by the power of that bread they are all\nput to flight.\"[29]\n\nWhen St. Stanislaus Kostka was preparing for admission into the society\nof Jesus he was taken ill and the devil appeared to him in the guise of\na great black dog. The demon took the sick man three times by the throat\nand tried to throttle him, but Stanislaus after some difficulty\nsucceeded in driving him away by making the sign of the cross.\n\nDevils in the guise of rooks or crows annoyed St. Agnes of Mount\nPulciano by attacking her with beaks, claws, and wings. The young girl\nwith great presence of mind invoked the name of the Saviour and the\nwhole flock flew off.\n\nSt. Pascal Baylon, who lived from 1540-1592, was assailed by devils in\nthe guise of various animals. Sometimes they rushed upon him in the form\nof lions and tigers seeking to devour him. As he withstood their attacks\nwith wonderful courage they tried to get at him in another way, and\noffered to impress upon his body the marks of divine wounds, making\ncrosses of blood on various parts of his body. Then Pascal, horrified at\nthis form of deception, cried out to the evil one, \"You ravening wolf,\nhow dare you take upon yourself the clothing of a lamb? Away with you!\"\nThis speech acted as an exorcism, and the devil vanished.\n\nThe evil one has often been likened to a ravening wolf, which has led\nto the symbolic form of transformation from a wolf to a lamb being\nfound in many legends--a mental change as extreme in its effects as\nany physical change could be. Andrew Corcini, afterwards Bishop of\nFiesole, was converted in this figurative sense from a wolf into a\nlamb. He was the son of wealthy parents in Florence, and, shortly\nafter his birth, in 1302, his mother dreamt that she had brought forth\na wolf and that her wolfish offspring ran into a church and became\ntransformed into a lamb. As the boy grew, his wolfish character was\nclearly apparent; he was cruel, selfish, and untamable. One day his\nmother said to him, \"Andrew, you are in very truth the child of my\ndream,\" and then she told him what she thought of him. He was greatly\nstruck by her story and spent the night in solitude and prayer. The\nnext day he went to the church of the Carmelites and, prostrating\nhimself before the image of the Virgin, he said, \"Glorious Virgin, see\nthe wolf full of iniquity at thy feet. Thy offspring, oh mother, was a\nLamb without blemish. Make me also a lamb of God, and receive me into\nthe fold.\" For three hours he prayed without ceasing, and then the\nprior found him and acceded to his request to be taken into the\nCarmelite order, when he became a changed man.[30] He died in 1373.\n\nSt. William of Acquitaine was also \"converted from a wolf to a lamb\"\n(A.D. 1157). He was Count of Poitou and Duke of Guyenne, a giant in\nstature and a wild beast in disposition. Through the holy offices of\nSt. Bernard he became changed, and calling himself \"the chief of\nsinners\" repented of his evil ways in sackcloth and ashes.[31]\n\nThese cases of spiritual transformation from animal-man to man-animal,\nthough interesting psychologically, do not awaken the intense\ncuriosity which material metamorphosis arouses, and which centres\nespecially in the subject of the wer-wolf.\n\nBodin[32] accumulated a large amount of evidence in favour of actual\ntransformation. He quotes one Pierre Mamor, who, whilst in Savoy,\ndeposed to having seen a man change into a wolf and described how he\ndid it. Henry of Cologne, author of a treatise, \"de Lamys,\" vouched\nfor the truth of similar statements. Ulrich le Meusnier, who dedicated\na treatise to the Emperor Sigismund, gave numerous examples of the\nveritability of transformation, and swore to having seen a wer-wolf at\nConstance, who was accused of and executed for this crime. Germany,\nGreece, and Asia were much infested by these pests. In 1542, under the\nrule of Sultan Suleiman, a number of wer-wolves were found at\nConstantinople. The Emperor called out the guard and, marching forth\nat its head, freed the city of one hundred and fifty of these terrors\nin full view of the people.\n\nParacelsus, one of the greatest occultists the world has known, was\npositive that men could change into animals. Gaspar Peucerus, who had\nlong been sceptical and thought such ideas were a fable, was\nconstrained to believe there was truth in certain stories brought to\nhim by merchants trading in Livonia, who had seen victims of\nlycanthropia executed for their misdeeds.\n\nIn the history of Johannus Trithemius, it may be read that in the year\n970 there was a Jew called Baian, son of Simeon, who was not only able\nto turn into a wolf at pleasure, but could also render himself\ninvulnerable, and Sigebertus, the historian, wrote that one of the Kings\nof Bulgaria was able to transform himself into all kinds of animals.\n\nBoguet, if anything, erred on the side of credulity. He asserted that in\n1148 a huge man-wolf was seen at Geneva, which killed thirty people.[33]\n\nIn July, 1603, in the district of Douvres and Jeurre a great storm of\nhail fell and damaged all the fruit trees, and three mysterious wolves\nwere seen. They had no tails, and they passed harmlessly through a\nherd of cows and goats, touching none of them except one kid, which\none of the wolves carried to a distance without in any way injuring\nit. This unnatural conduct made it fairly evident that these were not\nreal wolves, but sorcerers who had brought about the hail-storm and\nwished to visit the scene of the disaster. It was said that the\nbiggest wolf that led the pack must be the evil one himself.\n\nThe two stories which follow show that transformation was sometimes\nregarded as an instrument of divine punishment for sins committed.\n\nAlbertus Pericofcius in Muscovy treated his subjects with gross\ncruelty, and extorted herds and flocks from them. One night he was\naway from home and all his cattle were killed. When informed of his\nloss he swore a round oath, saying, \"Let him who has slain, eat; if\nthe Lord chooses, let him devour me as well.\"\n\nAt his words some drops of blood fell to the ground, he was\ntransformed into a wild dog, and rushing upon his dead cattle began to\ndevour the carcases.\n\nAnother gentleman in the vicinity of Prague who had robbed his tenants\nright and left took the last cow from a widow who had five children\nto support. As a judgment he lost all his cattle, at which misfortune\nhe broke into horrible curses. He was there and then transformed into\na dog which had a human head.\n\nThese incidents, however, throw no light on the real nature of the\nwer-wolf or wer-dog, which remains as much a mystery as that of the\nvampire. In some points a similarity may be said to exist between\nthem, both being destructive forces, of an evil and self-seeking\ncharacter. Those afflicted become subject to trance-like states and\nhysterical phenomena.\n\nA certain kind of vampire (which is really a bloodsucking ghost) is\nsaid to have the power of assuming animal shape, and Bulgarian\nvampires appear to be especially gifted with this peculiarity.\n\nIt is believed in a certain district of Germany that unless money is\nplaced in the mouth of a corpse at the time of burial, or if the dead\nman's name is not cut from his shirt, he will become a vampire and his\nghost will issue from his grave in the form of a pig.\n\nA gruesome story is told of a witch who chose to wander in animal\nshape. She died in 1345 and her body was cast rudely into a ditch, but\ninstead of resting quietly she roamed at night in the form of various\nunclean beasts, leaving havoc and death in her tracks. On exhumation\nshe was found to be a vampire, and a stake was driven through her\nbreast, which, however, failed to have the desired effect. She still\nprowled around in the dark, using the stake as a weapon with which to\nslay her victims, nor did she cease her nefarious deeds until her body\nhad been reduced to ashes.\n\nCamden says that jilted maidens or deserted wives used to bribe witches\nto get their faithless men consigned to prison for lycanthropy, the\nusual term being seven years, but, judging from the trials which are on\nrecord, death by burning was more frequently resorted to.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[28] _See_ Chapter XXI on Animal Ghosts.\n\n[29] Harsnet, Samuel, \"Popish Impostures,\" 1603, pp. 97, 98.\n\n[30] Surius, \"Lives of the Saints.\"\n\n[31] Thibault, \"Life of Guillaume of Acquitaine.\"\n\n[32] \"De la D\u00e9monomanie des Sorciers,\" 1593, Book II, pp. 195-6.\n\n[33] \"Discours des Sorciers,\" 1610.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VIII\n\n                         THE WER-WOLF TRIALS\n\n\nIn Poitou the peasants have a curious expression, \"courir la\ngalipote,\" which means to turn into a wer-wolf or other human-animal\nby night and chase prey through the woods. The _galipote_ is the\nfamiliar or imp which the sorcerer has the power to send forth.\n\nIn the dark ages sorcerers capable of this accomplishment were dealt\nwith according to the law, and hundreds were sent to trial for\npractising black arts, being condemned, in most instances, to be burnt\nalive or broken on the wheel. One of the most notorious historical\ncases was that of Pierre Bourgot, who served the devil for two years\nand was tried by the Inquisitor-General Boin.\n\nJohannus Wierius[34] gives in full the confession of Bourgot,\notherwise called Great Peter, and of Michael Verding. The prisoners,\nwho were accused of wicked practices in December, 1521, believed they\nhad been transformed into wolves.\n\nAbout nineteen years before Pierre's arrest at Pouligny a dreadful\nstorm occurred which scattered the flock of sheep of which he was\nshepherd, and while he went far afield to search for them he met three\nblack horsemen, one of whom said to him, \"Where are you going, my\nfriend? You appear to be in trouble.\"\n\nPierre told him that he was seeking his sheep, and the horseman bade\nhim take courage, saying that if he would only have faith, his master\nwould protect the straying sheep and see that no harm came to them.\n\nPierre thanked him and promised to meet him again in the same place a\nfew days later. Soon afterwards he found the stray sheep.\n\nThe black horseman, at their second meeting, told Pierre that he served\nthe devil, and Pierre agreed to do likewise if he promised him\nprotection for his flock. Then the devil's servant made him renounce\nGod, the Virgin Mary, and all the saints of Paradise, his baptism and\nthe tenets of Christianity. Pierre swore that he would do so, and kissed\nthe horseman's left hand, which was as black as ink and felt stone-cold.\nThen he knelt down and took an oath of allegiance to the devil, and the\nhorseman forbade him thenceforth to repeat the Apostles' creed.\n\nFor two years Pierre remained in the service of the evil one, and\nduring that time he never entered a church until mass was over, or at\nleast until after the holy water had been sprinkled.\n\nMeanwhile his flock was kept in perfect safety, and this sense of\nsecurity made him so indifferent about the devil that he began to go\nto church again and to say the creed. This went on for eight or nine\nyears, when he was told by one Michael Verding that he must once more\nrender obedience to the evil one, his master. In return for his homage\nPierre was told that he would receive a sum of money.\n\nMichael led him one evening to a clearing in the woods at Chastel\nCharlon, where many strangers were dancing. Each performer held in his\nhand a green torch which emitted a blue flame. Michael told Pierre to\nbestir himself and that then he would receive payment, so Pierre threw\noff his clothes and Michael smeared his body with an ointment which he\ncarried. Pierre believed that he had been transformed into a wolf, and\nwas horrified to find that he had four paws and a thick pelt. He found\nhimself able to run with the speed of the wind. Michael had also made\nuse of the salve and had become equally agile. After an hour or two\nthey resumed human shape, their respective masters giving them\nanother salve for this purpose. After this experience Pierre\ncomplained that he felt utterly weary, and his master told him that\nwas of no consequence and that he would be speedily restored to his\nusual state of health.\n\nPierre was often transformed into a wer-wolf after this first attempt,\nand on one occasion he fell upon a boy of seven with the intention of\nkilling and eating him, but the child screamed so loudly that he beat a\nhasty retreat to the spot where his clothes lay in a heap, rubbed\nhimself hurriedly with the ointment and resumed human form to escape\ncapture. Another time Michael and he killed an old woman who was\ngathering peas, and one day whilst in the shape of wolves they devoured\nthe whole of a little girl except for one arm, and Michael said her\nflesh tasted excellent, although it apparently gave Pierre indigestion.\nThey confessed also to strangling a young woman, whose blood they drank.\n\nAmong other disgusting crimes, Pierre murdered a girl of eight in a\ngarden by cracking her neck between his jaws, and he killed a goat\nnear to the farm of one Master Pierre Lerugen, first by setting on it\nwith his teeth and then by gashing its throat with a knife. The latter\noperation leads to the belief that he had resumed his ordinary shape\nat the time.\n\nA peculiar point worth noticing about the case of Michael and Pierre\nwas that the former was able to transform himself at any moment with\nhis clothes on, while the latter had to strip and rub in ointment to\nachieve the same result. At the time of his confession Pierre declared\nthat he could not recollect where the wolf's fur went to when he\nbecame human again.\n\nHe also deposed that an ash-coloured powder was given to him, which he\nrubbed upon his arms and left hand and thus caused the death of every\nanimal he touched. Here there would seem to be some discrepancy, for\nhe declared that in many instances he strangled, bit, or wounded his\nvictims!\n\nGarinet[35] gives a good account of the important trial in 1573 of\nGilles Garnier, who was arrested for having devoured several children\nwhilst in the form of a wer-wolf.\n\nThe prisoner was accused of seizing a young girl aged ten or twelve in\na vineyard near D\u00f4le, of killing her and dragging her into a wood, and\nof tearing the flesh from her bones with his teeth and claws. He found\nthis food so palatable that he carried some of it away with him and\noffered to share it with his wife. A week after the feast of All\nSaints he captured another young girl near the village of La Poupp\u00e9,\nand was about to slay and devour her when someone hastened to her\nrescue and he took flight.\n\nA week later, being still in the form of a wolf, he had killed and\neaten a boy at a spot between Gredisans and Menot\u00e9, about a league\nfrom D\u00f4le. He was accused also of being in the shape of a man when he\ncaught another boy of twelve or thirteen years of age and carried him\ninto the wood to strangle him, and, \"in spite of the fact that it was\nFriday,\" he would have devoured his flesh had he not been interrupted\nby the approach of some strangers, who were too late, however, to save\nthe boy's life. Garnier, having admitted all the charges against him,\nthe judge pronounced the following sentence:--\n\n\"The condemned man is to be dragged to the place of execution and\nthere burnt alive and his body reduced to ashes.\"\n\nThe account of the trial, which took place on the 18th day of January,\n1573, was accompanied by a letter from Daniel d'Ange to the Dean of\nthe Church of Sens which contained the following passage:--\n\n\"Gilles Garnier, lycophile, as I may call him, lived the life of a\nhermit, but has since taken a wife, and having no means of support for\nhis family fell into the way, as is natural to defiant and desperate\npeople of rude habits, of wandering into the woods and wild places. In\nthis state he was met by a phantom in the shape of a man, who told\nhim that he could perform miracles, among other things declaring that\nhe would teach him how to change at will into a wolf, lion, or\nleopard, and because the wolf is more familiar in this country than\nthe other kinds of wild beasts he chose to disguise himself in that\nshape, which he did, using a salve with which he rubbed himself for\nthis purpose, as he has since confessed before dying, after\nrecognising the evil of his ways.\"[36]\n\nThe affair made such a stir in the neighbourhood, and the dread of\nwer-wolves had risen to such a pitch, that it was found necessary to\nask the help of the populace in suppressing the nuisance. A legal\ndecree was issued which empowered the people at D\u00f4le to \"assemble with\njavelins, pikes, arquebuses, and clubs to hunt and pursue the\nwer-wolf, and to take, bind, and kill it without incurring the usual\nfine or penalty for indulging in the chase without permission.\"\n\nBoguet is the authority who cites the following cases of\nlycanthropy:[37]\n\nA boy called Benedict, aged about fifteen, one day climbed a tree to\ngather some fruit, when he saw a wolf attacking his little sister, who\nwas playing at the foot of the tree.\n\nThe boy climbed down quickly, and the animal, which was tailless, let\ngo of the little girl and turned upon her brother, who defended\nhimself with a knife. According to the boy's account, the wolf tore\nthe knife out of his hand and struck at his throat. A neighbour ran to\nthe rescue and carried the boy home, where he died a few days after\nfrom the wound. Whilst he lay dying he declared that the wolf which\nhad injured him had fore-paws shaped like human hands, but that its\nhind feet were covered with fur.\n\nAfter inquiry it was proved that a young and demented girl called\nPerrenette Gandillon believed herself to be a wolf and had done this\nhorrible deed. She was caught by the populace and torn limb from limb.\nThis case occurred in the Jura mountains in 1598.\n\nSoon afterwards Perrenette's brother Pierre was accused of being a\nwer-wolf, and confessed that he had been to the witches' Sabbath in\nthis form. His son George had also been anointed with salve and had\nkilled goats whilst he was in animal shape. Antoinette, his sister,\nwas accused of sorcery and of intercourse with the devil, who appeared\nto her in the form of a black goat. Several members of the Gandillon\nfamily were arrested, and in prison Pierre and George conducted\nthemselves as though they were possessed, walking on all fours and\nhowling like wild beasts.\n\nNot long after the Gandillon family had been disposed of, one Jeanne\nPerrin gave evidence that she was walking near a wood with her friend\nClauda Gaillard, who disappeared suddenly behind a bush, and that the\nnext moment there came forth a tailless wolf which frightened her so\nmuch that she made the sign of the cross and ran away. She was sure that\nthe hind legs of the wolf were like human limbs. When Clauda saw her\nagain she assured Jeanne that the wolf had not meant to do her harm, and\nfrom this it was thought that Clauda had taken the shape of the wolf.\n\nOne of the best known of the wer-wolf trials concerns Jacques Rollet,\nthe man-wolf of Caude, who was accused of having devoured a little boy.\n\nHe was tried and condemned in Angers in 1598. Rollet came from the\nparish of Maumusson, near to Nantes, and he carried on his practices\nin a desolate spot near Caude, where some villagers one day found the\ncorpse of a boy of about fifteen, mangled and blood-bespattered. As\nthey approached the body three wolves bounded into the forest and were\nlost to sight, but the men gave chase, and following in the animals'\ntracks, came suddenly upon a half-naked human being, with long hair\nand beard, his hands covered with blood and his teeth chattering with\nfear. On his claw-like nails they found shreds of human flesh.\n\nThis miserable specimen of man-animal was hauled up before the judge,\nand under examination he inquired of one of the witnesses whether he\nremembered shooting at three wolves. The witness said he remembered\nthe incident perfectly. Rollet confessed that he was one of the wolves\nand that he was able to transform himself by means of a salve. The\nother wolves were his companions, Jean and Julian, who knew the same\nmeans of acquiring animal shape. All the particulars he gave as to the\nmurder were accurate, and he confessed to having killed and eaten\nwomen, lawyers, attorneys, and bailiffs, though the last-named he\nfound tough and tasteless. In other respects his evidence was\nconfused, and he was judged to be of weak intellect, and though\ncondemned to death was sent finally to a madhouse, where he was\nsentenced to two years' detention.\n\nThere was an epidemic of lycanthropy throughout this year, and on the\n4th of December a tailor of Ch\u00e2lons was burnt in Paris for having\ndecoyed children into his shop, a cask full of human bones being\ndiscovered in the cellar. For the space of a few years no notorious\nwer-wolf trials appear to have taken place, but the year 1603 was\nalmost as prolific in this respect as 1598.\n\nInformation came before the criminal court at Roche Chalais that a\nwild beast was ravaging the district, that it appeared to be a wolf,\nand that it had attacked a young girl called Margaret Poiret in full\ndaylight.[38]\n\nA youth of thirteen or fourteen in the service of Peter Combaut\ndeposed to the fact that he had thrown himself upon the said Margaret,\nwhilst transformed into a wolf, and that he would have devoured her\nhad she not defended herself stoutly with a stick. He also confessed\nto having eaten two or three little girls.\n\nEvidence was given on May 29th, 1603, by three witnesses, one of whom\nwas Margaret herself. She said she had been accustomed to mind cattle\nin the company of the boy, Jean Grenier, and that he had often\nfrightened her by telling her horrible tales about being able to\nchange into a wolf whenever he wished, and that he had killed many\ndogs and sucked their blood, but that he preferred to devour young\nchildren. He said he had recently killed a child, and after eating\npart of her flesh had thrown the rest to a companion wolf.\n\nMargaret described the beast which had attacked her as stouter and\nshorter than a real wolf, with a smaller head, a short tail, and\nreddish hide. After she struck at it, the animal drew back and sat\ndown on its haunches like a dog, at a distance of about twelve paces.\nIts look was so ferocious that she ran away at once.\n\nThe third witness was Jeanne Gaboriaut, who was eighteen years old.\nShe gave evidence that one day, when she was tending cattle in company\nwith other girls, Jean Grenier came up and asked which was the most\nbeautiful shepherdess amongst them. Jeanne asked him why he wanted to\nknow. He said because he wished to marry the prettiest, and if it was\nJeanne he would choose her.\n\nJeanne said, \"Who is your father?\" and he told her that he was the son\nof a priest.\n\nThen she replied that he was too dark in appearance for her taste, and\nwhen he answered he had been like that for a long time, she asked him\nwhether he had turned black from cold or whether he had been burnt\nblack.\n\nHe said the cause was a wolf's skin he was wearing, which had been\ngiven to him by one Pierre Labourant, and when he wore it he could\nturn into a wolf at will or any other animal he preferred, and he went\non with details similar to those he had disclosed to Margaret Poiret.\n\nIt was proved, however, that Grenier was not the son of a priest, but\nof a labourer, Pierre Grenier, and that he lived in the parish of St.\nAntoine de Pizan.\n\nWhen questioned as to his crimes, he confessed to the assault upon\nMargaret Poiret as described by her, and also that he had entered a\nhouse in the guise of a wolf, and finding no one there but a babe in\nits cradle he seized it by the throat and carried it behind a hedge in\nthe garden, where he ate as much of the body as he could and threw the\nremainder to another wolf.\n\nAt St. Antoine de Pizan he attacked a girl in a black dress who was\ntending sheep, and he killed and devoured her, a strange point being\nthat her dress was not torn, as happens in the case when real wolves\nmake the assault.\n\nWhen questioned as to how he managed to turn into a wolf, he said that a\nneighbour, called Pierre la Tilhaire, had introduced him in the forest\nto the Lord thereof, who had given wolf-skins to both, as well as a\nsalve for anointing themselves. When asked where he kept the skins and\nthe pot of ointment he replied that they were in the hands of the Lord\nof the Forest, from whom he could obtain them whenever he wished.\n\nHe declared that he had changed into a wolf and gone coursing four\ntimes with his companion Pierre la Tilhaire, but they had killed no\none. The best time for the hunt was an hour or two a day when the moon\nwas on the wane, but he also went out at night on some occasions.\n\nWhen asked whether his father knew of these proceedings, he replied in\nthe affirmative, and declared that his father had rubbed him three\ntimes with the ointment and helped him into the wolf's skin.\n\nThe inquiry into Jean Grenier's case was a very lengthy one and was\nadjourned several times, but eventually he was sentenced to\nimprisonment for life at Bordeaux on September 6th, 1603, his youth\nand want of mental development being pleaded in extenuation of the\ncrimes of infanticide he had undoubtedly committed. The president of\nthe Court declared that lycanthropy was a form of hallucination and\nwas not in itself a punishable crime. Jean's father was acquitted of\ncomplicity, and allowed to leave the court without a stain on his\ncharacter, and Jean was sent to a monastery.\n\nIn 1610, after Jean had been at the Monastery of the Cordeliers in\nBordeaux for seven years, De Lancre, who relates his story, went to see\nhim. He was then about twenty years of age and of diminutive stature.\nHis black eyes were haggard and deep-set, and he refused to look anyone\nstraight in the face. His teeth were long, sharp, and protruding, his\nnails were also long and black, and his mind was a mere blank.\n\nHe told De Lancre, not without pride, that he had been a wer-wolf, but\nthat he had given up the practice. When he first arrived at the\nmonastery he had preferred to go on all fours, eating such food as he\nfound on the ground. He confessed that he still craved for raw human\nflesh, especially the flesh of little girls, and he hoped it would not\nbe long before he had another opportunity of tasting it. He had been\nvisited twice during his confinement by the Lord of the Forest, as he\ncalled the mysterious person who had given him the wolf-skin, but that\nboth times he had made the sign of the cross and his visitor had\ndeparted in haste.\n\nIn other respects his tale was identical with the experiences he had\nrelated before the court.\n\nDe Lancre thought that the name Grenier or Garnier was a fatal name in\nconnection with wer-wolves.\n\nEvidence was given as to the times, places, and number of murders, and\nmany of the facts were proved incontestably.\n\nJean's evidence as to the part his father had played in his misdeeds\nwas hazy. He said that on one occasion his father had accompanied him,\nalso wearing a wolf-skin, and that together they had killed a young\ngirl dressed in white, and that they had devoured her flesh, the month\nbeing May of 1601.\n\nHe also added curious details regarding the Lord of the Forest, who\nhad forbidden him to bite the thumbnail of his left hand, which was\nthicker and longer than the others, and that if he lost sight of it\nwhile in the form of a wolf he would quickly recover his human shape.\n\nWhen confronted with his father Jean altered some of the details of\nhis story, and it was agreed that long imprisonment and extended\ncross-examination had worn out his already feeble intellect.\n\nIt is worth pointing out that in the cases of Rollet, the tailor of\nCh\u00e2lons, and the Gandillon family, the prisoners were accused of\nmurder and cannibalism, but not of association with wolves, and that\nin the trial of Garnier evidence was given as to the depredations of\nthe wolf rather than of the accused. There was doubtless a difficulty\nin proving the identity of the perpetrator of the murders.\n\nA new era in these trials begins with that of Jean Grenier, for from\nthat time onward medical men became more enlightened, and the belief\nspread that lycanthropy was a mental malady, with cannibalistic\ntendencies which had developed under diseased conditions.\n\nIn his \"D\u00e6monologie,\" 1597, a reply to Reginald Scott's \"Discovery of\nWitchcraft,\" James I of England declared that wer-wolves were victims\nof a delusion induced by a state of melancholia, and about the same\nperiod wolves became practically extinct in England, and only harmless\ncreatures such as the cat, hare, and weasel were left for the sorcerer\nto change into with any possibility of a safe and natural disguise.\n\nFor many years afterwards the confessions of witches, who were\nexecuted for their crimes, bore striking resemblance to those made by\nwer-wolves, and many strange facts which were published at these\ntrials have never been, and may never be, satisfactorily explained on\na purely materialistic basis.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[34] \"Histoires, Disputes et Discours des Illusions et Impostures des\nDiables, etc.,\" 1579, p. 654.\n\n[35] \"Histoire de la Magie en France,\" 1818, pp. 129-31.\n\n[36] Cimber, \"Archives Curieuses de Histoire de France,\" 1836, Series\nI, Vol. VIII, pp. 9-11.\n\n[37] \"Discours des Sorciers,\" 1610, pp. 361-2.\n\n[38] _See_ De Lancre, Pierre, \"Tableau de L'Inconstance des Mauvais\nAnges et Demons,\" Paris, 1613, p. 255 _et seq._\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IX\n\n                   THE WER-WOLF IN MYTH AND LEGEND\n\n\nAn extraordinary story about a wer-wolf comes from Ansbach in 1685:\n\nThe supposed incarnation of a dead burgomaster of that town was said\nto be ravishing the neighbouring country in the form of a wolf,\ndevouring cattle as well as women and children. At last the ferocious\nbeast was caught and slaughtered, and its carcass was encased in a\nsuit of flesh-coloured cere-cloth, while its head and face were\nadorned with a chestnut-coloured wig and long white beard, after the\nanimal's snout had been cut off and a mask resembling the dead\nburgomaster's features had been substituted. This effigy was hanged,\nits skin stuffed and put in a museum, where it was pointed out as a\nproof of the actual existence of wer-wolves. This incident appears to\nprove that the belief in wer-wolves had been shaken at that date, but\nit has never been finally eradicated, and it is only natural that a\ntheme which has had such world-wide credence should occur again and\nagain in mythology and literature. It is dealt with in the story of\nthe festival of the god Zeus, which was held every nine years on the\nWolf mountain in Arcadia. During the banquet a man, having tasted of a\nflowing bowl in which human and animal flesh were mixed, was turned\ninto a wolf and remained a wolf nine years. If he had abstained from\neating human flesh in the interval he became once more a man. The\ntradition appears to have originated in the existence of a society of\ncannibal wolf-worshippers, a member of which perhaps represented the\nsacred animal for nine years in succession.\n\nThis compares in some degree with the practices of the Human Leopard\nSociety, which is of comparatively recent origin.\n\nLycaon, the King of Arcadia and father of Callisto, was turned into a\nwolf because he offered human sacrifices to Jupiter, or, in the version\ngiven by Ovid, because he tried to murder Jupiter, who was his guest.\nOthers believe that Lycaon is the Constellation of the Wolf, and that in\nhim were the united qualities of wolf, king, and constellation.\n\nPliny points out that the origin of transformation into wolves was due\nto Evanthes, a Greek author of good repute, who tells the story of\nAntheus, the Arcadian, a member of whose family is chosen by lot and\nthen taken to a certain lake in the district, across which he swims and\nis changed into a wolf for a space of nine years. So, too, Dem\u00e6ntus,\nduring a sacrifice of human victims, tasted the entrails of a boy who\nhad been slaughtered, upon which he turned into a wolf, but ten years\nlater he was victorious in the pugilistic contests at the Olympic games.\n\nThe following quaint story is taken from Petronius, being told by one\nNiceros, at a banquet given by Trimalchio.\n\n\"It happened that my master was gone to Capua to dispose of some\nsecond-hand goods. I took the opportunity and persuaded our guest to\nwalk with me to our fifth milestone. He was a valiant soldier, and a\nsort of a grim water-drinking Pluto. About cock-crow, when the moon was\nshining as bright as midday, we came amongst the monuments. My friend\nbegan addressing himself to the stars, but I was rather in a mood to\nsing or count them; and when I turned to look at him, lo! he had already\nstripped himself and laid his clothes near him. My heart was in my\nnostrils, and I stood like a dead man; but he made a mark round his\nclothes and on a sudden became a wolf. Do not think I jest, I would not\nlie for any man's estate. But to return to what I am saying. When he\nbecame a wolf he began howling and fled into the woods. At first I\nhardly knew where I was, and afterwards, when I went to take up his\nclothes, they were turned into stone. Who then was more like to die from\nfear than I? Yet I drew my sword, and cutting the air right and left\ncame thus to my sweetheart's house. When I entered the courtyard I was\nlike to breathe my last, perspiration poured from my neck, and my eyes\nwere dim. My Melissa met me to ask where I had been so late, and said,\n'Had you only come sooner you might have helped us, for a wolf came to\nthe farm and worried our cattle; but he had not the best of the joke,\nfor all he escaped, as our servant ran a lance through his neck.' When I\nheard this I could not doubt what had happened, and as the day dawned I\nran home as fast as a robbed innkeeper. When I came to the spot where\nthe clothes had been turned into stone I could find nothing except\nblood. But when I got home I found my friend, the soldier, in bed,\nbleeding at the neck like an ox, and a doctor dressing his wound. I then\nknew he was a turnskin; nor would I ever have broken bread with him\nagain, no not if you had killed me.\"\n\nThe expression turnskin or turncoat is a translation of the Latin\n_versipelles_, a term used to describe a wer-wolf.\n\nAnother story in which the human being suffers from the wound inflicted\non the wer-wolf concerns a fine lady of Saintonge, who used to wander at\nnight in the forests in the shape of a wolf. One day she caught her paw\nin a trap set by the hunters. This put an end to her nocturnal\nwanderings, and afterwards she had to keep a glove on the hand that had\nbeen trapped, to conceal the mutilation of two of her fingers.\n\nEliphas Levi, the occultist, has endeavoured to explain this\nsympathetic condition between the man and his animal presentment.\n\n\"We must speak here of lycanthropy, or the nocturnal transformation of\nmen into wolves, histories so well substantiated that sceptical science\nhas had recourse to furious maniacs, and to masquerading as animals for\nexplanations. But such hypotheses are puerile and explain nothing. Let\nus seek elsewhere the solution of the mystery, and establish--First,\nthat no person has been killed by a wer-wolf except by suffocation,\nwithout effusion of blood and without wounds. Second, that wer-wolves,\nthough tracked, hunted, and even maimed, have never been killed on the\nspot. Third, that persons suspected of these transformations have always\nbeen found at home, after the pursuit of the wer-wolf, more or less\nwounded, sometimes dying, but invariably in their natural form....\n\n\"We have spoken of the sidereal body, which is the mediator between\nthe soul and the material organism. This body remains awake very often\nwhile the other is asleep, and by thought transports itself through\nall space which universal magnetism opens to it. It thus lengthens,\nwithout breaking, the sympathetic chain attaching it to the heart and\nbrain, and that is why there is danger in waking up dreaming persons\nwith a start, for the shock may sever the chain at a blow and cause\ninstantaneous death. The form of our sidereal body is conformable to\nthe habitual condition of our thoughts, and in the long run it is\nbound to modify the features of the material organism. Let us now be\nbold enough to assert that the wer-wolf is nothing more than the\nsidereal body of a man whose savage and sanguinary instincts are\nrepresented by the wolf, who, whilst his phantom is wandering abroad,\nsleeps painfully in his bed, and dreams that he is a veritable wolf.\nWhat renders the wer-wolf visible is the almost somnambulistic\nover-excitement caused by the fear of those who see it, or their\ndisposition, more particularly among simple country-folk, to place\nthemselves in direct communication with the astral light which is the\ncommon medium of dreams and visions. The blows inflicted on the\nwer-wolf really wound the sleeper by the odic and sympathetic\nconjestion of the astral light and by the correspondence of the\nimmaterial with the material body....\"[39]\n\nThis peculiarity of the wound dealt to the wer-wolf being reproduced in\nthe human being is emphasised by an incident which occurred about 1588\nin a tiny village situated in the mountains of Auvergne. A gentleman was\ngazing one evening from the windows of his castle when he saw a hunter\nhe knew passing on his way to the chase. Calling to him, he begged that\non his return he would report what luck he had had. The hunter after\npursuing his way was attacked by a large wolf. He fired off his gun\nwithout hitting the animal. Then he struck at it with his hunting knife,\nsevering one of the paws, which he picked up and put in his knapsack.\nThe wounded wolf ran quickly into the forest. When the hunter reached\nthe castle he told his friend of his strange fight with a wolf, and to\nemphasise his story opened his knapsack, in which to his horror and\nsurprise he saw, not a wolf's paw as he had expected, but the hand of a\nwoman which had a gold ring on one of the fingers.\n\nThe owner recognised the ring as belonging to his wife, and hastening\ninto the kitchen to question her he found her with one arm hidden\nbeneath the folds of a shawl. He drew it aside and saw she had lost\nher hand. Then she confessed that it was she who, in the form of a\nwolf, had attacked the hunter. She was arrested and burnt to death\nsoon afterwards at Ryon.\n\nIn another variation of the wer-wolf story, the human being retains a\nmaterial object acquired by his animal replica and is freed thereby\nfrom his obsession.\n\nA man, who from his childhood had been a wer-wolf, when returning one\nnight with his wife from a merrymaking, observed that the hour was at\nhand when the transformation usually took place. Giving the reins to\nhis wife, he got out of the cart and said, \"If anyone comes to thee,\nstrike at it with thy apron.\" Then he went away and a few minutes\nlater the poor woman was attacked by a wolf. Remembering what her\nhusband had told her, she struck at it with her apron, and the animal\ntore out a piece and ran off. Presently the man himself returned\nholding in his mouth the torn fragment of the apron. Then his wife\ncried out in terror, \"Good Lord, man! Why, thou art a wer-wolf!\"\n\"Thank thee, mother!\" replied he, \"but now I am free!\" and after this\nincident he kept human form until the day of his death.[40]\n\nIn \"William of Palermo,\" the old romance known as \"William and the\nWer-Wolf,\" translated from the French at the command of Sir Humphrey\nde Bohun about A.D. 1350,[41] the wer-wolf appears as a sort of a\nguardian angel. The brother of the King Apulia, envious of the\nheir-apparent, bribes two women to murder the king's son. While the\nboy William is at play a wer-wolf runs off with him, swims across the\nStraits of Messina, and carries him into a forest near Rome, where it\ntakes care of him and provides him with food. The wer-wolf in reality\nis Alphonso, heir to the Spanish throne, who has been transformed by\nhis stepmother Queen Braunde, who desires her own son Braundinis to\nwear the crown of Spain.\n\n      The wer-wolf embraces the king's son\n      With his fore-feet,\n      And so familiar with him\n      Is the king's son, that all pleases him,\n      Whatever the beast does for him.\n\nWhile the wer-wolf seeks provender, a cowherd finds William and takes\nhim to his hut, where the Emperor meets him when out hunting. Placing\nhim behind him on his horse he takes him to Rome and gives him in\ncharge of his daughter Melior, to be her page.\n\nWilliam and Melior fall in love with one another, and to avoid the\nEmperor's wrath devise an escape, disguised in the skins of white\nbears, helped by Melior's friend Alexandrine. When Melior asks whether\nshe makes a bold bear, Alexandrine answers, \"Yes, Madame, you are a\ngrisly ghost enough, and look ferocious.\" Together the lovers wander\nout of the garden on all fours and making their way to the forest hide\nin a den. Meanwhile the wer-wolf has followed William's fortunes, and\nfinding the wanderers in need, he sets on a harmless passer-by who\ncarries provisions, and seizing bread and boiled beef out of his bag,\nlays it before the lovers, then runs off and, attacking another\ntraveller, secures two flagons of wine.\n\nBeing pursued, the lovers escape to Palermo, led always by the\nwer-wolf, Alphonso, half-brother to Braundinis, who was destined by\nMelior's father to become his son-in-law. William does battle with the\nproposed suitor and, still helped by the wer-wolf, whose symbol is\npainted on his shield, overcomes his rival, takes the King and Queen\nof Spain prisoner and refuses to let them go until Queen Braunde\npromises to transform the rightful heir from a wolf back into a human\nbeing. \"Unless she disenchants you, she shall be burnt,\" he says\nforcibly. Braunde takes her stepson, the wolf, into a private chamber,\ndraws forth a magic ring with a stone in it that is proof against all\nwitchcraft and binds it with a red silk thread round the wolf's neck.\nThen she takes a book out of a casket and reads in it a long time till\nhe turns into a man. The wer-wolf is delighted, but apologises to his\nstepmother for having no clothes on, and she commands him to choose\nwho shall fetch his clothes. He answers that he will take his attire\nand the order of knighthood from the worthiest man alive, William of\nPalermo. William, being called, enters the chamber, where he sees a\nman who is an utter stranger and is only satisfied when he hears\nAlphonso's explanation, \"I am the wer-wolf who saved you from many\nperils.\" William and Melior are married, all ends happily and William\nbecomes Emperor of Rome.\n\nThe Bretons give the name of Bisclavaret to the wer-wolf, or wer-fox,\nwhich throws itself upon the hunter's horse and terrorises it. The same\nthing is called Garwal by the Normans. Bisclavaret is supposed to be a\nwizard, and if in olden times an unknown lady offered food to the\nhunters at the moment the animal appeared she was thought to be a witch.\n\nMarie de France in her \"Lay of the Bisclavaret\" used the idea of a\nwer-wolf, and again in this case the animal has no savage instincts\nexcept against his enemies, a faithless wife and her perfidious lover.\n\nA gallant knight of Brittany, a favourite with the king, weds a fair\nlady whom he loves tenderly. Only one cloud darkens the wife's\nhorizon. Her husband leaves her invariably three days a week and she\ndoes not know where he goes. One day she has the temerity to ask him,\nand he warns her that the information may be dangerous, but when she\npleads with him he says:\n\n\"Learn then that I become a wer-wolf during my absence. I go into the\nforest, hide in the thickets and seek my prey.\"\n\n\"But, my dear, tell me whether you take off your clothes,\" says the\nwife, \"or whether you keep them on?\"\n\n\"I am naked when the transformation occurs, Madame.\"\n\n\"And where do you leave your clothes?\"\n\n\"I must not tell you, because if I were seen when I take them off I\nshould remain a wer-wolf for the rest of my life. I can only recover\nhuman form at the moment I put them on again. After that you will not\nbe surprised if I say no more.\" But she urges him to tell her, and\nfinally he says that he hides his clothes under a bush near an old\nstone cross in the corner of a chapel, and there he puts them on when\nhe wishes to resume his original shape.\n\nFrightened by his awful story the wife decides to live with him no more\nand immediately sends for a young man who is in love with her, tells him\nthe story and enjoins him to go and take away her husband's clothes.\nThus she betrays her husband, the wer-wolf, who does not return and is\ngiven up for dead, and some time after she marries her false lover.\n\nAbout a year later the king goes on a hunting expedition in the\nforest. There he comes across the wer-wolf, and the hounds immediately\ntake up the scent and give chase the whole day long. Wounded by the\nhunters and wearied nigh unto death, the wolf seizes the bridle of the\nking's horse and licks his majesty's foot. The king, in great fear,\ncalls his companions to look at the extraordinary wild beast that is\ncapable of this humble action. He refuses to allow the wolf to be\nslaughtered and takes it back, in his train, to the castle. There the\nwolf lives in great comfort like a domestic pet and harms no one.\n\nPresently a great function is held at the court and the wer-wolf's\nformer wife comes there with her new husband. The moment the wolf sets\neyes on him he springs at his throat, and would surely have killed him\nhad not the king beaten him off with a whip. For the rest of the\ngentleman's visit the wolf is kept under strict discipline.\n\nSome time afterwards, the king, accompanied by his faithful wolf, pays\na visit to the lady, and the animal springs at her ferociously and\nbites off her nose. Then the courtiers say that the matter must be\ninquired into, for the wolf only turns savage when in the presence of\nthis lady and her new husband. The king decides to have the couple\narrested and the lady has to confess what happened, saying she thinks\nthe wer-wolf must be her transformed husband. After hearing her story\nthe king orders the wer-wolf's clothes to be placed where he can get\nthem privately, and after waiting outside the room in which the\nmetamorphosis is to take place, for some time, he enters and finds the\nformer knight, his old friend whom he thought dead, lying quietly\nasleep. He restores all his honours and has his faithless wife chased\nout of the kingdom in company with her false lover. All their\ndaughters are born without noses as a punishment for the wicked fraud\npractised on the wer-wolf.[42]\n\nOlaus Magnus[43] declares that although the inhabitants of Prussia,\nLivonia, and Lithuania suffer considerably from the depredations of\nwolves as far as their cattle are concerned, their losses are not so\nserious in this quarter as those they suffer at the hands of wer-wolves.\n\nOn Christmas Eve multitudes of wer-wolves gather at a certain spot and\nband together to attack human beings and animals. They besiege\nisolated houses, break in the doors and devour every living thing.\nThey burst into the beer-cellars and there empty the casks, thus\nproving their human tastes. A ruined castle near Courland appears to\nhave been their favourite meeting-place, where thousands congregate in\norder to test their agility. If any of them fail to bound over the\ncastle wall they are slain by the others, as they are considered in\nthat case to be incompetent for the work in hand.\n\nIt is believed that a messenger in the person of a lame youth is sent\nround the neighbourhood to call these followers of the devil to a\ngeneral conclave. Those who are reluctant to attend the meeting are\nbeaten with iron scourges. When the gathering is assembled the human\nforms vanish and the whole multitude become wolves. The troops follow\nthe leader, \"firmly convinced in their imagination that they are\ntransformed into wolves.\" The sorcery lasts for twelve days, and at\nthe expiration of this period the human forms are resumed.\n\nReferring further to these Courland wer-wolves, it is said of them\nthat Satan holds them in his net in three ways. Firstly they execute\ncertain depredations, such as mangling cattle, in their human shapes,\nbut in such a state of hallucination that they believe themselves to\nbe wolves and are regarded as such by others in a like predicament.\nThough not true wer-wolves they hunt in packs. Secondly they leave\ntheir bodies lying asleep and send forth their imagination in a dream\nthat they believe they have injured the cattle, but that it is the\ndevil who does what is suggested to them by their thoughts, and\nthirdly that the evil one induces real wolves to do the horrid deeds,\nbut impresses the scene so vividly on the mind of the sleeper that he\nconsiders himself to be guilty of the act.\n\nThe following stories exemplify these conditions. The first is told of\na man who when starting on a journey saw a wolf attacking one of his\nsheep. He fired and it fled wounded into the thicket. On his return he\nwas told that he had fired at one of his tenants, called Mickel.\n\nMickel's wife, when questioned, said that her husband had been sowing\nrye and had asked her how he could get some meat for a feast. She said\non no account was he to steal from the master's flock as it was well\nguarded by dogs. Mickel ignored her advice and had attacked the sheep.\nHe came home limping badly and in a passion had fallen upon his own\nhorse and had torn its throat. It seemed as though he were bewitched\nor in a trance.\n\nIn 1684 a curious incident occurred to a man who had gone hunting in a\nforest. At dusk a pack of wolves had rushed towards him, and as he\nlevelled his gun with the intention of aiming at the leader a voice\narose from their midst, saying, \"Don't fire, Sir, for no good will come\nof it.\" Then the phantom pack rushed onwards and he saw it no more.\n\nThe third story is about a man-wolf who was accused of sorcery of the\nmost flagrant kind. Finding a difficulty in getting evidence against\nthe criminal, the judge sent a peasant to his cell who was charged\nwith the unpleasant task of forcing a confession. The prisoner was\ntold that he might avenge himself upon another peasant to whom he owed\na grudge, by destroying his cow secretly, and if possible when in the\nshape of a wolf himself. After much persuasion the supposed wer-wolf\nundertook to carry out the suggested plan. The next morning the cow in\nquestion was found to be fearfully mangled, but the strange part of\nthe story is this, that although witnesses were set to watch the man\nin his cell, they swore unanimously that he had never left it and had\npassed the whole of the night in deep sleep, only at one time making\nslight movements of his head, his hands and his feet.[44]\n\nJust as the man who thinks he changes into a wolf suffers from\nlycanthropy, so the one who believes he changes into a dog is\nsuffering from kynanthropy, and those who change into kine from\nboanthropy. Every part of the world chooses a special animal as being\nthe most suitable for disguise, and naturally enough the animal is one\nwhich is common to the district. Thus we find the tiger chosen for\nIndia and Asia, the bear for Northern Europe, the lion, leopard, and\nhy\u00e6na for Africa, the jaguar for South America, and so forth.\n\nMany superstitions surround the tiger. Besides being the abode of the\nsoul of a dead man it may be the temporary or even the permanent form\nof a living human being. In India it is said that a certain root\nbrings about the metamorphosis and that another root is used for the\nantidote. In Central Java powers of transformation are believed to be\nhereditary, no shame is attached to it, and the wer-tiger is looked\nupon as a friendly animal, and if his friends call upon him by name he\nbehaves like a domestic pet and is believed to guard the fields. In\nthe Malay Peninsula faith in the genuine wer-tiger persists, and it is\nthought there also that the soul of a dead wizard enters the animal's\nbody. During the process of transformation the corpse is laid in the\nforest, and beside it a supply of rice and water is placed, sufficient\nfor seven days, in which time transmigration, resulting from a\ncompact made by the _pawang's_ ancestors, is complete. A ceremony is\nalso gone through by the son of a _pawang_ who wishes to succeed his\nfather in tiger's form.\n\nA wer-tiger belief exists in India, and the Garrows think the mania is\nproduced by a special drug which is laid on the forehead. First the\nwer-tiger pulls the earrings out of his ears and then wanders forth\nalone, shunning the company of his fellow-man. The disease lasts about\nfourteen days, and patients are said to have glaring red eyes, their\nhair dishevelled and bristled, and a peculiar convulsive manner of\nmoving the head. When taken by fits of this kind they are believed to\ngo forth in the night to ride on the backs of tigers.\n\nAnother form of the belief is the wizard in the shape of a tiger, and\nthe Thana tradition is that mediums are possessed by a tiger spirit. The\nBinuas of Johore think that every _pawang_ has an immortal tiger spirit.\n\nThe belief that lion form is assumed by wizards is found near the\nLuapula and on the Zambezi, where a certain drink is supposed to\neffect the transformation. Among the Tumbukas people smear themselves\nwith white clay, which gives them a certain power of metempsychosis.\nNot only can men take lions' shape but lions can change into men.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[39] \"Mysteries of Magic,\" 1897, pp. 237-8.\n\n[40] Thorpe, B., \"Northern Mythology,\" 1851, Vol. II, pp. 168-9.\n\n[41] Edited by W. W. Skeat, 1869.\n\n[42] \"Poesies de Marie de France,\" 1819, pp. 179-201.\n\n[43] \"History of the Goths, Swedes, and Vandals,\" 1658, pp. 193-4.\n\n[44] _See_ Leubuscher, R., \"Ueber die Wehrw\u00f6lfe und Thierverwandlungen\nin Mittelalter,\" 1850, pp. 9-11.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER X\n\n                         LION- AND TIGER-MEN\n\n\nThe rooted idea in the savage mind that animals may be invested by human\nsouls, and that men may at will transform themselves into animals, has\nbeen largely strengthened throughout the ages by the teachings of the\n\"Medicine men\" or wizards, who have no doubt found it profitable and\nconducive to their own acquisition of power to work on the superstitions\nand foster the weaknesses of the people to whom they minister.\n\nStories about lion- and tiger-men, hy\u00e6na-women, and other strange\nmonsters gifted with human qualities are found in the Books of Travel\nin every part of the world.\n\nThe way the sorcerer sets to work on the imagination of primitive\npeople has often been described. Firstly he declares that he is about\nto change himself into a tiger and tear the people to pieces, and he\nno sooner begins to roar than the frightened natives, acting under the\nspell of suggestion, take to their heels, but they dare not go beyond\nthe reach of those terrible sounds. \"Look,\" cry the fear-stricken\nwomen, who cannot really see what is going on, \"his body is covered\nwith spots like a tiger! Horrible! his nails are turning into claws.\"\n\nAll the time the sorcerer is hidden in his tent, carrying on a kind of\nmagical performance which inspires the people with a dread of the\nunknown, so that they fall a prey to the imagination and almost lose\ntheir reason. When asked to explain this unholy dread, they declare\nthat it arises from being unable to see and to kill the fearsome\ntiger-image which threatens them.\n\nAfrica is vastly rich in stories of wer-lions, wer-leopards, and\nwer-hy\u00e6nas, and the language of Bornu has a word \"_bultungin_,\" which\nmeans \"I change myself into a hy\u00e6na.\" It is even said that in the\nvillage of Kabutiloa every native possesses the faculty of\ntransformation.\n\nThe wizards of Abyssinia are said to be able to become hy\u00e6nas at will,\nand in \"The Life of Nathaniel Pearce\"[45] the story is told of a man\ncalled Coffin who was asked by a servant for leave of absence. No\nsooner had he granted the request than one of the other servants\ncalled out, \"Look, look, he has turned himself into a hy\u00e6na!\" Coffin\ngazed in the direction in which the first servant had disappeared, and\nthere he saw a large hy\u00e6na bounding across the open plain. The next\nmorning the servant returned, and when asked about the matter asserted\nthat such a transformation had actually taken place. Coffin brought\nhimself to believe in these native stories, and quoted in evidence of\ntheir truth that he had often seen a certain kind of earring in the\nears of hy\u00e6nas shot, trapped and speared by himself or his friends,\nidentical with those which were commonly worn by the native servants.\nA natural explanation has been sought in the suggestion that the\nsorcerers themselves adorned the hy\u00e6nas with the gems in order to\nencourage a superstition which they found profitable for their own\npurposes, but no proof of any such thing has been discovered.\nAbyssinia is a hotbed of strange happenings of this character, some of\nwhich are quite beyond understanding.\n\nThe trade of blacksmith is hereditary there and is regarded with more\nor less suspicion, from the fact that blacksmiths are, with few\nexceptions, believed to be sorcerers and are opprobriously given the\nname of _Bouda_. They are said to have the power of turning themselves\ninto various kinds of animals. \"I remember,\" says Mansfield Parkyns\nin \"Life in Abyssinia,\"[46] \"a story of some little girls, who, having\nbeen out in the forest to gather sticks, came running back breathless\nwith fright; and on being asked what was the cause, they answered that\na blacksmith of the neighbourhood had met them, and entering into\nconversation with him, they at length began to joke about whether, as\nhad been asserted, he could turn himself into a hy\u00e6na. The man, they\ndeclared, made no reply, but taking some ashes, which he had with him\ntied up in the corner of his cloth, sprinkled them over his shoulders,\nand to their horror and alarm they began almost immediately to\nperceive that the metamorphosis was actually taking place, and that\nthe blacksmith's skin was assuming the hair and colour of the animal\nin question. When the change was complete he grinned and laughed at\nthem, and then retired into the neighbouring thickets. They stood\nrooted to the spot from sheer fright; but the moment the hideous\ncreature withdrew, they made the best of their way home.\"\n\nParkyns tells another _Bouda_ story[47] which is fully credited by the\nnatives. In the neighbourhood of Adoua there was said to be a woman\nwho had one human foot and in the place of the other the hoof of a\ndonkey. Several persons assured Parkyns that they had seen this human\nmonstrosity, and others firmly believed the following account of the\naffair:\n\nThe woman was said to have died, and was buried with ceremony in the\nchurchyard. The following day a man came to one of the priests and\noffered him a sum of money for the body, pledging himself to strict\nsecrecy. The bargain was concluded and the unscrupulous priest allowed\nthe stranger, who was a blacksmith, to disinter and carry off the\ncorpse. On the way to the market the blacksmith passed the house where\nthe deceased lady's family lived, and he usually rode or drove a\nremarkably fine donkey which, strangely enough, on passing the house,\nor any of the old woman's children, brayed loudly and endeavoured to\nrun towards them.\n\nAt first no notice was taken of this odd behaviour on the part of an\nass, but at last one of the sons grew suspicious and exclaimed, \"I am\nsure that ass is my mother!\"\n\nAccordingly _Bouda_, ass and all were seized and brought to the hut,\nmuch to the apparent satisfaction of the animal, which rubbed its nose\nagainst the young men and was even said to shed tears of joy on the\noccasion.\n\nOn being charged with the offence of sorcery the _Bouda_ tried to make\nlight of it and denied the accusation, but at last by dint of threats\nand promises he was induced to confess that he had turned the old woman\ninto a donkey, she having been not really dead but in a trance, into\nwhich he had purposely thrown her. His power, he asserted, was\nsufficient to change the external appearance, but not to alter the mind\nof his victim. Hence it was that the old woman, or rather donkey,\npossessed human feelings, which she had displayed in her endeavours to\nenter her former habitation and in her recognition of her children. The\n_Bouda_, moreover, agreed to restore her human appearance, and began his\nexorcism. As he proceeded she by degrees assumed her natural form, and\nthe change was almost complete, when one of the sons, blinded by his\nrage, forgot the promises of pardon which the _Bouda_ had exacted, and\ndrove his spear through his heart. The incantation not being entirely\nfinished, one foot remained in the shape of the hoof of an ass and\ncontinued so until her death, which was not till many years afterwards.\n\nStill another story belonging to the same class concerns two brothers\nwho lived in Gojam. One of them having transformed himself into a horse,\nass or cow, was sold in the market and driven out of town by his\npurchaser. Directly night had closed the eyes of his new master in sleep\nthe _Bouda_ took on human form again and walked quietly home. The\nbrothers were known to sell cattle in the market so frequently that\npeople became suspicious, because they did not know where their stock\nwas kept, and they often had no beasts in their yard even the very day\nbefore the sales. Besides, it soon leaked out that every animal sold\nmake its escape the same night and was never heard of again. Then a\npurchaser who had been twice taken in by the brothers, determined to\ndiscover how the fraud was carried out. One market day he bought a fine\nhorse from one of the brothers and rode off upon it, but no sooner had\nhe left the market town behind him than he dismounted and drove a knife\nthrough the animal's heart. Then he walked back to the market-place and\nmeeting the vendor told him that he had killed the beautiful animal he\nhad just bought in a fit of passion. The _Bouda_ gave a start, but\nmanaged to conceal his grief till he entered his house, when he burst\nforth into lamentations and rubbed the skin off his forehead, as the\ncustom is when a near relative dies. To his inquisitive neighbours he\ndeclared that his favourite brother had been robbed and murdered in the\nGalla country, whither he had travelled in order to purchase horses. It\nwas said, however, that he afterwards sent no more animals to the\nmarket-place for sale.\n\nAccording to Livingstone's account[48] the Makololo also believe that\ncertain people can transform themselves into animals, and they call such\npersons \"Pondoro.\" Livingstone came across a Pondoro in the Kebrasa\nhills, and heard that this gentleman was in the habit of assuming the\nshape of a lion which he retained for days and sometimes even for a\nmonth, during which time he wandered in the woods where his wife had\nbuilt a den for him and took care that he was provided with food and\ndrink. No one was allowed into the den except the Pondoro and his wife,\nand no strangers were permitted even to lay a gun against any of the\ntrees in the neighbourhood of the den, or against any shanty owned by\nthe Pondoro. The wer-lion used his gift to go hunting in the village.\nAfter a few days had passed his faithful spouse scented her returning\nhusband and provided him with a certain kind of medicine or ointment by\nwhich it became possible for him to change into a man again. But she had\nto hurry over this duty, so that the lion might not catch sight of her\nand, falling upon her, devour even her.\n\nAfter the Pondoro was once more human he returned to the village and\nasked the inhabitants to help him carry home his prey. One of the odd\nthings about this wer-lion was that he always trembled if he smelt\ngunpowder, and he sometimes overacted his part. Livingstone asked the\nnatives to make him show off while he was watching, offering a reward\nfor the performance, but they refused, saying, \"If we ask him to do\nso, he may change while we are asleep and kill us.\" It was owing to\nhis distaste for the smell of gunpowder that it was made punishable to\nrest muskets against his den.\n\nIn the same district the belief is also current that the souls of\ndeparted chiefs enter into lions \"and render them sacred.\" Thus when a\nhungry lion prowled round the camp where a freshly killed buffalo lay,\na native servant harangued him loudly in between his roars, saying,\n\"What sort of a chief do you call yourself, sneaking round here in the\ndark trying to steal our buffalo meat? You're a pretty chief, you are!\nYou've no more courage than a scavenger beetle. Why don't you kill\nyour own dinner?\" The Pondoro took no notice except to roar the\nlouder, so a second native took the matter up and expostulated in more\ndignified terms as to the impropriety of the conduct of \"a great chief\nlike him\" prowling round in the dark, \"trying like a hy\u00e6na to steal\nthe food of strangers.\"\n\nA piece of meat dipped in strychnine brought the lion-chief to his\nsenses and he took his departure. It is not to be wondered at that\nsuch things occur in a country where the natives regard their chiefs\nas almighty and infallible. The extent of their faith in him appears\nfrom the story of one Chief Chibisa, who placed a powerful \"medicine\"\nin the river and told his people they might safely enter the water as\nit was a protection against the bite of crocodiles. Thereupon the\npeople bathed there without fear of these dangerous reptiles.\n\nDu Chaillu, in \"Ashango Land,\"[49] tells the story of a young lad,\nAkosho, who declared that he had been turned into a leopard, and\nfeeling a craving for blood had gone forth into the forest where he\nhad killed two men. After each murder he said he had taken on human\nshape. His chief Akondogo could not believe the story, but Akosho led\nhim to the scene where lay the mangled bodies of the victims. It\nappears that the boy suffered from lycanthropia, and he was burnt to\ndeath in full view of the tribe.\n\nTheophilus Waldmeier mentions a similar case of possession in which\nthe patient thought herself to be a hy\u00e6na.[50] One evening when he was\nin his house at Gaffat a woman began to cry fearfully and run up and\ndown the road on her hands and feet like a wild beast, quite\nunconscious of what she was doing. The natives said to him, \"This is\nthe _Bouda_, and if it is not driven out of her she will die.\" A crowd\ngathered round and everything possible was done to relieve her\ncondition, but without avail. She howled and roared in an unnatural\nmanner and most powerful voice. At last a blacksmith, who was said to\nhave secret connection with the evil one, was called in to see what he\ncould do. The woman obeyed his orders at once. He took hold of her\nhand and dropped the juice of a white onion or garlic into her\nnostril, and then he questioned the evil spirit, by whom she was\nsupposed to be possessed, as follows:\n\n\"Why did you possess this poor woman?\"\n\n\"I was allowed to do so,\" came the answer through her lips.\n\n\"What is your name?\"\n\n\"Gebroo.\"\n\n\"And your country?\"\n\n\"Godjam.\"\n\n\"How many people have you already taken possession of?\"\n\n\"Forty people--men and women.\"\n\n\"You must now leave this woman's body.\"\n\n\"I will do so on one condition.\"\n\n\"What is it?\"\n\n\"I want to eat the flesh of a donkey.\"\n\nThe long cross-examination being concluded the evil spirit was granted\nhis strange request. A donkey was brought and the possessed woman ran\nhastily upon the animal and bit the flesh out of the creature's back,\nand though the donkey kicked and started off, she clung to it as\nthough fastened by leather thongs.\n\nAfter the performance had continued for some time the man recalled the\nwoman, and a jar of prepared liquid with which much filth had been\nmixed was set down in a hidden spot where she could not see it. When,\nhowever, the exorcist exclaimed, \"Go and look for your drink,\" she\nstarted off on all fours to the place where the jar stood and drank\nthe whole of its contents.\n\nWhen she returned, the blacksmith said, \"Take up this stone.\" Although\nthe stone in question was too large for her to move under natural\nconditions, she placed it on her head with ease and began spinning\nround, until the stone flew off on one side and she fell on to the\nground. Then the exorcist said to the people round, \"Take her away to\nbed, the _Bouda_ has left her.\"\n\nIn a similar case the woman's symptoms began in a sort of\nfainting-fit; her fingers were clenched in the palms of her hands, the\neyes were glazed, the nostrils distended and the whole body stiff and\ninflexible. Suddenly a hideous laugh, like that of a hy\u00e6na, burst from\nher and she began running about on all fours. The cure was brought\nabout in much the same way as in the preceding case.\n\nMr. Parkyns also tells the tale of a servant who was said to have\nbeen bewitched by a blacksmith-hy\u00e6na. He evidently attempted to lure\nher into the forest with the intention of devouring her.\n\nOne evening the howls and laughter of a hy\u00e6na were clearly heard from\nthe hut in which the sick woman lay bound and closely guarded. Her\nmaster happened to be present, when he saw to his astonishment that she\nrose \"like a Davenport brother\" freed from her bonds, and made an effort\nto escape from the hut in answer to the call of the wild animal without.\n\nThat such proceedings were sometimes carried out for vicious ends not\nunconnected with the slaying of human victims is proved by the\nexistence of the mysterious Human Leopard Society which Mr. T. J.\nAlldridge writes about in \"The Sherbro and Its Hinterland.\" The\nsociety was founded for the purpose of obtaining the human fat used in\nthe preparation of a certain \"medicine\" mixed with Borfinor, the\nresulting material being regarded as an all-powerful fetish.\n\nVictims at first were relatives of the members of the society selected\nat committee meetings, who were afterwards waylaid and slaughtered by a\nman in the guise of a leopard. He plunged a three-pronged knife into the\nunfortunate person's neck from behind, separated the vertebr\u00e6 and caused\ninstant death. More victims were required, outsiders were made to join\nthe society by the expedient of giving them a dish in which, without\ntheir knowledge, human flesh was cooked. Afterwards, on being informed\nof the unpleasant fact, they were persuaded to join the society and told\nthey must furnish a victim as part of the initiation ceremony.\n\nThe members of the society rapidly increased in number but great\nsecrecy was observed, and it was impossible to bring the criminals to\njustice. When questioned the victims declared that they had seen\nnothing. The leopard sprang from the bush, and it merely seemed as\nthough a great wind had rushed by.[51]\n\nBefore seizing their victims the human leopards cover themselves with\nthe skin of the animal and imitate its roars. In the paws of the\nleopard skin are fixed sharp-pointed knives shaped like a leopard's\nclaws, which are intended to inflict similar wounds, the better to\navoid unpleasant disclosure.\n\nMany of the Indians in Guiana believe that \"Kanaima\" tigers are\npossessed by human spirits who, as men, devote themselves to deeds of\ncannibalism. Taking the shape of the jaguar they approach the lonely\nsleeping-places, or waylay Indians in the forests. No superstition\ncauses more terror.\n\nA legend exists among the natives about an old man who lurked in the\nforest in the shape of a Kanaima tiger. His son, who was hunting, shot\nthe tiger down. His arrow, which was one of the old-fashioned sort,\ntipped with bone, entered the animal's jaw. The tiger raised its paw,\nbroke off the weapon and vanished into the forest. The young huntsman\npicked up the splintered arrow-head and returned home. Next day his\nguilty father came back groaning, and cried out that his mouth was\n\"all on fire.\" The son drew from his cheek a bone which, oddly enough,\nfitted into his splintered arrow-head. Then the son was very sorrowful\nand said to his father that he must leave him and take his young wife\naway too, for neither of them would be safe from the dread Kanaima\ncharm. This is a specimen of the \"repercussion\" stories, in which the\nwound inflicted on the wer-animal appears in the human form.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[45] \"Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce,\" 1831. Ed. by J. J.\nHalls. Vol. I, p. 288 n.\n\n[46] 1868, pp. 300-1.\n\n[47] _Ibid._, pp. 310-12.\n\n[48] Livingstone, D. and C., \"Narrative of an Expedition to the\nZambesi and its Tributaries,\" 1865, p. 159.\n\n[49] p. 52.\n\n[50] \"Autobiography,\" 1886, pp. 64-6.\n\n[51] 1901, pp. 153-9.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER XI\n\n                        WER-FOX AND WER-VIXEN\n\n\nEven more elaborate in detail and richness of lore than the lion-,\ntiger- and hy\u00e6na-transformations, are those of the wer-fox; and a\ncurious point to be noted is that it is quite as easy for the animal\nto become human as for a man or woman to become a fox. In Japanese\nfolklore the fox is regarded as more skilful than any other animal in\ntaking human shape.\n\nIn China the belief exists that foxes and wolves attain to an age of\neight hundred years, and \"when more than five hundred years old they\nare able to metamorphose themselves into beings shaped liked men.\"[52]\n\nDe Groot tells several stories about wer-foxes.[53] A man runs away from\nhome and is found in an empty grave. His shape is quite that of a fox,\nand does not in any respect correspond to the human form. The only sound\nhe utters is O-tsze (meaning red) which is the name for foxes. For ten\ndays this wer-fox remains in a state of semi-consciousness, and then he\nawakens and gives the following account of himself: \"When the fox came\nto me for the first time it assumed the shape of a lovely woman standing\nin a fowl-house in a hidden corner of my dwelling. She called me to her\nand told me she bore the name of O-tsze.[54] When she had called me many\ntimes I followed her and she became my wife. At night I frequently\naccompanied her to her dwelling, and we met without being perceived by\nthe dogs.\"\n\nNo human animal is as seductive as the wer-vixen. Numerous stories\noccur in Eastern folklore of women in the shape of foxes and foxes in\nthe shape of women leading men on through passion to their doom. Even\nmale foxes take the shape of women to seduce men, but other harm than\nthis they do not do them.[55]\n\nOno, an inhabitant of Mino (says an ancient Japanese legend of A.D.\n545), spent the seasons longing for his ideal of female beauty. He met\nher one evening on a vast moor and married her. Simultaneously with\nthe birth of their son, Ono's dog was delivered of a pup which as it\ngrew up became more and more hostile to the lady of the moors. She\nbegged her husband to kill it, but he refused. At last one day the dog\nattacked her so furiously that she lost courage, resumed vulpine\nshape, leaped over a fence and fled.\n\n\"You may be a fox,\" Ono called after her, \"but you are the mother of\nmy son and I love you. Come back when you please; you will always be\nwelcome.\"\n\nSo every evening she stole back and slept in his arms.[56]\n\nThe wer-fox has a strange manner of bringing about transformation.\nRoaming over a grassy plain, the animal picks up a skull, puts it on his\nhead and, facing towards the north star, worships silently. At first he\nperforms his religious genuflections and obeisances slowly and\ncircumspectly, but by and by his motions become convulsively rapid and\nhis leaps wondrously active. Yet, however high he jumps towards the\nstar, he endeavours to keep his skull-crown immovable, and if after a\nhundred acts of worship he succeeds, he becomes capable of transforming\nhimself into a human being. But if he desires to assume the shape of a\nbeautiful maiden he must live in the vicinity of a graveyard.[57]\n\nA monk who passed a moonlight night in a graveyard saw a fox placing\nwithered bones and a skull upon its head, and as soon as the animal\nsucceeded in moving its head without dropping its burden, it covered\nits body with grass and leaves, and changed into a beautiful woman.\nShe sat by the roadside, and presently a man came riding by to whom\nshe told a pitiable story about herself. Charmed with her appearance\nand sympathising with her forlorn condition, he was about to ask her\nto mount his horse with him, when the monk appeared from behind a\ngravestone and warned him that the woman was not what she appeared to\nbe. Making the sign of the cross and uttering an incantation, the holy\nman caused the woman to fall down, and she turned into an old vixen\nand expired. Nothing remained but the dry bones with the skull, and\nthe grass and the leaves on the dead body of the fox.\n\nDe Groot quotes the old Chinese saying that the wild fox bears the\nname of Tsze (Red). At night he strikes fire out of his tail. When he\ndesires to appear as a spook he puts on a human skull and salutes the\nGreat Bear constellation, and the transformation is brought about as\nsoon as the skull ceases to fall.\n\nOne of the commonest stories of the fox, found in China and Japan, is\nthat the fox as usual assumes the form of a lovely maiden, and weds a\nman. She dies and all that remains is the dead body of the fox. No\nmore is heard of the woman.\n\nThe Eskimos have a similar story.\n\nA bachelor coming home in the evening finds his hut tidied. One day,\nreturning prematurely, he sees a woman at work straightening his things.\nHe falls in love with her and marries her, only to discover that she is\na fox in disguise, and when his jealous cousin mentions the tabooed\nsubject of the smell of a fox, she runs away, never to return.\n\nUnder the T'ang dynasty the belief in wer-vixens, who changed into\nfascinating women to tempt men, was prevalent.\n\n\"When a fox is fifty years old, it can transform itself into a woman;\nwhen a hundred years old, it becomes a beautiful female or sorceress\ntermed _wu_. Such enchanted beings possess a knowledge of what is\nhappening more than a thousand miles away. They can poison men by\nsorcery or possess and bewilder them so that they lose their memory or\neven their reason. When a fox reaches the age of a thousand it goes to\nparadise and becomes a celestial creature.\"[58]\n\nThe wer-vixen in the next story had not attained to this privilege,\nshe belonged to a far different region.\n\nA captain in the Imperial Guard met a beautiful lady in the moonlight\nand began to talk to her. While she was speaking to him she kept her\nface hidden behind a fan. As they came to the palace the man\nremembered that wer-vixens were dangerous beings to deal with and he\nwanted to find out whether the woman was genuine or an animal in human\nshape, so he drew his sword, seized her by the hair, pushed her\nagainst one of the pillars in front of the palace and threatened to\nkill her. She struggled and jumped about violently, sending forth so\npungent an odour that he could not hold her, and as he let her go she\nturned into a fox and ran off shrieking \"ko, ko!\" The captain did not\nin the least regret the rough handling he had given the supposed\nbeautiful lady; he only wished he had killed her on the spot.\n\nFox demons are said to cause disease and madness, and sometimes they\nact in a spirit of revenge, more often from unprovoked malice. The\n\"Huen Chung ki\" mentions that foxes sometimes take the shape of\nBuddhas or Bodhisattvas. Another mystic idea about wer-foxes is that\nthey are believed to possess a mysterious pearl which represents their\nsoul. They hold this pearl in their mouths and any man who gets\npossession of it becomes a favourite throughout the world. In Japan\nsome people think that foxes have a luminous pearl in their tail.\nWhether this is connected with the soul or whether it is a talisman of\npower it is difficult to say.\n\nWer-foxes in the shape of human beings can be made to resume their\nanimal forms by wounding or slaying them or by setting dogs upon them.\nIncantations, argument if they appear in the shape of scholars,\npoisonous food, written charms, or cutting off the caudal appendage if\nthey show signs of one, are also effective means of making them\ndeclare themselves in their true colours.\n\nIf a person is possessed by a wer-fox he can have the evil spirit\ntransferred to a woman in a similar manner to that practised by the\n_Boudas_ of Abyssinia in the case of those possessed by hy\u00e6nas. In one\ninstance the evil spirit spoke from the scape-woman's mouth as\nfollows:--\n\n\"I am a fox. I have not come to do evil, but only to have a look\nround, because I thought there was plenty of food at a place like\nthis. Then I found that I (the patient) was kept indoors.\" Thus\nspeaking, she took from her bosom a white gem, the size of a small\norange. Throwing this into the air, she caught it again, and those who\nsaw it said, \"What a strange gem; she keeps it in her pocket for the\npurpose of deluding people.\" A young man cleverly caught the gem as\nthe woman threw it up and put it in his pocket. The demon fox begged\nhim to give it back to her but he refused. She then burst into tears\nand said, \"My gem is of no value to you for you do not know how to use\nit. If you do not give it back to me I will be your enemy for ever,\nbut if you do, I will be your friend and protect you like a god.\" At\nthese words the young man returned the gem.\n\nWhen the sorcerer had exorcised the fox spirit it was discovered that\nthe gem had disappeared, which was taken as a proof that it belonged\nto the wer-fox, and was connected with some mysterious power.\n\nThe fox kept its promise, for when the young man was going home late\none night in the dark, he became suddenly very frightened and called\nthe fox to help him. The animal appeared and led him by a narrow\nfootpath instead of by the usual road. Afterwards he discovered that\nhighwaymen were hidden in ambush near the road, and if he had passed\nthat way he would surely have been killed.\n\nThe cunning of the fox turns to learning in a man, for intellectuality\nappears to be regarded as a fox-like trait by the Japanese, and many\ntales tell of scholars becoming animals and vice-versa.\n\nA learned old man called Hu suddenly disappeared from the college in\nwhich he held a professorship, and was found by his students in the\nshape of a fox explaining logic out of an old book to a pack of foxes\nwho were drawn up in ranks before him in an empty grave.\n\nTwo foxes, in another story, were over a thousand years old and lived in\nthe tomb of a king. They transformed themselves into students, giving\nproof of extraordinary learning, and having fine personalities and\nhandsome, open countenances. Mounted on horseback they rode to the house\nof a talented minister to argue with him on theological questions\nconnected with the spirit of the glorification tree which stood before a\ntomb. The minister could not get the better of them in discussion, and\nafter three days he became suspicious and set his dogs loose upon them,\nbut they showed not the slightest fear. \"To be sure,\" he exclaimed,\n\"they are spectres of the true sort. If a hundred years old, they must\nchange their shape at the sight of hounds; if they are spooks of a\nthousand years, they must change when they see the glow of fire produced\nfrom a tree of the same age.\" Reasoning thus, the minister sent some\nservants to the tomb in order to fell the glorification tree. The spirit\nof the tree was a young child dressed in blue garments, and he was\nsitting in a cleft in the side of the tree. When the child was told of\nthe matter he wept, and lamented the ignorance of the old foxes and his\nown fate. Then he vanished. When the servants felled the tree, blood\ngushed forth from it. They took the wood home and set fire to it, and\nas soon as it was kindled the foxes resumed their original shape. Then\nthe minister had them captured and cooked.\n\nThe power possessed by the fox of bewitching men is clearly shown in\nthe following story quoted by Dr. Visser in \"The Fox and Badger in\nJapanese Folklore.\"[59]\n\nIn the eighth year of the Kwambei era (896) a man called Kaya\nYoshifuji resigned the post of a high official in the Bizen province\nand went to live in Hongo Ashimori. His wife ran away to the capital\nand he kept house quite alone. One day he went out of his mind and\nbegan to recite love poems to an imaginary woman. After a month passed\nin this manner he disappeared and his relatives searched high and low\nbut could find no trace of him, so they concluded that he had\ncommitted suicide, and vowed they would make an image of the\neleven-faced Kwannon if they found the unhappy man's corpse. They cut\ndown an oak tree and began to carve the life-size image of Yoshifuji,\nbowing before the unfinished statue to repeat the vow they had taken.\nThis went on for about a fortnight, when to their intense surprise\nYoshifuji crept from under his go-down as thin and pale as though he\nhad passed through a serious illness. The floor of the go-down was\nonly half a dozen inches from the ground, so that it was held to be\nimpossible that a man could have been beneath it. When he had\nrecovered his senses sufficiently to give an account of his\nadventures, he said that a beautiful girl had come to him, bringing\nlove letters and poems from a princess, and that he had replied to\nthem in the same vein in which they were written.\n\n\"At last,\" he continued, \"the girl came with a magnificent carriage\nand four postilions to take me to the princess.\n\n\"After a drive of about ten miles we arrived at a splendid palace,\nwhere an exquisite meal and a very hearty reception from the princess\nsoon made me feel quite at ease. There I lived with her as\ninseparably as two branches growing together on the same tree. She\ngave birth to a son, a very intelligent and beautiful child, whom I\nloved so much that I thought of degrading my son Jadasada and putting\nthis child in his place as son of my principal wife--this in view of\nthe high rank of the princess. But after three years a Buddhist priest\nsuddenly entered the room of Her Highness, carrying a stick in his\nhand. The effect of his appearance was astonishing. Chamberlains and\nCourt ladies all fled left and right and even the princess hid herself\nsomewhere. The priest pushed me from behind with his stick and made me\ngo out of the house through a very narrow passage. When I looked back\nI discovered that I had just crept from under my own go-down!\"\n\nThe curious point of this story is that those who listened to it\nrushed to the go-down and demolished it without delay. As they did so,\ntwenty or thirty foxes came from beneath it and scattered in all\ndirections, hastening to the mountains. Yoshifuji, bewitched by these\nwizard-foxes, had been lying under the go-down for a fortnight,\nbelieving in his trance that he was spending three years in a palace.\nThe priest who broke the spell was a metamorphosis of Kwannon.\n\nThat the wer-vixen superstition is deeply engrained in the minds of\ntravellers is proved by the story of a bishop who once passed the night\nin a house which was so desolate in appearance that his companions\nbegged him to read a sutra for the purpose of driving away evil\ninfluences. Two of them went to a wood close to the house, where they\nsaw a mysterious phantom, large and white, which they took to be a\nwer-vixen. They rushed in to tell the bishop, who, greatly excited,\ncried, \"I have often heard of foxes haunting people, but I have never\nset eyes on a ghost of this kind,\" and he hastened to the spot, full of\neagerness, only to discover a harmless, ordinary girl--or so he said!\n\nAnother wer-vixen attempted to steal a child. The nurse was out in\nthe grounds with her charge of two years old when her master, the\nfather of the infant, heard her crying for help. Seizing his sword he\nran to the spot, when to his astonishment he found that _two_ nurses\nexactly alike were pulling at his son and heir, one on one side and\none on the other. He could not say which was the genuine nurse, and in\ngreat terror brandished his sword, making feints at both. Thereupon\none of the nurses vanished and the other swooned, the child still in\nher arms. A priest was sent for and by means of incantations brought\nthe nurse to her senses. She then said that her double had appeared\nand laying hold of the babe had claimed it as her own. Nobody knew\nwhether the phantom was a _fox_ or a _spirit_.[60]\n\nHere is a story of a vindictive wer-fox, taken from the \"Uji shui\nmonogatari\":--\n\n\"A samurai was on his way home one evening when he met a fox. Pursuing\nthe animal, he sent an arrow into its loin. The fox howled loudly and\nlimped quickly away through the grass towards the samurai's house.\nWhen the man saw the animal was breathing fire he hastened to overtake\nhim, but was too late. The fox, on arriving at the house, assumed\nhuman shape and set fire to the building. Then the samurai pursued the\nculprit, whom he took to be a real man, but, resuming vulpine form,\nthe animal disappeared into the thicket.\"\n\nA number of fox legends, which have been rendered into English by Dr.\nVisser, are found in the \"Kokon chomonshu.\"\n\nThe house of a Dainagon was haunted by a number of foxes, and was so\nimpossible to live in that the owner decided to hold a battue. The\nvery night he gave orders to this effect he saw a vision of a\ngrey-haired old man, with the figure of a tall boy, wearing a green\nhunting dress, and seated under an orange tree in the garden. The\nowner asked the apparition's name, and he replied, \"I have lived in\nyour house for two generations and have a great number of children and\ngrandchildren. I have always tried to keep them out of mischief but\nthey never would listen. Now I am sorry because they have made you\nangry. If you will forgive the things my family have done, I will\nprotect you and let you know whenever good luck is coming your way.\"\n\nThen the owner of the house awoke from his strange dream, rose and\nopened the door of the verandah. There he discovered in the dim\nmorning light an old hairless fox, shyly trying to hide himself behind\na bamboo bench.\n\nThe _tanuki_, or badger, shares with the fox the reputation for powers\nof transformation. This animal appeared in Japanese folklore later\nthan the fox, but is often coupled with it in stories of animal\nsorcery. An old mountain lake was frequented by many water birds, but\nit was well known that whoever tried to shoot them was drowned in the\nlake. At last a man, who had more courage than the others, decided\nthat this mysterious matter must be looked into. He went alone in the\ndark, armed with bow, arrows, and a sword, and when he reached the\nlake he sat down under a pine tree, bent his bow and waited. Suddenly\nthe surface of the lake was disturbed, waves dashed on the shore and\nhe saw a faint light in the centre. The ball of light moved about,\ncoming closer and closer, and circling round him. He was about to\nshoot at it when it flew back over the lake. Presently it came close\nto him again, and in the centre he saw a grinning old hag, upon whom\nhe seized. She tried to pull him into the lake, but could not manage\nto do so, for he stood like a rock and, having thrown down his bow,\nstabbed at her with his sword. She grew weaker and weaker and the\nlight disappeared. Then she died, and he took home the animal shape\nwhich was left on his hands, and which proved to be an old _tanuki_.\n\nAnother story of the _tanuki_ is more like a ghost story than that of\na wer-animal, and concerns a captain of the guards called Sukeyasu.\nWhen he was hunting in the province of Tamba he passed the night in\nan old chapel which the villagers warned him was haunted by a monster.\nAs a snowstorm was raging he preferred to face the strange risk inside\nthe chapel to a certain wetting in the open.\n\nHe was half asleep when he heard a noise outside the chapel and\npeeping through a chink in the sliding door he saw a pitch-black\npriest, so tall that his head appeared to reach the eaves. The priest\nstretched a thin hairy arm through the chink in the door and stroked\nSukeyasu's forehead, afterwards withdrawing his hand. The captain was\ntoo frightened to move, but when the same thing was repeated he\nplucked up courage to grasp the hairy hand and hold it firmly. Then\nensued a struggle and the door gave way. Sukeyasu came down on the top\nof the priest and as he pressed upon him with all his might he found\nhis opponent growing smaller and smaller, and his arms thinner and\nthinner. The captain called his servants to his assistance and when a\nlight was obtained it was found that the huge spook was in reality a\n_tanuki_. Next day the animal's head was shown to the villagers, and\nfrom that time the chapel was no longer haunted.\n\nAn unsuccessful transformation into animal shape is the subject of\nanother wer-fox story. A man left his house one evening in order to do\nsome business in a neighbouring city, but to his wife's surprise he came\nback accompanied by a servant long before he was due, saying that he had\naccomplished his business satisfactorily. He was very tired and went to\nbed at once, but an old woman-servant in the house warned her mistress,\nsaying that she had noticed something odd about the returned traveller,\nwho was blind in the left eye, while her master was blind in the right\neye. The wife then called to the sleeping man, saying she was ill, and\nasking him to get her some medicine. He did so, grumbling, and to the\nwife's astonishment, she saw that what the old woman said was true. Then\nwhen he lay down to sleep again she stabbed him to death, and he cried\nout like a fox, \"kon, kon, kwai--kwai.\" Then they beat to death the\nservant the wer-fox had brought with him, and found he was also a fox.\nThe one who had taken the shape of the master had not trained himself\ncarefully enough in the art of transformation.\n\nA very uncanny fox and badger story comes from an old Japanese\nsource.[61] Kugano Kendo was a clever doctor who lived in Yeddo. One\nday he was asked to go and see a patient in the country, and when he\nreached the house in question, which he had never before visited, he\nfound that the master had gone out and he was asked to wait. A\npage-boy offered him some refreshments after his long journey, and\nwhen he was about to thank him for his attentions the boy turned away\nand, to the doctor's astonishment, he saw the page's face had utterly\nchanged, becoming enormously long and narrow, with a small nose and\nbig mouth and only one eye in the centre of the forehead. Suddenly the\napparition vanished. Though courageous by nature this struck the\ndoctor as so extraordinary that he felt inclined to leave the strange\nhouse at once. However, he mastered his fears and soon the owner of\nthe house returned. The doctor told him what he had seen and the\nmaster burst out laughing and said, \"Oh, that boy has been at it\nagain, has he? He always frightens strangers. Did he pull a face like\nthis?\" and suiting his actions to his words the man imitated the\nhorrible expression, his face taking the same deformity of one eye in\nthe centre of his forehead, and a foxy snout.\n\nThis was too much for the doctor's equanimity. He ran to the front door\nand called his servants to prepare for the journey home. Then he found\nthat all the servants had run away except one, and outside it was\npitch-dark. The remaining servant said he could find a lantern, and\npresently he appeared out of the darkness with a light in his hand which\nfell full upon his features. To Kendo's intense horror he noticed the\nsame transformation had taken place in the servant's countenance as had\nappeared in the faces of the others, and this additional strain being\ntoo much for his nerves, he cried out and fell into a swoon.\n\nIn the meantime the doctor's friends, growing anxious about his long\nabsence, despatched a search party to find him, and among those who\nwere sent were some of the servants who had accompanied him earlier in\nthe evening. To their surprise, instead of the fine house they had\nalready visited, they found only an old, dirty, tumbledown cottage,\nwhich the neighbours told them was always desolate and only inhabited\nby foxes and _tanuki_. Nobody dared to pass that way by night. After a\nlong search Doctor Kendo was found lying face downwards in a bamboo\ngrove. Weeks passed before he recovered from his adventure. This story\nseems to throw a light on what may be called \"the workings of\ntransformation,\" as though a partial change were brought about by some\nhidden occult force glimmering through the human shape.\n\nThe \"Roo chawa\"[62] describes three kinds of strange wer-animals.\nFirstly thin ones, with emaciated features, red eyes, long trunks,\nlegs the length of a horse, and a loud cry \"like the tone of a bell.\"\nThese are _tanuki_. The second variety has a round face, sharp nose,\nspotted skin and is blind in one eye. Thirdly, there are foxes with\nlarge ears, round eyes, pointed cheeks, wide mouths, but _without a\nright arm_! This sounds as though the description had been taken\nduring the process of metamorphosis.\n\nThe one-eyed beasts seem the most fearsome to encounter in the dark.\nAn ancient monastery was haunted by them. An old man, blind in one\neye, arrived there as the priest was murmuring his prayers. He came\nnear enough to stroke the devout man's face, but as he put out his\nhand to do so the priest protected himself with a knife and chopped\noff the arm, which proved to be the hairy leg of an old fox.\n\nAnother man who passed the night in the same monastery was disturbed\nby a number of puppy-dogs which ran in and out of the cloisters.\nLooking through a crack in an old door he saw a woman standing\noutside. He pierced her through the breast with his sword and she\nfled, bleeding profusely. A moment later a ball of light fell onto the\nground, and when the man ran to see what it was, he found the same old\nwitch. Again he struck at her with his sword and she fled, leaving\nanother pool of blood.\n\nNext day an old one-eyed woman came to the monastery accompanied by a\nlittle girl and asked the abbot to read a mass at the funeral of her\nelder sister.\n\nThe abbot, believing all was not right with these people, chased away\nthe woman and child by threatening to strike them with a bamboo cane.\nThat night the village was lit by burning torches and a crowd\nassembled to pray and read sutras. Temple gongs and kettle-drums\nresounded, and everyone knew that some mysterious ceremony was being\nheld. The following morning the abbot sent to discover what had taken\nplace and an old dead _tanuki_, as big as a calf, was dug out of the\nground. It was found to be the witch that had been wounded in the\nmonastery. This may be compared with the witch-cat stories of England\nin the following chapter.\n\nFox-possession and fox-familiars are common beliefs among the\nJapanese; women, weak men, and even children suffering from the idea\nof having been transformed into animals. They are cured by being made\nto snuff up smoke from a heap of burning refuse, or by drinking weak\ntea, or swallowing roasted leaves of a certain plant; all these things\nbeing detested by foxes, and incidentally no doubt useful in cases of\nordinary hysteria. Foxes which take the form of men and women soon\nresume vulpine shape when fumigated, bathed, or attacked by dogs. Even\nin the present day, fox-possession has as great a hold on the\nimagination as in earlier centuries, but it is more widely ascribed to\nhuman sorcery. Certain sacred temples in Japan still attract crowds\nof pilgrims who believe that they are possessed by foxes and who come\nto these holy places to be cured. The bone of a tortoise's foot held\nin the left hand is prescribed as a talisman against this fearsome\nspell--probably also many other of the formul\u00e6 useful in cases of\nwitchcraft would be found efficacious.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[52] \"The Pao Poh-tsze,\" chap, i, sect. 3.\n\n[53] \"Religious System of China.\"\n\n[54] The legend says that a lady of light morals lived in the remotest\ntimes and bore the name of O-tsze. She adopted the fox shape, and\nhence it is that such spooks often call themselves O-tsze.\n\n[55] \"Wuh tsah tsu,\" by Sie Chao chi.\n\n[56] Brinkley, F., \"Japan,\" 1902, Vol. V, p. 197.\n\n[57] _Ibid._, p. 198.\n\n[58] The \"Huen Chung ki.\"\n\n[59] 1908, pp. 21-3.\n\n[60] _See_ Visser, M. W. de, \"The Fox and Badger in Japanese\nFolklore,\" 1908.\n\n[61] The \"Kwaidan toshiotoko,\" 1749.\n\n[62] 1742.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XII\n\n                               WITCHES\n\n\nAmongst the powers with which witches have been credited from time\nimmemorial are those of transforming themselves into various kinds of\nanimals, of transforming other people into animals and of sending\nforth so-called familiars in various animal shapes. Whether witches\ncan change human beings into animals through sorcery is a question\nwhich has exercised the minds of hundreds of writers on demonology and\nwitchcraft, amongst them, to mention a few at random, Bodin, Boguet,\nJames I, Glanvill, Dr. Webster, Reginald Scott, his more famous\nnamesake Sir Walter, and Charles Lamb. The last-named, in his essay on\nthe subject, tells us that he was extremely inquisitive from his\nchildhood about witches and witch-stories, and that it should cause no\nwonder if the wicked, having been symbolised by a goat, should come\nsometimes in that body and \"assert his metaphor.\"[63]\n\nIn the Middle Ages witches who were condemned to the stake, confessed\nto having taken the shapes of cats, hares, dogs, horses, and many\nother animals, being prompted to such changes by the devil, with whom\nthey were in league.\n\nA witch trial took place at Lancaster on the 10th of February, 1633,\nin which a batch of witches was accused of such dealings.\n\nEvidence was given by Edmund Robinson, son of Edmund Robinson, of Pendle\nforest, eleven years of age, at Padham, before Richard Shuttleworth and\nJohn Starkey, Justices of the Peace, \"who upon oath informeth, being\nexamined concerning the great meeting of the witches of Pendle, saith\nthat upon All Saints-day last past, he, this informer being with one\nHenry Parker a near door-neighbour to him in Wheatley Cave, desired the\nsaid Parker to give him leave to gather some bulloes, which he did. In\ngathering whereof he saw two greyhounds, namely a black and a brown; one\ncame running over the next field towards him, he verily thinking the one\nof them to be Mr. Nutter's and the other to be Mr. Robinson's, the said\ngentlemen then having suchlike. And saith the said greyhounds came to\nhim, and fawned on him, they having about their necks either of them a\ncollar, unto which was tied a string: which collars (as this informant\naffirmeth) did shine like gold. And he was thinking that some either of\nMr. Nutter's or Mr. Robinson's family should have followed them, yet\nseeing nobody to follow them, he took the same greyhounds thinking to\ncourse with them. And presently a hare did rise very near before him. At\nthe sight whereof he cried 'Loo, Loo, Loo,' but the dogs would not run.\nWhereupon he being very angry took them and with the strings that were\nabout their collars, tied them to a little bush at the next hedge, and,\nwith a switch that he had in his hand, he beat them. And instead of the\nblack greyhound Dickenson's wife stood up, a neighbour whom this\ninformer knoweth. And instead of the brown one a little boy whom this\ninformant knoweth not. At which sight this informer being afraid,\nendeavoured to run away; and being stayed by the woman, namely\nDickenson's wife, she put her hand into her pocket, and pulled forth a\npiece of silver much like to a fair shilling, and offered to give it him\nto hold his tongue and not tell: which he refused saying, 'Nay, thou art\na witch.' Whereupon she put her hand into her pocket again, and pulled\nout a thing like unto a bridle that jingled, which she put on the little\nboy's head; which said boy stood up in the likeness of a white horse,\nand in the brown greyhound's stead. Then immediately Dickenson's wife\ntook the informer before her upon the said horse and carried him to a\nnew house called Hearthstones, being about a quarter of a mile off.\"\nHere the boy, Edmund Robinson, was witness to the extraordinary\nincidents of a feast of witches, all of which he recounted before the\njudges, and then his father, being called, gave evidence that he had\nsent his son to fetch home two kine, and as he did not return he went to\nseek him, finding him eventually \"so affrighted and distracted that he\nneither knew his father, nor did he know where he was, and so continued\nvery nearly a quarter of an hour before he came to himself, when he told\nthe above curious happenings.\"[64]\n\nThe seventeen Pendle forest witches condemned in Lancashire obtained a\nreprieve and were sent to London, where they were examined by His\nMajesty himself and the Council.\n\nA witch called Julian Cox, aged about seventy years, was indicted at\nTaunton, in Somerset, in 1663, for transforming herself into a hare\nand for other sorcery.\n\nThe evidence given to prove that she was a witch was embodied in a\nnarrative deposed to by Mr. Pool, a servant and officer in the court\nto Judge Archer, then Judge of Assizes at Taunton.\n\n\"The first witness was a huntsman, who swore that he went out with a\npack of hounds to hunt a hare, and not far from Julian Cox her house,\nhe at last started a hare. The dogs hunted her very close, and the\nthird ring hunted her in view, till at last the huntsman perceiving\nthe hare almost spent, and making toward a great bush he ran on the\nother side of the bush to take her up, and preserve her from the dogs.\nBut as soon as he laid hands on her, it proved to be Julian Cox, who\nhad her head grovelling on the ground and her globes (as he expressed\nit) upward. He knowing her, was so affrighted that his hair on his\nhead stood on end, and yet spake to her and asked her what brought her\nthere; but she was so far out of breath, that she could not make him\nany answer. His dogs also came up with full cry to recover the game\nand smelt at her, and so left off hunting any farther. And the\nhuntsman went home presently, sadly affrighted.\"[65]\n\nIn a report dated in the latter half of the nineteenth century on the\nstate of the county prison at Dingwall, a statement was made by a\nfisherman who was imprisoned for assaulting a woman of sixty, whom he\naccused of bewitching everything he had. She prevented him from catching\nfish and caused his boat to upset. The other fishermen then refused to\nwork with him as a companion. \"She is known in all the neighbourhood to\nbe a witch,\" he deposed. \"She has been seen a hundred times milking the\ncows in the shape of a hare, though I never saw her do it myself.\"\n\n\"People believe that if anyone gets blood from a witch she can do them\nno more harm, and that is the reason I cut her with a knife, so that\nit might go into her as short a way as possible. All I wanted was to\nget blood,\" was his quaint way of putting it.\n\nThe hare has always been closely associated with witches, and for this\nreason seems to be of evil augury, though in some parts of the country\nits foot, and sometimes its head, are used as a protection against\nsorcery, perhaps on the homeopathic principle.\n\nThe cat runs the hare very close in its association with witches, and\nis a handy animal for transformation purposes, being so frequently met\nwith in this country.\n\nOne of the most celebrated Scottish witch-cat trials took place at\nCaithness when Margaret Nin-Gilbert was interrogated on February 8,\n1719, by William Innes, minister of Thurso, and confessed that she was\ntravelling one evening when she was met by the devil in the likeness\nof a man who \"engaged her to take on with him,\" which she agreed to\ndo. From that time she became familiar with him, and sometimes he\nappeared to her in the likeness of a huge black horse, sometimes\nriding a horse, sometimes like a black cloud, and again in the shape\nof a black hen. She apparently obtained the powers of a witch with the\nhelp of this apparition, and the use she made of them appears in the\nfollowing story told by one William Montgomery, a mason, whose house\nwas invaded by cats in such numbers that his wife and maidservant\ncould not endure to remain in the place.\n\nOne night on Montgomery's return he found five cats by the fireside,\nand the servant told him they were \"speaking among themselves.\"\n\nThe cat-witch on the preceding November 28 had climbed in at a hole in\na chest, and Montgomery watched his opportunity, intending to cut off\nher head when she should put it out of the hole. \"Having fastened my\nsword on her neck,\" he continues, \"which cut her, nor could I hold\nher; having (at length) opened the chest, my servant, William Geddes,\nhaving fixed my durk in her hinder quarters by which stroke she was\nfastened to the chest; yet after all she escaped out of the chest with\nthe durk in her hinder quarter, which continued there till I thought,\nby many strokes, I had killed her with my sword; and having cast her\nout dead, she could not be found next morning.\" Four or five nights\nafter, the servant cried out that the cats had come again, and\nMontgomery \"wrapped his plaid about the cat and thrust the durk\nthrough her body, and having fixed the durk in the ground, I drove at\nher head with the back of an axe until she was dead, and being cast\nout could not be found next morning.\"\n\nHe further declared that no drop of blood came from the cats, also\nthat they did not belong to anyone in the neighbourhood, although one\nnight he saw eight of them and took this to be witchcraft for certain.\n\nOn February 12, Margaret Nin-Gilbert, who lived about half a mile from\nMontgomery's house, was seen by some of her neighbours to drop one of\nher legs at her own door, and she being suspected of witchcraft the\nleg, black and putrefied, was taken before the deputy Sheriff who\nimmediately had the maimed woman arrested and imprisoned. By her own\nconfession she admitted that she was bodily present at Montgomery's\nhouse \"in the likeness of a feltered cat\" and that Montgomery had\nbroken her leg either with his durk or axe, which leg since had fallen\noff from the other part of her body. Also that one Margaret Olsone was\nalso there in the likeness of a cat, and several other women, and that\nthey were invisible because \"the devil did hide and conceal them by\nraising a dark mist or fog to screen them from being seen.\"[66]\n\nSometimes the apparition of a witch as a cat foretells death.\n\nIn 1607 a witch of the name of Isobel Grierson was burnt after being\naccused and convicted of entering the house of Adam Clark, in\nPrestonpans, in the likeness of his own cat and in the company of a\nmighty rabble of other cats, which by their noise frightened Adam, his\nwife, and their maid, the last-named being dragged up and down the\nstairs by the hair of her head, presumably by the devil in the shape\nof a black man. Isobel also visited the house of a certain Mr. Brown\nin the shape of a cat, but once being called upon by name she\nvanished, but Brown himself died of a disease she had laid upon him.\n\nIn 1629 another Isobel, wife of George Smith, was indicted as follows:--\n\n\"_Item_ she resett Cristian Grinton, a witch in her house, whom the\npannel's husband saw one night to come out at one hole in the roof, in\nthe likeness of a cat, and thereafter transform herself in her own\nlikeness, whereupon the pannel told her husband that it should not\nfare well with him, which fell out accordingly, for next day he fell\ndown dead at the plough.\"[67]\n\nThe witches of Vernon frequented an old castle in the shape of cats.\nThree or four brave men determined to pass the night in the\nstronghold, where they were assailed by the cats and one of them was\nkilled, several of the others being hurt, and many of the cats\nreceived wounds. Afterwards the women were found to have returned to\nhuman shape and suffered from corresponding gashes.\n\nThe witches of Vernon had their imitators in three witches of\nStrasburg who, in the disguise of huge cats, fell upon a workman. He\ndefended himself courageously and chased away the cats, wounding them.\nThey were found instantaneously transformed into women, badly hurt and\nin their beds.\n\nAnother story describes how several cat-witches tormented a poor\nlabourer, who, wearying of their persistence, drew his broadsword and\nsent the animals flying. One less nimble than the rest received a cut\nfrom the sword which severed one of its hind legs, when, to the\nlabourer's amazement, he discovered on picking up the limb that it was\nhuman in shape, and next morning one of the old hags was discovered to\nhave only one leg left. Similar stories of the \"repercussion\" variety\nwill be found in Chapter XVIII, but they have never been\nsatisfactorily explained.\n\nM. Henri Gelin tells a good story of a witch who transformed herself\ninto a dog.[68]\n\nOne winter evening dogs were barking all round a lonely house in Niort\nfar more loudly than usual. The farmer rose from his bed and carefully\nopened the shutters. In the middle of the yard he saw a black and\nwhite greyhound, which apparently was enjoying itself molesting the\nother dogs, knocking them over with its paws without the least\ndifficulty, and then picking them up in its jaws and throwing them to\nsome distance as soon as they ventured within reach. The farmer drew\non his trousers, into the seat of which his wife had sown a\nhorse-chestnut as a talisman against witchcraft, loaded his gun and\nfired on the animal which fell dead. The next day he rose at an early\nhour to go and examine the corpse of his prey, and was greatly\nastonished to see the body of a beautiful woman dressed in gorgeous\nclothes lying in the very spot on which the dog was shot. Round her\nneck there hung a rich chain made of five strings of jewels bearing\nenamelled medallions beautifully chased, and on her fingers were a\nprofusion of precious gems. In order to cover all traces of his\ninvoluntary murder, he quickly dug a hole in a corner of the yard and\nmade a pile of faggots above the newly replaced earth. He had only\njust finished his task when a gentleman came into the yard, and asked\nwhether he had seen a lady pass that way. From the particulars given,\nthe farmer soon felt certain that the woman in question was the witch\nhe had killed. Tremblingly he replied that he had not seen the lady.\nBut a little dog that followed the gentleman ran to the heap of\nfaggots and began turning them over, howling piteously. \"You have\nkilled my poor wife,\" cried the gentleman. \"I am certain she came\nhere.\" But he did not insist on looking into the pile, and presently\nwithdrew, followed by the still whimpering dog.\n\nA sheep is sometimes, but not frequently, chosen as a medium for\ntransformation.\n\nA man who was returning late from the market at Verri\u00e8res in Poitou,\nmet a lamb, which followed him bleating loudly, at the turn of a\nfootpath crossing a lonely heath. \"Poor thing,\" he said, \"you might be\ndevoured by a wolf,\" and, seizing the lamb by its four legs, he\nhoisted it on to his shoulders, so as to carry it conveniently. As he\napproached his house he found the animal began to weigh very heavily.\nAt last he arrived in a perspiration and put down his burden amongst\nthe sheep which had already been penned in the fold. At dawn the next\nday, he went to look at his new lamb. But in the spot where he had\nplaced it the evening before he found a huge demon, busy stitching\nstraw soles into his shoes. The sorcerer had resumed human shape and,\nlooking very foolish, begged that he would say nothing about his\nlittle adventure. But the man seized him by the shoulders, kicked him\nfrom behind and chucked him out of the pen, crying, \"Get out of this,\nyou evil being.\" \"If only he had made the slightest scratch from which\nthe blood flowed,\" added the old lady who was telling the story, \"the\nsorcerer would have been cured, and would no longer have been able to\ntransform himself into an animal.\"\n\nAlthough witches are able to transform themselves into horses if they\nwish, they usually prefer to use their powers for transforming other\npeople, and getting the benefit by riding their victims to death.\n\nMargaret Grant, a Scottish witch of the nineteenth century, believed\nthat she was able to transform herself into various animals, and\n\"avers that she was, at times, actually changed by evil-disposed\npersons into a pony or a hare and ridden for great distances, or\nhunted by dogs as the case might be.\"\n\nJoseph Glanvill in his \"Sadducismus Triumphatus,\" tells the story of a\n\"great army of witches\" who were charged with performing a feat of\nhorse-transformation on a large scale at Blocula in Sweden in 1669.\n\nA man may be transformed by a woman throwing a magic halter over his\nhead while he is in bed. Then she mounts the horse, and rides to the\nwitches' tryst. If, however, the man-horse can manage to slip the\nmagic bridle off and throw it over her, she becomes a mare, and her\nvictim mounts her and rides till she is exhausted.\n\nAt Yarrowfoot a witch-mare, according to one story, was shod in the\nusual manner and afterwards sold to her own husband. To his surprise,\nwhen he removed the bridle, his wife stood before him in human form,\nwearing horseshoes on her hands and feet.\n\nThere are many variants of this story, another woman having been found\nin bed with horseshoe attachments, and it is difficult to trace the\norigin of this fantastic idea.\n\nIn the neighbourhood of Ostrel in Denmark a man served on a farm, the\nmistress of which, unknown to him, was a witch. Although she gave him\ngood and wholesome food he never thrived, but became thinner every day.\nAt this, being much troubled, he went to a wise man, to whom he\ncommunicated his case. From this man he learnt that his mistress was a\nwitch and that at night, while he slept, she transformed him into a\nhorse, and rode upon him to Troms Church in Norway; so that it was not\nto be wondered at that his strength decreased. The wise man at the same\ntime gave him an ointment with which to rub his head at night, and said\nwhen he fell asleep he would have a violent itching on his head, and\nthen he would wake up and see that he was standing outside Troms Church.\n\nThe man did as he had been told, and on waking up the following night,\nhe found that he was standing by the church, holding in his hand a\nbridle which he had torn off whilst scratching his head. Behind him he\nsaw many horses bound together by each other's tails. Presently his\nmistress came out and cast a friendly look at him, but he nodded for\nher to come nearer, and when she stood by, he cast the bridle over her\nhead and she became a handsome mare on the spot. He mounted and rode\nher home. On the way he called at a farrier's, and made him shoe the\nmare. When he reached home he told his master that he had been out to\nbuy a fine mare, which would go handsomely in harness with one already\nin the stables. The master paid him a good round sum for the animal,\nbut when he took off its bridle, there stood his wife with horseshoes\non her hands and feet. He turned her straight out of doors, but she\nnever managed to get rid of the horseshoes.\n\nWhen St. Macarius encountered a poor old woman who had been changed into\na horse, he restored her to human shape by sprinkling holy water over\nher. The same saint acted mercifully in another case of transformation.\n\nA young girl refused to do the bidding of the man who asked her to be\nhis wife. He was so infuriated by her refusal that he arranged with a\nwizard to turn her into a stoat. A wise man, endeavouring to explain\nthis incident, says, \"This was not a genuine transformation, but was\nan illusion of the devil, who so affected the imagination of the girl\nand the bystanders, that she appeared to them in the form of a stoat,\nalthough she was still a woman in reality.\"\n\nThe victim of the enchantment was then taken before the holy man of the\nname of Macarius, who, on account of his saintliness, could not suffer\ndeception of the devil's wiles. He looked upon the maiden and saw that\nshe was a human being and no stoat, and thus, uttering a prayer, freed\nher from the spell. This cure is of the hypnotic variety, in which\nseveral people are under the mental spell of one other.\n\nReginald Scott tells the story of a woman who sold an egg to a man who,\nwhen eating it, speedily turned into an ass. For three years she rode\nthe animal to market. It was in the city of Salamin in Cyprus where a\nship arrived laden with merchandise. Many of the sailors went ashore in\nthe hope of procuring fresh provisions. A certain sturdy young\nEnglishman went to a woman's shop some little way from the town, to see\nwhether she could let him have some new-laid eggs. She promised to do so\nand went off to fetch them, but she was away so long that the young\nsailor called out that she must please make haste, as the tide was going\nout and he might be left behind when his ship set sail. At last she came\nout with the eggs and told him to come back to her house if the ship had\ngone. The sailor made the best of his way back to the vessel, but being\nhungry, ate an egg on the way. He was then struck dumb and his wits\nseemed to have left him. When he reached the side of the vessel and\ntried to go aboard, the mariners beat him back with cudgels crying,\n\"What lacks the ass?\" and \"Whither the devil does the ass want to come?\"\nThen the sailor realised that he had been bewitched by the woman's eggs\nhe had eaten, and had turned into a donkey. Finding it impossible to\nboard the ship and remembering the witch's words, he went back to her\nhouse and there served her for the space of three years, carrying the\nburdens she laid on his back.[69] Here no doubt the egg is used merely\nas an instrument for inducing a certain frame of mind in the victim. It\nmay be presumed that the witch's words of suggestion were equally\nnecessary in bringing about the transformation.\n\nThe sorceress Meroc in \"The Metamorphosis or Golden Ass of Apuleius,\"\nhad the power to change, by one word only, her lover into a beaver. \"She\nlikewise changed into a frog an innkeeper who was her neighbour and of\nwhom she was on that account envious, and now that old man, swimming in\na tub of his own wine, and merged in the dregs of it, calls on his\nancient guests with a hoarse and courteously croaking voice.\"\n\n\"She likewise changed one of the advocates of the court into a ram\nbecause he had declaimed against her, and now that ram pleads\ncauses.\"[70]\n\nM. Henri Gelin, whose researches on Poitevin legends and folklore are\nvery valuable,[71] discusses the conditions under which metamorphosis\ntakes place, saying it is entirely involuntary and is the result of an\nagreement entered into with infernal powers. The soul of the sorcerer is\nsupposed to remain in a state of distinct entity. But the narrators of\nthese stories have done little to make clear the actual process which\ntakes place when the transformation occurs of a man into a wolf, a\nsheep, or a colt, or a woman (who seems to be credited with gentler\ncharacteristics) into a goat, a bitch, or a hind. Perhaps the human body\nremains temporarily deprived of its soul, which, entering a new shape,\nsubstitutes itself for the obscure and undeveloped soul of the animal,\nor perhaps the wizard's body enjoys the faculty of anatomically\nmodifying its organs, and varying its aspects something in the manner of\nthe caterpillar which turns into a moth. Who shall say?\n\nA shepherdess in the district of Niort noticed when driving her flock\nhome that it had become augmented by the presence of a black sheep,\nthe origin of which she could not trace. She penned up the extra\nanimal with her own in the shed, and bolted the door, rejoicing at the\naddition to her flock. But as soon as night had fallen, a woman's\nvoice was heard singing in the sheep's shed. The tune was a plaintive\none, interspersed now and again with strident and prolonged laughter.\nNot one of the servants or neighbours dared to open the shed and face\nthe flock to see who could be singing like that. In hushed voices they\nsaid \"It's a witch!\" The next day at the usual hour of departure, the\nshepherdess, in great dread of what she might see, partly opened the\nshed door. The black sheep rushed like a whirlwind into the open and\nwas gone. Now and again, however, the apparition returned to the farm\nin the shape of a woman, clapping her hands and laughing loudly as\nthough to mock at the people who had allowed her to escape so easily.\n\nThe following legend of a white hind comes from the same district,\nSouch\u00e9, two miles from Niort. Its peculiar characteristic is that the\nyoung girl, who complains to her mother about the hounds chasing her,\nappears to be quite aware of what is happening to her in her dual\npersonality of woman and hind at the same moment, an important detail\nwhen regarded in the light of scientific occultism.\n\nThe story is told by Gelin and is very popular in Poitou. The heroine\nis a girl by day and a white hind by night. The pack of hounds\nbelonging to her brother Renaud chase her in the forest. She complains\nof this to her mother who begs Renaud to call back the pack. But it is\ntoo late. The white hind is captured and killed. Her palpitating flesh\nis stripped from the carcase and prepared as a dish of venison, and\nnext day when the guests sit down to the feast, they are terrified to\nhear a woman's voice which they recognise as that of their absent\nsister, murmuring, \"Alas! my breasts are lying on platters of gold.\"\nThen, raising her tone, she announces that Renaud's soul is forfeit\nand that his name is written up on the gates of hell. At the sound of\nher words Renaud falls down dead and his mother goes off in a swoon.\n\n\"La Blanche Biche,\" as the story is called in the original, is told in\nverse which may be rendered roughly as follows:--\n\n      Afar in the fields dwell a mother and daughter,\n      The mother sings on, but the fair maid sighs.\n      \"For what do you sigh, my dear Ang\u00e8lique?\"\n      \"I sigh in great need, for my heart is sad.\n      In the day I'm a maid, but at night a white hind,\n      The hounds are upon me and hunters as well,\n      And the worst pack of all is my brother's pack.\n      Go forth, mother dear, to his castle and say,\n      He must call back the hounds and the hunters too.\"\n      Then the mother puts her distaff aside\n      And runs to the castle of Renaud, her son,\n      To tell him to stay his hounds and his men.\n      \"But my hounds, mother, are after the white hind now.\"\n      \"Call them back, Renaud, for sweet Ang\u00e8lique\n      Dwells in the shape of that same white hind.\"\n      Then Renaud seizes his hunter's horn,\n      But before he can blow two blasts loud and clear,\n      The white hind is taken and brought by the hounds\n      To the castle kitchen, where, seized by the cook,\n      Its joints are severed, its flesh is sliced;\n      And a shout comes from the castle hall,\n      \"Set a fine feast for us all to-night,\n      For a number of guests will honour our house,\n      All but our sister, the fair Ang\u00e8lique.\"\n      Then the smoking dishes appear on the board,\n      And the guests turn longing eyes on the feast,\n      When a plaintive sigh is heard through the hall,\n      And a woman's sad voice rings out in a shriek,\n      That curdles the blood of the waiting guests.\n      \"My breasts are lying on platters of gold,\n      My heart's on the spit, and it groans and it moans,\n      My bright eyes, embedded in pastry, grow dim;\n      But my soul dwells with angels in paradise,\n      And that of my brother is destined for hell!\"\n      At these terrible words, from invisible source,\n      Renaud starts up! Then falls back--_stone dead_.\n      While his mother slips under the board in a swoon.\n\nThis is a far more harrowing story than the Yorkshire legend of a\nwoman who turns into a white doe, which is found in Wordsworth's \"The\nWhite Doe of Rylstone.\"\n\n      When Lady A\u0103liza mourned\n      Her son, and felt in her despair,\n      The pang of unavailing prayer;\n      Her son in Wharf's abysses drowned,\n      The noble boy of Egremound,\n      From which affliction, when God's grace\n      At length had in her heart found place,\n      A pious structure fair to see,\n      Rose up this stately priory!\n      The lady's work,--but now laid low;\n      To the grief of her soul that doth come and go,\n      In the beautiful form of this innocent doe:\n      Which though seemingly doomed in its breast to sustain\n      A softened remembrance of sorrow and pain,\n      Is spotless, and holy, and gentle and bright--\n      And glides o'er the earth like an angel of light.\n\nBurke has a very different version of the famous and spotless White\nDoe of Rylstone,[72] the animal being gifted with human faculties\nrather than appearing in human form, and the story having some\naffinity with those of the fairy-godmother class. This beautiful white\ndoe belonged to Emily, the only daughter of Richard Norton of\nRylstone, who had nine warrior sons. The youngest of them, Edward by\nname, had made a present of the doe to his sister and the animal was\ncalled Blanche on account of her spotless white skin. She followed her\nyoung mistress everywhere and was like a human companion. So great was\nher intelligence that she was thought to be a benevolent witch or\nfairy, perhaps rather a sprite bewitched in animal form.\n\nOne day she leads her mistress a long way from home, to a spot beside\na brooklet which is held by the people of the neighbourhood to be\nhaunted. Having reached the desired destination, the doe lies down to\nrest and Emily does likewise. Presently she falls into a kind of\ndream, in which it seems to her that the brook boils and bubbles up\nand a wraith of mist rises on the surface which gradually takes the\nshape and outlines of a beautiful woman.\n\nThis spirit warns Emily in a vision of coming disaster to her beloved\nfather and eight of her brothers. She sees them done to death by the\naxe. Meanwhile the doe lies immovable in a kind of trance and it may\nwell be thought that her real womanly self is seen by Emily in its\nnatural shape.\n\nSoon afterwards Emily is informed by Edward that her father and eight\nof her brothers are on the point of breaking out into open rebellion\nagainst the Sovereign of England and that it is necessary for him to\njoin them, although doing so goes against his convictions, as he is\nloyal to Queen Elizabeth. Nothing that Emily can do or say dissuades\nhim from his decision, and she parts from him in great grief.\n\nAt first the rebels succeed in their projects, but presently their\nattacks fail and they are forced to retreat. A rumour reaches Emily\nthat all the Nortons have been captured and condemned to death and\nthat the rebellion is over.\n\nIn the hope of saving her father and brothers, Emily sets out,\naccompanied by Blanche, to sue Queen Elizabeth for pardon on behalf\nof her relatives. On the long and perilous journey to Court, Blanche\nagain acts as her adviser, and gives her almost human help in moments\nof difficulty, and so charmed is the Queen by the beauty of the\nsuppliant and her intelligent animal comrade, that she sends Lord\nLeicester post-haste to York with a reprieve for the Nortons.\n\nUnfortunately the messenger arrives too late to save any member of the\nfamily except the youngest son, Edward, Emily's favourite, and thus\nthe beautiful human doe is instrumental in saving him, at least, from\nthe scaffold.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[63] \"Essays of Elia,\" 1904, p. 128.\n\n[64] Webster, Dr. John, \"The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft,\" 1677,\npp. 347-9.\n\n[65] Glanvill, Joseph, \"Sadducismus Triumphatus,\" 1726, p. 326.\n\n[66] Extracted from the Wodrow MS., as printed in \"An Historical\nAccount of the Belief in Witchcraft in Scotland,\" by C. K. Sharpe,\n1884, pp. 180-94.\n\n[67] Sharpe, C. K., \"An Historical Account of the Belief in Witchcraft\nin Scotland,\" 1884, p. 98.\n\n[68] \"Legendes de Sorcellerie,\" 1898.\n\n[69] Scott, Reginald, \"The Discovery of Witchcraft,\" 1886, pp. 75-6.\n\n[70] \"The Metamorphosis or Golden Ass of Apuleius,\" 1822, pp. 7-8.\n\n[71] Gelin, H., \"Legendes de Sorcellerie,\" 1898.\n\n[72] \"Anecdotes of the Aristocracy,\" 1849, pp. 152-81.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XIII\n\n                              FAMILIARS\n\n\nFrom witch stories it is only a short step to stories about witches'\nfamiliars, for nearly all sorcerers are gifted with the power of\nsending out a spirit or second soul to do the work of the evil one. A\ndistinction has therefore to be made between the witch in animal form\nand the external soul of the witch sent forth in the shape of an\nanimal while she retains her human appearance.\n\nThe \"familiar\" or \"imp,\" whether a real animal or spirit in animal\nform, stands ever ready at the sorcerer's elbow waiting to do his\nbidding. The \"life\" of the familiar is bound up with that of the\nwitch, and if the former be wounded, the latter will suffer from an\ninjury in a corresponding part of the body. Death to the familiar\nmeans death to the witch, and the way to get rid of the spell is to\nkill the double of the witch. To this class belong some of the most\ninteresting phenomena, as well as the most inexplicable, dealing with\nthe human animal theory.\n\nIn one case a blue butterfly was seen to flutter over a certain farm,\nand as affairs there had not been going at all well, it was looked\nupon with dread and suspicion as the bringer of evil. For three weeks\nthe insect hovered about and during that period \"no butter came.\" Then\nthe farmer decided to take steps to break the enchantment. Armed with\na wet towel he sallied forth to chase the alleged familiar and,\ncleverly flapping his cloth, he brought down the butterfly at a swoop.\nPrecisely at that moment a woman, who was suspected of being a witch,\nwas found lying dead outside the door of her house close by, and after\nthe double event there was no further trouble with the churning.\n\nMatthew Hopkins of Manningtree, Essex, a witch-finder of ill-fame, was\nthe cause of bringing thousands of supposed witches to judgment and so\nto the stake. He was paid 20s. in each town he visited and managed to\nrid of its suspicious characters, and he appears to have found his\nprofession extraordinarily lucrative. In 1644 he was commissioned by\nParliament to make a circuit through several counties with a view to\ndiscovering witches. He travelled in the company of several boon\ncompanions for three years and was instrumental in having sixteen\npersons hanged at Yarmouth, forty at Bury and at least sixty in other\nparts of Suffolk, Norfolk and Huntingdonshire.\n\nDuring a notorious trial of a number of witches at Chelmsford, Essex, on\nJuly 29th, 1645, Hopkins made a deposition about an alleged witch,\nElizabeth Clarke, who confessed that she had known the devil intimately\nfor more than six years and that he visited her between three and five\ntimes a week. She invited Hopkins and his companions, one of whom was a\nman called Sterne, to stay at her house for a time until she could call\nup one of her white imps for them to see. Presently there appeared on\nthe scene an imp like a dog, white and with sandy spots, which seemed to\nbe very fat and plump, with short legs. The animal forthwith vanished\naway. The said Elizabeth gave the name of this imp as Jarmara. And\nimmediately afterwards there appeared another imp, which she called\nVinegar Tom, in the shape of a greyhound with long legs. The said\nElizabeth then remarked that the next imp should be black in colour and\nthat it should come for Master Sterne (the other witness already\nmentioned), and it appeared as she promised, but presently vanished\nwithout leaving a sign. The last imp of all to come before the\nspectators was a creature in the shape of a polecat, but the head\nsomewhat bigger. The said Elizabeth then disclosed to the informant\nthat she had five imps of her own. And two other imps with which she had\ndealings belonged to a certain Beldame Anne West.[73]\n\nThe said Matthew Hopkins, when going from the house of a Mr. Edwards\nof Manningtree, to his own house, one night between nine and ten\no'clock, accompanied by his favourite greyhound, noticed the dog give\na sudden leap and run off as though in full course after a hare.\nHastening to see what the greyhound pursued so eagerly, he espied a\nwhite thing about the size of a kitten, and the panting dog was\nstanding aloof from the creature. By and by the imp or kitten began to\ndance about and around the said greyhound and, viciously approaching\nhim, bit or tore a piece of flesh off the dog's shoulder.\n\nComing later into his own yard, the informant saw a black thing\nproportioned like a cat, only that it was thrice as big, sitting on a\nstrawberry bed and fixing its luminous eyes on him. But when he went\ntowards it, it leaped suddenly over the palings and ran towards the\ninformant as he thought, but instead, it fled through the yard with\nhis greyhound in hot pursuit after it to a great gate which was\n\"underset with a pair of tumbrell strings,\" and it did throw the said\ngate wide open and then vanished. And the said greyhound returned\nagain to the informant shaking and trembling exceedingly.\n\nSterne gave evidence on the same day, and much to the same effect, but\nsaid that the white imp was like a cat but not so big, and when he asked\nElizabeth whether she was not afraid of her imps she answered, \"What! do\nyou think I am afraid of my children?\" and she called the imp Jarmara as\nhaving red spots, and spoke of two more called Sack and Sugar. Four\nother witnesses confirmed the story practically in its entirety.\n\nElizabeth Clarke herself gave evidence then, and said Anne West had\nsent her a \"thing like a little kitlyn,\" which would obtain food for\nher. Two or three nights after this promise, a white thing came to her\nin the night, and the night after a grey one spoke to her and said it\nwould do her no hurt and would help her to get a husband. After\nvarious charges against the said Elizabeth Clarke and her accomplice,\nElizabeth Gooding, Anne Leech, a third woman accused of witchcraft,\ndeposed on April 14th that she and the other two accused sent their\nrespective grey, black and white imps to kill cattle belonging to\nvarious neighbours, and that later they had sent them to kill\nneighbours' children and she added that her imps spoke to her in a\nhollow voice which she plainly understood, and that these accused\nwitches had met together at the house of the said Elizabeth Clarke,\nwhen a book was read \"wherein she thinks there was no goodness.\"\n\nAnother woman suspected of witchcraft was Helen Clark who confessed on\nApril 11th that the devil had appeared to her in the likeness of a\nwhite dog, and that she called her familiar Elimanzer and that she fed\nhim with milk-pottage and that he spoke to her audibly and bade her\ndeny Christ.\n\nWith the witch Anne West was implicated her daughter Rebecca West,\nwho, however, was acquitted, and the notorious Matthew Hopkins deposed\nthat she had told him of visiting the house of Clarke with her mother,\nand that they had found Leech, Gooding, and Helen Clark, and that the\ndevil had appeared in the shape of a dog, afterwards in the shape of\ntwo kittens, then in the shape of two dogs, and that the said\nfamiliars did homage in the first place to the said Elizabeth Clarke\nand slipped up into her lap and kissed her, and then went and kissed\nall that were in the room except the said Rebecca, who was then made\nto swear on a book that she would not reveal what she saw or heard--on\npain of the torments of hell, and that afterwards the devil came and\nkissed her and promised to marry her, and she sent him to kill a\nneighbour's child, of the name of Hart, who died within a fortnight.\n\nSusan Sparrow, who gave her evidence on the 25th of April, said that\nthe house in which she lived with one Mary Greenleif, was haunted by a\nleveret which usually came and sat before the door, which, when\ncoursed by a dog, never stirred, \"and just when the dog came at it, he\nskipped over it and turned about and stood still, and looked on it,\nand shortly after that the dog languished and died.\"\n\nAnother of the witches, called Margaret Moone, had a familiar \"in the\nlikeness of a rat for bigness and shape, but of a greyer colour.\" She\nconfessed to two of the witnesses that she had twelve imps and called\nthese by such names as Jesus, Jockey, Mounsier, Sandy, Mrs. Elizabeth,\nand Collyn, etc. Moone was a \"woman of very bad fame,\" who confessed to\nmany crimes, especially of causing the death of animals and children.\n\nRose Hallybread, who died in gaol before execution, was accused of\nbeing implicated with Joyce Boanes in sending four familiars to the\nhouse of a carpenter, Robert Turner, whose servant was then taken sick\nand \"crowed perfectly like a cock, sometimes barked like a dog,\" sang\ntunes, groaned, and struggled with such strength that five strong men\nwere needed to hold him. Boanes confessed that her imp made the victim\nbark like a dog, Hallybread's imp caused him \"to sing sundry tunes in\ngreat extremity of pains,\" and Susan Cork compelled him to crow. The\ntorture was inflicted because Turner's servant had refused to give\nSusan Cork a sack full of chips.\n\nAnne Cate, another of the witches who was executed at Chelmsford, said\nshe had three familiars like mice and a fourth like a sparrow. They\nwere called James, Prickeare, Robyn, and Sparrow, and she sent them to\nkill both cattle and human beings.\n\nIt was thought impossible to kill these familiars, and one Goff, a\nglover and very honest man of Manningtree, confessed to passing Anne\nWest's house about four o'clock on a moonlight morning and seeing her\ndoor was open, he looked into the house. \"Presently there came three\nor four little things in the shape of black rabbits leaping and\nskipping about him, who, having a good stick in his hand, struck at\nthem thinking to kill them, but could not, but at last caught one of\nthem in his hand, and holding it by the body, he beat the head of it\nagainst his stick, intending to beat the brains out of it; but when he\ncould not kill it that way, he took the body in one hand and the head\nin another and endeavoured to wring off the head, and as he wrung and\nstretched the neck of it, it came out between his hands like a lock of\nwool.\" Then he tried to drown it in a spring, but kept falling down.\nAt last he crept to the water on hands and knees, holding the familiar\nunder the water for a good space. But as soon as he let go it sprang\nout of the water up into the air and so vanished.\n\nHe went and asked Anne West why she had set her imps on him to molest\nand trouble him, but she said \"they were sent out as scouts upon\nanother design.\"[74]\n\nJoan Cariden, widow, examined September 25, 1645, said, that about\nthree-quarters of a year ago, as she was in bed about twelve or one of\nthe clock in the night there lay a rugged soft thing on her bosom\nwhich was very soft, and she thrust it off with her hand; and she said\nthat when she had thrust it away she thought God forsook her, for she\ncould never pray so well as she could before, and further she said\nthat she verily thought it was alive. Examined further, she said the\nDevil came to her in the shape of a black rugged dog in the night-time\nand crept into bed with her and spoke to her in mumbling language. The\nnext night he came again and required her to deny God and lean on him.\n\nJane Hott, widow and associate of the above, also examined on\nSeptember 25, 1645, confessed that a thing like a hedgehog had usually\nvisited her, and when it lay on her breast she struck it off with her\nhand, and that it was as soft as a cat.\n\nIn 1664 one Elizabeth Style, a widow, of Bayford, was examined at\nStoke Trister, Somerset, before Robert Hunt, for witchcraft.\n\nOne of the witnesses, Nicholas Lambert, examined on January 26 of that\nyear, deposed to having watched the prisoner in company with William\nThick and William Read of Bayford. The informant sat near the prisoner\nby the fire at three o'clock in the morning and was reading \"The\nPractice of Piety,\" when he noticed \"there came from her head a\nglistening bright fly about an inch in length, which pitched at first\nin the chimney and then vanished. In less than a quarter of an hour\nafter, there appeared two flies more, of a less size and another\ncolour, which seemed to strike at the informant's hand in which he\nheld his book, but missed it. He looked steadfastly at the prisoner\nand perceived her countenance to change and to become very black and\nghastly, the fire also at the same time changing its colour; whereupon\nthe informants, Thick and Read, conceiving that her familiar was then\nabout her, looked at her poll, and seeing her hair shake very\nstrangely, took it up, and then a fly like a great Millar flew out\nfrom the place and pitched on the table board and then vanished away.\"\nWhen asked what it was that flew out of her poll the accused said it\nwas a butterfly, and asked them why they had not caught it. She\nconfessed that it was her familiar and that was the usual time when\nher familiar came to her.[75]\n\nOne Alice Duke, _alias_ Manning, of Wincanton, in Somerset, who was\ntried in 1664 for witchcraft, confessed that her familiar visited her\n\"in the shape of a little cat of a dunnish colour, which is as smooth\nas a want,\" and that \"her familiar doth commonly suck her right breast\nabout seven at night,\" when she fell into a kind of trance.\n\nMargaret and Phillip Flower, daughters of Joan Flower, were tried for\nwitchcraft near Belvoir Castle and executed at Lincoln on March 11,\n1618, on the most extraordinary charges.[76]\n\nPhillip Flower, examined on the 4th of February previously, said that\nher mother and sister \"maliced\" the Earl of Rutland, his Countess and\ntheir children, because her sister Margaret was put out of the ladies'\nservice of laundry. Phillip thereupon brought from the Castle the\nright glove of the Henry Lord Ross and gave it to her mother, \"who\npresently rubbed it on the back of her spirit Rutterkin, and then put\nit into hot boiling water, afterwards she pricked it often and buried\nit in the yard, wishing Lord Ross might never thrive, and so her\nsister Margaret continued with her mother, where she often saw the cat\nRutterkin leap on her shoulder and suck her neck.\"\n\nMargaret corroborated the story, and added that after the sorcery Lord\nRoss fell sick within a week. She also said that her mother and she\nand her sister agreed to bewitch the Earl and Countess so that they\nmight have no more children, being angry with the Countess for telling\nher she was no longer to live at the Castle, and who, giving her forty\nshillings, a bolster and a mattress, bade her sleep at home.\n\nThen she took wool from the mattress and a pair of gloves given her by\none of the Castle servants and put them into warm water, mingling them\nwith some blood and stirring it together. Then she took the wool and\ngloves out of the water and rubbed them on the body of Rutterkin, the\ncat, saying the Lord and Lady should have no more children or it\nshould be long first.\n\nShe further confessed that her mother told her to bring a piece of\nLady Katherine's--the earl's daughter's--kerchief, and her mother put\nit in hot water and taking it out rubbed it on Rutterkin, \"bidding\nhim fly and go.\" Whereupon Rutterkin whined and cried \"mew,\" and she\nsaid Rutterkin had no power to hurt Lady Katherine.\n\nExamined on the 25th of February, before Francis Earl of Rutland,\nFrancis Lord Willoughby of Eresby, Sir George Manners, and Sir William\nPelham, Phillip Flower confessed to having a familiar spirit in the\nform of a white rat, and gave her soul to it, and it promised to do\nher good and cause one Thomas Simpson to love her.\n\nThe mother of these girls, Margaret Flower, being examined at the same\ntime and place, confessed to two familiar spirits, one white and the\nother spotted black.\n\nShe further said she had been visited in Lincoln gaol by four devils,\nbetween eleven o'clock and midnight, about the 30th January. One stood\nat the foot of her bed, with a black head like an ape, and spoke to\nher, though she could not understand his meaning. The other three were\nthe cat Rutterkin, Little Robin, and Spirit. She confirmed what her\ndaughters had said about Lord Ross, and said that after she rubbed the\nglove on the spirit Rutterkin she threw it into the fire and burnt it.\n\nOne of the witnesses, Anne Baker of Rothsford, who was concerned in\nthe case of the death of Lord Ross, son of the Earl of Rutland, when\nexamined on March 1st, 1618, by the Earl and Sir George Manners and\nSamuel Fleming, Doctor of Divinity, made the following curious\nstatements in the course of her confession of witchcraft.\n\nShe said she saw a hand appear to her and heard a voice in the air say\n\"Anne Baker, save thyself, for tomorrow thou and thy master must be\nslain,\" and the next day her master and she were in a cart together\nand suddenly she saw a flash of fire, and said her prayers, and the\nfire went away, and shortly after a crow came and perched upon her\nclothes, and she said her prayers again and bade the crow _to go to\nwhom he was sent_, and the crow went to her master and did beat him\nto death, and she with her prayers recovered him to life, but he was\nsick a fortnight after, and if she had not had more knowledge than he,\nboth of them, and the cattle, would have been killed.\n\nAnother witness at the same trial, Joan Willimott, confessed to having\na spirit she called Pretty, and she declared that a shepherd, Gamaliel\nGreete, had a spirit like a white mouse put into him in his swearing;\nand that if he did look upon anything with an intent to hurt it it\nshould be hurt, and she said further that in the home of the Flowers\nshe had seen two spirits, one like a rat and the other like an owl.\n\nThe basic belief that it is possible to send forth a familiar to wreak\nharm on others is found fully developed in black magic, and to such\noccult powers no doubt many strange phenomena may be attributed.\n\nA peculiarly uncanny story about a witch and her familiar comes from\nPoitou. A young man who lived near Champdenois, went to spend the\nevening with some friends. He was jumping over a stone fence which\nseparated the neighbouring estates, when a familiar settled on his\nback. The young man caught hold of the demon with all his strength and\nstrangled him, flinging him on the ground, where he lay apparently\nlifeless. Curiosity induced the young man to lift the inert body on to\nhis shoulders, as he wished to look at it by candlelight and show it\nto his friends.\n\nWhen he arrived at his friends' house the inmates were sitting in a\ncircle about the hearth and the mistress of the house was spinning,\nsurrounded by her maids. They all looked wonderingly at the demon, but\nthe mistress appeared to be strangely ill at ease.\n\n\"I believe,\" said the young fellow, \"it's a sorcerer. There's only one\nway of finding out. We'll put it in the fire, then we shall know what\nsort of being it is.\"\n\nWhen she heard this cruel suggestion the mistress gripped the arms of\nher chair in obvious anxiety and let her spindle drop to the ground,\nsaying she was feeling very ill. When the demon was put on to the\nglowing cinders she shrieked out and was forced to confess, in a\nshamefaced manner, that she had been wandering in the woods that\nevening in the shape of an animal, and that the young man had captured\nher double. Whether this witch intended to work harm is not divulged.\n\nThe Kaju wizards make familiars by digging up a corpse and giving it\nmedicine, which restores it to life. They run a hot needle up the back\nof the head and slit the tongue. The familiar then speaks with\ninarticulate sound and is sent out by them to do harm. This is\nprobably another form of ritual akin to black magic.\n\nA beautiful enchantress and priestess lived among the natives of\nNicaragua and was served by many animals over whom she had\nextraordinary powers. She also had in her service an old man and\nwoman. She transformed them into youthful beings, with large expanding\npinions, and clothed them in tiger- and deer-skins, adorned with\nrichly coloured plumage.\n\nAnother and more exalted form of the familiar was the Daemon or\nGenius, a kind of spirit which, according to the beliefs of the\nancients, presided over the actions of mankind. Man was thus said to\nhave a good and an evil presiding spirit. The genius of Socrates, for\ninstance, constantly gave him information and kept him from the\ncommission of crime or impiety.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[73] The description of these imps tallies remarkably closely with\nthat of some animal-elements seen by occulists to-day.\n\n[74] \"A True and exact Relation of the several informations,\nexaminations and confessions of the late Witches arraigned and\nexecuted in the County of Essex.\" Reprinted from the original of 1645,\n1837, pp. iv, 34.\n\n[75] Glanvill, Joseph, \"Sadducismus Triumphatus,\" 1726, p. 300.\n\n[76] \"The Wonderful discovery of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and\nPhillip Flower, daughters of Joan Flower near Beuer Castle, executed\nat Lincolne, March 11, 1618.\" Printed London, 1619.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XIV\n\n              TRANSFORMATION IN FOLK-LORE AND FAIRY-TALE\n\n\nIn folk-lore and mythological legends all animals are originally human\nand most human beings are able to turn into animals. Women who married\ntigers, women who gave birth to serpents, men who became goats, cows\nor sheep, frog-princes and monkey-servants, abound in the standard\nfairy-tales of almost every country.\n\nGrecian women are said to change their cold lovers into donkeys, Persian\nprincesses, on the contrary, cause their too passionate adorers to\nmetamorphose into numerous animal shapes and Circe, disgusted with the\ndepraved conduct of the companions of Ulysses, changed them into swine\nand shut them up in sties. The story of Circe typifies, of course, the\nfact that man's lower nature is the animal part of him, and the story of\nMalec Muhammed, which follows, points the same moral.\n\nA repetition of the well-known Circe story needs no apology in a book\nwhich deals at length with the subject of transformation. Circe was the\ndaughter of Sol and Perse, and was celebrated for her skill in magic.\nShe married a prince of Colchis, and then murdered him to obtain his\nkingdom. Being expelled by her subjects for her crime, she was carried\naway by her father to Aea, an island on the coast of Italy, which\nUlysses visited on his return from the Trojan War. His companions,\ngiving way to excess, were changed into swine by Circe's magic potions.\nUlysses was himself made immune from her spells by a herb called Moly,\ngiven to him by the god Mercury, and he demanded that his companions\nshould be restored. Circe complied with his request. Eurylochus and his\ncompanions found Circe's palace in an open space in a wood, and Ulysses\nhad the following account from the lips of Eurylochus:--\n\n\"All about were wolves and lions,\" he said, \"yet these harmed not the\nmen, but stood up on their hind-legs, fawning upon them, as dogs fawn\nupon their master when he comes from his meal, because he brings the\nfragments with him that they love. And the men were afraid. And they\nstood in the porch and heard the voice of Circe as she sang with a\nlovely voice and plied the loom. Then said Polites (who was dearest of\nall his comrades to Ulysses), 'Someone within plies a loom, and sings\nwith a loud voice. Some goddess is she, or woman. Let us make haste\nand call.'\n\n\"So they called to her, and she came out and beckoned to them that they\nshould follow. So they went, in their folly. And she bade them sit, and\nmixed for them a mess, red wine, and in it barley meal and cheese and\nhoney, and mighty drugs withal, of which, if a man drank, he forgot all\nthat he loved. And when they had drunk she smote them with her wand. And\nlo! they had of a sudden the heads and the voices and the bristles of\nswine, but the heart of a man was in them still. And Circe shut them in\nsties, gave them mast and acorns and cornel to eat.\"\n\nAnd Eurylochus fled back to the ship to tell Ulysses what had befallen\nhis comrades.[77]\n\nCirce also changed Picus into a bird, when he did not respond to her\nadvances.\n\n      When love from Picus Circe could not gain\n      Him with her charming wand and hellish bane\n      Changed to a bird and spots his speckled wings\n      With sundry colours....\n\n\nGeti Afraz, the heroine of a typical Eastern transformation story, on\nthe other hand, changes Malec Muhammed the moment he grows too ardent\nin his caresses.\n\nOne day when Malec was on his travels, he arrived at the city of\nEkbalia and took up his lodging in a caravanserai.[78]\n\nAt dusk that evening he saw a remarkable illumination in the sky and\nheard intoxicating music. Presently a procession of beautifully\ndressed people passed by, and he caught a glimpse of a lovely\nprincess. \"Who is she?\" he asked of the neighbours. \"Geti Afraz,\ndaughter of the King of the Peris, is riding through the city,\" they\nanswered. \"Her palace is close by.\"\n\nEntranced by the beauty of her appearance, Malec Muhammed inquired\nwhether she received visitors. \"Yes, she does,\" was the answer; \"but\nit is at their own risk, as she usually changes her visitors into the\nshape of some animal.\" Malec, nothing daunted by this strange remark,\nset out at once for the abode of the princess.\n\nThe door of the palace was shut, and knocking loudly he cried, \"Open\nto Malec Muhammed.\" The Peri's reputation was well-known, and no one\never arrived at the palace who was not brave enough to risk being\nturned into an animal. In a moment the door was opened and Malec was\ninvited to step inside.\n\nIn the reception hall he saw a throne composed of a single jacinth,\nadorned with the richest cushions, on which was seated a lady,\nbeautiful as the silver moon, surrounded by a thousand handmaids,\nbrilliant as stars.\n\nMalec stood stupefied in wonder at this vision of paradise. The princess\npointed to a golden seat near the throne, and when he sat upon it she\nasked, \"Whence come you, who are you, and why have you visited me?\"\n\nMalec Muhammed answered like one in a dream,\n\n      \"Drunk with the wine of love I roam\n      This path and seek no other home.\"\n\nThen Geti Afraz ordered one of her handmaidens to bring some\nruby-coloured wine to her guest, and after he had taken it she asked\nwhether the company of the maiden would give him entertainment. But he\nrefused her offer, saying that his devotion to herself prevented him\ntalking to, or even looking at, any other woman.\n\nThe princess seemed pleased with this compliment, but said in a\npensive tone, \"Man is an impatient creature and from his impatience\nmany misfortunes result which he lays to our charge.\" Malec replied\nthat whilst in her presence he could never give way to impatience for,\nif he were allowed to gaze into her adorable eyes, life needed nothing\nmore to make it perfect.\n\nGeti Afraz smiled sarcastically, saying, \"I fear you will not remain\nsatisfied gazing for ever into my eyes, and take heed, for if you show\nthe least tendency to lose your head over me you will be punished by\nbeing banished from my society.\"\n\nThus they spent many hours in each other's company, he gazing into her\neyes but never presuming even so far as to touch her hand.\n\nOvercome by her beauty, at last he threw himself at her feet and asked\nwhether the lifelong devotion he was prepared to offer was acceptable\nin her sight. \"Be patient and cautious,\" she said, to calm his\nprotestations, \"otherwise you will be transformed into an animal,\nwhich is not an easy matter to remedy.\"\n\nSo Malec went back to his golden seat and mastered his passionate\nfeelings as well as he could. Just then one of the handmaidens brought\nin a scented rose to present to the princess. Malec Muhammed led her\nforward in hopes that his fingers might chance to touch those of Geti\nAfraz. The princess stretched out her hand to take the rose when Malec\nMuhammed lost his self-control and planted an impassioned kiss upon\nher fingers. \"Ah! you cursed billing dove!\" cried Geti Afraz, \"Why do\nyou do that?\" and at her words Malec gave a sudden spring into the air\nand whirled round and round in the form of a dove.\n\nThe poor bird was desperate on account of this strange way in which\nhis affection had been received. All day long he flew from turret to\nturret, and hopped from branch to branch, before his unrelenting\nmistress; but finding his appeals no use he flew away and took the\nquickest road to his house. There his servants set traps to catch him,\nand he fluttered about in great fear, until one remarked, \"Poor little\ndove, let it go, for the love of our master, who has not been seen\nhere for some days.\"\n\nMalec then flew to the house of his uncle, the Vizier, and perched on\nhis knee. The Vizier, suspecting enchantment, sent for a box of\nmedicine and inserted a dose in the bird's bill; the dove fluttered\nround and round in a circle and suddenly resumed human form.\n\nBut the attraction of the princess proved too much for Malec, and though\nhe tried to forget her he found it impossible. At last, in desperation,\nhe cried out that he must see her again, cost what it might.\n\n      \"Make me a dog, make me an ass,\n       From her presence ne'er shall pass\n       Her fond adorer!\"\n\nhe exclaimed as he set out once more for the palace.\n\nHe was admitted into the presence of the princess, who expressed great\nsurprise at the fate which had overtaken him.\n\n\"Ah,\" he said, \"it was hard to be so severely punished for one kiss of\nthose charming fingers.\"\n\n\"Well,\" she replied, \"I approve of you so well that to compensate you\nfor your misfortune I will give you leave to kiss both my hands and my\nfeet as often as you please, but you must not presume any further than\nthat.\"\n\nThat evening he was allowed to stay beside her couch, because when she\nsuggested sending him away he reminded her of her promise. How could\nhe kiss her hands and her feet if he was forced to leave her side?\nThis concession made Malec believe that she had more affection for him\nthan she was willing to show. \"I asked her only for the opportunity of\nadmiring her at a distance and she has given me a place close beside\nher,\" he thought.\n\nHour after hour he kissed her hands and feet, and all the time he\naspired to her lips. There she lay slumbering, beautiful as a goddess,\nand as he bent over her to approach his lips to hers, she awoke and\nreminded him of his promise, saying, \"Be cautious, or you will have to\ntake your departure.\"\n\nAt this rebuke he retired ignominiously from her side, but his love\nfor her increased by leaps and bounds, and she fostered it by walking\nwith him in the lovely palace gardens and by taking him with her in\nher gorgeous carriage when she followed the hounds. In the evening\nthey feasted, and, after quaffing wine, Malec, driven to madness by\nher beauty, forgot himself as she lay slumbering and, bending forward,\npressed his lips to hers.\n\nAt that moment she awoke, crying, \"Cursed ass! what have you done?\"\n\nEven as she uttered the words, Malec gave a spring and galloped away\nin the form of an ass.\n\nThe servants of the princess beat the animal with sticks and drove him\nout of the palace.\n\nAfter nine long months, in which Malec endured the ignominy of being\nin animal form, his uncle, who had been greatly annoyed by his\nnephew's repeated folly, softened sufficiently to help him out of his\ndilemma, by giving him a further dose of the magic medicine which\nbrought him back to his natural appearance.\n\nWhen once again he arrived at the palace Geti Afraz welcomed him warmly.\n\n\"All that has befallen you has happened through your own impatience,\"\nshe said. \"What can a man expect who loses his self-control as you did?\"\n\nNevertheless the princess bound him to her in flowery chains, which\nentangled him more and more, until the tortured Malec, whilst visiting\nKing Anushah in her company, exceeded the limits of propriety she had\nlaid down for him and was turned into an ox.\n\nIn this form he was set to draw water, and tears trickled down his\nox-like face at the indignities he had to undergo. His uncle, seeing\nthe animal's distress, said, \"Malec Muhammed, if this be you, make\nsome sign to let me know!\"\n\nThe ox nodded as a sign.\n\n\"The curse of God light on you and your doings,\" said the Vizier, and\nhe had the ox driven to a stall and ordered his servants to fatten him\nup for the winter, when he intended to make mince-meat of him.\n\nAfter six months had passed, however, King Anushah interfered and\nasked the Vizier to pardon Malec's folly. Enough medicine was sent for\nto serve its purpose even if Malec had been metamorphosed a hundred\ntimes and he was called into his uncle's presence.\n\n\"Gallows face!\" cried the Vizier, \"this time you must thank the Shah\nthat you are to become a man once more, for _I_ should have let you\ndie in disgrace. If you take an oath never to behave so foolishly\nagain I will give you the medicine.\"\n\nThe ox pleaded and nodded, the dose was administered and Malec became\nhimself again.\n\n\"Really,\" said the Shah, \"you have made a beast of yourself often\nenough, Muhammed,\" and he made him promise not to do it again.\n\nBut even then Malec had not learnt wisdom, and after many\nvicissitudes, when he was brought once more into the presence of his\ncharmer, he found her fascination too much for his senses.\n\nThe languid Narcissus-like eyes of Geti Afraz yielded to slumber after\na banquet, and she fell asleep on her sofa with Malec by her side. In\ntenderest mood he rained kiss after kiss upon her lips:\n\n      \"Bless the sweet power of wine,\" he cries,\n      \"That seals so sound her lovely eyes.\"\n\nUnable to restrain himself further he laid one hand upon her\nlily-white bosom, and she started up with the cry, \"Cursed dog, what\nare you doing?\" and he became a dog.\n\nFor many months Malec endured this new indignity, for his uncle, the\nVizier, declared that he should wear a dog's collar round his neck\ntill the day of his death, but the princess herself, relenting of the\ncruel fate to which she had condemned her lover, contrived that the\nShah's wife, Ruh Afza, should transform her husband into an animal in\norder that he might suffer what Malec was suffering.\n\nAs soon as the Shah offered his caresses to her, Ruh Afza cried out:\n\n\"Ha! you cat, what? Would you scratch me?\" and immediately the Shah\nfound himself whirled round and round, and, taking a spring with his\nhead down and his heels up, he assumed the form of a cat. All the rest\nof the night he strolled through the garden caterwauling piteously.\n\nIn the morning he met the Vizier, who recognised his master, King\nAnushah, at once, and restored him to his normal condition.\n\nThe Shah, wishing to vent his anger on Geti Afraz for this insult to\nhis dignity, decided to execute Malec, \"to sear her bosom with a\nlasting wound,\" for he believed her to be fond of Malec in spite of\nher conduct. Sending for the poor dog he lashed the animal severely.\n\nThen, in his pain, Malec cried out to his enchantress to rescue him\nfrom danger, and she relented, restoring him to human form and\nrewarding him with her love.\n\nOne of the best descriptions of transformation by use of ointments, in\nwhich details of the process are given, is to be found in \"The\nMetamorphosis or Golden Ass of Apuleius,\" in which Lucius, the hero,\nhappening to use the wrong salve, transforms himself into a donkey\ninstead of into a bird as he intended. The manner in which he has to\nresume human shape is by partaking of rose leaves.\n\nLucius witnesses the transformation of Pamphile into a bird. Watching\nthrough the chink of the door leading to her chamber he sees Pamphile\ndivest herself of her garments and after opening a certain small\nchest, take several boxes therefrom, uncover one of them and rub\nherself for a long time with the ointment, from the soles of her feet\nto the crown of her head. Holding a lamp in her hand she uttered a\nlong incantation, and then shook her limbs with a tremulous agitation;\nand from these, lightly fluctuating, soft feathers extended and strong\nwings burst forth, her nose hardened and incurvated, the nails were\ncompressed and made crooked, and Pamphile turned into an owl. Giving\nvoice to a querulous sound, she made trial of her new attributes,\ngradually leaping from the earth, and soon after, being raised on\nhigh, she flew out of doors with all the force of her wings. Thus she\nwas voluntarily changed by her own magic arts.\n\nLucius then asked Pamphile's maid, Fotis, for a little ointment from the\nsame box, as he much desired to experience a similar transformation. At\nfirst Fotis demurred, but at last agreed to do what he asked, telling\nhim that a change back to human form could be effected by \"small and\nfrivolous herbs,\" such as dill put into fountain water, with the leaves\nof the laurel given as a lotion, and also to drink.\n\nThe matter being decided, Fotis went into the bedchamber of her\nmistress and fetched a box of ointment from the chest, which she\nbrought to Lucius, who thus tells the story of what took place.\n\n\"Having obtained the box from Fotis, and having prayed that\ntransformation would favour me with prosperous flights, I hastily\ndivested myself of all my garments, and having ardently put my hand\ninto the box and taken from it a sufficient quantity of the ointment,\nI rubbed with it the members of my body. And now, balancing my arms\nwith alternate efforts, I longed to be changed into a bird. No plumes,\nhowever, germinated, but my hairs became evidently thickened into\nbristles, my tender skin was hardened into a hide, and the extremities\nof my hands, all my fingers having lost their number, coalesced into\nseveral hoofs and a long tail proceeded from the extremity of my\nspine. My face was now enormous, my mouth was long, and my limbs\nimmoderate and pendant. Thus, also, my ears increased excessively, and\nwere clothed with rough hairs. And while destitute of all hope, I\nconsider the whole of my body, I see that I am not a bird, but an ass;\nand, complaining of the deed of Fotis, but being deprived both of the\nhuman gesture and voice, I silently expostulated with her (which was\nall I could do) with my underlip hanging down, and beheld her sternly\nand obliquely yet with humid eyes. But she, as soon as she beheld me\nthus changed, struck her forehead with her indignant hands, and\nexclaimed, 'Wretch that I am, I am undone. Trepidation, and at the\nsame time festination, have beguiled me, and the similitude of the\nboxes has deceived me. It is well, however, that a remedy for this\ntransformation may be easily obtained; for by only chewing roses you\nwill put off the form of an ass and will immediately become again my\nLucius. And I wish I had prepared for this evening, according to my\ncustom, some garlands of roses, for then you would not have suffered\nthe delay of even one night. But as soon as it is morning, a remedy\nshall hastily be procured for you.' After this manner she lamented.\nBut I thought I was a complete ass, and instead of Lucius a labouring\nbeast, yet I retained human sense.\"[79]\n\nLucius deliberated whether he should kick and bite Fotis to death, but\nwas only deterred by the knowledge that if he did so he would not be\nable to return to human shape, so he ran to the stable and spent the\nnight with the horses there. But unfortunately he was driven off by a\nband of robbers, and under these circumstances, necessarily abstaining\nfrom roses which he could not get, he was forced to continue under the\nform of an ass, in which he had numerous adventures.\n\nA most remarkable series of transformations occurs in the Welsh\nromance \"The History of Taliesin,\" written about the thirteenth\ncentury. Caridwen, who is boiling a charmed mixture from which she\nhopes to secure \"the three blessed drops of the grace of inspiration,\"\nfor her ugly and deformed son, leaves her cauldron for a moment, in\nwhich space of time one of her servants unfortunately obtains the\nbenefit of her wisdom. In her anger she threatens him and he, in fear,\ntakes to his heels. She gives chase and he changes into a hare. Then\nshe becomes a greyhound and gains on him. Throwing himself into the\nriver he takes the form of a fish, and she, as an otter, pursues him,\nand he assumes the shape of a bird. She follows him as a hawk. Then he\ndrops to earth upon a heap of winnowed wheat, disguising himself as a\ngrain. Caridwen transforms herself into a high-crested black hen and\nscratches among the wheat till she sifts him out and swallows him.\n\nThese kaleidoscopic changes are positively bewildering and may be\nregarded as purely symbolic. They contrast with the simple and\npathetic transformation which follows.\n\nThe Ebesoana race among the Arawaks of Guiana, take their name from\n\"Ebesotu,\" the transformed heroine of the following legend:--\n\nA love-sick maiden prayed her father, a sorcerer, to transform her\ninto a dog, so that she might follow her lover, who had been utterly\nindifferent to her charms.\n\nHer father treated the affair very practically indeed, in spite of\nthe fact that he thought his daughter very foolish.\n\n      \"Take this skin,\" he said sadly, \"and draw o'er thy shoulders,\n      A dog in the eyes of the loved one to be,\n      Its wonderful magic deceives all beholders!\n      Be rid of thy madness--then come back to me!\"\n\nThe young lover, who was a huntsman, used to start out every morning\ninto the woods, followed by four dogs, but when he returned in the\nevening only three of them were at heel, for one always ran home when\nit came to the point of slaughtering the prey. When the hunter reached\nhis cottage he found it swept and clean, the fire burning, and bread\nfreshly baked, and he imagined a kind neighbour had done this for him.\n\n      \"When they all denied it, he said, ''Tis some spirit,\n      Who seeing me lonely, thus strives to be kind,'\n      Then he saw gazing at him that dog void of merit,\n      Whose look was so strange it puzzled his mind.\"\n\nNext day, when he noticed there were only three dogs instead of four,\nhe tied the hounds to a tree and went in search of the missing animal.\nPeeping through a crack in the door of his cottage he saw a lovely\nmaiden, and the dogskin lying over a chair close by. Making a sudden\ndart into the room, he seized the skin and thrusting it into the fire,\nclaimed the maiden as his bride.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[77] Homer, \"The Story of the Odyssey.\" People's Edition, 1902, pp.\n51-2.\n\n[78] \"The Tale of Malec Muhammed and Geti Afraz the Queen of the\nPeris,\" translated from the Persian. From a MS. in the British Museum.\n\n[79] \"The Metamorphosis or Golden Ass of Apuleius,\" 1822, pp. 60-3.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER XV\n\n              TRANSFORMATION IN FOLK-LORE AND FAIRY-TALE\n                          (_continued_)\n\n\nA skin-dress that could be put on or taken off to change a person into\nan animal, or into a human being again, is the basic idea of\ntransformation in folk-tales. When the skin is burnt the animal\npermanently resumes human shape, as appears from the last story in the\npreceding chapter. Many legends of frog-princes, serpent-husbands,\nswan-maidens, tiger-sons, and so forth, fall into this class. A quaint\nand typical story of the kind is told about a mouse-maiden.\n\nA king and queen of a certain city had a daughter who was invited to\nbecome the bride of a prince who lived in another city. Messengers\nwere sent to fetch her, and when they arrived at the palace they\nordered the bride to come out of her room to eat the rice of the\nwedding-feast. But the queen said to the messengers, \"She is now\neating cooked rice in the house.\"\n\nThey then begged the princess to come out to dress in the robes sent\nby the bridegroom, but the queen said, \"She is already putting on\nrobes in her chamber.\" Then they said she was to come out and be taken\nto the bridegroom's city, and the queen, having put a female mouse in\nan incense box, asked two of the messengers to come forward and gave\nthe box into their hands, saying, \"Take this and until seven days have\ngone by do not lift the lid of the box.\"\n\nWith this the messengers had to be satisfied. They took the box to the\nprince's city, and when they lifted the lid after seven days the\nmouse jumped out of the box and hid herself among the cooking pots.\nNow it was the duty of a servant girl in the prince's household to\napportion and serve cooked rice and vegetable curry to the prince, and\nwhen he was satisfied, she covered up the cooking pots containing the\nrest of the food. Then the mouse came, and having taken and eaten some\nof the cooked rice and vegetables, covered up the cooking pots and\nwent back to hide among the pots.\n\nThe following day the same thing occurred, and the prince said to the\nservant, \"Does the mouse eat cooked rice? Look and tell me.\"\n\nThe girl went to see and when she came back she said, \"She has eaten\nthe cooked rice and covered the cooking pots, and has gone.\"\n\nNext day the prince said, \"I am going to cut the rice-crop. Remain at\nhome and, when evening comes, put the utensils for cooking near the\nhearth.\" So the servant obeyed him and in the evening the mouse came and\ncooked. She placed the food ready and again ran and hid behind the pots.\n\nThis went on for several days, and when the whole rice-crop was\ngarnered in, the prince went near to the place where the mouse was\nhidden and said, \"Having pounded the rice and removed the husks, let\nus go to your village and present it to your parents as first-fruits.\"\nBut the mouse said, \"I will not go. You go!\" So the prince made the\nservant get the package of cooked rice ready, and he went to the\nvillage of the queen and gave the package to her.\n\nAnd the queen said, \"Where is my daughter?\" The prince answered, \"She\nrefused to come.\"\n\nThen the queen said, \"Go back to your city, and having placed the\ncooking utensils near the hearth, hide yourself and stay in the house.\"\n\nAfter the prince returned to the city, he did as she had told him. The\nmouse, having come out, took off her mouse-jacket, and, assuming the\nshape of a girl, put on other clothes. While she was preparing to\ncook, the prince took the mouse-jacket and burnt it.\n\nAfterwards when the girl went to the place where the mouse-jacket had\nbeen and looked for it, it was not there. Then she looked in the\nhearth, and saw that there was one sleeve of the skin-dress among the\nembers. While she was there weeping and weeping, the prince came out\nof his hiding-place and said, \"Your mother told me to burn the\nmouse-jacket. Now you are really mine!\"\n\nSo the mouse became a princess again and married the prince.[80]\n\nThe same idea is contained in the story of the king who, putting on a\njackal-skin, turns into a jackal, only resuming human form permanently\nwhen the skin is burnt.[81] In \"Indian Fairy Tales\" there is a prince\nwho has a monkey-skin which he can put on and off at pleasure.[82] A\nking's daughter in another story also has a monkey-skin and when a\nprince burns it she takes fire and flies away all ablaze to her father's\npalace.[83] Four fairy doves in feather-dresses appear in \"Romantic\nTales from the Panjab with Indian Night's Entertainment.\"[84] When they\ntake off their feathers to bathe, a prince conceals one dress and the\nfairy is unable to resume bird form. The story of the feather-vest of\nthe dove-maiden in \"The Arabian Nights\"[85] is similar in style.\n\nThe swan-maidens or cloud-maidens, as they are sometimes called, have\na shirt made of swan's feathers which acts much in the same manner as\nthe wolf-skin to the wer-wolf. The swan-maiden retains human shape as\nlong as she is kept away from her feather tunic. The commonest form of\nthis legend is that of a man who passes by a lake and sees several\nbeautiful maidens bathing, their feather-dresses lying on the bank. He\napproaches quietly and steals one of the dresses. In due course the\nbathers come to the shore, don their dresses and swim off in the shape\nof swans, all but one, who is left lamenting on the shore. Then the\nthief appears, tells her what he has done and bids the maiden marry\nhim. They live happily together until one day when the husband, by\naccident, leaves the wardrobe door unlocked and the swan-maiden puts\non her feather-shirt and flies off, never to return.[86]\n\nIn a similar story the maiden is wearing a gold chain round her neck\nwhich her huntsman lover seizes, thus gaining the power over her which\nmakes it possible to woo and wed her. She gives birth in due course to\nseven sons, each one of whom wears a gold chain about his neck and can\ntransform himself into a swan at will.\n\nLothaire, King of France, married a fairy wife, and his children were\nborn wearing golden collars which gave them the magical power of\nassuming the form of swans.\n\nIn the legends which have a Knight of the Swan as hero, like the story\nof Lohengrin, the swan plays only a secondary part.\n\nThe primitive idea at the root of all these stories is that the human\nsoul, in passing from one shape to another, has to wear the outer sign\nor garment of the creature it desires to represent. The symbolic\ndifference between the wer-wolf and the swan-maiden is that the former\nrepresents the rough, howling, and destructive night-wind, the latter\nthe fleecy, pure, and enthralling summer cloud.\n\nThe Valkyries, with their shirts of plumage, who hover over\nScandinavian battle-fields to minister to the souls of dying heroes\nare of the same order of beings as the Hindu Asparas and the Houris of\nthe Mussulman. The Lorelei sirens with their fish-tails, their golden\ncombs and mirrors, who lure fishermen to their doom on the rocks, are\nnot far removed from the same family. All are partly human and allied\nwith more or less fanciful animal forms and characteristics. They are\nfrequently the precursors of evil or at least of danger to mankind,\nbut many of them possess a sweetness and charm which is unsurpassed\nand unsurpassable.\n\nFar more terrible than sirens and swan-maidens were the Berserkers of\nScandinavia in the ninth century who, possessed by a strange mania,\narrayed themselves in the skins of wolves or bears and went forth to\nsee whom they might devour.\n\nThe Mara is a more peaceable but nevertheless a more uncanny being, a\nkind of female demon who comes at night to torment sleepers by\ncrouching on their bodies and checking respiration. Sometimes she is\nto be seen in animal form, sometimes as a beautiful woman. She has\nbeen known to torture people to death, and may perhaps have some\ndistant affinity to the vampire, but is far less vindictive and\nself-seeking, though gifted with powers of darkness.\n\nA pious knight, journeying one day, found a fair lady nude, and bound\nto a tree, her back streaming with blood from the stripes of lashes.\nRescuing her from her unfortunate position, he took her to his palace\nand made her his wife, her extraordinary loveliness winning her fame\nthroughout the neighbourhood.\n\nHer husband, the knight, accompanied her to mass every Sunday, and to\nhis great surprise and regret she always refused to stay in the church\nwhile the creed was said. Just beforehand she would deliberately rise\nfrom her seat and walk out. Her husband questioned her about this\nstrange habit, but could get no satisfactory explanation, nor would\nshe consent to alter her behaviour. He used entreaties and even\nthreats without avail, and at last he decided to keep her in the\nchurch by main force. Seizing upon her with both hands, he held her in\nher seat, and then he noticed her frame become convulsed and her eyes\ngrow unnaturally large and dark. The service stopped and everyone in\nthe building turned to see what was happening. \"In the name of God,\nspeak,\" cried the pious knight, \"and tell me what or who thou art!\"\nand as he said these words his wife melted away and disappeared,\nwhile, with a great cry of anguish, a monster of evil shape rose from\nthe spot where she had been sitting and, passing through the air,\nvanished through the roof of the church.\n\nAnother legend about the Mara is that if she be wrapped up in the\nbedclothes and held down tightly, a white dove flies out of the window\nand the bedclothes will be found to contain nothing. This belief is\napparently isolated and unrelated to other phenomena and is probably\nonly a tribute to the elusive character of this she-demon.\n\nOne of the Calmuc stories concerns three sisters, who, coming across\nan enchanted castle tenanted by a white bird, are each in turn offered\nmarriage by the owner. The third sister marries the bird, who turns\nout to be a handsome cavalier, but having burned his aviary, she loses\nhim, and cannot regain her husband until the aviary is restored.\n\nIn the well-known story of \"The Brahman Girl who marries a Tiger,\" the\ntiger assumes human shape and makes a beautiful girl fall in love with\nhim. Soon after their marriage he threatens her, saying, \"Be quiet or\nI shall show you my original shape.\"[87] When she urges him to do so\nhe changes and behold, \"four legs, a striped skin, a long tail, and a\ntiger's face come on him suddenly, and, horror of horrors, a tiger,\nand not a man stands before her!\"\n\nShe has to obey all his orders and finally gives birth to a son, who\nalso turns out \"to be only a tiger.\"\n\nShe gets her brothers to help her, murders her child and runs off\nhome. In the end the tiger is killed by her relatives, and the Brahman\ngirl, in memory of him, raises a pillar over the well and plants a\nfragrant shrub on the top of it.[88]\n\nThe Chinese have a curious idea about \"making animals,\"[89] and a\nstory is told about a man who arrived at an inn in Yang-Chow leading\nfive donkeys. He asks the landlord whether he may put the animals in\nthe stable, and while he goes off for a short time, he leaves\ninstructions that they are not to be given water to drink. They become\nso restless, however, that the landlord takes the responsibility of\nsetting them loose, and they make a rush to a neighbouring pond. But\nno sooner has water touched their lips than they roll on the ground\nand change into women. The landlord, frightened at what has occurred,\nhides them in his house and presently the man returns leading five\nsheep. But now the landlord's suspicions are aroused and, persuading\nhis guest to take wine indoors, he goes out and waters the sheep. They\nturn into young men and their temporary owner is put under arrest and\nexecuted for a sorcerer.\n\nIn a Basque story, seven brothers forbid their sister to go near a\ncertain house. She disobeys them and a witch in the house gives her\ncertain herbs, telling her to put them in her brothers' foot-bath. She\ndoes so and the brothers are changed into cows. The ideas contained in\nthese examples are similar in character to those contained in Grimm's\n\"Household Tales.\" The following is more like the Japanese wer-fox\nepisodes:--\n\nA certain prince royal of India has a lovely mistress who bewitches\nhim, and who falls asleep one day in a bed of chrysanthemums where her\nlover shoots and wounds a fox in the forehead. The girl is found to be\nbleeding from a wound in her temple and is thus exposed. She is an\nevil animal.\n\nIn many stories women give birth to animals.\n\nA widow who lives near a palace and makes a livelihood by pounding\nrice, bears a frog which becomes a good-looking prince, but he ends as\na frog.\n\nIn the story of Madana Kama Raja (Natesa Sastri) a queen bears a\ntortoise prince who has the power of leaving his shell, and assuming\nhuman form. One day his mother is present at the transformation and\nsmashes the shell, after which her son has to remain a man. Another\nqueen gives birth to a tortoise which is reared by her, and goes in\nsearch of divine flowers, which he obtains by the aid of a nymph.\n\nA raja has two wives and the first has six sons, the second only one,\nwho is a mongoose. His name is Lelsing, and he speaks like a man, but\ngrows no bigger than an ordinary mongoose. In this story the six\nbrothers do everything they can to ill-treat the mongoose boy, but all\ntheir tricks turn to his advantage, and in the end he grows rich while\nthey grow poor, and finally they all get drowned, while he goes home\nrejoicing at his revenge upon them for their unkindness.[90]\n\nThe Bards at Jaisalmer claimed one of the raja's sons for a ruler, so\nhe gave them one of his seven ranis, who was expecting to become a\nmother, and they took her to Nahan and near the Sarmor tank she gave\nbirth first to a lion and four monsters, and then to a son. After the\nmonsters were exorcised they took the child to Medni and he became the\nfirst raja of Nahan (Sarmor).[91]\n\nAnother raja's child was born with the ears of an ox. Only the raja's\nbarber knew, but he blurted it out to the dom and the dom went to the\nraja's palace and sang\n\n      \"The son of the raja\n       Has the ears of an ox.\"\n\nThen the raja was very angry, and only forgave the dom when he said he\nhad not been told about the misfortune, but that a drum had sung the\nwords to him.[92]\n\n\"The Two Brothers\" is a typical and classical story in which one\nbrother assumes the form of a great bull with all the sacred marks. In\nanother story of German origin, the hero, who has been hacked to\npieces and stuffed in a bag, is restored to life by a master sorcerer,\nwho endows him with the power of assuming whatever shape he pleases.\nHe turns into a fine horse, and the king's daughter, believing she is\nbeing deceived, has the animal decapitated.\n\nA similar Russian tale is about a horse which has a golden mane and,\nwhen it is killed, a bull with golden hair arises from the blood spilt.\n\nSo numerous are the stories of this description, dealing with\ntransformation, that it is practically impossible to divide them into\ntheir various types, although many attempts to classify them have been\nmade by authoritative writers on folk-lore; nor is it possible to give\nthem due occult significance. They are interesting chiefly on account\nof the details which may be gathered from them concerning methods and\nreasons of transformation.\n\nThe Indian Rakshasa (Bengalese Raqhosh) are beings of a malevolent\nnature which haunt cemeteries, harass the devout, animate dead bodies,\nand afflict mankind in various ways. They can assume any form they\nplease, animal or other. Females appear as beautiful women for the\npurpose of luring men to their doom. When in their natural state they\nhave upstanding hair, yellow as the flames which they vomit forth from\nmouths which are provided with huge tusks. They have large, black,\nhairy bodies. The Nagas, on the other hand, are semi-divine\nsnake-beings with good impulses.\n\nIn \"Bengali Household Tales,\" by William McCulloch,[93] a Raqhosh\nperforms a transformation in the following manner: He removes a stone\nfrom an underground passage and descending brings forth a monkey. He\nthen plucks a few leaves from a tree, draws water from a well close\nby, throws the leaves into it and pours it over the body of the\nmonkey. The monkey is immediately transformed into a beautiful young\nwoman with whom the Raqhosh descends by the underground passage.\nTowards dawn the two come up again. This time the Raqhosh plucks some\nleaves from another tree and throws them into some water from another\nwell, and then pours it over the young woman. Instantaneously she is\nchanged into a monkey again.\n\nThis is not the most usual way for such transformations and\nretransformations to occur in Indian folk-tales; sometimes they are\nachieved by magic rods. In Grimm's \"Household Tale,\" \"Donkey\nCabbages,\" one kind of cabbage transforms a man into an ass and the\nother reverses the process.\n\nMagicians, however, have other methods. Mercurius, the most skilful of\nsorcerers, was supposed to have discovered the secret of \"fascinating\"\nmen's eyes in such a way as to make people invisible to their sight, or\nperhaps to give them the appearance of an animal. This may be compared\nto modern hypnotism and has an important bearing on the subject.\n\nPomponius Mela attributes to the Druidical priestesses of Sena the\nknowledge of transforming themselves into animals at will.\n\nProteus, according to Homer's account, becomes a dragon, a lion, or a\nboar. Eustathius, the commentator, adds, \"not really changing but only\nappearing to do so.\" Proteus was an adroit worker of miracles, and was\nwell acquainted with the secrets of Egyptian philosophy. He assumed\nanimal shape in order to escape the necessity of foretelling the\nfuture when asked to do so but, whenever he saw his endeavours were of\nno avail, he resumed his natural appearance.\n\nTowards the end of the sixteenth century Joseph Acosta, who resided in\nPeru, asserts that sorcerers existed there at that time who were\ncapable of assuming any form they pleased. He tells of a ruler of a\ncity in Mexico who was sent for by the predecessor of Montezuma and\nwho transformed himself successively before the eyes of men who tried\nto seize his person, into a tiger, an eagle, and a serpent. At length\nhe gave in, and being taken before the emperor was condemned to death.\n\nThe same kind of power was ascribed, in 1702, by the Bishop of Chiapa\n(a province of Guatemala) to the Naguals, the national priests who\nendeavoured to win back the children brought up as Christians by the\nGovernment, to the religion of their ancestors. After various\nceremonies, the child he was teaching was told to advance and embrace\nthe Nagual. At that moment he assumed a hideous animal form, and as a\nlion, tiger, or other wild beast, threw the young convert to\nChristianity into a state of abject terror by appearing chained to\nhim.[94] There, no doubt, hypnotism became a weapon of religious\nfanaticism.\n\nAt the appearance of the monster Ravanas, the gods, becoming alarmed,\ntransform themselves into animals: Indras changes into a peacock,\nYamas into a crow, Kuveras into a chameleon, and Varunas into a swan\nin order to escape the ire of the enemy.\n\nThese transformations, says de Gubernatis,[95] instead of being\ncapricious, were necessary and natural to the several gods, for the\nanimal is the shadow that follows the hero and is so closely\nidentified with him that it may often be said to be the hero himself.\n\nNash, in \"Christ's Tears over Jerusalem,\" 1613, has the following\nremarkable passage. \"They talk of an ox that tolled the bell at\nWoolwich, and how from an ox he transformed himself into an old man,\nand from an old man to an infant and into a young man again.\"\n\nThe Egyptians were the first to broach the opinion that the soul of\nman is immortal and that, when the body dies, it enters into the form\nof an animal which is born at the moment, thence passing on from one\nanimal to another, until it has circled through the forms of all the\ncreatures which tenant the earth, the water, and the air, after which\nit enters again into a human frame and is born anew. The whole period\nof transmigration is (they say) three thousand years.[96]\n\nAccording to Egyptian beliefs only the souls of wicked men suffered\nthe disgrace of entering the body of an animal when, \"weighed in the\nbalance\" before the tribunal of Osiris, they were pronounced unworthy\nto enter the abode of the blessed. The soul was then sent back to the\nbody of a pig.\n\nThe doctrine of metempsychosis was borrowed from Egypt by Pythagoras\nand classical allusions are so numerous that it is impossible to\nmention more than a few instances.\n\nEmpedocles believed he had passed through many forms, a bird and a\nfish among others. Lucian's story was of a Pythagorian cock which had\nbeen a man, a woman, a fish, a horse, and a frog, and of all states he\nthought that man was the most deplorably wretched of the animals.\nAfter anointing himself with enchanted salve from Thessaly, Lucian was\ntransformed into an ass and worked for seven years under a \"gardiner,\na tyle man, a corier, and suchlike.\" At the end of the period he was\nrestored to human shape by nibbling rose leaves.\n\nDionysius was believed to assume the form of a goat or of a bull, and\nCronius was said to take the form of a horse. Epona was a\nhorse-goddess, and Callisto in an Arcadian myth was changed into a\nbear. Citeus, son of Lycaon, laments the transformation of his\ndaughter into a bear. Iphigenia at the moment of sacrifice was changed\ninto a fawn. Osiris was mangled by a boar, or Typhon in the form of a\nboar;--just as in the tale of Diarmuid and Grainne, the former's\nfoster brother was transformed into a boar.\n\nThe sorceress Thessala was able to call up strange animal ghosts:\n\n      \"Here in all nature's products unfortunate;\n       Foam of mad dogs, which waters fear and hate;\n       Guts of the lynx; Hy\u00e6na's knot unbred;\n       The marrow of a hart with serpents fed\n       Were not wanting; no, nor the sea lamprey\n       Which stops the ships; nor yet the dragon's eye.\"\n                                             LUCAN.\n\nIn Shakespeare's \"Midsummer Night's Dream\" Puck is gifted with the\npower of transformation. He says,\n\n      \"Sometimes a horse I'll be, sometimes a hound,\n       A hog, a headless bear, sometimes a fire,\n       And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,\n       Like horse, hound, dog, bear, fire, at every turn.\"\n\nHe had also the power to transform others into animals, and seeing\nBottom studying the part of Pyramus, plays a trick upon him:\n\n\"An ass's nole I fixed on his head.\"\n\n\"Bless thee, Bottom,\" says Quin, seeing his companion transformed in\nthis manner, \"Bless thee! thou art translated.\" But Titania, herself\nunder a spell, becomes enamoured of the vision. \"So is mine eye\nenthralled to thy shape,\" she cries, and she desires to stick\nmusk-roses in his sleek smooth head, and kiss the fair, large ears.\"\nFortunately Oberon orders Puck to restore Bottom to his normal shape\nbefore much harm is done.\n\nMany modern writers have used the mystic idea of animal transformation,\nespecially as gleaned from Celtic legendary sources; for instance, in\nthe tales by Fiona McLeod and the poems by W. B. Yeats.\n\n      \"Do you not hear me calling white deer with no horns!\n       I have been changed to a hound with one red ear;\"\n\n             *       *       *       *       *\n\n      \"A man with a hazel wand came without sound,\n       And changed me suddenly, while I was looking another way;\n       And now my calling is but the calling of a hound.\"\n\nIn another poem the salmon caught by a young fisherman is no sooner\nunder his roof, than it changes into a shimmering maiden--which makes\none think of the Indian story of a shining man who casts his ugly\nskin and is so bright that no one can see him without being blinded.\n\nA pretty little story of a shining lady who becomes a butterfly, is\ntold by Mr. H. A. Giles in \"Strange Stories from a Chinese\nStudio.\"[97] Mr. Wang of Chang-shang, the District Magistrate, had a\nhabit of commuting the fines and penalties of the Penal Code inflicted\non prisoners in exchange for a corresponding number of butterflies. He\nrejoiced in seeing the insects flutter hither and thither like \"tinsel\nsnippings\" borne on the breeze. One night he dreamt that a beautiful\ngirl in shimmering clothes stood before him who said sadly, \"Your\ncruel practice has brought many of my sisters to an untimely end; now\nyou must pay the penalty for what you have done.\" Then she transformed\nherself into a butterfly and flew away.\n\nA great feature in folk-tales and fairy stories is, of course, the\ntalking animal. Grimm's \"Tales,\" the \"Arabian Nights,\" and Hans\nAndersen's \"M\u00e4rchen,\" have made such semi-human creatures thoroughly\nfamiliar. They appear also in the Bible and mythology. Eve and the\nserpent, Balaam and the ass, Achilles and his horses, Porus and the\nelephant, Bacchus, Phryxius and many others are notable instances. The\nidea of words of wisdom coming from the lips of brutes is brought to\ngreater perfection in the fables than elsewhere, and \u00c6sop's animals\nare gifted with speech, traits, and passions absolutely human.\n\nPilpay, Lokman, Babrius, Ph\u00e6drus, and La Fontaine, most successfully of\nall, exploited the same theme, and a wonderful procession of animals\nstalks through their writings, almost every kind of zoological specimen\nbeing represented. There are rats enough to require the services of many\nPied Pipers of Hamelin, lions enough to stock the equatorial forests,\nwolves to crowd the Steppes of Russia, bats and birds, gnats and frogs\ngalore, and to each beast, feathered thing, or fish, a place is given\nin the social scale which he fills with dignity and grace, or in which\nhe acts with wisdom and judgment, or again in which he is made to look\nridiculous and becomes the laughing stock of those about him.\n\n\"If one is a wolf, one devours,\" wrote Walpole, referring to the\nfables of La Fontaine. \"If one is a fox, one is cunning. If one is a\nmonkey, one is a coxcomb.\"\n\nThe fox always gets the better of everyone else in the fables. He makes\nuse of the goat to climb out of the well, and then leaves him to his\nfate. He is always taking the advantage of the wolf, for he has more\nbrains, if less strength. He has no difficulty in inventing stratagems\nwhich bring the plump turkeys into his larder. He is always diplomatic,\nhe comes smiling out of every difficulty, he is quick and energetic: his\npersonal appearance, heightened by his bright eye and bushy tail, is in\nhis favour. He has two qualities invaluable to the courtier, a certain\ndash and a certain subtlety, and above all he is _bon viveur_.\n\n      \"Grand Croqueur de poulets, grands preneur de lapins.\"\n\nHis worst enemy is the dog, with whom his tricks are frequently\nwanting in success. When out walking with the cat, and boastful of his\nown superior resources, he finds himself at a disadvantage the moment\nan attack is threatened by a pack of hounds. The cat quickly climbs a\nlofty tree.\n\n      \"The fox his hundred ruses tried,\n       And yet no safety found:\n       A hundred times he falsified\n       The nose of every hound.\n       Was here, and there, and everywhere,\n       Above and underground.\"\n\nIn the end they are too clever for him, and he meets his death.\n\nThe story of Reynard the fox is a novel of adventure in which animals\nplay the part of men and usually bear men's names, and who does not know\nand love the tale of Brer Rabbit and Brer B'ar and their relations with\nUncle Remus, or the equally human animals of Alice's \"Adventures.\"\n\nThese fictitious beings combine human and animal mental\ncharacteristics, but there is another class, the fabulous animals, of\nwhich the physical attributes are taken partly from man, partly from\nanimal types. They are no doubt symbolic of occult truths, and much\ntime and labour might be spent in formulating their relationship.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[80] Adapted from \"Village Folk-tales of Ceylon,\" by H. Parker, 1910,\nVol. I, pp. 308-10.\n\n[81] Frere, M., \"Old Deccan Days,\" 1889, pp. 83-193.\n\n[82] Stokes, M. S. H., 1880, p. 41.\n\n[83] \"Folk Tales of Hindustan,\" p. 54 ff.\n\n[84] Swynnerton, C., 1908, p. 464.\n\n[85] Lady Burton's edition, 1887, Vol. III, p. 417.\n\n[86] Variants of this basic legend are included in the chapter on\n\"Bird-Women,\" where they properly belong.\n\n[87] There is a Tamil proverb: \"Be quiet or I shall show you my\noriginal shape.\"\n\n[88] \"Indian Folk Tales,\" 1908, p. 90.\n\n[89] Giles, H. A., \"Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio,\" 1909, p.\n417.\n\n[90] Bompas, \"Folklore of the Santal Pagarnas,\" 1909, p. 201 ff.\n\n[91] \"Punjab Notes and Queries,\" May, 1885, p. 134.\n\n[92] _Ibid._, p. 171.\n\n[93] 1912, p. 237.\n\n[94] Salverte, E., \"The Philosophy of Magic,\" 1846, Vol. I, p. 289.\n\n[95] \"Zoological Mythology,\" 1872, Vol. I, p. xviii.\n\n[96] Herodotus, Book II, Chap. 123.\n\n[97] p. 430.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XVI\n\n                    FABULOUS ANIMALS AND MONSTERS\n\n\nThe most important among fabulous animals which are partly human\nbeings are the centaur, half-man and half-horse; the harpy, half-woman\nand half-vulture; the sphinx, which has the head of a woman, the body\nof a lion and the wings of an eagle, and the satyr, an old man with\ngoat's legs and tail.\n\n\"Gorgons and Hydras, and Chimaeras--dire stories of Celaeno and the\nHarpies,\" says Charles Lamb, \"may reproduce themselves in the brain of\nsuperstition--but they were there before. They are transcripts,\ntypes--the archetypes are in us, and eternal. How else should the\nrecital of that which we know in a waking sense to be false, come to\naffect us at all?--or\n\n      \"Names whose sense we see not,\n       Fray us with things that be not?\n\nIs it that we naturally conceive terror from such objects, considered in\ntheir capacity of being able to inflict upon us bodily injury?--O, least\nof all! These terrors are of older standing. They date beyond body--or,\nwithout the body, they would have been the same. All the cruel,\ntormenting, defined devils in Dante--tearing, mangling, choking,\nstifling, scorching demons--are they one half so fearful to the spirit\nof a man, as the simple idea of a spirit unembodied following him:\n\n      \"Like one that on a lonesome road\n       Doth walk in fear and dread,\n       For having once turn'd round, walks on,\n       And turns no more his head;\n       Because he knows a frightful fiend\n       Doth close behind him tread.\n\nThat the kind of fear here treated of is purely spiritual--that it is\nstrong in proportion as it is objectless upon earth--and that it\npredominates in the period of sinless infancy--are difficulties the\nsolution of which might afford some probable insight into our\nante-mundane condition, and a peep at least into the shadowland of\npre-existence.\"[98]\n\nPrentice Mulford firmly believed that the supposed fables in the ancient\nmythologies concerning beings half-men, half-beasts (such as centaurs or\nmermaids) had had their origin in spiritual truths. \"Our race,\" he says,\n\"has been so developed out of the animal or coarser forms of life.\nCountless ages ago all forms of life were coarser than now. As these\ngrew finer, man attracted and absorbed the spirit of the finer.\"\n\n\"The history of animals such as the ancients have transmitted to us,\"\nsays Eusebe Salverte,[99] \"is filled with details apparently\nchimerical: but which are sometimes only the consequence of a\ndefective nomenclature. The name, Onocentaur, which seems to designate\na monster, uniting the form of a man and an ass, was given to a\nquadrumanus which runs sometimes on four paws, but at other times uses\nits forepaws only as hands: merely an immense monkey covered with grey\nhair, particularly on the lower part of the body....\"\n\nM. Geoffroy de St. Hillaire described a polydactyle horse as having\nhairy fingers separated by membranes: yet when ancient authors have\nspoken of horses, the feet of which bore some resemblance to the hands\nand feet of a man, they have been accused of imposture.[100]\n\nThe Centaurs were mythical creatures which inhabited Thessaly. They\nwere said to have sprung from a union of Ixion and a Cloud, or,\naccording to other authorities, to be the offspring of Centaurus, son\nof Apollo, by Stilbia, daughter of Peneus. The famous battle of the\nCentaurs with the Lapith\u00e6 was occasioned by a quarrel at the marriage\nof Hippodamia with Pirithous. The Centaurs having come to a state of\nintoxication, offered violence to the women present, an insult for\nwhich they received due punishment.\n\nA vivid presentment of what changing shape from man to horse would\nmean is to be found in Mr. Algernon Blackwood's \"The Centaur,\"[101] in\nwhich story the Irish hero, Mally, watches his own transformation into\nthe figure of the _Urwelt_, with amazement.\n\n\"All white and shining lay the sunlight over his own extended form.\nPower was in his limbs; he rose above the ground in some new way; the\nusual little stream of breath became a river of rushing air he drew\ninto stronger, more capacious lungs; likewise his bust grew strangely\ndeepened, pushed the wind before it; and the sunshine glowed on shaggy\nflanks agleam with dew that powerfully drove the ground behind him\nwhile he ran.\n\n\"He ran yet only partly as a man runs; he found himself shot forwards\nthrough the air, upright, yet at the same time upon all fours ... it was\nhis own feet now that made that trampling as of hoofs upon the turf.\"\n\nIn \"Gulliver's Travels\" the men-horses or Houyhnhnms are fine horses\ngifted with human intelligence, but the Yahoos are described by Swift\nas having a very peculiar shape. Their heads and breasts were covered\nwith a thick hair, some frizzled and others lank, they had beards like\ngoats and a long ridge of hair down their backs, and the foreparts of\ntheir legs and feet, but the rest of their bodies was bare, so that\ntheir skins, which were of a brown-buff colour, could be seen. They\nhad no tails, and they sat on the ground as well as laid down, and\noften stood on their hind feet. They climbed high trees as nimbly as a\nsquirrel, for they had strong extended claws before and behind,\nterminating in sharp points and hooked. They would often spring and\nbound and leap with prodigious agility.[102]\n\nIn speaking, the Houyhnhnms pronounced through the nose and throat,\nand their language approached nearest to High-Dutch or German, but was\nmore graceful and significant.\n\nSwift no doubt took his idea of the men-horses from centaurs.\n\nThe Harpies were three fabulous winged monsters, offsprings of Neptune\nand Terra, represented with the features of a woman, the body of a\nvulture, and human fingers armed with sharp claws. Heraldically the\nharpy appears as a vulture with the head and breasts of a woman.\nNeptune's daughters emitted an odious stench and polluted all they\ntouched.\n\nThe Sphinx was another composite fabled monster, with the head and\nbreasts of a woman, the body of a dog, the tail of a serpent, the\nwings of a bird, the paws of a lion, and a human voice. According to\nthe Grecian poets the animal infested the city of Thebes, devouring\nthe inhabitants and setting difficult riddles. It was promised,\nhowever, that on the solution of one of its enigmas the Sphinx would\ndestroy itself. The puzzle to be solved was, \"What animal walked on\nfour legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?\" Many\npeople attempted to find a solution in the hope of winning Jocasta,\nsister of Creon, King of Thebes, in marriage, but all fell victims to\ntheir ambition until the advent of \u0152dipus, who answered the Sphinx,\nsaying, Man crept on his hands and feet in infancy, at noon he walked\nerect, and in the evening of life required the support of a staff. On\nhearing the reply the Sphinx dashed her head against a rock and\nexpired. In Egypt sphinxes with human heads were called Androsphinxes.\nThey had no wings, which were added by the Greek artists.\n\nHecate, the Greek goddess, was described as having three bodies or\nthree heads, one of a horse, the second of a dog, and the third of a\nlion. She was a spectral being who at night sent from the lower world\nall kinds of demons and phantoms to teach sorcery. She wandered about\nwith the souls of the dead and her approach was announced by the\nwhining and howling of dogs.\n\nHathor was pictured sometimes as a cow, sometimes as a woman with the\nhead of a cow, bearing the solar disc between her horns.\n\nOther animal goddesses of curious shapes are Egyptian, such as the\ncat-goddess, the bird-goddess, the hippopotamus-goddess, Smet-Smet or\nRert-Rert, figures of which may be seen at the British Museum.\n\nStrange creatures too were the Gorgons, the three sisters, Stheno,\nEuryale, and Medusa, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. Their hairs were\nentwined with serpents, they had hands of brass, scales on their body,\nand the tusks of a wild boar. Their frightful appearance caused those\nwho beheld them to turn to stone. They were conquered by Perseus, who\nwas given special weapons for the purpose by the gods. He cut off\nMedusa's head and gave it to Minerva; as he fled through the air to\nEthiopia drops of blood fell to the ground from the severed head and\nturned to serpents. Pegasus, the winged horse, sprang from Medusa's\nblood and became the favourite of the Muses. He was given to\nBellerophon and helped him to conquer the Chimaera, the celebrated\nmonster with three heads, a lion's, goat's, and dragon's, which\ncontinually sent forth flames. The forepart of its body was that of a\nlion, the middle of a goat, and the hind part that of a dragon.\n\nThese are the chief mythological monsters, thus rapidly enumerated,\nbut other creatures, half-human, half-animal, are of greater interest\npsychologically. For instance, the Persians believe firmly in ghouls\nwhich wander in lonely and haunted places, lure travellers from their\npath and devour them. They are hideous in shape and give forth\nblood-curdling screams. Being able to assume any animal form at will,\nthey often appear as camels or mules, or perhaps even simulate a\nhuman being well-known to their intended victim. The charm against\nthem is to utter the name of the Prophet in all sincerity.\n\nThe Persians also believe in _divs_ or cat-headed men with horns and\nhoofs. _Jinns_ or _Afreets_ can turn themselves into animals at will\nand so no Persian likes to kill dogs or cats, lest the angry demons,\nwhose dwelling-place they are, should haunt those responsible for\nevicting them.\n\nThe Satyrs were rural demi-gods, in the shape of men but with legs and\nfeet like goats, short horns on the head and the body covered with\nhair. They attended on Bacchus and were given to similar excesses.\nThey roamed through woods, dwelt in caves, and endeavoured to gain the\nloves of the Nymphs. They were identical with Fauns, Panes or Sylvani,\nthe human-goat wood-spirits. They should not be confused with the\nNature-Spirits described by Paracelsus, though similar in name.\n\nIn Russia wood-spirits are believed to appear partly in human shape,\nbut also with horns, ears, and legs of goats. They are called Ljeschi\nand can change their shape and size, in a forest, being large like\ntrees; in a meadow, merely the height of the grass.\n\nThe Griffin was half-lion and half-eagle, and apparently had no human\ncharacteristics.\n\nThe Mermaid is a fabulous marine creature, partly woman and partly\nfish. The Nereides were sea-nymphs, daughters of Nereus, the ancient\nsea-god and his wife Doris. They were at least fifty in number\n(Propertius says a hundred), and they had green hair and fishes'\ntails. The most celebrated of them all were Amphitrite, wife of\nNeptune, Thetis, mother of Achilles, Galatea, and Doto. They are\nidentical with the Sirens.\n\nMany charming stories have been told of Mermaids, and\nMermaid-prophetesses.\n\nAccording to the old Danish ballad a mermaid foretold the death of\nQueen Dagmar, wife of Valdemar II, surnamed the Victorious.\n\n\"In the year 1576,\" says the Chronicle of Frederick II of Denmark,\n\"there came late in the autumn a simple old peasant from Samso to the\nCourt then being held at Kalundborg, who related that a beautiful\nfemale had more than once come to him while working in his field by\nthe seashore, whose figure, from the waist downwards, resembled that\nof a fish, and who had solemnly and strictly enjoined him to go over\nand announce to the king, that as God had blessed his queen so that\nshe was pregnant of a son (afterwards Christian IV), who should be\nnumbered among the greatest princes of the North, and, seeing that all\nsorts of sins were gaining ground in his kingdom, he, in honour of and\nin gratitude to God who had so blessed him, should wholly extirpate\nsuch sins, lest God should visit him with anger and punishment\nthereafter.\"[103]\n\nIn the Shetland Isles mermaids are said to dwell among the fishes, in\nthe depths of the ocean, in mansions of pearl and coral. They resemble\nhuman beings, but greatly excel them in beauty. When they wish to\nvisit the earth they put on the _ham_ or garb of some fish, but if\nthey lose this garment, all hopes of return are annihilated and they\nmust stay where they are.\n\nA mermaid was found by a fisherman called Pergrin at St. Dognael's,\nnear Cardigan, and he took her prisoner, but she wept bitterly and\nsaid to him, \"If you will let me go, Pergrin, I will call to you three\ntimes at the moment of your greatest need.\" Moved by her distress, he\nobeyed and almost forgot the incident, but some weeks later he was\nfishing on a hot, calm day, when he heard distinctly, the call, thrice\nrepeated, \"Pergrin, take up thy nets.\" This he did in great haste, and\nby the time he reached the harbour a terrible storm had come up, and\nall the other fishermen who had not been warned were drowned. This\nstory, it is claimed, belongs to other parts of Wales also.\n\nThere is said to be a castle in Finland, on the borders of a small\nlake, out of which, previously to the death of the Governor, an\napparition in the form of a mermaid arises and makes sweet melody.\n\nOne of the most charming descriptions of a Sea-maiden is found in Hans\nAndersen's well-known story of \"The Little Mermaid.\" Her skin is as soft\nand delicate as a rose-leaf, her eyes are as deep a blue as the sea, but\nlike all other mermaids, she has no feet; her body ends in a tail like\nthat of a fish. For many years she plays happily in the enchanted palace\nof the Mer-king, her father, but when she reaches years of discretion\nshe visits the earth and falls in love with a handsome prince, forsaking\nher home and family and giving away her beautiful voice for love of him.\nBut she does more even than this, for she has to appeal to a witch to\ntransform her into a maiden like the others who walk on land, and the\nprocess is a terribly painful one. The witch prepares a drink she has to\ntake with her on her journey to the unknown country, and she is told\nthat she must sit down on the shore and swallow the draught, and that\nthen her tail will fall and shrink up \"to the things which men call\nlegs.\" When she walks or dances the pain will be as though she were\nwalking on the sharp edge of swords or the edges of ploughshares. But\nshe braves all these terrors and dances more gracefully than ever any\nearth-maiden could do, hoping that her prince will marry her and so give\nher the right to an immortal soul. Then the real tragedy occurs, for the\nprince loves her only as a beautiful child, and he marries a princess of\nhis own kind, so that the mermaid's sacrifice seems to be thrown away.\nIf she wishes to return to her original state she has to kill the\nprince, but when she holds the knife over him as he sleeps beside his\nbeautiful bride she cannot find it in her heart to harm him, and sooner\nthan think of her own forlorn condition, she throws the knife into the\nsea and gives up, as she believes, her last hope of happiness. But then\nher reward comes, for she is borne into the air by the daughters of that\nelement, and the story ends with a promise of a new and a lovelier\nexistence.\n\nMr. H. G. Wells, among recent writers, has used the idea of the\nmermaid in his quaint story \"The Sea Lady.\"\n\nThe famous mermaid figures in the coat-of-arms of several well-known\nfamilies. Sometimes she holds a mirror, sometimes a mirror and comb. A\nred mermaid with yellow hair on a white field appears in the arms of\nthe family living at Glasfryn in the south of Carnarvonshire.\n\nOther marine monsters besides mermaids are sometimes found in the sea,\nwhich, without corresponding exactly to man, yet resemble him more\nthan any other animals. However, like the rest of the brutes, they\nlack mind or soul. They have, says Paracelsus, the same relations to\nman as the ape and are nothing but the apes of the sea.\n\nMerovingian princes traced their origin to a sea-monster, and Druid\npriestesses claimed to be able to assume animal form and to rule wind\nand wave. Indeed, since men first sought to classify other living\norganisms, they have credited nature with producing strange and weird\nmonsters, half-human, half-animal, which exist either in their own\nimaginations or in realms beyond the material plane of everyday\ncognisance.\n\nIn the third Calmuc tale, a man who possesses but one cow unites\nhimself to her in order that she may become fruitful, and a tailed\nmonster is born having a man's body and a bull's head. This man-bull,\nwho is Minotaur, goes into the forest and picks up three companions,\none black, one green, one white, who accompany him. He overcomes the\nenchantments of a dwarf witch, and when lowered into a well by his\ncompanions, he manages to escape. Presently he meets a beautiful\nmaiden drawing water, at whose every footstep a flower springs, and\nfollowing her, finds himself in heaven.\n\nThe classical Minotaurus is said to have been the offspring of\nPasiphae and a bull sent from the sea to Minos, who shut the\nhalf-human monster in the Cnossian labyrinth and fed him with the\nbodies of the youths and maidens sent by the Athenians as a tribute.\nThis monster was slain by Theseus.\n\nAmong modern writers, Mr. H. G. Wells has perhaps been the most daring\nin describing monsters. In \"The Island of Dr. Moreau,\" Dr. Moreau\nexplains to Pendrick his method of making humanised animals. \"These\ncreatures you have seen are animals carven and wrought into new shapes,\"\nhe says. \"To that--to the study of plasticity of living forms--my life\nhas been devoted. I have studied for years, gaining knowledge as I go. I\nsee you look horrified, yet I am telling you nothing new. It all lay in\nthe surface of practical anatomy years ago, but no one had the temerity\nto touch it. It's not simply the outward form of an animal I can change.\nThe physiology, the chemical rhythm of the creature, may also be made to\nundergo an enduring modification, of which vaccination and other methods\nof inoculation with living or dead matter are examples that will, no\ndoubt, be familiar to you. A similar operation is the transfusion of\nblood, with which subject indeed I began. These are all familiar cases.\nLess so, and probably far more extensive, were the operations of those\nmedi\u00e6val practitioners who made dwarfs and beggar cripples and\nshow-monsters; some vestiges of whose art still remains in the\npreliminary manipulation of the young mountebank or contortionist.\nVictor Hugo gives an account of them in _L'Homme qui Rit_ ... but\nperhaps my meaning grows plain now. You begin to see that it is a\npossible thing to transplant tissue from one part of an animal to\nanother, or from one animal to another, to alter its chemical reactions\nand methods of growth, to modify the articulations of its limbs, and\nindeed to change it in its most intimate structure?...\"\n\n\"So for twenty years altogether--counting nine years in England--I\nhave been going on, and there is still something in everything I do\nthat defeats me, makes me dissatisfied, challenges me to further\neffort. Sometimes I rise above my level, sometimes I fall below it,\nbut always I fall short of the things I dream. The human shape I can\nget now almost with ease, so that it is lithe and graceful, or thick\nand strong; but often there is trouble with the hands and\nclaws--painful things that I dare not shape too freely. But it is in\nthe subtle grafting and reshaping one must needs do to the brain that\nmy trouble lies. The intelligence is often oddly low, with\nunaccountable blank ends, unexpected gaps. And least satisfactory of\nall is something that I cannot touch, somewhere--I cannot determine\nwhere--in the seat of the emotions. Cravings, instincts, desires that\nharm humanity, a strange hidden reservoir to burst suddenly and\ninundate the whole being of the creature with anger, hate, or fear.\nThese creatures of mine seemed strange and uncanny to you as soon as\nyou began to observe them, but to me, just after I make them, they\nseem to be indisputably human beings. It's afterwards, as I observe\nthem, that the persuasion fades. First one animal trait, then another,\ncreeps to the surface and stares at me.... But I will conquer yet.\nEach time I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, I\nsay, this time I will burn out all the animal, this time I will make a\nrational creature of my own. After all, what is ten years? Man has\nbeen a hundred thousand in the making.\"[104]\n\n\"There were swine-men and swine-women,\" says Pendrick later,\ndescribing the beast-folk, \"a mare rhinoceros creature, and several\nother females I did not ascertain. There were several Wolf creatures,\na Bear-bull, and a Saint Bernard Dog Man. I have already described the\nApe Man, and there was a particularly hateful (and evil-smelling) old\nwoman made of Vixen and Bear, whom I hated from the beginning.\"[105]\n\n\"First to arrive was the Satyr, strangely unreal, for all that he cast\na shadow, and tossed the dust with his hoofs: after him, from the\nbrake, came a monstrous lout, a thing of horse and rhinoceros,\nchewing a straw as it came: and then appeared the Swine Woman and two\nWolf Women: then the Fox-Bear-Witch, with her red eyes in her peaked\nred face, and then others all hurrying eagerly.\"[106]\n\nIn another imaginative work dealing with the twenty-ninth century A.D.,\nthe brute creation has been humanised in a way never before dreamt of.\n\n\"... a levy of 40,000 naturalists were engaged for years in forming a\nhundred different zoological armies. Each of these was, by an admirable\nsystem of drill, brought to such a high state of discipline that a\nbrigade, consisting of a thousand elephants, a thousand rhinoceroses,\n180,000 monkeys and 15,000 other beasts of draught and burden could be\nofficered with perfect ease by as few as one thousand naturalists. Birds\nof burden and fish of burden were in like manner drafted into the ranks\nof the zoological army, and, being subjected to similar training, were\nbrought to a similar degree of efficiency.\"[107]\n\nGiraldus Cambrensis wrote of many curious monsters and strange things\nthat happened in connection with them. He believed that occult powers\ncame through them in some manner, and told the story of a Welshman\ncalled Melerius, who had an odd experience by which he acquired the\npowers of a seer. One Palm Sunday he met a damsel whom he had long\nloved and embraced her in the woods, when suddenly, instead of a\nbeautiful girl, he found in his arms a hairy, rough, and hideous\ncreature, the sight of which deprived him of his senses. On his return\nto sanity, many years later, he discovered that he had wonderful\noccult gifts of prophecy.\n\nGiraldus also believed that people in Ireland, by magical arts, could\nturn \"any substance about them into fat pigs,\" as they appeared to be,\nthough the colour was always red, and could then sell them in the\nmarkets. They disappeared, however, \"as soon as they crossed any\nwater,\" and even if they were looked after carefully they never lasted\nas pigs for more than three days. He writes of a man-monster whose\nbody was human, except the extremities, which were cloven like those\nof an ox. This monster had large round eyes like an ox and the only\nsound he could make was like an ox lowing. He was present at the Court\nof Maurice Fitzgerald in Wicklow, and took up his food between the\nfissures of his cloven forefeet. His fate was to be put secretly to\ndeath, a fate which might with advantage be shared, metaphorically\nspeaking, by many of the hybrid creatures, or manufactured\nmonstrosities, figments of unwholesome brains.\n\nAugustine, in the sixteenth book of his \"De Civitate Dei,\" chapter\nviii., speaks of monsters of the human race, born in the East, some\nhaving heads of dogs, others without heads, and eyes in their breasts.\n\"I myself,\" he adds, \"at the time I was in Italy, heard it said of some\ndistrict in those parts, that there the stable women who had learnt\nmagical arts, used to give something to travellers in their cheese which\ntransformed them into beasts of burden, and after they had performed the\ntasks required of them, they were allowed to resume their natural form.\"\n\nOne of the most fearsome among the fabulous animals is the dragon, an\nenormous serpent of abnormal form which is represented in ancient\nlegends as a huge Hydra, watching as sentinel the Garden of the\nHesperides. In art the dragon is the symbol of sin, and in the Bible\nthis monster appears as the symbol of the King of Egypt and the King\nof Babylon. The dragon, which is the emblem of the Chinese Empire,\nlike the legendary serpent, can assume human shape.\n\nThe basilisk is another fabulous animal of the snake tribe, which\ncarries a jewel in its head, and in many French legends possesses\nhuman proclivities. It is the king of all the serpents and holds\nitself erect. Its eyes are red and fiery, the face pointed, and upon\nits head it wears a crest like a crown. It has, moreover, the\nterrible gift of killing people by the glare of its eye and other\nserpents are said to fly from its presence in dread.\n\nThe cockatrice is identical with the basilisk, but is perhaps not\nquite so human. It is produced from a \"cock's egg hatched by a frog.\"\n\nLilith is the \"night-monster,\" and according to the Rabbinical idea,\nshe is a spectre in the figure of a woman who, entering houses in the\ndead of night, seizes upon the little children of the household and\nbears them away to murder them. According to some accounts she is not\nunlike Lamia, and has the form of a serpent.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[98] Lamb, Charles, \"Essays of Elia,\" 1904, pp. 133-4.\n\n[99] \"The Philosophy of Magic,\" 1846, Vol. I, p. 67.\n\n[100] _Ibid._, pp. 73-4.\n\n[101] 1911, pp. 257-8.\n\n[102] Swift, J., \"Gulliver's Travels\" (York Library), 1905, p. 231.\n\n[103] Thorpe, B., \"Northern Mythology,\" 1851, Vol. II, p. 173.\n\n[104] H. G. Wells, \"The Island of Dr. Moreau,\" 1913, pp. 89-90, 98-99.\n\n[105] _Ibid._, p. 106.\n\n[106] _Ibid._, pp. 115-6.\n\n[107] Annals of the Twenty-ninth Century, Vol. I (Tinsley), London,\npp. 61-2.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XVII\n\n                            HUMAN SERPENTS\n\n\nSince the beginning of the world the serpent has been regarded as the\nmost mystic of reptiles. He was called \"more subtil than any beast of\nthe field,\" from the day on which he spoke to Eve and said that if she\nate of the fruit of the Tree of Life, her eyes should be opened and\nshe should surely not die, and he has been endowed with human powers\nagain and again, worshipped as a god in every part of the world and\ndepicted in ancient art as possessed of human form and attributes. In\nAztec paintings the mother of the human race is always represented in\nconversation with a serpent who is erect. This is the serpent, \"who\nonce spoke with a human voice.\"\n\nMythology has numberless legends which tell of human or semi-human\nserpents. The ancient kings of Thebes and Delphi claimed kingship with\nthe snake, and Cadmus and his wife Harmonia, quitting Thebes, went to\nreign over a tribe of Eel-men in Illyria and became transformed into\nsnakes, just as now Kaffir kings are said to turn into boa-constrictors\nor other deadly serpents, and some other African tribes believe that\ntheir dead chiefs become crocodiles.\n\nCecrops, the first king of Athens, was supposed to have been\nhalf-serpent and half-man, and Cychreus, after slaying a snake which\nravaged the island of Salamis, appeared in the form of his victim.\n\nWhen Minerva contended with Neptune for the city of Athens, she\ncreated the olive which became sacred to her, and she planted it on\nthe Acropolis and placed it in the charge of the serpent-god,\nErechthonios, who is represented as half-serpent, half-man, the lower\nextremities being serpentine.\n\nThe story of Alexander's birth, as told by Plutarch, is one of the\nmost curious of the man-serpent traditions. Olympias, his mother, kept\ntame snakes in the house and one of them was said to have been found\nin her bed, and was thought to be the real father of Alexander the\nGreat. Lucian adopts this view of Alexander's parentage.\n\nThe worship of serpent-gods is found amongst many nations. The Chinese\ngod Foki, for instance, is said to have had the form of a man,\nterminating in the tail of a snake. The same belief in serpent-gods\nexists among the primitive Turanian tribes. The Accadians made the\nserpent one of the principal attributes, and one of the forms of Hea,\nand we find a very important allusion to a mythological serpent in the\nwords from an Accadian dithyrambus uttered by a god, perhaps by Hea:--\n\n      Like the enormous serpent with seven heads, the weapon with seven\n                heads I hold it.\n      Like the serpent which beats the waves of the sea attacking the\n                enemy in front,\n      Devastator in the shock of battle, extending his power over\n                heaven and earth, the weapon with (seven) heads (I hold it).[108]\n\nThe story of Crishna is very similar to that of Hercules in Grecian\nmythology, the serpent forming a prominent feature in both. Crishna\nconquers a dragon, into which the Assoor Aghe had transformed himself to\nswallow him up. He defeats also Kalli Naga (the black or evil spirit\nwith a thousand heads) who, placing himself in the bed of the river\nJumna, poisoned the stream, so that all the companions of Crishna and\nhis cattle, who tasted of it, perished. He overcame Kalli Naga, without\narms, and in the form of a child. The serpent twisted himself about the\nbody of Crishna, but the god tore off his heads, one after the other,\nand trampled them under his feet. Before he had completely destroyed\nKalli Naga, the wife and children of the monster (serpents also) came\nand besought him to release their relative. Crishna took pity on them,\nand releasing Kalli Naga, said to him, \"Begone quickly into the abyss:\nthis place is not proper for thee since I have engaged with thee, thy\nname shall remain through all the period of time and devatars and men\nshall henceforth remember thee without dismay.\" So the serpent with his\nwife and children went into the abyss, and the water which had been\naffected by his poison became pure and wholesome.[109]\n\nCrishna also destroyed the serpent-king of Egypt and his army of snakes.\n\nLamia was an evil spirit having the semblance of a serpent, with the\nhead, or at least the mouth, of a beautiful woman, whose whole figure\nthe demon assumed for the purpose of securing the love of some man\nwhom, it was supposed, she desired to tear to pieces and devour.\nLycius is said to have fallen in love with one of these spirits, but\nwas delivered by his master, Apollonius, who, \"by some probable\nconjectures,\" found her out to be a serpent, a _lamia_.[110]\n\nKeats made use of this idea in his poem, \"Lamia.\" Later the word was\nused to mean a witch or enchantress. Melusina was another beautiful\nserpent-woman who disappeared from her husband's presence every\nSaturday, and turned into a human fish or serpent.\n\nA modern version of the legend of Melusina is found in Wales. To\nassume the shape of a snake, witches prepared special charms, and\nsometimes a ban was placed upon enemies by which they turned into\nsnakes for a time.\n\nA young farmer in Anglesea went to South Wales and there he met a\nhandsome girl whose eyes were \"sometimes blue, sometimes grey, and\nsometimes like emeralds,\" but they always sparkled and glittered. He\nfell in love with her at first sight, and she agreed to become his\nwife if he would allow her to disappear twice a year for a fortnight\nwithout questioning her as to where she went. To this arrangement the\nyoung husband agreed.\n\nFor some years he did not trouble himself about his wife's absence, but\nhis mother began nagging at him, saying that he ought to find out where\nshe went and what she did. Taking his mother's advice, he disguised\nhimself and followed his wife to a lonely part of a forest not far from\ntheir home. Hiding himself behind a huge rock, he noticed from this\npoint of vantage that his wife took off her girdle and threw it down in\nthe deep grass near a dark pool. Then she vanished, and the next moment\nhe saw a large and handsome snake glide through the grass, just where\nshe had been standing. He chased the reptile, but the snake disappeared\ninto a hole near the pool. The husband went home and waited patiently\nfor his wife's return, and when she came, he requested her to tell him\nwhere she had been. This she refused to do, and when he asked her what\nshe did with her girdle, she blushed painfully.\n\nThe next time when she was intending to go away, he seized and hid the\ngirdle, and thus deferred her departure. She was taken ill, and he,\nhoping to rid her of a baneful charm, threw the girdle in the fire.\nThen his wife writhed in agony, and when the girdle was burnt up she\ndied. The neighbours called her the Snake-Woman of the South on\naccount of this strange story of her doings.[111]\n\nA shoemaker in the Vale of Taff married a widow for her money and, as\nlove seemed lacking on both sides, it was not long before serious\nquarrels occurred between the couple. Although it was said that hard\nblows were struck on both sides, the neighbours remarked that it was\nstrange the shoemaker's wife appeared amongst them without a trace of\na bruise on her person. At night loud cries and deep groans arose\nfrom the shoemaker's dwelling, and a certain gentleman of an\ninquisitive turn of mind decided to discover what took place and hid\nhimself in a loft over the kitchen, to spy on the couple. Whatever he\nmay have learnt during the proceedings, he said nothing, and a report\nwas spread that he had been \"paid to hold his tongue and not divulge\nthe family secret.\" At last, however, his discretion failed him, and\nanger against the shoemaker, with whom he fell into a dispute, made\nhim reveal what he knew. He said that as soon as angry words passed\nbetween husband and wife, the latter \"assumed from the shoulders\nupwards, the shape of a snake, and deliberately and maliciously sucked\nher partner's blood and pierced him with her venomous fangs.\"\n\nNo marks were found on the husband's body, but he grew ever thinner and\nweaker, and after ailing for many months he died. The doctor who tended\nhim in his last illness declared that he had died from the poisonous\nsting of a serpent. After this verdict the spy was given the credit of\nhis story, which, however, had a gruesome sequel. He and the doctor were\nfound lying helpless in the churchyard one morning. When roused from\nwhat seemed a fatal slumber, they said they had been invited by the\nshoemaker's widow to drink with her in memory of her late dear second\nhusband. Then she sprang upon them in the shape of a snake and stung\nthem severely. They had only strength enough left to crawl to the\nchurchyard, where they would probably have died from torpor had not the\nneighbours roused them. The widow was never seen again, but a snake\nconstantly appeared in the neighbourhood and could not be killed by any\nmeans, so that it earned the name of \"the old snake-woman.\"[112]\n\nOliver Wendell Holmes, who was interested in the subject of prenatal\ninfluences, depicted the heroine of his well-known novel, \"Elsie\nVenner,\" as a girl who had received the taint of a serpent before\nbirth, from a snakebite suffered by her mother.\n\nElsie's friend, Helen Darley, knew the secret of the fascination which\nlooked out of the cold, glittering eyes. She knew the significance of\nthe strange repulsion which she felt in her own intimate consciousness\nunderlying the inexplicable attraction which drew her towards the\nyoung girl in spite of her repugnance.\n\nWhen Elsie was taken ill her doctor said that she had lived a double\nbeing, as it were, the consequence of the blight which fell upon her\nin the dim period before consciousness.\n\n\"Elsie Venner\" is an American story, but India, where the snake is\neven more familiar, is the home of many human-serpent stories, and\nlegends of serpent descent.\n\nNear Jait in the Mathura district is a tank with the broken statue of\na hooded serpent on it. Once upon a time a Raja married a princess\nfrom a distant country and, after a short stay there, decided to take\nhis wife home, but she refused to go until he had declared his\nlineage. The Raja told her she would regret her curiosity, but she\npersisted. Finally he took her to the river and there warned her\nagain. She would not take heed and he entreated her not to be alarmed\nat whatever she saw, adding that if she did she would lose him. Saying\nthis, he began slowly to descend into the water, all the time trying\nto dissuade her from her purpose, till it became too late and the\nwater rose to his neck. Then, after a last attempt to induce her to\ngive up her curiosity, he dived and reappeared in the form of a Naga\n(serpent). Raising his hood over the water he said, \"This is my\nlineage! I am a Nagbansi.\"\n\nHis wife could not suppress an exclamation of grief, on which the Naga\nwas turned into stone, where he lies to this day.[113]\n\nA member of the family of Buddha fell in love with the daughter of a\nserpent-king. He was married to her and presently became the sovereign\nof the country. His wife had obtained possession of a human body, but\na nine-headed snake occasionally appeared at the back of her neck.\nWhile she slept one night her husband chopped the serpent in two at a\nsingle blow, and this caused her to become blind.\n\nAnother curious legend is told of a Buddha priest who had become a\nserpent because he had killed the tree Elapatra, and he then resided\nin a beautiful lake near Taxila. In the days of Hiuen-Tsiang, when the\npeople of the country wanted fine weather or rain they went to the\nspring accompanied by a priest, and, \"snapping their fingers, invoked\nthe serpent,\" and immediately obtained their wishes.\n\nThe snake tribe is common enough in the Punjaub. Snake families go\nthrough many ceremonies, saying that in olden days the serpent was a\ngreat king. If they find a dead snake they put clothes on it and give\nit a regular funeral. The snake changes its form every hundred years,\nwhen it becomes either a man or a bull. Snake-charmers have the power\nof recognising these transformed snakes, and follow them stealthily\nuntil they return to their holes and then ask them where treasure is\nhidden. This they will do on consideration of a drop of blood from the\nlittle finger of a first-born son.[114]\n\nAmong fairy tales the favourite story is that of a human being who\ndons a snake-skin, and when it is burnt he resumes human form. The\nsnake-bridegroom is an exceedingly popular version of this idea.[115]\n\nThere was once a poor woman, who had never borne a child and she\nprayed to God that she might be blessed with one, even though she were\nto bring forth a snake. And God heard her prayer, and in due course\nshe gave birth to a snake. Directly the reptile saw the light of day\nit slipped down from her lap into the grass and disappeared. Now the\npoor woman mourned constantly for the snake, because after God had\nheard and granted her prayer, it grieved her that the being whom she\nhad conceived should have vanished without leaving a trace as to its\nwhereabouts. Twenty years passed, and then the snake returned and said\nto its mother, \"I am the serpent to which you gave birth, and which\nfled from you into the grass, and I have come back, mother, so that\nyou may demand the king's daughter for me in marriage.\"\n\nAt first the mother rejoiced at the sight of her son, but soon she grew\nmournful because she did not know how she dare to demand the hand of the\nking's daughter for a serpent, especially as she was very poor. But the\nserpent said, \"Go along, mother, and do what I ask; even if the king\nwon't give his daughter, he can't cut your head off for the mere asking.\nBut whatever he says to you do not look back until you get home again.\"\n\nThe mother allowed herself to be persuaded and went to the king. At\nfirst the servants would not let her into the palace, but she went on\nasking until they admitted her. When she entered the king's presence\nshe said to him, \"Most gracious Majesty, there is your sword and here\nis my head. Strike if you must, but let me tell you first that for a\nlong time I was childless and then I prayed to God to bless me, even\nthough I were to bring forth a serpent, and He blessed me and I\nbrought forth a serpent. As soon as it saw the light it vanished into\nthe grass and after twenty years it has returned to me and has sent me\nhere to ask for the hand of your daughter in marriage.\"\n\nThe king burst into laughter and said, \"I will give my daughter to\nyour son if he builds me a bridge of pearls and precious stones from\nmy palace to his house.\"\n\nThen the mother turned to go home, and never looked back, and when she\nleft the palace a bridge of pearls and diamonds arose all the way\nbehind her till she reached her own house. When the mother told the\nserpent what the king had said, the serpent remarked to her, \"Go again\nand see whether the king will give me his daughter, but whatever he\nanswers don't look round as you come back.\"\n\nThis time the king told the mother that if her son could give his\ndaughter a better palace than his own, he should have her for a wife.\nThe mother went back without looking behind her, and found that her\nhouse had changed into a palace, and everything in it was three times as\ngood as in the king's palace. All the furniture was made of pure gold.\n\nThen the serpent asked his mother to go back to the palace and fetch\nthe king's daughter, and this time the king told the princess she must\nmarry the serpent. There was a splendid wedding, and in due course the\nyoung wife found she was to become a mother. Then her friends grew\ninquisitive, saying, \"If you are living with a serpent how can you\nhope to have a child?\" At first she would not answer, but when her\nmother-in-law insisted on putting the same question, she replied,\n\"Mother, your son is not really a serpent, but a young man, so\nhandsome that there is none other like him. Every evening he strips\noff his snake-skin and in the morning he enters it again.\"\n\nWhen the serpent's mother heard this she rejoiced greatly, and longed\nto see her son after he had stripped off his snake-skin.\n\nPresently the two conspirators arranged that when the young man had\ngone to bed, they should burn the discarded skin, and while his mother\nput it in the oven, his wife was to pour cold water on her husband\nlest he should be destroyed by the heat. No sooner had he laid himself\ndown to sleep, than they carried out their plan, but the smell of the\nburning skin made him cry out, \"What have you done? May God punish\nyou. Where can I go in the condition I now am?\" But the women\ncomforted him and said it was better for him to live among ordinary\nmortals than in the snake form, and before long the king resigned his\nthrone in his favour, and all turned out happily.\n\nA very similar story is told of a queen who also gives birth to a\nserpent.[116] She is allowed to nurse and fondle her offspring in the\nusual fashion, but for twenty-two years it does not speak and its\nfirst utterance is to demand from its parents a wife.\n\nWhen the parents remark that no nice girl would care to marry a\nserpent, he tells them not to look in too high a class for a mate.\n\nIn this case the father does the wooing, but the mother evokes the truth\nabout her son. When she learns about the snake-skin, she makes the young\nwife help to burn it, and tragedy results. The husband curses his wife,\nsaying that she will not see him again until she has worn through iron\nshoes, and that she shall not give birth to her child until he embraces\nher once more by putting his right arm round her. Then he vanishes for\nthree years, and all that time she is unable to bear her child, so she\ndecides to seek her husband. She travels through the world and comes to\nthe house of the Sun's mother, and when the Sun comes indoors she\ninquires whether he has seen her husband. But the Sun can do nothing for\nher but to send her to the Moon. The same disappointment awaits her\nthere, and the Moon sends her to the Winds. After many striking\nadventures she finds her husband, makes him undo his curse, and gives\nbirth to a son who has golden locks and golden hands.\n\nIn another story of serpent-marriage a woman stands in doubt because\nshe cannot cross a river. A serpent comes out of the river and says,\n\"What will you give me if I carry you across?\" The woman, having no\nother possessions, promises to give her coming child; if it is a girl\nas a wife, if a boy as a \"name friend.\" In after years she has to\nfulfil her promise and, taking her daughter to the bank of the river,\nshe sees the snake draw her beneath the water. In the course of time\nthe girl bears her husband four snake sons.[117]\n\nAn Ainu girl gave birth to a snake as the result of the sun's rays\nshining on her while she slept, and the snake turned into a child.\n\nThe Dyaks and Silakans will not kill the cobra because in remote ages\na female ancestor brought forth twins, a boy and a cobra. The cobra\nwent to the forest, but told the mother to warn her children that if\nthey were ever bitten by cobras they must stay in the same place for a\nwhole day and that then the venom would take no effect. The boy then\nmet his cobra brother in the jungle one day and cut off his tail, so\nthat now all cobras have a blunted tail.\n\nIn folk-tales the serpent frequently mates with a woman. A curious\nBasuto story concerns a girl called Senkepeng, who was deserted by her\nfriends and taken home by an old woman, who said she would make a nice\nwife for her son. Her son turned out to be a serpent, whom no one had\never seen outside his hut, but he had married all the girls of the\ntribe in succession with fatal results to them, because he ate all the\nfood. Every morning the girl was awakened by a blow of the serpent's\ntail and was then ordered to go and prepare his food. At last she grew\ntired of this treatment and resolved to run away. Her serpent-husband\npursued her, but she sang a charm or incantation and this delayed his\nprogress and gave her a chance of continuing her flight. Whenever the\nserpent came up to her she repeated her song.\n\nAt last she reached her father's village and told her story, and\npeople were ready to defend her against her pursuer. As soon as the\nserpent came in sight Senkepeng sang her charm, and the people\nattacked the serpent and slew it. Presently the serpent's mother\narrived and burnt the mutilated corpse, wrapping the ashes in a skin\nwhich she threw into a pond. Walking three times round the pond,\nwithout speaking a word, she caused her son to come to life again, and\nhe came out of the pond as a human being, and Senkepeng welcomed him\nas her husband. In another variant the serpent's ashes are put in a\nvase of clay, which is given to Senkepeng. Afterwards she uncovers the\nvase and a man steps out from it.[118]\n\nThe first Dindje Indian had two wives, one of whom would have nothing\nto say to him. She used to disappear during the day, and he followed\nher to find out her secret. He saw her go into a marsh where she met a\nserpent. When she returned to the hut she had several children, but\nhid them from her husband under a cover. The man discovered the\nhiding-place, and there found horrible little men-serpents, which he\nkilled. Thereupon the woman left him and he never saw her again.\n\nIn a Bengal story a mighty serpent, after slaughtering a whole family\nexcept one beautiful daughter, carries her off to his watery tank,\nfrom which she is rescued by a prince. In Russia it is believed that\nmortal maidens are carried off by serpents.\n\nThe Indians are very superstitious. Otto Stoll, author of \"Suggestion\nund Hypnotismus,\"[119] showed a friendly Cakchiquel Indian one of his\nhairs under the microscope. The Indian asked to have it back that he\nmight preserve it, saying that if it were lost, it would turn into a\nsnake, and he would then have to suffer great trouble through snakes\nall his life. When Dr. Stoll appeared to be sceptical, he told him\nthat he had often seen the long hairs which native women combed out\nand let fall into the river, become transformed into serpents as they\nfell. This is a widespread belief, and in an early Mexican dictionary\nby Molina, in 1571, the word \"tzoncoatl\" is translated, \"the snake\nwhich is formed out of horse's hair which fell into the water.\"\n\nThe white snake especially may sometimes be a lovely transformed\nmaiden, as appears from the story of a cowboy who makes a friend of a\nwhite snake which comes to play with him and twines about his legs.\nOne evening in midsummer he beholds a fair maiden, who says she is the\ndaughter of an Eastern king and has been forced to spend her life\nthrough enchantment in the form of a white snake, with permission to\nresume human shape on midsummer night every quarter of a century. The\ncowboy is the first human being who has not shrunk from her when she\nappears in reptile form. She tells him that she will come again, and\nwill wind herself three times round his body and give him three\nkisses. If he should shrink from her then she will have to remain a\nsnake for ever. When she appears, the youth stands firm while the\nreptile caresses him and, lo and behold, there is a crash and a flash\nand he finds himself in a magnificent palace, with a beautiful girl\nbeside him who becomes his wife.\n\nThe Russians have a story of some girls bathing, when a snake comes\nout of the water and sits upon the clothes of the prettiest one,\nsaying he will not move till she promises to marry him. She agrees,\nand that very night an army of snakes seize her and carry her beneath\nthe water, where they become men and women. She stays for some years\nwith her husband, and is then allowed to go home and visit her mother.\nThe latter, discovering the husband's name, goes to the water and\ncalls upon him. When he comes to the surface she chops off his head\nwith an axe. Probably the snake-bride has been told by her husband not\nto mention his name for fear of his death, the name being taboo.\n\nIn a Zuni legend the daughter of a chief bathes in a pool sacred to\nKolowissa, the serpent of the sea. Kolowissa in anger appears to the\nmaiden in the form of a child, whom she takes to her home. There the\nchild changes into an enormous serpent, who induces her to go away\nwith him, and when she does so he transforms himself again into a\nhandsome youth.\n\nIncredulous that such happiness can befall her, she expresses her\ndoubts to the young man, but he then shows her his shrivelled\nsnake-skin as proof that he is the god of the waters and that he loves\nher well enough to make her his wife.[120]\n\nA beautiful girl in New Guinea was beloved by a chief of a strange\ntribe, and he was so fearful of entering her father's territory that\nhe asked a sorcerer for a charm which would enable him to change into\na snake the moment he crossed the boundary of his own country. In this\nform he entered the girl's hut, and on seeing the reptile she began to\nscream. Her father, however, was more astute and saw the serpent was\nreally a man, so he bade his daughter to go to him, as he must be a\ngreat chief to be thus able to transform himself. She obeyed his\ncommand, and as the serpent went slowly, her father advised her to\nburn his tail with a hot banana leaf to make him hurry. This she also\ndid, but at the boundary the snake vanished and presently a handsome\nyoung man came up to her and told her he was the serpent, showing\ncertain burns on his feet and legs in proof of the statement.[121]\n\nIn France the serpent with a jewel in its head is called _vouivre_,\nwhich is the same as our basilisk or dragon. The _vouivre_ is a\nreptile from a yard to two yards long, having only one eye in its\nhead, which shines like a jewel and is called the carbuncle. This\njewel is regarded as of inestimable value, and those who can obtain\none of these treasures become enormously rich. Many of the legends\ndeal with the robbery of this jewel from the serpent, a crime which is\nfrequently punishable by death or madness.\n\nThe French have several variants of the story of St. George and the\nDragon. At the castle of Vaugrenans, for instance, there lived a\nlovely lady whose beauty had led her far astray from the path of\nvirtue. She was changed into a basilisk and terrorised the country by\nher misdeeds. Her son George was a handsome knight, whose natural\npiety led him to live a life of good deeds. George decided that he\nmust set his country free from the depredations of the monster\nreptile, which never ceased to prey upon the neighbourhood and he did\nbattle with it as once the archangel, St. Michael, had combated the\ndragon. George killed the serpent and his horse trampled what remained\nof it beneath its hoofs.\n\nGeorge was very sad, however, in spite of his victory, and he asked\nSt. Michael, who had witnessed the struggle, what was the punishment\nfor one who had slain his own mother.\n\n\"He ought to be burnt,\" replied St. Michael, \"and his ashes strewn to\nthe winds.\"\n\nSo George had to suffer the penalty of being burnt and his ashes were\nscattered to the winds. So far the story bears a marked resemblance to\nthe family story of the Lambton worm, but the French tale has a\ncurious sequel. The ashes fell in one heap instead of scattering to\nthe wind, and a young girl who was passing gathered them up. Near by\nshe found an apple of Paradise, which she ate. In due course she gave\nbirth to a son, and when the infant was baptised, it cried in a loud\ntone of voice, \"I am called George and I have been born on this earth\nfor the second time.\" Later he was made a saint.\n\nThe Roman genius, which accompanies every man through life as his\nprotector, frequently took the shape of a serpent.\n\nIn many lands, by eating a snake, wisdom is acquired, or the language\nof animals mastered, and generally a particular snake is mentioned by\nname. Thus with Arabs and Swahilis it is the king of snakes: among\nSwedish, Danish, Celtic or Slavonic peoples it is a white snake or the\nfabulous basilisk with a crown on its head, which resembles the\njewel-headed serpent of Eastern lore.\n\nIn the country of R\u00e2ma there stood a brick stupa or tower, about a\nhundred feet high, in the time of Hiuen-Tsiang. The stupa constantly\nemitted rays of glory, and by the side of it was a Naga tank. The Naga\nfrequently changed his appearance into that of a man, and, as such,\nencircled the tower in the practice of religion, that is, he turned\nreligiously with his right hand towards the tower.[122]\n\nIn New Guinea it is believed that a witch is possessed by spirits\nwhich can be expelled in the form of snakes. Among the Ainus, madness\nis explained as possession by snakes. The Zulus believe that an\nancestor who wishes to approach a kraal takes serpent shape. In\nMadagascar different species of snakes are the abode for different\nclasses, one for common people, one for chiefs, and one for women, and\nin certain parts of Europe it is solemnly believed that people may\nassume serpent-form during sleep.\n\nThe fact that the serpent-stories of the nature here collected, are so\nnumerous seems to point to a definite occult connection between the\nhighest living organism, man, who is represented by a vertical line,\nand the reptile, the serpent, represented by the horizontal line, the\ntwo together forming the right angle.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[108] Lenormant, F., \"Chaldean Magic,\" 1877, p. 232.\n\n[109] Deane, J. B., \"The Worship of the Serpent,\" 1833, pp. 344-5.\n\n[110] Burton, \"Anatomy of Melancholy,\" 1881, p. 495.\n\n[111] Trevelyan, Marie, \"Folklore and Folk-stories of Wales,\" 1909,\npp. 301-2.\n\n[112] _Ibid._, pp. 302-3.\n\n[113] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" April, 1892, p. 12, No. 52.\n\n[114] \"Punjab Notes and Queries,\" March, 1885, No. 555.\n\n[115] Karajic, \"Volksm\u00e4rchen der Serben,\" 1854, p. 77.\n\n[116] _Ibid._, p. 82 ff.\n\n[117] Bompas, C. H., \"Folk-lore of the Santal Parganas,\" 1909, p. 452.\n\n[118] Macculloch, J. A., \"The Childhood of Fiction,\" 1905, pp. 264-5.\n\n[119] Leipzig, 1904.\n\n[120] Macculloch, J. A., \"The Childhood of Fiction,\" 1905, pp. 256-8.\n\n[121] _Ibid._, p. 259.\n\n[122] Shaman Hwui Li, \"The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang,\" 1911, p. 96.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER XVIII\n\n                        CAT AND COCK PHANTOMS\n\n\nThe cat, as appears from many legends, easily holds the place amongst\nmystic animals that the serpent has among reptiles, partly no doubt\nbecause of its close relationship with sorcerers and witches.\n\nAmong the strange animal-gods and goddesses of Egypt none is more\nfamous than the goddess Sekhet and Bast of Bubastis, who sometimes has\nthe head of a lion, sometimes of a cat. The early inhabitants of the\nvalley of the Nile were better acquainted with the lion than with the\ncat, which was first introduced from Nubia in the eleventh dynasty. In\nthe time of the old Empire there was no cat-headed deity chiefly\nbecause there were no cats. When once introduced, the cat became a\nsacred animal and Sekhet's lion-head was superseded by a milder feline\nform. The Egyptians also believed that Diana, wishing to escape from\ngiants, chose to hide herself in the form of a cat.\n\nCats, like foxes, are credited in Japan with the power of assuming human\nshape in order to bewitch mankind. The two-tailed vampire cat destroys a\nbeautiful maiden and, taking her form, preys on a handsome prince.\n\nA man who kills a cat is liable to be possessed by a cat, and he\nprevents this if he eats part of the animal. This homeopathic cure is\ncalled cat-punishment. At Aix in Provence, on the day of Corpus\nChristi, the largest tom-cat is dressed in swaddling clothes and\npublicly exhibited in a magnificent shrine.[123]\n\nThere is a well-known story of a traveller who saw a procession of\ncats in a ruined abbey lowering a small coffin with a crown on it into\na grave. Filled with fear, he rushed from the spot and later told his\nvision to a friend. The friend's cat lay curled up quietly before the\nfire, but, hearing the story, it sprang up and crying out, \"Now I am\nking of the cats!\" disappeared in a flash up the chimney.\n\nAn inhabitant of Toulon told B\u00e9renger-Feraud,[124] in 1875, that one\nof his friends had a wizard cat. Every evening the cat used to listen\nto their conversation, and if the subject interested him, he expressed\nhis own opinion, usually saying the last word on the topic. If his\nmistress had any plans on hand, she consulted the cat, giving her\nreasons for taking one course or another. After having weighed the\npros and cons carefully, the cat used to advise her by saying \"yes\" or\n\"no\" as to whether her plans could be carried out or not.\n\nThe cat used to speak whenever he wanted food, asking either for fish\nor meat to be purchased, and he talked very indignantly if the\nrequired dainty was not forthcoming.\n\nFrom time to time this uncanny animal disappeared for many days at a\nstretch; and the members of the household were convinced that he had\ntaken human form in his absence. He always used to speak before\nleaving and after returning.\n\nWhen he lay on the point of death he prayed that his body might be\ndecently buried, and his mistress gave him a solemn promise to this\neffect and laid the corpse in a box which she interred behind the\ncemetery wall. She dare not bury it in the grave prepared for human\nbeings, but the coffin was laid alongside a Christian tomb, and at the\nfuneral the cat's soul was recommended to the care of his Creator.\n\nWizard cats have been known to do serious harm to those against whom\nthey have a grudge, and it is well to be sure, if you value your\nlife, whether you are dealing with a real animal or a \"familiar\" when\nyou feel angry.\n\nA young man in Radnorshire had the reputation of being very cruel to\ncats. On the day he was to be married he saw a cat cross his path, and\nhe threw a stone at it. From that moment he weakened in health and had\nto go away frequently to recuperate. The neighbours said that during\nthese absences he was changed into a cat and ran wild in the woods\nand, after his death, tradition declared that he wandered through the\ndistrict at night in the shape of a cat and struck terror in the\nhearts of naughty children.\n\nGeneral Sir Thomas Edward Gordon tells the following story of a modern\ninstance in which a man was said to be transformed into a cat after\ndeath.[125]\n\n\"For twenty-five years an oral addition to the written standing orders\nof the native guard at Government House near Poona had been communicated\nregularly from one guard to another on relief, to the effect that any\ncat passing out of the front door after dark was to be regarded as His\nExcellency the Governor, and to be saluted accordingly. The meaning of\nthis was that Sir Robert Grant, Governor of Bombay, had died there in\n1838, and on the evening of the day of his death a cat was seen to leave\nthe house by the front door and walk up and down a particular path, as\nhad been the Governor's habit to do after sunset. A Hindu sentry had\nobserved this, and he mentioned it to the others of his faith, who made\nit a subject of superstitious conjecture, the result being that one of\nthe priestly class explained the mystery of the dogma of the\ntransmigration of the soul from one body to another, and interpreted the\ncircumstance to mean that the spirit of the deceased Governor had\nentered into one of the house pets.\n\n\"It was difficult to fix on a particular one, and it was therefore\ndecided that every cat passing out of the main entrance after dark was\nto be regarded as the tabernacle of Governor Grant's soul, and to be\ntreated with due respect and the proper honours. This decision was\naccepted without question by all the native attendants and others\nbelonging to Government House. The whole guard, from sepoy to sibadar,\nfully acquiesced in it, and an oral addition was made to the standing\norders that the sentry at the front door would 'present arms' to any\ncat passing out there after dark.\"\n\nA strange cat-story is told in \"Notes and Queries,\" by a writer who\nknew the lady who had seen the ghost.\n\nThe lady was living with her father about 1840 in an ancient\ncountry-house which he had rented from an elderly heiress. The inmates\nsoon discovered that the house was haunted. Strange noises were heard\nfrom time to time in the dining-room at night: a mysterious black cat\nused to appear in the entrance hall in the evening and scamper\nstraight up the main staircase--not ascending it in the manner of\nmortal cats, but by winding itself in and out of the balustrade in a\ndecidedly uncanny and preternatural way; and, worst of all, an old\ngentleman, in a black skull cap, yellow dressing-gown and red\nslippers, would come at midnight out of a certain door, cross the\nhall, go upstairs (in a dignified manner and not as the cat did) and\nvanish into an empty bedroom on the first floor. All the members of\nthe household used to hear the noises and see the old gentleman\nwhenever they were awake and downstairs at midnight. As to the\n\"tortuous cat,\" it was vouched for by the servants and duly recorded\nby the lady who told the story. At length the inmates, finding the\nsituation unpleasant, courageously determined to beard the ghost and\ngive the old gentleman a practical and straightforward remonstrance\nabout his conduct. On a certain night four men-servants were\naccordingly posted on the staircase, at the head of the first flight\nof stairs, it having been arranged that they should stop the intruder\nif they could, while their master, with a loaded pistol, should follow\nhim and cut off his retreat.\n\nAt midnight the venerable gentleman emerged from his accustomed door.\n\"Here he is!\" cried the master of the house, and the servants on the\nstaircase held their ground whilst the old gentleman approached\nsilently, apparently unconscious of their presence. He came close up\nto the dauntless four, and then, to their amazement, he passed\nstraight through them and reappeared on the other side. Turning round,\nthey saw him calmly gliding up the second flight of stairs, above that\non which they were posted. The master of the house, calling on them to\nfollow, gave chase and fired his revolver. The old gentleman took no\nnotice of the shot and entered the empty bedroom as usual, through its\nclosed door. His pursuers opened the door only to find the room empty.\nA thorough search was made, the wainscoting sounded, the chimney\nexplored, the cupboards turned out, and so forth, but nothing was\nfound but a box containing deeds and some money in a forgotten closet.\n\nThe next morning the occupier wrote to the owner of the house to tell\nher of the discovery of the deed-box, and at the end of his letter, he\ninquired casually whether any of her relatives had been noted for a\npeculiarity of dress.\n\nShe replied that her grandfather always used to wear, when he was at\nhome and in his study, _a black skull cap_, _a yellow dressing-gown\nand red slippers_.\n\nAfter the finding of the deed-box the ghost failed to reappear and the\ncompanion phantom cat no longer did gymnastic exercises on the\nbalustrade.\n\nA different cause no doubt lies at the root of the appearance of a\nphantom cat and of a witch-cat, but it is not always easy to\ndistinguish between the varieties of apparitions. The animals in the\nfollowing stories bear resemblance to witches' familiars.\n\nA woodman whose dinner was stolen from him daily by a cat made many\nattempts to waylay the creature. At last he succeeded in catching it\nin the act of larceny and he chopped off one of its paws, only to find\non his return home that his wife had lost a hand.\n\nA Frenchwoman at Billancourt was cooking an omelette when a black cat\nstrayed into the cottage and sat down near the hearth to watch the\noperation. At the critical moment the cat cried out, \"The omelette is\ndone on that side. Turn it.\" The old woman was indignant at this\naspersion on her culinary knowledge and she flung the half-cooked\nomelette at the cat, striking the animal's face. The next morning she\nhad the satisfaction of seeing a deep red burn on the cheek of an\nevil-minded neighbour.\n\nA woman whose children were always ailing, lived in the village of\nCeyreste near to Ciotat. As soon as one child recovered another fell\nill, and their mother was in despair, because she could not account\nfor their ailments.\n\nOne day, one of her neighbours said, \"Do you know, I feel sure your\nmother-in-law is injuring the health of your little ones. She may be a\nwitch.\"\n\nThe woman spoke to her husband about the matter, and they decided to\nwatch over their children carefully to see whether their illness was\ndue to evil influence.\n\nOne night they were watching without appearing to do so, when suddenly\na black cat approached the cradle of one of the children, moving with\nstealth and quite silently. The husband raised a stick he had picked\nup for the purpose and struck the animal violently, intending to kill\nit. But the blow was not carefully aimed and he only succeeded in\ncrushing one of the evil animal's paws. With a bound it escaped him.\n\nFor a day or two afterwards nothing was seen of the children's\ngrandmother, who usually came on a visit every day to inquire after\nthe health of her grandchildren.\n\nThen the neighbour said, \"She is hiding something from you. Go and see\nwhy she does not come.\"\n\nThe husband followed her advice and went to see his mother, whom he\nfound with her hand bound up, and in an extremely bad temper. He\npretended not to see that she had been hurt, and he asked her in the\nmost natural tone he could summon, why she had not been to visit them\nas usual.\n\n\"Whatever should I come to your house for?\" she asked angrily. \"Look\nat the state of my fingers. If I had been struck by a hatchet instead\nof a stick, my fingers would have been cut off and I should have\nnothing left but a stump.\"[126]\n\nMr. Algernon Blackwood has cleverly used this idea of the astral body\nassuming cat-shape, and a wound inflicted on the animal reproducing\nitself on the physical counterpart, by means of the so-called\nphenomenon of repercussion.\n\nIn \"The Empty Sleeve,\"[127] the violinist Hyman \"believed that there\nwas some fluid portion of a man's personality which could be projected\nto a distance, and even semimaterialised there. The 'astral body,' he\ncalled it, or some such foolishness, claiming that it could appear in\nvarious forms, according to the character of its owner's desire, even\nin animal forms.\"\n\nBilly Gilmer described to his brother what he saw when the violinist\nwas playing. \"The music seemed to issue from himself rather than from\nthe shining bit of wood under his chin, when--I noticed something\ncoming over me that was\"--he hesitated, searching for words--\"that\nwasn't _all_ due to the music.\"...\n\n\"You mean Hyman looked queer?\"\n\nBilly nodded his head without turning.\n\n\"Changed there before my very eyes\"--he whispered it--\"turned\nanimal----\"\n\n\"_Animal!_\" John felt his hair rising.\n\n\"That's the only way I can put it. His face and hands and body turned\notherwise than usual. I lost the sound of his feet. When the bow-hand\nor the fingers on the strings passed into the light, they were\"--he\nuttered a soft, shuddering little laugh--\"furry, oddly divided, the\nfingers massed together. And he paced stealthily. I thought every\ninstant the fiddle would drop with a crash and he would spring at me\nacross the room.\"\n\nSome weeks later John Gilmer is awakened by a noise in the flat, and\nseizing a Turkish sword from the wall where it hung he entered the\nsitting-room where he saw a moving figure.\n\n\"Clutching his Turkish sword tightly he drew back with the utmost\ncaution against the wall and watched, for the singular impression came\nto him that the movement was not that of a human being crouching, but\nrather of something that pertained to the animal world. He remembered,\nflash-like, the movements of reptiles, the stealth of the larger\nfelines, the undulating glide of great snakes. For the moment,\nhowever, it did not move, and they faced one another.\n\n\"The other side of the room was but dimly lighted, and the noise he\nmade clicking up another electric lamp brought the thing flying\nforwards again--_towards himself_. At such a moment it seemed absurd\nto think of so small a detail, but he remembered his bare feet, and,\ngenuinely frightened, he leaped upon a chair and swished with his\nsword through the air about him. From this better point of view, with\nthe increased light to aid him, he then saw two things--first, that\nthe glass case usually covering the Guarnerius violin had been\nshifted: and, secondly, that the moving object was slowly elongating\nitself into an upright position. Semi-erect and yet most oddly, too,\nlike a creature on its hind legs, it was coming swiftly towards him.\nIt was making for the door--and escape.\"\n\nConfused, he struck out wildly, lost his balance and fell forward from\nthe chair.\n\n\"Then came the most curious thing of all, for as he dropped, the\nfigure also dropped, stooped low down, crouched, dwindled amazingly in\nsize, and rushed past him close to the ground like an animal on all\nfours. John Gilmer screamed, for he could no longer contain himself.\nStumbling over the chair as he turned to follow, cutting and slashing\nwildly with his sword, he saw half-way down the darkened corridor\nbeyond, the large, scuttling outline of--a cat!\n\n\"The door into the outer landing was somehow ajar, and the next second\nthe beast was out, but not before the steel had fallen with a dreadful\ncrashing blow upon the front disappearing leg, almost severing it from\nthe body.\"\n\nMonths afterwards the Gilmers met Hyman wearing spectacles and a\nbeard. William pointed out to his brother another difference.\n\n\"But didn't you also notice----\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"He had an empty sleeve.\"\n\n\"An empty sleeve?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said William. \"_He's lost an arm!_\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA daring cat-story is of French origin and bears distinctive national\ncharacteristics on the face of it. On the 26th of March, 1782, a\ngentleman of wealth who was jealous of his wife's honour, decided he\nwould consult Count Cagliostro, in order to find out whether his wife,\nwho was young and beautiful, had always been faithful to him. He told\nthe Count the reason of his visit and begged him to assist him in\ndiscovering the truth. Cagliostro said that this was quite an easy\nmatter, and that he would give him a small phial containing a certain\nliquid which he was to drink when he reached home and just before he\nwent to bed. \"If your wife has been unfaithful to you,\" said\nCagliostro, \"you will be transformed into a cat.\"\n\nThe husband went home and told his wife how clever the Count was. She\nasked him the reason of his journey. At first he refused to tell her,\nbut when she insisted he told her the exact means by which he was\ngoing to test her fidelity. She laughed at his credulity, but he\nswallowed the draught and they went to bed. The wife rose early to\nattend to her household duties, leaving her husband asleep. At ten\no'clock, as he did not appear, she went up to wake him, and to her\nintense astonishment, she found a huge black cat in the bed in place\nof her husband. She screamed, called her dear husband's name, and bent\nover the cat to kiss it, but without avail. _Her husband had\nvanished!_ Then, in her despair, she knelt beside the bed and prayed\nfor pardon, saying that she had committed a sin and that a handsome\nyoung soldier had cajoled her, by means of vows, of tears, and stories\nof heroic battles, to forget her marriage vows.\n\nBlack cocks and hens--like the cat--appear to have affinity with\nghosts and sorcery. Among the fauna of La Franche Comt\u00e9 black hens are\nfound, gifted with supernatural powers, which are so much like the\nordinary ones that it is difficult to tell them apart. Yet they are\nmagicians well versed in sorcery. In the courtyard they are served\nbefore their companions, and when they become broody and sit on the\nnest, a piece of money is slipped beneath them. If they are pleased,\nother coins are added, but it is very difficult to please them. At\nMouthe in the Jura mountains, there are said to be witch-hens that\nfrighten eagles.[128] Cocks are also thought to have power over lions.\nProches gives an example of a spirit which was wont to appear in the\nform of a lion, but by setting of a cock before it, it was made to\ndisappear, because there is a contrariety between a cock and a lion.\n\nIf an unexpected fortune is left to a poor peasant the French say that\n\"he has a black hen,\" and the black hen which brings treasure is given\nby the devil to those who have sold their soul to him. A black cock is\nregarded as lucky,[129] and use is made of it in ceremonial magic.\n\nOromasis, father of Zoroaster, possessed a gold-finding hen which was\nhatched in the following manner. \"Take aromatic woods, such as aloes,\ncedar, orange, citron laurel, iris-root, with rose leaves dried in the\nsun. Place them in a golden chafing-dish, pour balsamic oil over them:\nadd the finest incense and clear gum. Next say: _Athas_, _Solinain_,\n_Erminatos_, _Pasaim_: set a glass over the chafing dish: direct the\nrays of the sun thereon, and the wood will kindle, the glass will\nmelt, a sweet odour will fill the place, and the compost will burn\nspeedily to ashes. Place these ashes in a golden egg while still\nred-hot: lay the egg upon a black cushion; cover it with a bell-glass\nof faceted rock-crystal; then lift up your eyes and stretch your arms\ntowards heaven and cry: _O Sanataper_, _Isma\u00ef_, _Nontapilus_,\n_Ertivaler_, _Canopistus_. Expose the glass to the most fierce rays of\nthe sun till it seems enveloped in flame, the egg ceases to be visible\nand a slight vapour rises. Presently you will discern a black pullet\njust beginning to move, when, if you say: _Binusas_, _Testipas_, it\nwill take wing and nestle in your bosom.\"[130]\n\nAn alternative method provided by the Grimoire is to take an unspotted\negg, and expose it to the meridian rays of the sun. Then select the\nblackest hen you can get, and shut it in a box lined with black. Place\nthe box in a darkened room and let the hen sit till it hatches the\nchicken, which should be as black as the hen's outlook. The black\npullet should have gold-finding proclivities. Another method\naltogether is to secure a virgin black hen, which must be seized\nwithout causing it to cackle. Repair to the highroad, walk till you\ncome to a cross-way, and there, on the stroke of midnight, describe a\ncircle with a cypress rod, place yourself in the middle, tear the bird\nin twain, and pronounce thrice the words _Elo\u00efm_, _Essaim_, _frugativi\net appellavi_. Next turn to the east, kneel down, recite a prayer, and\nconclude it with the Grand Appellation, when the Unclean Spirit will\nappear to you in a scarlet surcoat, a yellow vest, and breeches of\npale green. His head will resemble that of a dog, but his ears will be\nthose of an ass, with two horns above them; he will have the legs and\nhoofs of a calf. He will ask for your orders, which you will give as\nyou please, and as he cannot do otherwise than obey you, you may\nbecome rich on the spot, and thus the happiest of men. Such at least\nis the judgment of the Grimoire.[131]\n\nSamuel Bernard, the Jewish banker who died in 1789, left an enormous\nfortune. It was said that he possessed a favourite black cock as a\nmascot, which was thought by many to have supernatural powers and to\nbe connected in the diabolical manner indicated with the amassing of\nhis wealth. The bird died a day or two before his master.\n\nAt Basle, in 1474, a cock was tried for having laid an egg. After a\nlong examination the cock was condemned to death, not as a cock but as\na sorcerer or devil in the form of a cock. The bird was burned with\nits egg at the stake! In former times all animals were regarded as\namenable to the laws of the country and the whole proceedings of the\ntrial, sentence, and execution were conducted with the strictest\nformalities of justice. Ninety-two processes against animals were\ntried in the French courts between 1120 and 1740, when the last trial\nand execution of a cow took place.\n\nAt Lavegny, in 1457, a sow and her six young ones were tried for\nhaving murdered and partly eaten a child. The sow was found guilty and\nexecuted, but the pigs were acquitted on account of their youth and\nthe bad example of their mother.\n\nSuch instances might be multiplied in number, but they have no real\nplace here, as the victims of justice were not regarded in the light\nof human animals, but as animals which had broken the standard of\nconduct laid down for the so-called superior race.\n\nChanticleer is the name of the cock in the great beast epic of the\nMiddle Ages, Reynard the Fox, and Chanticleer, as everyone knows, has\nbeen humanised and immortalised in recent years by the famous French\ndramatist, Rostand. The cock, the hawk, and the eagle, among birds,\nappear to attract wizards or male sorcerers for transformation purposes,\nwhile the more graceful and docile feathered beings, such as the\nnightingale, the wren, and above all the swan, appeal more frequently to\nthe witch or maiden as a suitable form in which to appear.\n\nAdmirers of William Blake's work will remember the curious conception\nof a woman with a swan's head depicted in his \"Jerusalem.\"\n\nAfter the classic swan-maidens and Valkyries, perhaps the owl-woman\ncomes next in popularity, made famous no doubt by the transformation\nof Pamphile in \"The Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass of Apuleius.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[123] \"The Gentlemen's Magazine,\" 1882, Vol. I, p. 60.\n\n[124] \"Superstitions et Survivances,\" 1896, Vol. V, p. 33.\n\n[125] \"A Varied Life,\" 1906, pp. 56-7.\n\n[126] B\u00e9renger-Feraud, L. J. B., \"Superstitions et Survivances,\" 1896,\nVol. V, pp. 21-22.\n\n[127] \"The London Magazine,\" January, 1911, pp. 552-63.\n\n[128] Beauquier, Ch., \"Faune et Flore Populaires de la Franche Comt\u00e9,\"\n1910, Vol. I, p. 24.\n\n[129] _Ibid._, p. 228.\n\n[130] Waite, A. E., \"The Book of Black Magic,\" 1898, p. 104.\n\n[131] _Ibid._, pp. 106-7.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XIX\n\n                              BIRD WOMEN\n\n\nA beautiful girl of about twenty years of age lived in a Proven\u00e7al\nvillage. Her figure was good, she had an engaging carriage, fine hair,\nlovely eyes and teeth, and, in short, she was very attractive, but\nnone of the young men of the village ever attempted to make love to\nher, and she had never had an offer of marriage. Whenever she met a\nyoung man who was new to the neighbourhood, he said, \"Oh, what a\npretty girl!\" But his friends whispered in his ear, \"Yes, she's lovely\nbut she's a witch,\" and the mere suspicion of such a thing was so\nunpleasant that the young man knew it was quite impossible to give the\nlady a second sympathetic thought.\n\nA few courageous young men, it is true, were anxious to hear further\ndetails about her sad story, and their friends gave them the following\naccount as soon as they were out of earshot of any curious listener.\n\nThe young girl's mother, it appeared, had become a witch in her early\nyouth, because, finding herself at the bedside of an old neighbour who\nlay at death's door and who was a notorious witch, she had been\nimprudent enough to take hold of her hand. Her indiscretion had not at\nthe time become public property, and she had no difficulty in getting a\nhusband, but a very short time after the marriage had taken place, the\nman had fallen ill, and died soon afterwards in a mysterious decline.\n\nUnder these circumstances there could be no doubt that the daughter\nwas a witch as well as the mother, and it was equally certain that any\nbold gentleman who might venture to marry her would be condemned to\nan early death.\n\nWhether the young lady in question was pleased at the prospect of\nbeing laid on the shelf is very doubtful. Most girls of twenty have\nnot an idea in the world beyond getting married, and she did not seem\nto be an exception to the rule.\n\nOne day a nice-looking young man who had recently come to the district\nto take up a position of some importance, was much struck by the young\nlady's good looks. When a friend told him she was undoubtedly a witch\nhe shrugged his shoulders in contemptuous incredulity and continued to\nglance at her with interest and even tenderness in his gaze.\n\nHe was specially favoured by the girl, who received his attentions with\npleasure and returned his glances. They soon made one another's\nacquaintance and, before long, an engagement was arranged between them.\n\nThe young man's family looked upon the forthcoming marriage with\nanything but good-will. But the young lover was obstinate, and as the\ngirl and her mother did their best to keep him to his intentions, the\narrangements were settled and the wedding-day fixed.\n\nThe fianc\u00e9 was allowed to pay court to his lady-love every evening,\nand he made good use of this privilege. Autumn was approaching and the\nevenings were drawing in, and as the wedding was to be in November,\nthere were many things to arrange and discuss every day, which made\nlong visits a matter of course.\n\nTime and time again one of the young man's friends pointed out the\ndanger into which he was running by marrying a witch, but all advice\nwas useless. It had an effect in one way, however, as it made the\nyoung man anxious to know whether the accusation could possibly be\ntrue. After a long time, in which his friend's suggestions had slowly\nmade an impression, the young man decided to take steps to make sure\nwhat sort of a woman he was about to marry.\n\nIt is a well-known fact that the witches' Sabbath begins exactly at\nmidnight, and once or twice when it grew very late whilst he was\nvisiting his fianc\u00e9e, her mother had suggested it was time he took his\nleave as it was close on midnight. This occurrence had made him\nslightly suspicious, and he decided to resort to a ruse.\n\nOne evening, having arrived at the usual hour, he complained of\nfatigue and pretended to fall asleep. Being Friday, the meeting of the\nwitches was a specially solemn one, and not a single witch could\nafford to be absent. As time wore on, mother and daughter tried to\nwake the young man, but this was impossible, as he was sleeping too\nheavily, even snoring in a marked fashion, although all the time he\nwas prepared to glance out of one eye if anything extraordinary went\non in the room.\n\nPresently, finding all their efforts in vain, the two women began\ntalking in whispers, and were seemingly in great trouble. Then, as time\npressed on, they took a mighty resolution. They put out the light, so\nthat the room was in utter darkness save for the glowing embers on the\nhearth, then they took from a hidden press a jar of ointment which they\nplaced on the table. They quickly divested themselves of their clothes\nand, dipping their fingers into the jar, rubbed themselves all over very\ncarefully with the ointment. Every time they rubbed a limb they cried\nout, \"Supra fueillo--above the foliage!\"\n\nAs soon as they had finished this ritual they suddenly became owls,\nflew up the chimney, uttering the lugubrious hoot of the night-bird,\nand leaving behind them no signs of their presence except their\ndiscarded clothes on a chair in the room which had been the stage of\nthis strange transformation.\n\nAs soon as he was left alone, the young man opened his eyes in a state\nof indescribable stupefaction. He rose, lit the lamp, looked carefully\nall round the room, touching many of the things to make sure that he\nwas really awake and that he had not been the subject of an\nhallucination. When he came to the clothes, which still felt warm\nfrom their owners' bodies, and saw on the table the jar of black\nointment which smelt as though it had been made of burnt animal fat,\nhe knew he was not dreaming.\n\nJust then a clock close by struck the hour of twelve, and the young man,\nshaking and quaking with the strangeness of what had taken place, looked\nround in fear lest some awful apparition should greet his eyes. But\nnothing happened, for all the witches were at the Sabbath by that time.\n\nThen a mad idea entered his head! Why should not he, too, transform\nhimself into an owl and go to join his future wife and her mother, who\nhad effected the transformation without apparently the slightest\ndifficulty. The idea had no sooner struck him than he prepared to\ncarry it out. In the twinkling of an eye he slipped off his clothes,\ndipped his fingers into the magic jar and rubbed himself exactly as\nthe women had done. Unfortunately, however, he could not remember the\nexact phrase they had used, and instead of crying \"Supra fueillo,\" he\nsaid, \"Souto fueillo--under the foliage,\" with every rub.\n\nScarcely had he completed his exercises, and said \"Souto fueillo\" for\nthe last time, than he was immediately changed into an owl and flew\ntowards the chimney.\n\nScarcely had he reached the grate, however, when he knocked against\nthe smouldering green faggots and burnt himself.\n\nHe attributed this misadventure to his want of address, not being\naccustomed to the shape and movements of a bird, and he assured\nhimself that as soon as he was free of the house he would manage\nbetter. But when he reached the open country he began to suffer\ntortures. Where the fields were bare he found himself easily able to\nfly, just like any ordinary owl, but as soon as he came to the\nsmallest hedge or thicket, he was obliged to pass through it instead\nof clearing it from above, and every branch, twig or thorn hit and\nstung him like a whip.\n\nHe wished to stop flying, for every moment his suffering grew more\nunendurable, but it was impossible to stop, for he was induced by some\nsuperior power to go straight ahead, and however much he tried, he could\nnot avoid the shrubs and trees which lay in his path. The words \"souto\nfueillo--under the foliage\" which he had used were literally true, in\nthe most cruel sense. He was bruised and torn all over, and felt as\nthough he were at the point of death and that his last moment had come,\nwhen suddenly he heard a cock crow and the first ray of light appeared\nin the sky, heralding the dawn. The witches' Sabbath ended, he fell\nheavily to earth, finding himself lying naked on the wet soil. Bruised\nand bleeding, and smarting from a hundred scratches, his condition was\npitiable, but he took heart when he realised that his experiment, so\nfoolishly attempted, had not turned out even worse. He stood up, and\nlimping and sore, hastened to his own house, slinking into bed, where he\ndeveloped a serious fever which kept him there for many weeks. No one\never guessed the real cause of his illness, but as soon as he had\nrecovered his ordinary state of health he went to live in another town\nand never even called on his ex-fianc\u00e9e and her mother to ask them for\nthe clothes which he had left on a chair in their sitting-room.\n\nA legend about another owl-woman is alluded to by Shakespeare in\nHamlet, Act IV, Sc. V, in Ophelia's speech, \"They say the owl was a\nbaker's daughter.\" The common version of this story comes from\nGloucestershire, and is told as follows: \"Our Saviour went into a\nbaker's shop where they were baking and asked for some bread to eat.\nThe mistress of the shop immediately put a piece of dough into the\noven to bake for him, but was reprimanded by her daughter who,\ninsisting that the piece of dough was too large, reduced it\nconsiderably in size. The dough, however, immediately afterwards began\nto swell, and presently became an enormous size. Whereupon the baker's\ndaughter cried out, 'Wheugh! wheugh! wheugh!' which owl-like noise,\nit is said, probably induced our Saviour, for her wickedness, to\ntransform her into that bird.\"\n\nAn old ode gives a more aristocratic descent to the owl than the\nfamily of a tradesman.\n\n      \"Once I was a monarch's daughter,\n       And sat on a lady's knee:\n       But am now a mighty rover,\n       Banished to the ivy tree.\n\n      \"Crying hoo hoo, hoo hoo, hoo hoo,\n       Hoo! hoo! hoo! my feet are cold!\n       Pity me, for here you see me,\n       Persecuted, poor and old!\"\n\nIn the north country the owl was also said to be of royal descent,\nperhaps of birth even as high as the child of a Pharaoh.\n\n      \"I was once a king's daughter and sat upon my father's knee,\n       But now I am a poor hoolet, and hide in a hollow tree.\"\n\nAnother common tradition represents the owl as an old weaver spinning\nwith silver threads, and the barn owl is said to be a transformation\nof one of the servants of the ten kings of the infernal regions.[132]\n\nA similar story about the Saviour and the dough is told of the\nwoodpecker. When Christ and St. Peter were wandering about the earth,\nthey came to a house where an old wife sat baking. Her name was Gertrude\nand she wore a red mutch on her head. The Saviour, being hungry, pleaded\nthat she should give Him a bannock, and to this she agreed. She took a\nvery small piece of dough and rolled it out, but as she was rolling it\nit grew bigger and finally covered the whole griddle.\n\nThen she said it was too large and she could not give away that\nbannock, and she took up a still smaller piece of dough and began\nagain. But this piece grew as large as the other, and she refused to\nlet her visitors have it. The same thing occurred a third time, and\nthen Gertrude said, \"I can't give you anything. You will have to go\nwithout, for all these bannocks are too large.\"\n\nThen Christ was angry and said, \"Since you grudge me a morsel of food\nyou shall turn into a bird and seek your livelihood between bark and\nhole, and only drink when it rains.\"\n\nAs He spoke these words, Gertrude turned into a large black woodpecker\nand flew up from the kneading trough and out through the chimney. Her\nbody is black but she still wears the red mutch and she taps at the\ntrees for her food.[133]\n\nThe Bohemians believe the cuckoo to be a transformed peasant woman who\nhid herself when she saw the Saviour approaching because she feared\nshe would have to give Him a loaf. After He had gone by she looked out\nof the window and cried \"Cuckoo!\" and thereupon she was changed into a\nbird.\n\nAnother tradition says that the cuckoo is a transformed maiden, who is\ncalling for her lost brother, or else that she proclaims to the world\nby her cry that her brother has been found again. A Serbian song says\nthat a dead man was detained in misery on earth because his sister\npersisted in shedding tears over his grave. Becoming angry at her\nunreasonable sorrow, he cursed her and she was changed into a cuckoo\nand had enough to do grieving over her own condition without troubling\nfurther about his.\n\nIn an Albanian version of this legend a sister had two brothers, and\naccidentally killed one of them by getting up from her needlework and\nstabbing him in the heart with her scissors. She and her surviving\nbrother grieved so deeply that they turned into birds, and all day long\nshe cried \"Ku-ku, ku-ku, Where are you?\" to the brother she had slain.\n\nThe Westphalian peasants say that the nightingale is a shepherdess who\ntreated a shepherd, who loved her, harshly, for she kept on promising\nto marry him but was never prepared to fulfil her vow. At last the\nshepherd could not endure her dilly-dallying any longer and he prayed\nthat she might never sleep again until the day of judgment. Since then\nher voice is always heard at night-time, singing, \"Is tit, is tit, to\nwit, to wit--Trizy, Trizy, to bucht, to bucht\"--which is the cry of\nthe shepherdess to her dog Trizy.[134]\n\n\"In former times,\" says Mr. Train, in his \"Account of the Isle of\nMan,\"[135] \"a fairy of uncommon beauty exerted such undue influence over\nthe male population, that by her sweet voice she induced numbers to\nfollow her footsteps till by degrees she led them into the sea, where\nthey perished. This barbarous exercise of power had continued for a long\ntime, till it was apprehended that the island would be exhausted of its\ndefenders: when a knight-errant sprang up who discovered some means of\ncountervailing the charms used by this siren, and even laid a plot for\nher destruction, which she escaped at the moment of extreme hazard by\ntaking the form of a wren. But, though she evaded instant annihilation,\na spell was cast upon her by which she was condemned to animate the same\nform every succeeding New Year's day, until she should perish by a human\nhand.\" Every anniversary therefore man and boy hunt the island from dawn\ntill twilight for the small brown bird whose feathers are looked upon as\na charm against shipwreck.\n\nIn German folk-lore the magpie is a bird of the infernal regions, now\nchanging herself into a witch, or sometimes turning herself into the\nsteed or broomstick on which the witch rides to the Sabbath. In Sweden\ntradition says that sorcerers on Walpurgis night ride to Blocula and\nthere turn into magpies. A lady at Carlstadt in that country was\nhaunted by witch-birds in a very unpleasant manner. Having insulted a\nFinn woman who had begged food of her she told her to take a magpie\nthat was hanging in a cage and eat it if she was hungry. The Finn\ncast an \"evil eye\" on the lady for this insult, but took the bird away\nwith her. Some time after the Swedish lady noticed that whenever she\nwent out a magpie came hopping in front of her. This happened for some\ndays running, and then the magpie was joined by a companion bird, and\npresently by a number. The lady began to be frightened, but the more\nshe tried to get rid of these strange companions the more numerous\nthey became. They perched on her shoulders, tugged at her dress, and\npecked at her ankles. In despair she shut herself up indoors, but they\nremained outside, and as soon as the door was open in they hopped. At\nlast she went to bed and had the shutters closed, and the magpies kept\non tapping outside till she died.\n\nThere is a beautiful Eskimo legend of a bird-bride:--\n\n      \"Years agone, on the flat white strand,\n       I won my sweet sea-girl,\n       Wrapped in my coat of the snow-white fur,\n       I watched the wild-birds settle and stir,\n       The grey gulls gather and whirl.\n\n      \"One of the greatest of all the flock,\n       Perched on an ice-floe bare,\n       Called and cried as her heart were broke,\n       And straight they were changed that fleet bird-folk,\n       To women young and fair.\"[136]\n\nThe Eskimo captures the fairest and carries her to his snow house, where\nshe becomes his wife and bears him three children, and he promises that\nwhatever bird or beast he shall slay for food he will never capture\nanother grey gull. But as time goes on he forgets his vow and once when\nfood is scarce and he can get no game, he shoots four sea-gulls with his\nbow and arrow. Then his wife tells him her hour has come, and, calling\nher children to fetch the feather plumes, she dons them and flies away\nwith her little ones and the husband is left lamenting.\n\nA more definite variant of the bird-maiden legend is found in \"The\nArabian Nights.\" Janshah enters a pavilion and mounting the throne\nfalls asleep. But presently awaking he walks forth and sees flying in\nmid-sky, three birds, in dove-form but as large as eagles. They alight\non the brink of the basin of the fountain. There they become maidens,\nplunge into the basin and play and swim in the water. Janshah, struck\nby their beauty, rises and follows them when they come to land,\nsaying, \"Who are ye, O illustrious princesses, and whence come ye?\"\nThe youngest maiden replies, \"We are from the invisible world of\nAlmighty Allah, and we come hither to divert ourselves.\"\n\nStill marvelling at her beauty, Janshah said to the youngest, \"Have\nruth on me and deign kindness to me and take pity on my case and all\nthat hath befallen me in my life.\" But she will not hearken to his\npleadings, and though he recites love poems to them all they only\nlaugh and sing and make merry. They stay with him feasting till\nmorning and then, resuming dove-shape, fly off and are seen no more.\nJanshah, deprived of their company, well-nigh loses his reason and\nfalls into a swoon.\n\nEventually he wins the princess by seizing her feather robe and refusing\nto return it in spite of the fact that the fair lady, Shamsah by name,\nbeseeches him with all her wiles to do so. They decide to go back to the\nprincesses' motherland to be married, and Janshah returns the feather\nsuit, which she dons, telling him to mount her back and shut his eyes\nand ears, so that he \"may not hear the roar of the revolving sphere,\"\nand, she adds, \"keep fast hold of my feathers lest thou fall off.\"\n\nThey return to his home happily wedded and Janshah places the\nfeather-vest of the princess in a white marble chest, which is sealed\nwith melted lead and buried under the palace walls. But Shamsah when\nshe enters the new palace smells the scent of her flying feather-gear,\nand when her husband is asleep she gets out the garment and flies\naway. Then Janshah has to search for the Castle of Jewels, where he\nmeets his fair bride once more.[137]\n\nA very similar story is told by Charles Swynnerton in \"Romantic Tales\nfrom the Panjab, with Indian Nights' Entertainment,\"[138] about Prince\nBairam and his fairy bride. The Prince, sitting down in a beautiful\ngarden, watches four milk-white doves who settle in the shape of four\nfairies by the edge of a tank of clear crystal water. There they bathe\nand when they come out to dress three of them resume their dove-shape,\nbut the fourth fairy, whose name is Ghulab Bano, cannot find her\nclothes and bids farewell to her sisters, saying, \"It is my kismet.\nSome different destiny awaits me here and we shall never meet again.\"\n\nThen she falls in love with the Prince, who has purposely hidden her\ndove-skin, and marries him. After a time she asks her husband for\nleave to visit her father and mother, promising to return. He gives\nher the fairy clothes and she disappears as a milk-white dove. But her\nparents are angry with her for marrying a mortal and imprison her in a\nsubterranean city, so that she cannot keep her promise. The Prince\ngoes in search of her and at last finds his bride, but as women cannot\nkeep a secret, she tells her friends of his presence, and her father\nsends giants to kill him, and only after many further adventures are\nthe Prince and the fairy-Princess once more happily united.\n\nIn a Basuto legend a girl is devoured by wer-animals in whose care, as\nmen, she has been sent to her betrothed. Her heart is transformed into a\ndove and joins a flock of these birds. They visit the hut of the\nbridegroom's sister, who suspects that the beautiful bird may be the\nlost maiden. Then the bridegroom seizes hold of the dove, the wings come\noff and the girl herself steps forth as beautiful and innocent as ever.\n\nHans Andersen's \"The Wild Swans\" differs in an important particular\nfrom the other stories of this class, as it deals with Swan-princes.\nPrincess Elsie's eleven brothers are transformed into swans by their\nwicked stepmother, who says, \"Fly away in the form of great speechless\nbirds.\" But she could not make their transformation so disagreeable as\nshe wished, and the princes were changed into eleven white swans.\n\nElsie releases them by plucking stinging-nettles which she has to\nweave into eleven shirts with long sleeves. She does not finish in\ntime, and one sleeve being wanting in the youngest boy's shirt, he has\none arm, and a wing instead of the other.[139]\n\nThe robin, oddly enough among birds, is also a transformed man. The\nlegend is told amongst the Chippeway Indians that there was once a\nhunter so ambitious that his only son should signalise himself by\nendurance when he came to the time of life to undergo the fast for the\npurpose of choosing his guardian spirit, that after the lad had fasted\nfor eight days, his father still pressed him to persevere. But the\nnext day, when the father entered the hut, his son had paid the\npenalty of violated nature, and in the form of a robin had just flown\ndown to the top of a lodge. There before he flew away to the woods, he\nentreated his father not to mourn the transformation. \"I shall be\nhappier,\" he said, \"in my present state than I could have been as a\nman. I shall always be the friend of men and keep near their\ndwellings; I could not gratify your pride as a warrior, but I will\ncheer you with my songs.\"[140]\n\nIn Bavaria the hoopoe is said to play the part of attendant to the\ncuckoo. It is believed that the plantain was once a maiden, who,\nwatching by the wayside for her lover, who was long in coming, was\nchanged into a plant, and once in seven years she becomes a bird,\neither the cuckoo or the hoopoe,[141] or, as it is called in\nDevonshire, the \"dinnick,\" the cuckoo's servant.\n\nOne of the best-known classical stories of bird-women is, of course,\nthe tragedy of Progne and Philomela, daughters of Pandion, King of\nAthens. Progne marries Tereus, King of Thrace, but Tereus, blinded by\nPhilomela's beauty, betrays his sister-in-law and cuts out her tongue\nlest she should tell of his villainy. Nevertheless she manages to send a\nmessage to her sister, who revenges herself and Philomela on her husband\nTereus by killing his son Itys and dishing up his body as food at a meal\nwhich she sets before his father. Tereus, having eaten of the flesh of\nhis beloved son, discovers the trick played upon him and pursues his\nwife and her sister with the intention of punishing them. As they flee\nPhilomela is transformed into a nightingale, while Progne becomes a\nswallow, upon whose breast the red stains of her murdered son appear.\nTereus is changed into a crested bird, either a hoopoe or a lapwing.\n\n      \"The Thracian king, lamenting sore,\n       Turned to a lapwing, doeth them upbrayde.\"\n\nA pretty story of a woman-kingfisher is also to be found among the\nclassics. Ceyx, King of Trachyn, sets out for Claros, to succour his\nbrother, against the advice of his wife, Halcyone. A storm overtakes\nthe ship on which he is travelling and he is drowned. Halcyone hastens\nto the seashore to find him, as she feels she cannot live without his\npresence, and as she stands looking out to sea the body of the drowned\nCeyx floats towards her. She leaps into the water to seize his corpse\nand at that moment is transformed into a kingfisher, and with her bill\nand wings caresses the dead face and limbs of her beloved husband.\nThen the gods, in compassion, transform Ceyx also into a kingfisher,\nso that as birds their love may endure for ever.[142]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[132] _See_ Swainson, Ch., \"Folklore of British Birds,\" 1886, pp. 123-7.\n\n[133] Dasent, G. W., \"Popular Tales from the Norse,\" 1903, pp. 213-4.\n\n[134] Quoted from other sources by Swainson, Ch., \"The Folk-lore of\nBritish Birds,\" 1886, pp. 20-1.\n\n[135] 1845, Vol. II, pp. 124-7.\n\n[136] Tomson, Graham R., \"The Bird Bride,\" 1889, p. 1.\n\n[137] \"Arabian Nights,\" Lady Burton's edition, Vol. III, 1887, pp.\n417-50.\n\n[138] 1908, pp. 464-9.\n\n[139] Andersen, H. C, \"Danish Fairy Legends,\" 1861, pp. 1-16.\n\n[140] _See_ Jones' \"Credulities Past and Present.\"\n\n[141] \"Quarterly Review,\" July, 1863, p. 245.\n\n[142] Gibson, Frank, \"Superstitions about Animals,\" 1904, pp. 140-2.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER XX\n\n                            FAMILY ANIMALS\n\n\nCertain animals are associated with certain families, and in many such\ninstances the animal makes its appearance as a death-warning.\nSometimes the animal in question, which is in the nature of a totem of\nthe clan, is the family crest and has an occult connection with its\ntraditions and history.\n\nThe Ferrers, whose country seat is at Chartley Park, near Litchfield,\nhave a peculiar breed of cattle on their estates. The colour of the\ncattle is white with black muzzles. The whole of the inside of the\near, and one-third of the outside from the tip downwards is red, and\nthe horns are white, with black tips, very fine and bent upwards.\n\nIn the year in which the Battle of Burton Bridge was fought and lost,\na black calf was born into this stock and the downfall of the Ferrers\nfamily occurred about this time, giving rise to a tradition which has\nnever been falsified, that the birth of a dark or parti-coloured calf\nfrom the Chartley Park breed is an omen of death within the year to a\nmember of the Ferrers family.\n\nThe \"Staffordshire Chronicle,\" of July, 1835, says, \"It is a\nnoticeable coincidence that a calf of this description was born\nwhenever a death happened in the family. The decease of the seventh\nEarl Ferrers and of his countess, and of his son, Viscount Tamworth,\nand of his daughter, Mrs. William Jolliffe, as well as the deaths of\nthe son and heir of the eighth earl and of his daughter, Lady Francis\nShirley, were each preceded by the ominous birth of the fatal-hued\ncalf. In the spring of 1835 a black calf appeared at Chartley, and\nbefore long the beautiful countess, second wife of the eighth earl,\nlay on her death-bed.\n\nBirds of various kinds frequently make their appearance in families as\nharbingers of death. When the Oxenhams of Devonshire were visited by the\napparition of a white bird they knew that one of the family was doomed.\nThe well-known story is told by James Oxenham in a tract entitled \"A\nTrue relation of an Apparition in the likenesse of a Bird with a white\nbreast that appeared hovering over the death-beds of some of the\nchildren of Mr. James Oxenham, of Sale Monachorum, Devon, Gent.\"\n\nOne of the first members of the family to see the apparition was the\nfamous John Oxenham, a young man of twenty-two, who was taken ill in\nthe vigour of his youth, a great strapping fellow six foot and a half\nin height, well built, of comely countenance and of great intellectual\ngifts. He died on the fifth day of September, 1635, and two days\nbefore his death the bird with the white breast hovered over his bed.\nCharles Kingsley made use of this incident in \"Westward Ho!\" John\nOxenham, in the midst of drinking a toast, suddenly drops his glass on\nthe table and staring in terror at some object which he seems to see\nfluttering round the room, he cries out \"There! Do you see it? The\nbird! The bird with the white breast!\"\n\nNo sooner was John Oxenham in his grave than the apparition showed\nitself to Thomasine, wife of James Oxenham, who died on the seventh of\nSeptember, 1635. She was quite a young woman and, according to the\nwitnesses, Elizabeth Frost and Joan Tooker, the strange phantom was\nseen clearly fluttering above her sick-bed. The next member of the\nOxenhams to whom the warning appeared was Thomasine's little sister,\nRebecca, a child of eight, who breathed her last on September the\nninth, following. And no sooner had the little girl been laid in her\ngrave than Thomasine, infant of the above-mentioned Thomasine and\nJames Oxenham, was taken sick and died on the 15th of September, 1635,\nthe bird appearing also in this case.\n\nIt is impossible not to wonder what disease it was that carried off so\nmany members of the Oxenham family within a few days of one another,\nand whether the bird was fluttering through the rooms the whole of the\ntime, or whether it disappeared between the various deaths. Certain it\nis that it was not seen hovering over the sick-beds of other members\nof the family who recovered health. An earlier visitation had occurred\nin 1618, when the grandmother of the said John, a certain Grace\nOxenham, had yielded up her soul into the hands of her Maker. Many\nlater appearances of the famous bird are on record. A Mr. Oxenham who\nlived in Sidmouth for many years and who died between 1810 and 1821,\nwas attended by an old gardener and his wife, who gave evidence that\nthey had seen a white bird fly in at the door, dart across the bed in\nwhich their master lay dying, and _disappear in one of the drawers of\nthe bureau_, but when they opened all the drawers to find the\napparition, they could discover no signs of it.\n\nIn 1873 the Rev. Henry Oxenham gave the following version of the\nfamily story, which may be found in Frederick George Lee's \"Glimpses\nof the Supernatural.\"[143]\n\n\"Shortly before the death of my late uncle, G. N. Oxenham, Esq., of 17\nEarl's Terrace, Kensington, who was then head of the family, this\noccurred: His only surviving daughter, now Mrs. Thomas Peter, but then\nunmarried and living at home, and a friend of my aunt's, Miss Roberts,\nwho happened to be staying in the house, but was no relation, and had\nnever heard of the family tradition, were sitting in the dining-room\nimmediately beneath his bedroom about a week before his death, which\ntook place on December 15, 1873, when their attention was aroused by a\nshouting outside the window.\n\n\"On looking out they observed a white bird--which might have been a\npigeon, but, if so, was an unusually large one--perched on the thorn\ntree outside the windows and it remained there for several minutes, in\nspite of some workmen on the opposite side of the road throwing their\nhats at it, in the vain effort to drive it away.\n\n\"Miss Roberts mentioned this to my aunt at the time, though not, of\ncourse, attaching any special significance to it, and my aunt (since\ndeceased) repeated it to me soon after my uncle's death. Neither did\nmy cousin, though aware of the family tradition, think of it at the\ntime.... My cousin also mentioned another circumstance, which either I\ndid not hear of or had forgotten, viz. that my late aunt spoke at the\ntime of frequently hearing a sound like the fluttering of a bird's\nwings in my uncle's bedroom, and said that the nurse testified to\nhearing it also.\"\n\nA more tragic incident connected with the same legend was that when\nLady Margaret Oxenham was about to be married a white bird appeared\nand fluttered about her head, and that she was stabbed at the altar by\na rejected lover.\n\nIn another family a white crow was seen as a death-warning. In the\nlate half of the eighteenth century the son of a rich landowner in\nNorth Wales was said to exercise an evil influence over his elder\nbrother, who was heir to the estate. When the landowner died the\neldest son disappeared mysteriously, and the second son took his place\nas heir. Wherever the new squire went he was accompanied by a white\ncrow with black wings, and all the neighbours recognised the bird as\nhis constant companion.\n\nA few years passed and the squire found it necessary to make a journey\nto London on a matter of business, but thinking that the crow would\ncause an odd sensation if it followed him about the Metropolis, he\ndecided, or let himself be persuaded, that it was better to leave the\nbird behind. On his way home from town, he stayed for a night or two\nat the house of a friend in Shrewsbury. During dinner the door of the\ndining-room was blown open suddenly, as though by an unexpected gust\nof wind, and the white crow flew into the room and perched on the\nsquire's shoulder, as though well-contented to be once more in the\npresence of its master.\n\nTo satisfy the curiosity of the guests, the squire explained that the\nbird was his most faithful friend. When the diners left the table and\nwent into the drawing-room a pet dog chased the bird, which had left\nits perch on the squire's shoulder and had flown on ahead. One of the\nvisitors attempted to strike the dog, hoping to make it cease to\npersecute the bird, and by accident he hit the bird instead. Croaking\npiteously, the white crow wheeled about twice and fluttered to the\nground dying. The squire who had lingered behind the others came\nforward at the noise of the fray and, seeing the dead crow, cried:\n\n\"Alas! You have killed one who was to me like a brother.\"\n\nThen he turned to his host and took a hurried farewell, for, he added,\n\"I have but three weeks more to live.\"\n\nAt this strange speech the host and his guests concluded that the\nsquire was over-superstitious and they pooh-poohed his fears, which,\nhowever, proved only too correct. He died three weeks later, as he had\nhimself prophesied, and then it was reported that the elder brother,\non his disappearance, had taken the shape of a crow and that whoever\nowned the bird knew that he would only survive it by three weeks. A\nthird brother inherited the estate, and to this day when a death is\nexpected in the family, a white crow with black wings is seen hovering\nnear the house.[144]\n\nA bird is connected with a death-warning in the Lyttleton family,\nwhose country seat is Hagley in Worcestershire. The first earl was a\ndistinguished poet and historian, but his son, Thomas, the second\nearl, was known as \"the wicked Lord Lyttleton,\" a title he had won by\nhis extravagances and profligacy. He died on November 27th, 1779, at\nhis town house in Hill Street, having been foretold of his death three\ndays previously.\n\nIn the middle of the night of the 24th of November he was awakened by\nthe fluttering of a bird about the curtains in his bedroom, and\nlooking up, he saw the vision of a lovely woman dressed in white, upon\nwhose wrist a small bird was perched like a falcon. As he lay watching\nthe apparition, the woman spoke, warning him to prepare for death\nwithin three days.\n\nAlthough he treated the matter lightly, and his friends seconded him\nin combating his superstitious fears, Lord Lyttleton died at the exact\nhour named by his ghostly visitor and the casement at which the bird\nwas seen by the doomed man has since been frequently pointed out to\npeople interested in the tradition.\n\nCloseburn Castle, the seat of the Kirkpatricks in Dumfries-shire, was\nsurrounded by a beautiful lake, and whenever any member of the family\nwas about to die a swan appeared on the waters and remained there until\nthe death had taken place, then disappearing as mysteriously as it came.\n\nThe story of this ghostly swan is a sad one. In former times a pair of\nswans made the lake their favourite resort in the summer season. Year\nafter year the pair paid an annual visit to Closeburn to the delight\nof the family, for they were thought to bring good fortune in their\ntrain, and whatever misfortune or sorrow had been impending vanished\nlike magic at their appearance.\n\nOne Lady Kirkpatrick had been sick unto death when the first\ninformation of the presence of the swans brought her speedily back to\nhealth. Another year the heir of the house, a mere babe, lay almost at\nhis last gasp when the broken-hearted mother, gazing from the castle\nwindow one dark night, saw the two swans descend as though from the\ncelestial world, and the next moment they were seen sailing\nmajestically upon the lake. Full of joy at this good omen, she turned\nto her sick child and saw with thanksgiving and praise the first signs\nof returning health, a recovery which proved to be speedy. And so many\nstories were told of kindly influence exerted by the original birds\nand their successors, that for one hundred and fifty years the\ntradition held good. But after the elapse of that period a change\noccurred, which unfortunately reversed the omen.\n\nAt that time Closeburn Castle was in the possession of a boy of\nthirteen of the name of Robert. He was romantic by nature, but also\nmischievous, and it happened that one day he was permitted to go to\nthe theatre in Edinburgh to see a performance of \"The Merchant of\nVenice.\" The lines which Portia says of Bassanio, that he would\n\n      \"Make a swan-like end\n       Fading in music,\"\n\nstruck his imagination very forcibly and afterwards he could not rest\nbecause he was so anxious to know whether the song of a dying swan was\na fact and not merely a myth.\n\nMoved by this absorbing impulse, he went a short time later into the\nPark at Closeburn with the intention of shooting sparrows with his\ncross-bow, and at that moment, unluckily, the prophetic swans came\nsailing upon the lake in his direction.\n\nWithout a thought as to what might be the result of his action, Robert\naimed his bow at one of the swans, and the arrow, winging its way over\nthe lake, hit its mark so surely that the swan perished on the spot. Its\ncompanion gave a shrill and lamentable scream and vanished forthwith.\n\nRobert, filled with remorse at what he had done, buried the body of\nhis victim, which had drifted to the shores of the lake, and told\nnobody what had taken place. But for many years, much to the surprise\nof the family, no swans came to Closeburn.\n\nMuch later, when the matter had been almost forgotten, a single swan\nreturned, but, unlike the earlier visitants, it was shy to wildness,\nand upon its breast was seen a blood-red stain.\n\nPeople shook their heads and said this phantom swan boded the family\nno good, and their prognostications came true, for though the swan\nwith the bleeding breast came more rarely than the others had done,\nevery time it appeared it heralded misfortune. First the sudden death\nof the Lord of Closeburn occurred at home and then one of his\nrelatives was lost in a shipwreck. And again at the third nuptials of\nSir Thomas Kirkpatrick, the first baronet of that name, his son and\nheir Roger, who was in good health at the time, caught sight of the\nswan, and in full conviction that the warning was meant to tell of\nimpending evil, he went home duly despondent. His father rallied him\non his mood, which he said proceeded from a jealous dislike of his new\nstepmother. But Roger answered, \"Perhaps before long, you too may be\nsorrowing,\" and that very night he gave up the ghost.\n\nSince then, tradition says, that the mystic wounded swan has never\nbeen seen at Closeburn, and the tragic revenge has been completely\nfulfilled.\n\nAccording to the account of Sir Walter Scott, supernatural appearances\nannounce death to the ancient Highland family of the MacLeans of\nLochbuy. The spirit of an ancestor who was slain in battle is heard to\ngallop along a stony bank and then to ride thrice around the family\nresidence ringing his fairy bridle and thus intimating the approaching\ncalamity. The reference to this legend occurs in \"The Lady of the Lake.\"\n\n      Sounds, too, had come in midnight blast,\n      Of charging steeds, careering fast\n      Along Benharrow's shingly side,\n      Where mortal horseman ne'er might ride.\n\nA fox is an unusual animal to be responsible for a death-warning,\nexcept perhaps in Japan, where so many superstitions cling round this\ncreature, but the Irish family of Gormanston is haunted by a small\ncongregation of foxes whenever the head of the house is about to die.\n\nBefore the death of the twelfth viscount, in 1860, foxes were seen\nround about and even in the house for some days. A few hours before\nhis death, \"three foxes were playing about and making a noise close to\nthe house, and just in front of the cloisters, which are yew-trees\nplanted and trailed in that shape.\" They wandered about the grounds in\npairs and sat under the viscount's window, barking and howling all\nnight. Next morning they were crouching in the grass in the front of\nthe house. Although they had access to the poultry yard, it was\ncertainly strange that they never touched any of the birds. As soon as\nthe funeral was over the animals disappeared suddenly.\n\nWhen the succeeding viscount died, in 1876, the foxes were seen again,\nappearing constantly under the bedroom window, especially when the sick\nviscount was supposed to have taken a turn for the better, which,\nhowever, proved to be a false hope, for he passed away soon afterwards.\n\nOn the occasion of the death of the fourteenth Viscount Gormanston the\ncoachman and gardener saw two foxes near the chapel and five or six more\nround the front of the house, and several were barking in the cloisters.\nLord Gormanston's son, the Hon. Mr. Preston, watched beside his father's\nbody which lay in the chapel, and on one occasion, about three in the\nmorning, he \"became conscious of a slight noise, which seemed to be that\nof a number of people walking stealthily around the chapel on the gravel\nwalk. He went to the side door, listened, and heard outside a continuous\nand insistent snuffling or sniffing noise, accompanied by whimperings\nand scratchings at the door. On opening it, he saw a full-grown fox\nsitting on the path within four feet of him. Just in the shadow was\nanother, while he could hear several more moving close by in the\ndarkness. He then went to the end door, opposite the altar, and on\nopening it found two more foxes, one so close that he could have touched\nit with his foot. On shutting the door the noises continued till 5 a.m.,\nwhen they suddenly ceased.\"[145]\n\nWhen a death is about to take place in the Baronet's family at Clifton\nHall, in Nottinghamshire, a sturgeon is said to force its way up the\nriver Trent, which runs at the foot of the beautifully wooded slope on\nwhich the Hall stands, and whenever white owls are seen perched on the\nfamily mansion of the Arundels of Wardour it is held to be an\nindication that a member of the family is near to death.\n\nIn one family a little white dog appears to give warning that a death\nis about to occur. The story is taken from J. A. Middleton's \"Grey\nGhost Book.\"[146] A relative of General French was sitting in the\ngarden talking with a friend when the latter saw a little white dog\nrun under her companion's chair. As it did not reappear she became\ncurious and requested him to see what had become of it. The man rose\nand removed his chair, but the dog was not there, having suddenly and\nmysteriously vanished. Then he related that in his family a little\nwhite dog appeared before a death, and that this was a warning to him.\n\nSome time after they met again and she learnt that his uncle had died\nthe same night, and that she had seen the animal, and when she\nremarked that it was strange that it should have been visible to her\nand not to him, he said that on many other occasions the phantom had\nappeared to someone outside the family, though always near to a member\nof it to whom it was visible.\n\nA black dog appears as a death warning to some families, as related by\nCatherine Crowe in \"The Night Side of Nature.\"[147]\n\nA young lady of well-known family was sitting at work, well and\ncheerful, when she saw to her great surprise a large black dog close\nto her. As both door and window were closed she could not understand\nhow he had got in, but when she started up to put him out she could no\nlonger see him. Quite puzzled and thinking it must be some strange\nillusion, she sat down again, and went on with her work, when\npresently he was there again. Much alarmed, she now ran out and told\nher mother, who said she must have fancied it, or else that she must\nbe ill. She said that she was quite well and that she was sure she had\nseen the animal. Then her mother promised to wait outside the door,\nand if the dog appeared again her daughter said she would call her.\nPresently the daughter saw the dog again, but he disappeared when she\ncalled her mother. Soon afterwards the mother was taken ill and died.\nBefore her death she said to her daughter, \"Remember the black dog.\"\n\nAnother family in the east of England has a tradition that the\nappearance of a black dog portends the death of one of its members. It\nwas not said that no death took place without such warning; but only\nthat, when the apparition occurred, its meaning was certain. The\neldest son of this family married. He knew not whether to believe or\ndisbelieve the legend. On one hand he thought it superstitious to\nreceive it, and, on the other, he could not altogether reject it in\nthe face of much testimony. In this state of doubt--the thing itself\nbeing unpleasant--he resolved to say nothing on the subject to his\nyoung wife. It could only, he thought, worry and harass her, and could\nnot by any possibility do any good, and he kept this resolution. In\ndue course of time he had a family; but of the apparition he saw\nnothing. At length, one of his children was taken ill with small-pox;\nbut the attack was slight and not the least danger was apprehended. He\nwas sitting down to dinner with his wife, when she said, \"I will just\nstep upstairs and see how baby is going on, and I will be back again\nin a moment.\" She went and, returning rather hastily, said, \"Baby is\nasleep; but pray go upstairs, for there is a large black dog lying on\nhis bed. Go up and drive it out of the house.\" The father had no doubt\nof the result. He went upstairs; there was no black dog to be seen;\nbut the child was dead.[148]\n\nThe New Hall at Nafferton was the occasional residence of the\nDerwentwater (Radcliffe) family, who left it for Dilston Hall in 1768.\nGradually the place fell into decay and strange things were seen about\nthe house. The apparitions were most frequent at times of birth or\ndeath, or as preliminaries to any fatal accident, and they took the\nforms of a white weasel, a white hen, or a white rabbit, and sometimes\na headless person dressed in white. Rappings and other noises were\nfrequent, and became so obtrusive that finally a farmer who lived in\nthe house decided to investigate matters. He called his brother to\nhelp him, and as the worst noises came from a cavity in his own room,\ncovered by a hearthstone and called the \"Priest's Hole,\" they began by\ndigging up the hearthstone. Beneath it was an accumulation of rubbish,\nwhich they emptied out until they found a flagged recess, surrounded\nat the sides by a stone seat, the actual hiding-place of priests,\nusual in the houses of gentry of Roman Catholic tenets. Seeing nothing\nextraordinary, they were about to desist from their labours when they\nthought they heard a voice urging them to go on digging. From the\n\"priest's hole\" they entered another apartment, and then a third,\nwhere they found a blood-stained shirt and nightcap, which were\napparently of new linen, but as soon as they were exposed to the\natmosphere they crumbled away like \"burnt tinder.\"\n\nOn careful inquiry it was discovered that about the time of the\nRadcliffes' occupancy, an old pedlar had been murdered on the spot and\nhis goods stolen by the innkeeper's daughters.[149]\n\nAlbert Smith, whose brother was a pupil at Guildford Grammar School,\ntells a story of a phantom vision which appeared at the time of a\ndeath. Several of the schoolboys had been sitting up all night for a\nfrolic when one of them said, \"I'll swear there's a likeness of our\nold huntsman on his grey horse going across the whitewashed wall!\" He\nwas laughed at for being so superstitious, but next morning a servant\ncame from the family to say \"the old huntsman had been thrown from his\nhorse and killed that morning whilst airing the hounds.\"\n\nIt is no easier to attempt to explain such an apparition than it is to\nsay why Jemmy Lowther, the \"bad Lord Lonsdale,\" was said to dash about\nin his phantom coach and six after his death.\n\nAnother member of a noble family was responsible for bringing trouble\non his house through his wicked ways.\n\nThe Lambtons were haunted for nine generations by a horrible snake or\nworm which brought much evil in its train. One day the heir to the\nestate, a ne'er-do-well, was fishing in the Wear on a Sunday and\ncatching nothing he vented his anger in loud curses. Soon afterwards\nthere were indications that a fish was on his line, and, to his\ndisgust, he found he had hooked a monster, something between a worm\nand a serpent. Terrified, he threw the creature into a well close by.\nBefore long, repenting of his wicked ways, he betook himself to the\nCrusades, leaving his aged father to look after the estates without\nhim. Meanwhile the monster he had caught grew too large for the well\nand crawled forth to work ill to the country-side, laying waste the\nland, devouring cattle, and plundering right and left. The villagers\ntried to appease it by offerings of milk, but no real release was to\nbe had from this serpent-tyrant until the return of the young heir\nfrom the Crusade. Then he battled with the monster for freedom, much\nin the manner of St. George and the Dragon, except that he took a vow\nto offer as a sacrifice the first living thing he met after his\nvictory was won. To his horror this happened to be his father, and\nincapable of parricide, he preferred to allow a curse to descend on\nposterity, and for nine generations the Lambtons died by violence.\n\n      But no Christian might his father slay,\n      No penance the deed atone;\n      And no Lambton for nine ages past,\n      To die in his bed was known.\n\nAnother story tells of what happened to a noble dame when she died,\nafter having lived an evil life.\n\nLady Howard in the time of James I was said to be the possessor of\nevil qualities in spite of her beauty and accomplishments. She was\ncruel to her only daughter, and was thought to get rid of her husbands\nby mysterious means, for she had been married four times.\n\nWhen she died she had to do penance for her sins. Being transformed\ninto a hound, she was compelled to run a long distance every night\nfrom her residence at Fitzford, to Okehampton Park and back to her old\nhome, carrying a blade of grass picked from the park. This work was to\ngo on until all the grass had been removed from Okehampton.\n\nThat evil-doing is punishable by a descent in the scale of being is a\nsalient point which appears in the race-beliefs of many nations.\n\nThe Lady Sybil of Bernshaw Tower, a fair maid of high rank but evil\nrepute, turned into a white doe after making a strange compact with\nthe devil. Rich, young, and beautiful, her desires were still\nunsatisfied and she longed for supernatural powers, so that she might\ntake part in the witches' Sabbath. At this time, Lord William of\nHapton Tower (a member of the Townley family) was a suitor for Lady\nSybil's hand, but his proposals did not meet with her approval. In\ndespair, he decided to consult a famous Lancashire witch called Mother\nHelston, who promised him success on All Halloween. In accordance with\nher instructions he went hunting and at a short distance from the\nEagle's Crag a milk-white doe started from behind the thicket, and he\nfound it impossible to capture the animal. His hounds were wearied and\nhe returned to the Crag, almost determined to give up the chase, when\na strange hound joined his pack. Then a fresh start was made, and the\nstrange hound, Mother Helston's familiar, captured the white doe. That\nnight an earthquake shook Hapton Tower to its foundations and in the\nmorning the white doe appeared as the fair Lady Sybil, who had been\nfleeing from her suitor in animal shape. Thus Lord William married the\nheiress of Bernshaw Tower, but a year later she renewed her diabolical\npractices and not until she lay near death was it possible for Lord\nWilliam to have the devil's bond cancelled, which he did by enlisting\nthe holy offices of a neighbouring priest. After her death Bernshaw\nTower was deserted and tradition says that on All Halloween, the hound\nand the milk-white doe meet on the Eagle's Crag, where Lady Sybil lies\nburied, and are pursued by a spectre huntsman in full chase.[150]\n\nSometimes the ghost of a human being has the power of taking animal\nshape, as in the case of the eccentric Miss Beswick of Birchen Bower,\nHollinwood.\n\nBirchen Bower was a quaint four-gabled mansion built in the form of a\ncross, and attached to it was a large barn, where many uncanny\nincidents happened.\n\n\"On the 22nd of July,\" says the \"Manchester Guardian\" of August 15,\n1868, \"the remains of Miss Beswick were committed to the earth in the\nHarpurhey Cemetery. There is a tradition that this lady, who is\nsupposed to have died about one hundred years ago, had acquired so\nstrong a fear of being buried alive that she left certain property to\nher medical attendant, so long as her body should be kept above\nground. The doctor seems to have embalmed her body with tar, and then\nswathed it with a strong bandage, leaving the face exposed, and to\nhave kept 'her' out of the grave as long as he could. For many years\npast the mummy has been lodged in the rooms of the Manchester Natural\nHistory Society (Peter Street), where it has been an object of much\npopular interest. It seems that the commissioners, who are charged\nwith the rearrangement of the Society's collections, have deemed this\nspecimen undesirable, and have at last buried it.\"\n\nA curious bargain appears to have been made by Miss Beswick, namely,\nthat every twenty-one years her body was to be taken back to Birchen\nBower and be left there for one week, and the more elderly inhabitants\ndeclared that this was done at the stated times, and the body laid in\nthe granary of the old farmstead. On the morning when the corpse was\nfetched away, the horses and cows were invariably found to have been let\nloose, and sometimes a cow would be found up in the hayloft, although\nhow it came there was a mystery, as there was no passage large enough to\nadmit the animal. The last prank of this description played by Miss\nBeswick, as far as information goes, was a few years ago when a cow\nbelonging to the farmer then tenanting the place was found in the\nhayloft. Naturally enough the neighbours believed that supernatural\nagency had been employed to place it there. This occurred at the\nfourteenth anniversary of seven years after Miss Beswick died, and it\nwas a recognised fact that some apparition was usually seen at Birchen\nBower at the expiration of every seven years. No one could explain how\nthe cow could get into the loft, and blocks had to be borrowed from\nBower Mill to get her down again through the hay-hole outside the barn.\n\nAfter Miss Beswick's death her house was divided up into several\ncottages, and she seems to have haunted the spot. To one family she\nappeared as an old lady in a silken gown, and her arrival was\ninvariably announced to them as they were seated at supper by a\nrustling of silk which was heard at the entrance. Soon after the\nlady, arrayed in black silk, glided into the room, walked straight\ninto the parlour and disappeared at one particular flagstone. As she\nannoyed no one her appearance never drew forth any further remark than\n\"Hush! Here's the old lady again.\"\n\nTradition said that Miss Beswick had hidden vast sums of money and\nother articles of value in the time of Prince Charlie (1745), and a\nweaver who lived in a part of the haunted house found a tin vessel\nfull of gold pieces under the floor of the haunted parlour. It was\nthought after this discovery that the phantom lady would rest in her\ngrave, but this was not the case, and she recently appeared near an\nold well by the brook-side. A rustic going to fetch water, saw a tall\nlady standing by the well, wearing a black silk gown and a white cap\nwith a frilled border. She stood there in the dusk in a defiant or\nthreatening attitude, streams of blue light appearing to dart from her\neyes and flash on the horror-stricken spectator. This appearance of\nthe phantom was said to mean that Miss Beswick could get no rest until\ncertain members of her family regained their property, a result which\ndoes not appear to be yet achieved, for the phantom still haunts the\nneighbourhood, on clear moonlight nights, walking in a headless state\nbetween the old barn and the horse-pool, and at other times assuming\nthe forms of different animals which, however, are always lost sight\nof near the horse-pool. Some people think that Miss Beswick concealed\nsomething on this spot in 1745, and is now anxious to point out her\ntreasure to anyone brave enough to address her. On dreary winter\nnights the barn where the phantom cow was found is said to appear as\nthough on fire, a red glow being observed through the loopholes and\ncrevices of the loft, and loud noises proceeding from the building as\nthough the evil one and his demons were holding revels there. But if\nan alarm of fire is raised by a frightened neighbour and the farmer\nhas the premises searched, all is found to be in order, and the\nterror-stricken inhabitants of the village declare that Madame\nBeswick is up to her ghostly pranks again.[151]\n\nThe popular belief in transformation is at the root of a strange\nfamily story about Callaly Castle, which is beautifully situated at\nthe foot of the wooded slopes of Callaly Castle Hill, whose highest\npeaks are some 800 feet above sea level. In the modern building are\nincorporated the remains of an ancient border tower, the stronghold of\nthe Claverings. The Survey of 1541 says, \"At Callalye ys a toure of\nth'inheritaunce of Claverynge in measurable good repac'ons.\"\n\nThis was probably the tower which owed its erection on its present\nsite--the \"Shepherd's Shaw,\" to a difference in opinion between the\nLord and Lady of Callaly in olden days.\n\nThe following account of the legend was given by Mr. George Tate,\nF.G.S., in an article on \"Whittingham Vale,\" contributed to the\n\"Alnwick Mercury,\" in 1862: \"A lord of Callaly in the days of yore,\ncommenced erecting a castle on the hill: his lady preferred a low,\nsheltering situation in the vale. She remonstrated, but her lord was\nwilful, and the building continued to progress. What she could not\nobtain by persuasion she sought to achieve by stratagem, and availed\nherself of the superstitious opinions of the age. One of her servants\nwho was devoted to her interests, entered into her scheme: he was\ndressed up like a boar, and nightly he ascended the hill and pulled\ndown all that had been built during the day. It was soon whispered\nthat the spiritual powers were opposed to the erection of a castle on\nthe hill; the lord himself became alarmed, and he sent some of his\nretainers to watch the building during the night and discover the\ncause of the destruction. Under the influence of the superstitions of\nthe times those retainers magnified appearances, and when the boar\nissued from the wood and commenced overthrowing the work of the day,\nthey beheld a monstrous animal of enormous power. Their terror was\ncomplete when the boar, standing among the overturned stones, cried\nout in a loud voice:\n\n      \"Callaly Castle built on the height,\n       Up in the day and down in the night;\n       Builded down in the Shepherd's Shaw,\n       It shall stand for aye and never fa'.\"\n\nThey immediately fled and informed the lord of the supernatural\nvisitation; and, regarding the rhymes as an expression of the will of\nHeaven, he abandoned the work, and, in accordance with the wish of his\nlady, built his castle low down in the vale where the modern mansion\nnow stands.\"[152]\n\nThe animal connected with the Coneely family is a seal. In the west of\nIreland there is a seal-clan; the clansman, calling himself after the\nseal, conceives himself to be of the blood of the eponym animal. In\nvery ancient times some of the Coneely clan were changed by \"art\nmagick\" into seals and since then no member of the family can kill a\nseal without incurring bad luck. Seals are called Coneelys, and on\nthis account it was said that many branches of the family changed\ntheir name to Conolly.[153] The story was so thoroughly believed that\nit was said that people who knew of it would \"no more kill a seal, or\neat of a slaughtered one than they would of a human Coneely.\"\n\nIn the Faroe Isles the seals are said to appear once a year in human\nform, and in 1872 a writer to the journal of the Anthropological\nInstitute tells the story of an Irish girl who was transformed into a\nseal.\n\n\"The seals which abound on the rocky parts of the shore,\" he explains,\n\"are regarded with profound veneration, and on no account could a\nnative be induced to kill one, as they are said to be the souls of\ntheir departed friends. In the hut of the king is the skin of a large\nwhite seal, which I ascertained was piously treasured on account of\nhaving formerly been occupied by the soul of a maiden. The following\nis the legend related to me:--\n\n\"'Many years ago a beautiful young girl lived upon the island and was\nthe betrothed of a \"dacent boy\" by the name of Rooney. One day Rooney\nand his bride-elect were fishing out in a coracle, when a storm arose\nand the frail craft capsized. The terrified lover endeavoured in vain\nto save his sweetheart. Before sinking for the last time she said\nfarewell to him, and said she would become a white seal and would sing\nto him. The broken-hearted Rooney swam ashore, but his reason had\nfled. He daily made a pilgrimage round the island in the hope of\nmeeting his departed in the shape of a white seal; but his journeys\nwere always fruitless.\n\n\"'At length one stormy winter night, Rooney started from his couch\nsaying, \"Hark, I hear her singing. She calls me now,\" and before\nanyone could stop him, he had bounded off and was lost in the\ndarkness. His friends were about to follow when they were deterred by\na plaintive voice, chanting a melancholy lay, but when daylight broke\nit ceased. Then a search was made and down on the seashore they found\nthe dead body of Rooney with a dead white seal clasped to his\nbreast.'\" The souls of the lovers had fled to an enchanted island.\n\nSiward in the legend was the son of a bear and had bear's ears.\nBrochmail was a tusked king of Powis. A tusked or pig-headed birth is\nsaid to appear periodically in the Powis family, and there was a story\nof one member who was so repulsive to the sight that he was kept shut\nup in the oubliette of Powis Castle.\n\nIn Llayn (Carnarvonshire) it is said that March Amheirchion, the Lord\nof Castell March, had horse's ears, as in the Irish story. These\ninstances are again related to the birth of monsters and deformities,\nlike the Concheannaich or Dogheads, an ancient race who inhabited, in\nformer days, the district now called Moygoniby in Kervy.\n\nConaire the Great, a mythical king of Ireland, was the son of a Bird\nKing and was therefore forbidden to kill any feathered creatures.\n\nIn Scotland the clan Chattan, who gave their name to Caithness, called\ntheir Chieftain Mohr an Chat, the Great Wild Cat, probably owing to\nsome physical peculiarity.\n\nCuchullaine, the \"hound of Culain,\" is a totem name. There is a story\nof a witch who offered one of the family some cooked dog-flesh to eat,\nbut he refused it as it was against the law that he should \"eat his\nnamesake's-flesh.\"\n\nHis name was originally Setanta, but his nickname was obtained in this\nway: One night when he followed Conchobar to the house of Culain, a\nsmith, the gates were locked, and a ferocious dog lay in watch. The boy\nkilled the hound, and when the smith lamented his loss, Setanta said, \"I\nwill be your _cu_ (dog) until another is grown large enough to guard\nyour house,\" whence he was called hound of Culain or Cuchullaine.\n\nAccording to one account Cuchullaine has more affinity with a bird\nthan with a dog. \"Not only does Cuchullaine bear obvious in his name\nhis origin as a cuckoo god but his birth, exploits, and death are\nthose of a cuckoo.\"[154]\n\nWhen he was going forth to his last fight he met three crones,\ndaughters of the mist, who asked him to sup with them. Bent on his\ndestruction, they were cooking a hound with poison and spells on spits\nof the rowan tree. He refused to partake of the dish because it was\nagainst the law, and they rebuked him, saying, \"It is because the food\nis only a hound and so you despise it and us.\" His chivalry thus\nappealed to, Cuchullaine helped himself to a shoulder-blade out of the\nstew, and held it in his left hand while he was eating, putting it,\nwhen finished, under his left thigh. Then his left hand and thigh\nbecame stricken and he had no strength for the fight.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[143] Quoted in Middleton, J. A., \"Another Grey Ghost Book,\" 1914, p.\n249.\n\n[144] Trevelyan, M., \"Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales,\" 1909, pp.\n294-5.\n\n[145] \"True Irish Ghost Stories.\"\n\n[146] 1914, pp. 194-5.\n\n[147] 1852, pp. 378-9.\n\n[148] \"The Unseen World,\" 1853, pp. 79-80.\n\n[149] \"The Denham Tracts,\" Ed. by James Hardy, 1895, Vol. II, pp. 193-6.\n\n[150] Dyer, T. F. Thistleton, \"Strange Pages from Family Papers,\"\n1895, pp. 168-70.\n\n[151] Ingram, J. H., \"The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great\nBritain,\" 1901, pp. 345-52.\n\n[152] \"The Denham Tracts,\" Vol. I, p. 324.\n\n[153] \"The Arch\u00e6ological Review,\" 1889, Vol. III, pp. 217, 315 ff.\n\n[154] Kay, C. de, \"Bird Gods,\" 1898, p. 92.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XXI\n\n                            ANIMAL GHOSTS\n\n\nFor a ghost to take the form of an animal is not at all unusual, and\nit has been suggested that human ghosts when they appear in the guise\nof bulls, dogs, sheep, or other animals are accounted for by being\n\"throw-backs of the spirit to a lower animal form.\"\n\nBlack dogs with glowing eyes like hot embers, phantom calves, white\nrabbits, etc., are sometimes thought in Lincolnshire to haunt the\nspots where murder or suicide has been committed. They are supposed to\nbe either spectres of the dead in brute form or demons, and in Denmark\nthere is a legend that pigs or goats, if buried alive in walls, turn\nto spectres.\n\nIn Wales the belief exists that the devil can manifest as a pig, calf,\ndog, or headless horse.\n\nA woman once passing through a village in North Pembrokeshire at night\nshouted, \"Come out, you evil one!\" and there appeared a white cat in\nanswer to her call. In the same country a certain Mr. David Walter was\npassing two large stones called locally the Devil's Nags, accompanied\nby a mastiff, when an apparition in the form of a huge dog appeared in\nhis path. He tried to set his own animal upon the other, but the\nmastiff was frightened and would not attack the phantom. Thereupon\nWalter picked up a stone and was about to throw it at the evil beast\nwhen it was suddenly illumined by a circle of fire, and he knew it to\nbe one of the \"infernal dogs of hell.\"\n\nA black calf was said to haunt a stream in the same neighbourhood and\none night two villagers caught the animal and took it home. They locked\nit up safely as they thought, but in the morning it had disappeared.\n\nThe Roaring Bull of Bagbury is a famous Shropshire ghost. Miss\nGeorgina Jackson recites the story as it was told by an old farmer\ncalled Hayward.[155]\n\nA very bad man lived at Bagbury Farm, and when he died it was said of\nhim that he had only done two good deeds in his life, one being to\ngive a waistcoat to a poor old man and the other a piece of bread and\ncheese to a poor village lad. After he was dead, his ghost refused to\nrest and haunted the farm buildings in the shape of a bull, roaring\ntill the boards, the shutters, and the tiles seemed about to fly off\nthe outhouses. It was quite impossible for anyone to live within range\nof this roaring which usually began about nine or ten o'clock at\nnight, sometimes even earlier, and at last became so troublesome that\nthe people at the farmhouse sent for twelve parsons to lay the ghost.\n\nWhen the parsons came \"they got him under,\" but could not lay him, and\nat last they drove him, still in the shape of a bull, into Hessington\nChurch. All the parsons carried candles, and one of them, who was\nblind, knowing that there was danger from a stampede, placed his\nlighted candle in his top-boot. It was a good thing that he did so,\nfor presently the animal made a great rush, and out went every candle\nexcept that belonging to the blind parson who said, as though prepared\nfor the event, \"You light your candles by mine.\" But before he was\nlaid the bull made such a \"burst\" that he cracked the wall of the\nchurch from top to bottom, as hundreds of witnesses have asserted from\nthat day to this.\n\nAt last they secured the ghost \"down into a snuffbox,\" as the custom is,\nand he begged that he might be laid under Bagbury Bridge, declaring that\nevery mare that passed over the bridge should lose her foal and every\nwoman her child. This threat made them refuse his request, and they\nlaid him in the Red Sea, where he has to remain for a thousand years.\nThe knowledge that he was so far away did not prevent the villagers\nbeing very chary of crossing Bagbury Bridge at night-time.\n\nAnother story of a man who turned into a bull after death is told of a\nsquire at Millidrope in Corve Dale. He was killed by a fall from one\nof the upper windows of the Hall, and an indelible blood-stain marks\nthe spot. Unfortunately for his peace of mind, his estate, owing to\nhis own carelessness or to the malpractices of his trustees, went to\nthe wrong heir. Unable to rest in his grave owing to this piece of\ninjustice, the squire haunted his own parish, where he was frequently\nseen in the guise of a _flayed bull_.[156]\n\nEdmund Swifte tells a story of an animal ghost in the Tower, which\nappeared while he was keeper of the Crown Jewels. The peculiar point\nabout the story is that this phantom animal was seen with fatal\nresults. One of the night sentries in the Jewel chamber was alarmed by\na figure like a huge bear issuing from beneath the door. He thrust at\nit with his bayonet, which stuck in the door. Then he fell into a fit\nand was carried senseless to the guard-room. His fellow sentry\ndeclared that the man was neither asleep nor drunk, he himself having\nseen him the moment before awake and sober. Swifte saw the man in the\nguard-house after the incident, when he lay prostrated with terror,\nand two or three days later the poor sentry was dead.[157]\n\nIn the outer Hebrides it is believed that demons take the form of\ndogs, and a story is told of a priest's dog which was lying on the\nhearth while his master was hearing confessions. Suddenly the animal\nstarted up, annoyed beyond endurance by the atmosphere of ultra-piety\nand, exclaiming, \"If you liked me before, you never will again,\" he\nvanished amidst a shower of sparks.\n\nThe Highlanders have also a legend of an ownerless black dog, which\ncaused all kinds of misadventure in the vicinity where he prowled. A\nhunter shot at the dog with a silver bit, and the aim was so\nsuccessful that nothing more was seen of the animal. Suddenly a small\nboy ran up to the hunter with a terrible story of his grandfather who\nhad died within sight of his home as though stricken by a gun-shot\nwound, and on examination it was found indeed that the silver piece\nwas imbedded in his flesh. There was no further misfortune in the\nvillage after this double event, but the tale has more of witchcraft\nabout it than ghostliness.\n\nSamuel Drew, who was apprenticed to a shoemaker, had a curious\nexperience at St. Blazey in Cornwall. It is told in his life written\nby his son.\n\n\"There were several of us boys and men, out about twelve o'clock on a\nbright moonlight night. I think we were poaching. The party were in a\nfield adjoining the road leading from my master's to St. Austell, and\nI was stationed outside the hedge to watch and give the alarm if any\nintruder should appear. While thus occupied I heard what appeared to\nbe the sound of a horse approaching from the town, and I gave a\nsignal. My companions paused and came to the hedge where I was, to see\nthe passenger. They looked through the bushes and I drew myself close\nto the hedge that I might not be observed. The sound increased, and\nthe supposed horseman seemed drawing near. The clatter of hoofs became\nmore and more distinct. We all looked to see what it was, and I was\nseized with a strange indefinable feeling of dread: when, instead of a\nhorse, there appeared coming towards us, at an easy pace, but with the\nsame sound which first caught my ear, a creature about the height of a\nlarge dog. It went close by me, and as it passed, it turned upon me\nand my companions huge fiery eyes that struck terror to all our\nhearts. The road where I stood branched off and on the left there was\na gate. Towards the gate the phantom moved, and without any apparent\nobstruction, went at its regular trot, which we heard several minutes\nafter it had disappeared. Whatever it was, it put an end to our\noccupation and we made the best of our way home.\n\n\"I have often endeavoured in later years, but without success, to\naccount for what I then heard and saw on natural principles. I am sure\nthere was no deception as to the facts. It was a night of unusual\nbrightness, occasioned by a cloudless full moon. The creature was\nunlike any animal I had then seen, but from my present recollections\nit had much the appearance of a bear, with a dark shaggy coat. Had it\nnot been for the unearthly lustre of its eyes, and its passing through\nthe gate as it did, there would be no reason to suppose it anything\nmore than an animal perhaps escaped from some menagerie. That it _did_\npass through the gate without pause or hesitation I am perfectly\nclear. Indeed we all saw it, and saw that the gate was shut, from\nwhich we were not distant more than about twenty or thirty yards. The\nbars were too close to admit the passage of an animal of half its\napparent bulk, yet this creature went through without an effort or\nvariation of its pace.\"\n\nPeele Castle in the Isle of Man is haunted by an apparition called the\nManx dog, a shaggy spaniel, which was said to walk in every part of the\nbuilding, and to lie in the guard-chamber before the fire by\ncandlelight. In days gone by the soldiers were accustomed to the\napparition, but all the same they suspected it was an evil spirit, and\nall were afraid to be left alone in its presence, and were also careful\nof the language they used lest they should receive an injury if they\nswore before it. The animal used to appear and return by a passage in\nthe church, and as this passage was also used by the soldier who had to\ndeliver the keys to the captain, and he was terrified at the thought of\nmeeting the phantom, it was arranged that he should have a companion,\nand after that they went two by two, never singly.\n\nOne night one of the soldiers who had been drinking and was in a\nbragging mood, declared that he would carry back the key alone,\nthough it was not really his turn to go. He would not listen to the\nothers, who tried to dissuade him. Blustering and swearing, he\nsnatched up the bunch of keys and marched off. Presently a great noise\nwas heard outside, but the soldiers were too frightened to go out and\nsee what was taking place. In staggered the adventurous boaster,\nstruck dumb with horror at what he had seen, nor could he by sign or\nword explain what had happened to him, but died, in terrible agony,\nhis features distorted and his limbs writhing.\n\nAfter this occurrence no one would venture through the passage, which\nwas soon bricked up, and the apparition never appeared again in the\ncastle.\n\nHergest Court, in Herefordshire, was haunted by a demon dog said to\nhave belonged to Black Vaughan. Black Vaughan was himself said to be\nthe ghost of the member of the family whose monument rests in Kingston\nChurch. So powerful was this ghost that he appeared in daylight and\nupset farmers' waggons, or rode with the old wives to Kingston Market.\nOnce he was said to have appeared in church in the form of a bull, and\nthe usual elaborate form of exorcism was required to dislodge him, in\nwhich twelve parsons with twelve candles had to remain in the church\nuntil they had \"read him down into a silver snuff-box.\" The demon dog\nalways appeared as a warning that death was nigh to one of the Vaughan\nfamily.\n\nThe Black Dog of Hergest was famous all over the country-side, and no\none ventured to enter the room he was said to haunt. At night he\nclanked a chain, but at other times he was seen wandering about\nwithout one, often near a pond on the high road to Kingston.\n\nAnother phantom dog-story comes from the parish of Dean Prior, a narrow\nwoodland valley watered by a stream. Below a beautiful cascade is a deep\nhollow called the Hound's Pool. At one time there lived near to this\nspot a skilful weaver. After his death he was seen by his family working\nas diligently as ever at his loom, and, this being regarded as uncanny,\napplication was made to the vicar of the parish as to what steps were to\nbe taken to remove the apparition. The parson called at the cottage\nwhere the weaver had lived and, hearing the noise of the shuttle in the\nupstairs room, called to the ghost of the weaver to descend.\n\n\"I will,\" replied the weaver's voice, \"as soon as I have worked out my\nshuttle.\"\n\n\"No,\" replied the vicar, \"you have worked long enough. Come down at\nonce.\"\n\nSo the phantom appeared, and the vicar, taking a handful of earth from\nthe churchyard, threw it in his face. In a moment the apparition\nturned into a black hound. \"Follow me,\" said the vicar, and the dog\nfollowed to the gate of the wood, where a mighty wind was blowing. The\nvicar picked up a nutshell with a hole in it and leading the hound to\nthe pool below the cascade, said, \"Take this, and dip out the pool\nwith it. When it is empty thou shalt rest.\"\n\nThe hound still haunts the spot, and to those who can see is ever at\nwork on the waters of the pool.[158]\n\nSimilarly Tregeagle, the famous Demon of Dosmery Pool, in Cornwall, is\ndoomed to empty the pool with a limpet shell which has a large hole in\nit.\n\nA story is told of a talking Dog which haunted Dobb Park Lodge.\n\nA treasure-seeker who went to explore the underground vaults at the\nLodge saw a great, black, rough dog as large as any two or three\nmastiffs, which said, \"No, my man, as you've come here, you must do\none of three things, or you'll never see daylight again. You must\neither drink all the liquor there is in that glass, open that chest,\nor draw that sword.\"\n\nThe chest was iron-bound and too heavy to move, the drink was scalding\nhot, and the sword glittered and flashed like lightning wielded by an\nunseen hand. Fortunately the treasure-seeker escaped after\nextraordinary experiences with his bare life, returning as\nempty-handed as he came, and since then no one has ventured into the\nruined vaults of Dobb Park Lodge, and the chest of gold is said to be\nstill there, waiting for an adventurer who can brave the terrors of\nthe \"Talking Dog\" and his surroundings.\n\nThe neighbourhood of Burnley used to be haunted by a phantom locally\ncalled \"Trash\" or \"Striker.\" These names came from the sounds made by\nthe animal which had the appearance of a large dog with broad feet,\nshaggy hair, drooping ears and \"eyes as large as saucers.\" His paws made\na splashing noise as of old shoes on a muddy road, and now and again the\nbrute emitted deep howls. His presence was considered a certain sign of\ndeath in the family of anyone who caught sight of the apparition. If\nfollowed by anyone the animal began to walk backwards, keeping his eyes\non the pursuer. At the slightest inattention on the part of his\ncompanion the phantom vanished. Sometimes he plunged into a pool of\nwater, at others he dropped at the feet of the pursuer with a curious\nsplashing sound. Some attempted to strike the animal, but there was no\nsubstance present to receive the blow, though the apparition remained in\nthe same position as before the blow was delivered.\n\nSome animal ghosts appear in different shapes at different times.\n\nThe Manor of Woodstock was haunted in 1649 by an apparition described\nby several witnesses whose narratives may be found in Dr. Plott's\n\"Natural History of Oxfordshire.\"\n\nCommissioners took up residence at the Manor House on 13 October,\n1649, but heard nothing of the ghost until three days later when\n\"there came, as they thought, _somewhat_ into the bedchamber (where\ntwo of the commissioners and their servants lay), in the shape of a\ndog, which, going under their beds, did as it were gnaw their bed\ncords, but on the morrow finding them whole and a quarter of beef,\nwhich lay on the ground, untouched they began to entertain other\nthoughts.\" On the following day, the 17th, some evil spirit hurled the\nchairs and stools up and down the Presence Chamber, \"from whence it\ncame into the two chambers where the commissioners and their servants\nlay and hoisted their beds' feet so much higher than their heads that\nthey thought they should have been turned over and over; and then let\nthem fall down with such force, that their bodies rebounded from the\nbed a good distance.\"\n\nThe next day also a mysterious visitor appeared to be present, which\nfetched the warming-pan out of the withdrawing-room and made so much\nnoise \"that they thought five bells could not have made more.\" On the\n20th and 21st of October various phenomena occurred, and then came a\nrespite until the 25th, on the night of which, amongst other curious\nsounds and sights, there was \"a very great noise as if forty pieces of\nordnance had been shot off together.\" Peace was restored until the 1st\nof November when \"something came into the withdrawing-room, treading,\nas they conceived, much like a bear, which at first only walked about\na quarter of an hour: at length it made a great noise about the table\nand threw the warming-pan so violently, that it quite spoiled it. It\nthrew also glass and great stones at them again, and the bones of\nhorses, and all so violently that the bedstead and walls were bruised\nby them.\" This night they set candles all about the rooms, and made\ngreat fires up to the mantle-trees of the chimneys, but all were put\nout, nobody knew how. Nor was this all. For in spite of the fact that\none of the commissioners had the boldness to ask in the name of God\nwhat _it_ was, what _it_ would have, and what they had done, that they\nshould be disturbed in this manner, and the questions, although\nevoking no answer, caused a temporary cessation of noise, _it_\nreturned bringing seven devils worse than _itself_. Whereupon one of\nthe watchers lighted a candle and set it between two rooms in the\ndoorway, on which another of them \"fixing his eyes saw the similitude\nof a hoof, striking the candle and candlestick into the middle of the\nbedchamber and afterwards making three scrapes on the snuff to put it\nout. Upon this the same person was so bold as to draw his sword, but\nhe had scarce got it out, when there was another invisible hand had\nhold of it too, and tugged with him for it and prevailing, struck him\nso violently with the pummel that he was stunned with the blow.\"\n\nThis was too much, and two days later the commissioners and their men\nremoved out of the house, unable to stand the strain they were\nundergoing any longer.\n\nAn apparition of a lady in the form of a colt is somewhat unusual, but\nhas been seen, if we may believe the statement of a woman called Sarah\nMason. Sarah also saw the ghost of a man who hanged himself and came\nback afterwards in the form of a large black dog.\n\nThe story of Obrick's Colt[159] concerned a lady who was buried with\nall her jewels and whose corpse was afterwards robbed by the clerk.\nShe haunted the spot, it was said, in the shape of a colt, and the\nguilty clerk, meeting the phantom animal late one night in a narrow\nlane, went down on his knees, and said earnestly, \"Abide, Satan,\nabide. I am a righteous man and a psalm-singer.\" The clerk was called\nObitch or Holbeach, from which the ghost is supposed to have taken the\nname of Obrick's Colt. An old woman in the village declared that\n\"Obitch used to say that he saw the colt as natural as any Christian,\nand he used to get up against the stile for him to get up on top of\nhis back, and at last the colt grew so bold that folks saw him in the\ndaytime.\" Holbeach, if that was his real name, never again knew peace\nof mind on this earth.\n\nOn the 21st of January, 1879, a labourer had taken some luggage from\none Shropshire village to another, and on the return journey, his\nhorse being tired, he reached a canal bridge some way from home about\nten o'clock at night. To his horror a huge black creature with\ngleaming white eyes jumped out of the hedge and settled on the horse's\nback. He beat at the phantom with his whip, which, to his\nastonishment, instead of meeting with resistance went through the\napparition. The terrified horse broke into a canter and tore home with\nthe strange creature clinging to his back.\n\nThe adventure was much discussed in the neighbouring villages, and\nsome days later the labourer's master was called upon by a policeman\nwho had somehow got knowledge of an account that he had been robbed\nwhen crossing the canal bridge in question late one evening. The\npoliceman was told there had been no robbery, and a version of the\ntale as it had happened was given him.\n\n\"Was that all?\" he cried in disappointed tones. \"I know what that was.\nIt was the man-monkey, sir, as _does_ come at that bridge ever since a\nman was drowned in the canal at that spot.\"[160]\n\nThe following story was told to B\u00e9renger-Feraud[161] and happened at a\ncountry house on the plateau of the Garde near to Toulon. One evening\na woman was sitting by the side of her father who had been lying\ndangerously ill in bed for some days with a disease which the doctors\ncould not identify. The neighbours came in to offer their services, to\nkeep watch over the sick man so that his daughter, who had spent\nseveral nights without any sleep, could go and lie down to rest. She\nthanked them but refused to do so.\n\nNevertheless they insisted on remaining, and as it was cold she\ninvited them to sit round the fire in the kitchen to warm themselves.\nAs her father seemed to be asleep for a little while she went into the\nkitchen to speak to her visitors.\n\nOf a sudden they heard the sick man give a terrible cry of pain and\nfright. They all hurried into his room to see what was the matter, and\nthere, just above the old man's bed, was a huge stinging-fly which\nhovered round and round him, buzzing in a horrible manner.\n\nThey tried to catch the dangerous insect, but this was not an easy\nmatter, for it buzzed so loudly that it positively menaced those who\ncame near it. From time to time it hurled itself at the limbs of the\nsick man, and every time it touched him he gave vent to a shriek of\npain. Those who were near him could see large black blisters rising at\nthe spots where the stinging-fly attacked him.\n\nAt last one of the men who had more courage than the others beat down\nthe gigantic insect with his hat. They picked up its body with a pair\nof tongs and threw it out of the house, shutting the door tightly so\nthat it could not return to its attack.\n\nThe deed accomplished, they looked at one another terrified at what\nhad taken place, and to their horror they could plainly hear the buzz\nof the insect outside. The noise was so loud that the windows\npositively rattled. Then a howl arose outside, a cry so strange that\nno one present had ever heard the like, and after that all was silent.\n\nThey went back to the bedside of the sick man, who had suffered\nseverely, and who told them that he had been suddenly awakened by this\nhorrible stinging-fly, which had hummed in his ears and struck at his\nbody, in such a terrifying manner that he felt sure it must be an evil\nspirit.\n\nNow that the insect had been captured and put out of the house he felt\nbetter, but none of the visitors dared to leave the cottage, feeling\nsure that a sorcerer was mixed up in the affair. They passed the night\nsitting round the fire, carefully avoiding all mention of the matter,\nas they were afraid that the noise of buzzing and humming would begin\nafresh.\n\nThe next morning at sunrise, they decided to open the door, and then\nthey saw the huge insect lying on the ground just outside. But the\nmysterious part of it was that those who were courageous enough to\nlook at it closely, stated that it was not the real insect that was\nlying there but merely its outer shell or covering, just like the skin\nsloughed by a grasshopper and left behind when it changes its shape.\n\nThis then was taken to be proof positive that the stinging-fly was not\nwhat it had pretended to be, but was a wizard in disguise, which had\nintended to do harm to the old invalid, and the horrible cry which had\nbeen heard when the insect had been thrown out of doors was only the\nhowl of rage uttered by the wizard at the failure of his wicked designs.\n\nA woman at Toulon told the following story in 1888, saying it had\nhappened in her presence when she was a little girl. Her father, whose\nname was Isidore, was an omnibus driver and for many years had lived\nwith his own sister in peace and friendliness. One day, however, they\nfell into an argument and had such a violent quarrel that they decided\nthat they could no longer live together. Isidore, however, felt\ngrieved to think that matters had come to such a pass between himself\nand the sister he had always loved, and he told a friend about the\naffair. The friend answered, \"You have quarrelled with your sister,\nbecause one of your neighbours, who is a sorcerer, has cast a spell\nover you. To end the enchantment you must give your horses a jolly\ngood hiding to-morrow morning, and then you will see the result. The\nperson who has bewitched you will be taken ill and will bear about his\nor her body the traces of the blows you give to your horses.\" Next day\nIsidore whipped up his horses, as he had been told to do, and he went\non slashing them all day long. In the evening he went to bed feeling\nas though he had done a praiseworthy deed. The next day his sister\ncame to see him and spoke to him quite affectionately, and they\ndecided to bury the hatchet just as though no quarrel had taken place.\nThen Isidore, to his surprise, heard that a neighbour, of whom he had\nbeen very fond until then, and whom he had not in the least suspected\nof witchcraft, had been taken ill. He hastened to visit her, and found\nshe was in bed, and that she showed traces of having been beaten. As\nsoon as he entered the room to condole with her she said to him\nbitterly, \"Why on earth did you strike your horses so violently? What\nharm had the poor beasts done to you?\"\n\nThis was taken as proof that the neighbour was a witch, and that the\nweals on her body were the stigmata of the blows which Isidore had\ngiven his horses, and he was convinced that this woman had tried to\nseparate him from his sister through sheer jealousy.\n\nThe well-known ghost of Tedworth, Wiltshire, called the \"Drummer of\nTedworth,\" sometimes took the form of an animal, or at least was heard\nmaking animal sounds. The following description is taken from Joseph\nGlanvill's \"Sadducismus Triumphatus.\"\n\nOn one occasion the village blacksmith stayed in the house sleeping\nwith the footman, hoping he might hear the supernatural noises and be\ncured of his incredulity when \"there came a noise in the room as if\none had been shoeing a horse, and somewhat came, as it were, with a\npair of pincers,\" snipping away at the sceptical smith. Next day the\nghost came panting like a dog out of breath, and a woman who was\npresent, taking up a stick to strike at it, the weapon \"was caught\nsuddenly out of her hand and thrown away: and company coming up, the\nroom was presently filled with a bloody noisome smell,\" and was very\nhot, though there was no fire, and the winter was severe. \"It\ncontinued scratching for an hour and a half and then went into the\nnext room, when it knocked a little and seemed to rattle a chain.\"\n\nSometimes the phantom purred like a cat and it was described by a\nservant as \"a great body with two red and glaring eyes.\"\n\nThe Rev. Joseph Glanvill himself went to the haunted house in January,\n1662, and was convinced that the noises were made by a demon or\nspirit. He heard a strange scratching, as he went upstairs, which\nappeared to come from behind the bolster of the children's bed. It\nwas loud scratching, and when he thrust his hand behind the bolster at\nthe point from which the noise seemed to come it ceased but began in\nanother place. When he removed his hand, however, it began again in\nthe same place as before. \"I had been told that it would imitate\nnoises,\" says Glanvill, \"and made trial by scratching several times\nupon the sheet, as five, and seven and ten, which it followed, and\nstill stopped at my number. I searched under and behind the bed,\nturned up the clothes to the bed cords, grasped the bolster, sounded\nthe wall behind, and made all the search I possibly could.\" But all\nhis endeavours were fruitless; he could discover nothing. There was\nneither cat nor dog in the room. After scratching for more than half\nan hour, the phantom went into the midst of the bed, under the\nchildren, \"and then seemed to pant very loudly, like a dog out of\nbreath. I put my hand upon the place and felt the bed bearing up\nagainst it, as if something within had thrust it up.\" The motion it\ncaused by this panting was so strong that it shook the walls and made\nthe windows rattle; yet this strange animal ghost was never explained.\n\nAt Epworth parsonage, Lincolnshire, when the Rev. Samuel Wesley, father\nof John Wesley, was rector, there is a well-known story of the haunting\nof the parsonage. Robert Brown the servant heard, among other phenomena,\n\"as it were the gobbling of a turkey-cock close to the bedside.\"\n\nThe dog, a large mastiff, showed enormous fear of the strange\nincidents and apparitions. \"When the disturbances continued he used to\nbark and leap and snap on one side and the other, and that frequently\nbefore any person in the room heard any noise at all. But after two or\nthree days he used to tremble and creep away before the noise began.\nAnd by that the family knew it was at hand.\"\n\nEwshott House, in Crondall, Hampshire, was haunted by a ghost that\nmade a noise exactly as though a flock of sheep from the paddock had\nrushed by the windows on the gravel drive. In the morning, however,\nthere were no signs of sheep having passed that way.\n\nWillington Mill was haunted by several spectres in the shape of\nanimals. The mill stood on a tidal stream which ran into the Tyne near\nto Wallsend. The account of strange happenings there was published by\nthe \"Newcastle Weekly Leader\" many years ago. One of the servants once\nsaw a lady in a lavender-coloured dress pass the kitchen door, go\nupstairs, and vanish into one of the bedrooms, but little notice was\ntaken of this apparition; indeed it was almost forgotten when\nsomething else happened which drew attention to it. A certain Thomas\nDavidson was courting this servant and was waiting for her to come out\nof the mill and join him in a moonlight ramble, when, looking towards\nthe building, he distinctly saw a whitish cat run out and presently it\ncame close to his feet.\n\nThinking the strange puss was very forward, he gave her a kick, but\nencountered no solid matter and puss continued her walk, disappearing\nfrom his sight a moment later. Returning to the window, and looking in\nthe same direction, Davidson again saw the animal. This time it came\nhopping like a rabbit, coming quite as close to his feet as before. He\ndetermined to have a good rap at it, and took deliberate aim: but, as\nbefore, his foot went through it and he felt nothing. Again he followed\nit, and it disappeared at the same spot as its predecessor. The third\ntime he went to the window and in a few moments it made another\nappearance, not like a cat or rabbit now but as large as a sheep and\nbrightly luminous. On it came and Davidson stood rooted to the spot as\nthough paralysed, but the animal moved on and vanished as before.\n\nMr. Proctor, who lived at the mill, on hearing Davidson's account,\nsaid that he had seen the animal on various occasions.\n\nAfter this experience ghosts were frequently seen and heard of at the\nmill. The noises were dreadful, sometimes sounding like a galloping\ndonkey, at others like falling fire-irons. Doors creaked and sticks\ncrackled as though burning, and the rapping became almost incessant.\nSometimes the lavender-gowned lady appeared, and at another time\nseveral of the inmates of the mill saw a bald-headed old man in a\nflowing robe like a surplice. Spectral animals always formed an\nimportant feature of the haunting.\n\nIn November, 1841, a gentleman paid a visit to the place and was\nconfronted by the figure of an animal about two feet high, which\nappeared in a window. After careful search nothing was found, though the\nanimal was seen in the window by others from the grounds for half an\nhour, after which it slowly faded away. A two-year-old child saw a ghost\nkitten, while Davidson's aunt thought the spectre looked like a white\npocket handkerchief, knotted at four corners, which danced up and down,\nleaping as high as the first floor window. This lady was one day\nstanding by the kitchen table when she was startled by the bark of a\ndog, and two paws were laid heavily on her shoulders, so that she had to\nlean against the table for support. No dog, however, was found in the\nhouse. On several occasions the children, though nothing had been said\nto them about ghosts, found amusement in chasing up and down the stairs\nsome animal they described either as a \"funny cat or a bonny monkey.\"\n\nIn 1853, an attempt was made to discover the secret of the mystery of\nthe mill by a clairvoyante, who in her trance distinctly saw, the\n\"lady like a shadow, with eyes but no sight in them,\" as she described\nher, as well as a number of animals. When questioned about these, she\nanswered, \"One is like a monkey and another like a dog. Had the lady\ndogs and monkeys? They all go about the house. What is that other one?\nIt is not a pussy, it runs very fast and gets amongst feet. It is a\nrabbit but a very quick one.\" When asked whether the animals were\nreal, the medium replied in her quaint way, \"We don't touch them to\nsee, we would not like a bite.\"\n\nBeyond this there appears to have been no solution as to the mystery\nof the haunted mill, although the medium declared that the trouble\n\"came from the cellar.\"[162]\n\nA writer in \"Notes and Queries,\"[163] H. Wedgewood by name, visited\nMr. Proctor in 1873-4 to ask him the truth about the Willington Mill\nghost, and he told her that he had seen a tabby cat in the furnace\nroom. There was nothing unusual in the animal's appearance, and it\nwould not have caught his attention particularly had it not begun to\nmove. But then instead of walking like an ordinary cat it wriggled\nalong like a snake. He went close to it and followed it across the\nroom, holding his hand about a foot above it, until it passed straight\ninto the solid wall.\n\nThe well-known Cornish tradition says that if a young woman dies\nneglected after being betrayed by her lover, she haunts him after her\ndeath in the form of a white hare. The false lover is continuously\npursued by the phantom. At times it may rescue him from danger, but in\nthe end it is the cause of his death.\n\nThe following story of a phantom hare pursuing a false lover to his\ndeath is told by Robert Hunt in \"Popular Romances of the West of\nEngland.\"[164]\n\nA young farmer settled at a fine new farmhouse and a peasant's daughter\nwas placed there in charge of the dairy. The young farmer fell deeply in\nlove with her and she with him, and he betrayed her under a promise of\nmarriage, but his family refused to agree to the alliance taking place,\nand provided a bride for him suitable to his station. The dairymaid was\nsent away ignominiously when it was known she was about to become a\nmother. One morning the corpse of a newly-born infant was found in the\nfarmer's field and the dairymaid was accused of strangling her child,\nand was finally convicted of murder and executed.\n\nBut ever after that day ill-fortune pursued the young farmer who had\nbehaved in such a cowardly way, and though he removed to another part of\nthe country, none of his projects prospered. Gradually he took to drink\nto drown his secret sorrows. He generally went out at dusk and it was\nnoticed that a white hare constantly crossed his path. The animal was\nseen by many of the villagers to dart under the hoofs of his horse, and\nthe terrified steed rushed madly forward whenever this phantom appeared.\n\nA day came when the young farmer was found drowned in a pool at the\nbottom of a forsaken mine, and the frightened horse was still grazing\nnear the mouth of the pit into which his master had fallen.\n\nThe woman he had betrayed and left to die a shameful death, having\nassumed the shape of a white hare, had haunted the perjured and\nfalse-hearted farmer to his death.\n\nIt is said that fatal accidents in mines are often foreshadowed by the\nappearance of a white hare or rabbit. At Wheal Vor, writes Mr. Hunt,\nin \"Popular Romances of the West of England,\" it has always been and\nis now believed that a white rabbit appears in one of the engine\nhouses when an accident may be looked for in the mine. The men say\nthat they have chased the phantom animals without being able to catch\nthem, and on one occasion the rabbit ran into a \"windbore\" which lay\non the ground and escaped. Similarly in a French mine one of the\nminers saw a white object run into an iron pipe and hide there. He\nhastened forward and stopped up both ends of the tube, calling to a\ncompanion to examine the pipe. But the animal ghost had disappeared\nand nothing remained to explain what had taken place.\n\nThe devil appeared in the form of a hare at the hanging of two men on\nWarminster Down in 1813, it was said. At Longbridge the devil appeared\nin the form of a dog one Palm Sunday, according to the account of a\nlabourer, who when questioned as to how this was proved, exclaimed,\n\"_Sum'at_ was there anyhow, and we all fled!\"\n\nA farmer in South Wilts who died about 1860, threatened to revisit his\nfarm on a lonely moor and run about in the shape of a rat. The story\ndoes not say what he expected to gain by choosing this particular\nanimal for transformation purposes.\n\nSuperstition gives to white birds a particular power of conveying omens.\n\nA small white bird plays a part in warning an old harper in Wales of the\ndestruction of a prince's palace, whither the bard had been invited to\nperform at festivities held on the occasion of the birth of an heir.\n\nTradition relates that Bala Lake was formed as a means of submerging a\npalace where lived a cruel and wicked prince, who practised oppression\nand injustice upon poor farmers of the district. The tyrant often heard\na ghostly voice urging him to desist from his evil ways and saying,\n\"Vengeance will come,\" but he treated the warning with contempt.\n\nOn the occasion of his son's birth, there was great rejoicing at the\npalace, and the poor harper was called in to play to the guests. Mirth,\nwine, feasting, and dancing continued till a late hour, and during the\ninterval in which the harper was allowed to rest, he retired into a\nquiet corner, where, to his astonishment, he heard a whisper in his ear,\n\"Vengeance, vengeance!\" Turning to discover whence the sound came, he\nobserved a tiny white bird hovering about him, urging him, as it were,\nto follow. He fell in with the creature's wishes without stopping to\nfetch his harp, and the bird led him beyond the palace walls, still\nsinging in a plaintive note the word \"Vengeance, vengeance!\" Over\nmarshland, through thickets, across streams and up ravines this strange\npair wandered, the bird seemingly choosing the safest path for her\ncompanion, and growing ever more insistent in her cries of \"Vengeance,\nvengeance!\" At last they came to the summit of a hill some distance from\nthe palace. Utterly weary the harper ventured to stop and rest, and the\nbird's voice was heard no more, but as he listened he could distinguish\nthe loud murmur of a brook.\n\nSuddenly he awoke to the fact that he had allowed himself to be led\naway foolishly, and he attempted to retrace his steps. In the dark,\nhowever, he missed his way and was forced to await daylight. Then to\nhis surprise he turned his eyes upon the valley in which the palace\nhad stood and discovered that it was no longer to be seen, for the\nwaters had flooded the face of the land, and on the placid lake that\nlay in the valley his harp was floating.\n\nAnother story of birds that foreshadowed a calamity is told about\nYorkshire. A writer in \"Notes and Queries\"[165] passed through the\ndistrict of Kettering on September 6, and noticed an immense flock of\nbirds which flew round and round, uttering dismal cries. He spoke of\nthe matter to his servant, who told him the birds were called the\n\"Seven Whistlers,\" and that whenever they were heard a great calamity\nmight be expected. The last time he had heard them was the night\nbefore the great Hartley Colliery explosion. Curiously enough the\nwriter, on taking up the newspaper the following morning, saw an\nannouncement of a terrible colliery explosion at Wigan.\n\nOn the Bosphorus the boatmen say, with reference to certain flocks of\nbirds which fly ceaselessly up and down the channel, never resting on\nland or water, that they are the souls of the damned, doomed to\nperpetual motion.\n\nA strange bird-ghost is connected with the lake and house of Glasfryn.\nOn a certain evening, Grassi, which is the phantom's name, forgot to\nclose the well and the waters overflowed and formed a lake. There she\nwanders at night bemoaning her carelessness. She also visits the house\nas a tall lady with well-marked features, large, bright eyes and\ndressed all in white. Another version of the story is that when the\nwater overflowed and the lake was formed, the fairies seized Grassi\nand changed her into a swan and she continued to live by the waters\nfor more than a century and died still lamenting her lot. Another\nversion runs that the lady was changed into a swan as a punishment for\nhaunting the house.\n\nHolt Castle, in Worcestershire, is said to have been haunted by a\nmysterious lady in black who walked through a passage which led to the\nattics, while the cellar was in the possession of a phantom bird, not\nunlike a raven, which occasionally pounced upon the servants who went\nto draw beer or cider from the casks there. By flapping his wings, the\nunholy bird extinguished the candle of the adventuresome human being\nwho invaded his domain, and then vanished, leaving his victim\nprostrated with fear.\n\nYork Castle was the scene in which an extraordinary ghost took animal\nshape. The story is told in the Memoirs of Sir John Reresby.\n\n\"One of my soldiers being on guard about eleven in the night at the\ngate of Clifford Tower, the very night after a witch had been\narraigned, he heard a great noise in the castle; and going to the\nporch there saw a scroll of paper creep from under the floor, which,\nas he imagined by moonshine, turned first into the shape of a monkey,\nand thence assumed the form of a turkeycock, which passed to and fro\nby him. Surprised at this, he went to the prison and called the\nunder-keeper, who came and saw the 'scroll' dance up and down, and\ncreep under the door, where there was scarce an opening of the\nthickness of half a crown. This extraordinary story I had from the\nmouth of both one and the other.\"\n\nAmong the curiously shaped phantoms are those which have an important\npart of their anatomy lacking, and most common of all are the ghosts,\nhuman and animal, that are seen without a head. Indeed the belief in\nheadless spectres, both of equine and canine beings, is remarkably\nwidespread throughout England.\n\nThe Rev. Richard Dodge, a Cornish clergyman, who lived near Looe, was\nan exorcist, and was said to be able \"to drive along evil spirits of\nvarious shapes, pursuing them with his whip.\" One day his services\nwere commanded by a Mr. Mills, Rector of Lanreath, who said that\nlabourers had been startled by an apparition of a man in black garb\ndriving a carriage drawn by headless horses. Mr. Dodge met Mr. Mills,\nbut as they saw no apparition, they parted to return to their\nrespective homes. Mr. Dodge's horse grew restive and refused to\nproceed, so he, thinking something uncanny was about to take place,\nallowed the animal to return to the spot where he had parted from Mr.\nMills, whom, to his distress, he found lying prostrate on the ground\nwith the spectre and his black coach and headless horses beside him.\n\nJumping down to assist his friend, Dodge uttered a prayer, and the\nspectre screaming, \"Dodge is come, I must be gone,\" whipped up the\nghost horses and vanished into the night.\n\nSpectre horsemen are common and one is said to haunt Wyecoller Hall.\nThe ghost is dressed in the costume of the Stuart period, and the\ntrappings of the horse are of uncouth description. On windy nights the\nhorseman is heard dashing up to the Hall. The rider dismounts, makes\nhis way up the stairs into a room on the first landing, whence\npresently screams and groans issue. Suddenly the horseman reappears\nand gallops off, the horse appearing wild with rage, its nostrils\nstreaming fire. The tradition is that one of the Cunliffes of\nBillington, for long the owners of Wyecoller Hall, near Colne,\nmurdered his wife and reappears every year as a spectre horseman in\nthe home of his victim. She is said to have predicted the extinction\nof the family, a prediction long since fulfilled.\n\nThe midnight hunter and his headless hounds are often to be seen in\nCornwall, and the Abbot's Way, on Dartmoor, is said to be a favourite\nspot for their visitations. Sir Francis Drake was supposed to drive a\nhearse into Plymouth by night, followed by a pack of headless, but\nnevertheless howling, hounds. On Cheney Downs in the parish of St.\nTeath, ghostly hounds said to have belonged to an old squire called\nCheney, were often seen and heard, especially in rough weather.\n\nHerne, the ghostly hunter of Windsor Forest, has his counterpart in\nthe _Grand Veneur_ of Fontainebleau. While hunting in his favourite\nforest, Henry II of France was suddenly startled by the sound of\nhorns, and the cries of huntsmen and the barking of dogs. At first\nthey sounded far away, but soon they came close by. Some of the\ncompany in advance of the king \"saw a great black man among the\nbushes,\" crying in sepulchral tones, \"M'attendez-vous?\" or\n\"M'entendez-vous?\" or \"Amendez-vous.\" The king, startled, inquired of\nthe foresters and peasants what they knew of the apparition. He was\ninformed that they had frequently seen the rider, accompanied by a\npack of hounds, which hunted at full cry, but never did any harm.\n\nDan gives Pierre Matthieu's version of the story and adds, \"I know\nwhat several authors narrate concerning the hunt of Saint Hubert,\nwhich they declare is heard in various parts of the forest. Nor do I\nignore what they say of the spectre called the 'Whipper,' which was\nsupposed to appear in the time of Charles IX in the forest of Lyons,\nand which left the mark of the lash on several people. Nor do I doubt\nthat demons may wander in the forest as well as in the air. But I know\nwell as regards the 'Grand Veneur' nothing is certain, least of all\nthe circumstances in which, according to the reports of the authors,\nthis phantom appears, and the words of which he makes use.\"[166]\n\nThe spectre huntsman chasing the wild doe and the headless hounds in\nfull cry are amongst the many prominent demon superstitions still extant\nand the chief legends concerning them, with their variants, are\nmentioned by Charles Hardwick in \"Traditions, Superstitions, and\nFolk-lore.\"[167] The appearance of these and other animal spectres,\nhowever, has never been satisfactorily explained, and the question that\nnaturally occurs to the student after reading such stories is whether\nanimals are able to send forth astral or phantasmal doubles in a manner\nsimilar to that in which it is believed human beings can project them.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[155] \"Shropshire Folk-lore,\" pp. 108-9.\n\n[156] \"Shropshire Folk-lore,\" p. 642.\n\n[157] \"Notes and Queries,\" 2nd Series, Vol. X., pp. 192-3.\n\n[158] \"Notes and Queries,\" December 28, 1850, p. 515.\n\n[159] Jackson, G. E., \"Shropshire Folk-lore,\" pp. 108-10.\n\n[160] \"Shropshire Folk-lore,\" pp. 106-7.\n\n[161] \"Superstitions et Survivances,\" 1896, Vol. V, pp. 19-20.\n\n[162] \"Real Ghost Stories,\" pp. 261-75.\n\n[163] Sixth Series, Vol. VII, January 6, 1883, pp. 12-13.\n\n[164] 1881, pp. 377-8.\n\n[165] October 21, 1871.\n\n[166] Dan, \"Le Tresor des Merveilles de Fontainebleau.\"\n\n[167] 1872, pp. 153 _et seq._\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XXII\n\n                        THE PHANTASMAL DOUBLE\n\n\nAccording to Adolphe d'Assier, member of the Bordeaux Academy of\nSciences, there is no doubt that the existence of the personality in\nanimals as a separate appearance is established, and as it is a\nreplica of the external form of the animal, he regards it as a living\nand phantasmal image.[168] He cites the following stories in support\nof his theory.\n\n\"Towards the end of 1869, finding myself at Bordeaux, I met one\nevening a friend who was going to a magnetic _s\u00e9ance_, and asked me to\naccompany him. I accepted his invitation, desiring to see magnetism at\nclose quarters. The _s\u00e9ance_ presented nothing remarkable. I was,\nhowever, struck with one unexpected circumstance. Towards the middle\nof the evening one of the persons present, having noticed a spider on\nthe floor, crushed it with his foot.\n\n\"'Ah!' cried the medium at the same moment, 'I see the spirit of the\nspider escaping.'\n\n\"In the language of mediums, as we know, the word _spirit_ designates\nthat which I have called the posthumous phantom.\n\n\"'What is the form of the spirit?' asked the hypnotiser.\n\n\"'It has the form of a spider,' answered the medium.'\"\n\nThis little incident, which recalls the ghost of a flea pictured by\nWilliam Blake, the artist, and Dr. Reichenbach's dying mouse, led\nd'Assier to study the question of the duplication of personality\namong domestic animals. After some investigation he was sure that the\nmedium's vision of a spirit spider was the reality, and he quotes\nother examples of phantasmal doubles.\n\nOn April 18th, 1705, M. Milanges de la Richardi\u00e8re, son of an advocate\nto the Parliament of Paris, when riding through Noisy-le-Grand, was\nsurprised when his horse came to a dead stop in the middle of the\nroad. At the same moment he saw a shepherd, of sinister countenance,\ncarrying a crook, and accompanied by two black dogs with short ears.\nThe man said, \"Go home, sir. Your horse will not go forward.\"\n\nAt first the rider laughed, and then finding he could not make his\nhorse advance an inch, he was forced to return, against his will. Some\ndays later he was taken ill, and doctors were called in, who finding\nthat his complaint did not yield to ordinary remedies, began to talk\nof sorcery. Young Milanges then confessed to his meeting with the\nstrange shepherd and his dogs, and a few days later, to his surprise,\nwhen entering his own room, he saw the shepherd sitting in an\narm-chair, dressed as he had seen him before, holding the crook still\nin his hand, and with the two black dogs by his side. In his terror\nthe young man called for his servants, but they could not see the\nphantom man and animals.\n\nAt about ten o'clock the same night, however, the ghostly shepherd\nflung himself at the young man, who drew a knife from his pocket and\nmade five or six cuts at his adversary's face.\n\nA few days later the shepherd came to the house and confessed that he\nwas a sorcerer and had persecuted M. Milanges. He had transported his\ndouble into the young man's chamber, as well as the phantasmal doubles\nof his black dogs.\n\nThe existence of the living phantom, thus being proved to M.\nd'Assier's satisfaction, he conceives that a posthumous phantom is\nmerely the continuation, as it were, of the living double. A story of\nsuch an animal apparition was given to him by an educated and\nreliable farmer at St. Croix, Ari\u00e8ge.\n\n\"One of my comrades,\" said the farmer, \"was returning home at a late\nhour of the night. At some distance from his house, which was situated\non a lonely farm, he saw an ass browsing in an oat-field by the side\nof the road. Moved by a feeling of neighbourly interest, natural among\nfarmers, he intended to take the unprofitable guest out of the field,\nand advanced to seize the ass and lead it to his own stable so that\nits owner might claim it. The animal allowed him to approach without\ndifficulty and to lead it away without resistance. But at the very\ndoor of his stable the ass suddenly disappeared out of his grasp, like\na shadow vanishing. In a fright at this uncanny incident, the farmer\nwoke up his brother to tell him what had occurred, and in the morning\nthey went to the oat-field, anxious to see whether much havoc had been\ndone to the crops, but could find no trace of the oats having been\ntouched or trampled upon.\"\n\nThe night was clear and there was no cloud in the sky. The young man,\nwhen closely questioned, asserted again and again that he had distinctly\nseen the ass vanish before his eyes at the door of the stable.\n\nD'Assier's explanation is that the animal's spectre, originating on\nthe same principle as the human spectre, exhibits posthumous\nmanifestations analogous to those observed in the latter cases. The\nass of St. Croix was met with at night because, like the posthumous\nphantom of a human being, he shuns daylight. \"He is in an oat-field,\npasturing according to the instinctive habit of his race, but in\nreality browses (as one would naturally infer) but the phantom of\ngrass or grain. He follows his leader whilst they are upon the road,\nbut refuses to enter the stable, which is for him a prison, and\nvanishes in order to escape it. Here we have the essential features of\nposthumous manifestations: and if the young man had inquired among his\nneighbours, he would have learned, in all probability, that some time\npreviously a beast of burden had died and been buried on a\nneighbouring farm.\"[169]\n\nA similar story was told by a Customs officer, and is equally authentic.\n\n\"One evening when I happened to be on guard, with one of my comrades,\"\nsaid the officer, \"we perceived not far from the village where I lived,\na mule which grazed before us and seemed as though laden. Supposing that\nhe was carrying contraband goods, and that his master had fled on seeing\nus, we ran after the animal. The mule dashed into a meadow and after\nhaving made different bolts to escape us, he entered the village, and\nhere we separated. Whilst my companion continued to follow him, I took a\ncross road so as to head him off. Seeing himself closely pressed, the\nanimal quickened his pace, and several of the inhabitants were awakened\nby the noise of his hoofs clattering on the pavement. I got in front of\nhim to the crossing, at the end of the street, through which he was\nfleeing, and at the moment when, seeing him close to me, I put out my\nhand to seize his halter, he disappeared like a shade, and I saw nothing\nbut my comrade, who was as amazed as myself.\"\n\n\"Are you quite sure that he hadn't turned aside into another road?\"\nasked d'Assier of the Customs officer who told him the story.\n\n\"That would have been quite impossible: the place where we were had no\noutlet, and the only way he could get away was by passing over my\nbody: and, besides, the night was clear enough for us to see all his\nmovements. Next morning the inhabitants of the village were\ncross-questioning each other about the racket they had heard in the\nnight.\"\n\n\"Like the ass of St. Croix,\" continues d'Assier, \"and like all\nposthumous phantoms, our mule shows himself at night. He is met in a\npasture all absorbed in his favourite occupation, that is to say,\nbrowsing imaginary grass. As soon as he finds himself tracked by the\nCustoms officers he takes flight, as though he were really carrying\ncontraband goods in his panniers, and he vanishes when he sees himself\nabout to be captured--all things which characterise the\npost-sepulchral Spectre.\"\n\n\"In certain cases, not yet well defined,\" adds the same author,[170]\n\"our internal personality may, by reason of its fluidic nature, take on\nanimal forms. Hence, when one is in the presence of the spectre of an\nanimal, there is some reason to apprehend that this may be a\nlycanthropic manifestation of the human phantom, unless certain\nparticularities identify its true origin. But I have said enough,\" he\nconcludes, \"to establish the existence of the fluid form-personality in\nanimals and to demonstrate that the post-sepulchral humanity is but one\nparticular case of a more general law--that of posthumous animality.\"\n\nAnother story of animal transformation is regarded by d'Assier as\nbeing a case of lycanthropia.\n\nTwo brothers occupied a house at St. Lizier, one of whom tells the\nstory as follows:--\n\n\"I lived at that time in one of those little houses that you can see\nat the upper end of the town. I was about twelve years old and my\nbrother was about seventeen. We slept together in a room to which we\nascended by a small staircase. One evening we had just gone to bed\nwhen we heard someone ascending the steps. Then an animal about the\nsize of a calf appeared. As the window had no blinds and the night was\nclear, it was easy for us to make out the animal's shape. Frightened\nat the sight of it, I clung to my brother, who at the first moment\nseemed as frightened as myself. But, recovering from his terror, he\nleaped out of bed, ran and caught up a pitchfork which was in the\ncorner of the room, and, placing himself before the animal, said to it\nin a firm and resolute voice:\n\n\"'If thou comest by permission of God, speak: if from the devil, thou\nwilt have to deal with me.'\n\n\"Thus encountered, the animal wheeled swiftly round, and in turning it\nstruck the framework of my bed with its tail. I then heard it descend\nthe staircase precipitately, but as soon as it arrived at the bottom\nit disappeared and my brother, who was close behind it, was unable to\nsee where it went. It is unnecessary to add that the door of the house\nwas fast shut. As soon as I heard it descend the stairs I took courage\nand as the window of our room was over the street door I opened it to\nwatch the strange visitor go out, but I saw nothing. My brother and I\nthought we had seen a wer-wolf and we accused an inhabitant of the\nvicinity, to whom were charged other adventures of this kind.\"\n\nA more explicit case of lycanthropy occurred at Serisols, in the\nCanton of St. Croix, about sixty years ago.\n\nA miller called Bigot had a reputation for sorcery. One day when his\nwife rose very early to go and wash some linen not very far from the\nhouse, he tried to dissuade her, repeating to her several times, \"Do\nnot go there: you will be frightened.\"\n\n\"Why should I be frightened?\" she asked.\n\n\"I tell you you will be frightened,\" repeated her husband.\n\nShe did not take his threats seriously and went out in spite of them.\n\nHardly had she taken her place at the washing-tub, however, before she\nsaw an animal moving here and there in front of her. It was not yet\ndaylight, and she could not clearly make out its shape, but she\nthought it was a kind of a dog. Annoyed by its restless movements and\nnot being able to scare it away, she threw her wooden clothes-beater\nat it, and the tool hit the animal in the eye. Immediately the\ncreature disappeared and at the same moment Bigot's children heard him\nutter a cry of pain from his bed and shout out, \"Ah! the wretch! She\nhas destroyed my eye.\" From that day he was blind in one eye, so that\nundoubtedly this animal was not an animal double, but the miller's\ndouble in animal form.\n\nD'Assier describes an epidemic of \"obsession,\" or possession by demons,\nwhich occurred in 1857 at Morzine, in Savoy, and lasted until 1863, many\nyoung women and animals being attacked by a peculiar affliction. The\natmosphere of Morzine, he says, \"was impregnated with a foreign fluid\n(aura) since all that was required was to give change of air to ensure\nescape from the clutches of the disease. In certain families the\ndomestic animals ate nothing, or satisfied themselves by gnawing the\nwood of their mangers; at other times it was the cows, goats, or sheep\nwhich gave no more milk, and what little some yielded was unfit for\nmaking into butter. These phenomena especially showed themselves in\nfamilies where there were patients. Occasionally the sickness was\ntransferred from persons to animals, and vice versa. If a young girl was\nrelieved, a beast in the stable fell sick; and if the latter was cured\nthe young girl relapsed into her former state. In face of such facts it\nwas no longer possible to talk about obsession. The pest bursting forth\nsimultaneously in houses and cattle-sheds, could only be ascribed to a\nphysical cause, and the disorders that it provoked in persons attacked\nshowed clearly that these phenomena were due to an excess or a\ndegeneration of the mesmeric fluid....\"[171] As a remedy, d'Assier\nsuggests that \"Obsession being an abnormal afflux of magnetic fluid upon\nthe nervous system of the patient, the direct remedy is naturally the\nneutralisation of this fluid by a current of cerebral ether turned in\nthe opposite direction and emanating from an energetic will.\"\n\nParacelsus, meaning probably much the same thing, declared that the\nastral currents produced by the imagination and will of man produced\ncertain states in external Nature. The vehicle through which the will\nacts for effectuating good or evil he calls the living Mumia. The Mumia\nof a thing is its life-principle, a vehicle containing the essence of\nlife. Exerting great power, it can be used in witchcraft and sorcery.\n\"Witches,\" he says in \"De Pestilitate,\" \"may make a bargain with evil\nspirits, and cause them to carry the Mumia to certain places where it\nwill come into contact with other people, without the knowledge of the\nlatter, and cause them harm.\" Thus diseases are spread, milk spoilt and\ncattle infected, the injured people not knowing the cause of the evils\nwith which they are afflicted.\n\nA curious story of bewitched cattle and \"blue milk\" is told by Franz\nHartmann in his \"Life of Paracelsus,\"[172] in which a kind of animal\ndemon appears to have \"possessed\" the cattle.\n\nAt a farmhouse not far from Munich the milk turned blue. It had been\ndeposited in the usual place and darkened gradually, appearing first a\nlight blue, and becoming of inky hue, while the layer of cream\nexhibited zigzag lines and shortly the whole mass began to putrefy and\nto emit a horrible smell. This occurred for many days running, and the\nfarmer began to despair, for he could not discover the cause of the\ntrouble. The stable was thoroughly cleansed, the place where the milk\nwas kept was changed, a different food was given to the cattle, and\nsamples of the milk were sent to Munich to be examined by chemists;\nthe old milk-pots were replaced by new ones, and so on, but nothing\nproduced an improvement in the existing state of affairs.\n\nAt last a Countess who resided in the neighbourhood hearing about the\nmatter, went to the farmhouse. She took with her a clean new bottle,\nand filled it with the milk as it came from the bewitched cows. She\nplaced the bottle in her own pantry, and from that day the trouble at\nthe farm ceased, but all the milk at her own house turned blue.\n\nThis went on for three months, during which time everything that could\npossibly be done was done to discover the cause of the milk being in\nthis condition. Then an old lady who lived hundreds of miles off,\nhaving been appealed to, laid a spell by her own occult powers,\nwriting certain incantations on slips of paper which effected a cure\nof the trouble. But before it ceased, a strange thing happened. As one\nof the milkmaids was about to enter the stable before daybreak, a huge\nblack demon, in animal form, rushed out of the half-opened door,\nknocked the milk-pail and lantern out of her hands, and disappeared\nbefore she could awaken the household. After this all went well again.\nAn apparition of this character may be regarded as belonging to the\nfamiliars or elementals rather than to the animal-ghosts.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[168] \"Posthumous Humanity,\" 1887.\n\n[169] _Ibid._, pp. 74-6.\n\n[170] _Op. cit._, p. 80.\n\n[171] \"Posthumous Humanity,\" 1887, pp. 247-8.\n\n[172] 1896, p. 154.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER XXIII\n\n                          ANIMAL ELEMENTALS\n\n\nSuggestion no doubt plays a large part in producing a belief in the\npower to change form at will, and the occult aspect of transformation\nis perhaps more interesting than any other view of the subject.\nIncantations, salves, herbs, drugs, perfumes, and other accessories of\nritual are merely employed to strengthen concentrative force and to\ninduce a suitable state of mind. In this sense the highest scientific\nmethod of transformation is known to the Yogi who, by performing\n_samyama_ on the powers of any animal, acquires those powers.[173]\n\n_Samyama_ is the technical name for three inseparable processes taken\ncollectively. The three processes are, firstly, contemplation, or the\nfixing of the mind on something, external or internal; secondly, the\nunity of the mind with its absorption, in which the mind is conscious\nonly of itself and the object; and thirdly, trance, when the mind is\nconscious only of the object, and as though unconscious of itself.\nTrance proper is the forgetting of all idea of the act, and, still\nmore important, the becoming of the object (such as the animal)\nthought upon. Thus, the three stages, contemplation, absorption, and\ntrance, are in fact stages of contemplation, for the thing thought\nupon, the thinker, and the instrument (together with other things\nwhich are to be excluded), are all present in the first; all except\nthe last are present in the second, and nothing but the object is\npresent in the third.[174]\n\nThe Yogi believes that the mind can enter into another body by\nrelaxation of the cause of bondage, and by knowledge of the method of\npassing. The bondage is the mind's being bound to a particular body.\nThe cause of limiting the otherwise all-pervading mind to a particular\nspot is _karma_ or _dharma_ and _adharma_, i.e. good or bad deeds.\nWhen by constant _samyama_ on these, the effect of the cause is\nneutralised and the bonds of confinement loosened, then the mind is\nfree to enter any dead or living organism and perform its functions\nthrough it. But for this purpose a knowledge of effecting this\ntransfer is equally necessary....\n\nWe always think in relation to the ego within us, and therefore in\nrelation to the body. Even when we direct our mind somewhere out of\nthe body, it is still in relation with the thinking self. When this\nrelation is entirely severed and the mind exists as it were\nspontaneously, outside and independent of the body, the Yogi finds the\nstate of internal mind most favourable for passing from one corporeal\nshape into another, for it is nothing more than the _vrtti_ (or soul)\nsevered from the body that travels from one place to another. The act\nof the mind cognising objects, or technically speaking, taking the\nshape of objects presented to it, is called _vrtti_, or\ntransformation. Those familiar with the so-called\nspirit-materialisations will readily comprehend the somewhat obscure\nsense of this aphorism.[175]\n\nAnimal elementals or thought-forms were employed by magicians in the\nremote ages, and believed to be created entities which persisted\nthroughout time and might be sent forth, somewhat in the nature of a\nfamiliar, to wreak harm on others. Such animal thought-forms are\nregarded as natural or possible by many occultists to-day and two\nmodern stories exemplify this belief.\n\nA certain Miss Carter went to have tea at a friend's house where she\nmet a lady whom she knew, a Miss Thory, the sister of an eminent\nphilosopher. Miss Carter asked this lady whether she would be kind\nenough to tell her fortune from the cards, but Miss Thory declined,\nsaying that she felt tired. Shortly afterwards Miss Carter went away\nand, as soon as her back was turned, Miss Thory said to her hostess, \"My\ndear, don't have much to do with that young lady, because she goes about\ntelling people that she is beloved by an archangel who kisses her on the\nlips, but I have seen the creature which hovers about her, and which she\ntakes to be an archangel, and it has the shape of a crocodile and is\ntrying to influence people through her. It is an evil elemental.\"\n\nThe other story concerns two friends, Mrs. Harper and Miss Sylvester,\nwho, travelling together on the astral plane, decided to visit the\nbottom of the sea. They believed they arrived there and saw an\nenormous octopus which was floating about amongst the wreckage on the\nocean bed. Miss Sylvester immediately made the protective sign of the\nPentacle and suffered no inconvenience, but Mrs. Harper neglected to\ntake this precaution and the monstrous animal followed her about. They\ndid not mention these strange experiences to anyone, and they were\nwell-nigh forgotten when some time later it happened that Miss\nSylvester introduced Mrs. Harper to one of her friends, a very\nwell-known poet. Meeting Miss Sylvester a few days afterwards, he said\nto her quite frankly, \"I suppose I ought not to say so to you, but I\ndid not much care for your friend, Mrs. Harper. The night after you\nintroduced me to her I could not sleep and whenever I thought about\nher I was aware of some elemental creature crawling beneath my bed. It\nhad the shape of an octopus with horrible tentacles!\"\n\nPhenomena of this character are explained by the occultist as follows:--\n\nThe elemental essence which surrounds us is singularly susceptible to\nthe influence of human thought. The action of the mere casual wandering\nthought upon it causes it to burst into a cloud of rapidly-moving,\nevanescent forms. Thought, seizing upon the plastic essence, moulds it\ninstantly into a living being of appropriate form--\"a being which when\nonce thus created is in no way under the control of its creator, but\nlives out a life of its own, the length of which is proportionate to the\nintensity of the thought or wish which called it into existence. It\nlasts, in fact, just as long as the thought-force holds it together.\nMost people's thoughts are so fleeting and indecisive that the\nelementals created by them last only a few minutes or a few hours, but\nan often repeated thought or an earnest wish will form an elemental\nwhose existence may extend to many days.... A man who frequently dwells\nupon one wish often forms for himself an astral attendant, which,\nconstantly fed by fresh thought, may haunt him for years, ever gaining\nmore and more strength and influence over him....\"\n\nIt is said that a magician who understands the subject and knows what\neffect he is producing may acquire great power along these lines and\ncan call into existence artificial elementals which, if he be not\ncareful, escape from his control and become wandering demons.\n\nThe magicians of Atlantis brought into being wonderful speaking animals\nwho had to be appeased by an offering of blood lest they should awaken\ntheir masters and warn them of impending destruction.[176]\n\nAn even more terrible, psychic animal-being is described by occultists\nas the Dweller on the Threshold. In answer to the question, What kind\nof an animal is a human creature born soulless? Madame Blavatsky[177]\nexplains that \"the future of the lower Manas is terrible, and still\nmore terrible to humanity than to the now animal man. It sometimes\nhappens that, after the separation, the exhausted soul, now become\nsupremely animal, fades out in Kama Loka, as do all other animal\nsouls. But seeing that the more material is the human mind, the longer\nit lasts, even in the intermediate stage, it frequently happens that\nafter the present life of the soulless man is ended, he is again and\nagain reincarnated into new personalities, each one more abject than\nthe other. The impulse of _animal life_ is too strong: it cannot wear\nitself out in one or two lives only. In rarer cases, however, when the\nlower Manas is doomed to exhaust itself by starvation: when there is\nno longer hope that even a remnant of a lower light will, owing to\nfavourable conditions--say, even a short period of spiritual\naspiration and repentance--attract back to itself its Parent Ego, and\nKarma leads the Higher-Ego back to new incarnations, then something\nfar more dreadful may happen. The Kama-Manasic spook may become that\nwhich is called in Occultism, the 'Dweller on the Threshold.'...\n\n\"Bereft of the guiding Principles, but strengthened by the material\nelements, Kama-Manas, from being a 'derived light,' now becomes an\nindependent entity, and thus, suffering itself to sink lower and lower\non the animal plane, when the hour strikes for its earthly body to\ndie, one of two things happens; either Kama-Manas is immediately\nreborn in Myalba, the state of Avitchi on earth, or, if it becomes too\nstrong in evil--'immortal in Satan' is the occult expression--it is\nsometimes allowed, for Karmic purposes, to remain in an active state\nof Avitchi in the terrestrial Aura. Then through despair and loss of\nall hope, it becomes like the mythical 'devil' in its endless\nwickedness; it continues in its elements, which are imbued through and\nthrough with the essence of Matter; for evil is coevil with Matter\nrent asunder from Spirit. And when its Higher-Ego has once more\nreincarnated, evolving a new reflection, or Kama-Manas, the doomed\nlower Ego, like a Frankenstein's monster, will ever feel attracted to\nits Father who repudiates his son, and will become a regular 'Dweller\non the Threshold' of terrestrial life.\"\n\nConcerning the evolution of man-animal and animal-man, Madame\nBlavatsky[178] declares, \"it is most important to remember that the\nEgos of the Apes are entities compelled by their Karma to incarnate in\nthe animal forms, which resulted from the bestiality of the _latest_\nThird and the earliest Fourth Race men. They are entities who had\nalready reached the 'human stage' before this Round. Consequently they\nform an exception to the general rule. The numberless traditions about\nSatyrs are no fables, but represent an extinct race of animal men. The\nanimal 'Eves' were their foremothers, and the human 'Adams' their\nforefathers; _hence the Kabalistic allegory of Lilith or Lilatu_,\nAdam's _first_ wife, whom the Talmud describes as a _charming_ woman\nwith _long wavy hair_, i.e. a female hairy animal of a character now\nunknown, still a female animal, who in the Kabalistic and Talmudic\nallegories is called the female reflection of Samael, Samael-Lilith,\nor man-animal united, a being called _Hayo Bischat_, the Beast or Evil\nBeast (Zohar). It is from this unnatural union that the present apes\ndescended. The latter are truly 'speechless men' and will become\nspeaking animals (or men of a lower order) in the Fifth Round, while\nthe adepts of a certain school hope that some of the Egos of the apes\nof a higher intelligence will reappear at the close of the Sixth-Root\nrace. What their form will be is of secondary consideration. The form\nmeans nothing. Species and genera of the flora, fauna, and the highest\nanimal, its crown--man--change and vary according to the environments\nand climatic variations, not only with every Round, but every\nRoot-Race likewise, as well as after every geological cataclysm that\nputs an end to, or produces a turning-point in the latter. In the\nSixth Root-Race the fossils of the Orang, the Gorilla and the\nChimpanzee will be those of extinct quadrumanous mammals and new\nforms--though fewer and ever wider apart as ages pass on and the\nclose of the Manvantara approaches--will develop from the 'cast-off'\ntypes of the human races as they revert once again to astral, out of\nthe mire of physical life. There were none before man and they will be\nextinct before the Seventh Race develops. Karma will lead on the\nmonads of the unprogressed men of our race and lodge them in the newly\nevolved human frames of this physiologically regenerated baboon.\n\n\"This will take place, of course, millions of years hence. But the\npicture of this cyclic procession of all that lives and breathes now on\nearth, of each species in its turn, is a true one, and needs no 'special\ncreation' or miraculous formation of man, beast or plant _ex nihilo_.\n\n\"This is how Occult Science explains the absence of any link between\nape and man and shows the former evolving from the latter.\"\n\nThe Indians believe that sinners are reborn as animals. \"After having\nsuffered the torments in the hells, the evil-doers pass into animal\nbodies,\"[179] and their classification of such punishment has been\ncarefully worked out.\n\nMortal sinners enter the bodies of worms or insects. Minor offenders\nenter the bodies of birds. Criminals in the fourth degree enter the\nbodies of the aquatic animals. Those who have committed a crime\neffecting loss of caste, enter the bodies of amphibious animals. Those\nwho have committed a crime degrading to a mixed caste enter the bodies\nof deer. Those who have committed a crime rendering them unworthy to\nreceive alms, enter the bodies of cattle. Those who have committed one\nof the miscellaneous crimes enter the bodies of miscellaneous wild\ncarnivorous animals (such as tigers).\n\nA thief (of other property than gold) becomes a falcon.\n\nOne who has appropriated a broad passage, becomes a serpent or other\nanimal living in holes.\n\nOne who has stolen grain becomes a rat.\n\nOne who has stolen water becomes a water-fowl.\n\nOne who has stolen honey becomes a gad-fly.\n\nOne who has stolen milk becomes a crow.\n\nOne who has stolen juice (of the sugar-cane or other plants) becomes a\ndog.\n\nOne who has stolen clarified butter becomes an ichneumon.\n\nOne who has stolen meat becomes a vulture.\n\nOne who has stolen fat becomes a cormorant.\n\nOne who has stolen oil becomes a cockroach.\n\nOne who has stolen salt becomes a cricket.\n\nOne who has stolen sour milk becomes a crane.\n\nOne who has stolen silk becomes a partridge.\n\nOne who has stolen linen becomes a frog.\n\nOne who has stolen cotton cloth becomes a curlew.\n\nOne who has stolen a cow becomes an iguana.\n\nOne who has stolen sugar becomes a Valguda (kind of bat).\n\nOne who has stolen perfumes becomes a musk-rat.\n\nOne who has stolen vegetables becomes a peacock.\n\nOne who has stolen prepared grain becomes a boar.\n\nOne who has stolen undressed grain becomes a porcupine.\n\nOne who has stolen fire becomes a crane.\n\nOne who has stolen household utensils becomes a wasp.\n\nOne who has stolen dyed cloth becomes a partridge.\n\nOne who has stolen an elephant becomes a tortoise.\n\nOne who has stolen a horse becomes a tiger.\n\nOne who has stolen fruit or blossoms becomes an ape.\n\nOne who has stolen a woman becomes a bear.\n\nOne who has stolen a vehicle becomes a camel.\n\nOne who has stolen cattle becomes a vulture.\n\nHe who has taken by force any property belonging to another or eaten\nfood not first presented to the gods, inevitably enters the body of\nsome beast.\n\nWomen who have committed similar thefts, receive the same ignominious\npunishment: they become females to those male animals.\n\nThen having undergone the torments inflicted in the hells and having\npassed through the animal bodies the sinners are born as human beings\nwith marks indicating their crime.\n\nThese transformations came about by the insistent wickedness of human\nthoughts and deeds. Eliphas Levi discusses the magic power of the\nspoken word in bringing changes of shape to pass. \"In the opinion of\nthe vulgar,\" he says,[180] \"transformations and metamorphosis have\never been the very essence of magic.... Magic really changes the\nnature of things, or rather modifies their appearances at pleasure,\naccording to the strength of the operator's will and the fascination\nof aspiring adepts. Speech creates forms, and when a person reputed\ninfallible gives anything a name, he really transforms the object into\nthe substance which is signified by the name that he gives it....\n\n\"The life of creatures is a progressive transformation, having forms\nwhich may be determined and renewed, preserved longer, or else\ndestroyed sooner. If the motion of metempsychosis were true, might we\nnot say that debauch, represented by Circe, changes men really and\nmaterially into swine, for the chastisement of vices would on this\nhypothesis be a lapse into those animal forms which correspond to\nthem? Now metempsychosis, which has been frequently misunderstood, has\na perfectly true side. Animal forms communicate their sympathetic\nimprints to the astral body of man and are soon reflected on his\nfeatures, according to the force of his habits. A man of intelligent\nand passive mildness assumes the ways and inert physiognomy of a\nsheep; in somnambulism, however, it is no longer a person of\nsheep-like appearance but a sheep itself that is seen, as the ecstatic\nand learned Swedenborg experienced times out of number. Thus we can\nreally change men into animals--it is all a question of will-power.\"\n\n\"The fatal ascendancy of one person over another is the true rod of\nCirce,\" he continues. \"Almost every human countenance bears some\nresemblance to an animal. That is, it has the signature of a\nspecialised instinct. Now instincts are balanced by contrary\ninstincts, and dominated by others which are stronger. To govern\nsheep, the dog evokes the fear of the wolf. If you are a dog and would\nbe loved by a pretty little cat, be metamorphosed into a cat, and you\nwill win her. But how is the change to be accomplished? By\nobservation, imitation, and imagination.... By polarising one's own\nanimal light in equilibrated antagonism with an opposite pole.\"[181]\n\nParacelsus has written at length on the same aspect of the subject.\n\"Men have two spirits,\" he explains,[182] \"an animal spirit and a\nhuman spirit in them. A man who lives in his animal spirit is like an\nanimal during life, and will be an animal after death: but a man who\nlives in his human spirit will remain human. Animals have\nconsciousness and reason, but they have no spiritual intelligence. It\nis the presence of the latter that raises man above the animal, and\nits absence makes an animal of what once appeared to be a man. A man\nin whom the animal reason alone is active is a lunatic, and his\ncharacter resembles that of some animal. One man acts like a wolf,\nanother like a dog, another like a hog, a snake or a fox, etc. It is\ntheir animal principle that makes them act as they do, and their\nanimal principle will perish like the animals themselves. But the\nhuman reason is not of an animal nature, but comes from God, and being\na part of God, it is necessarily immortal.\"\n\n\"The animal soul of man is derived from the cosmic animal elements,\"\nhe writes elsewhere,[183] \"and the animal kingdom is therefore the\nfather of the animal man. If man is like his animal father, he\nresembles an animal; if he is like the Divine Spirit that lives within\nhis animal elements, he is like a god. If his reason is absorbed by\nhis animal instincts, it becomes animal reason; if it rises above his\nanimal desires, it becomes angelic. If a man eats the flesh of an\nanimal, the animal flesh becomes human flesh; if an animal eats human\nflesh, the latter becomes animal flesh. A man whose human reason is\nabsorbed by his animal desires is an animal, and if his animal reason\nbecomes enlightened by wisdom he becomes an angel.\n\n\"Animal man is the son of the animal elements out of which his soul\nwas born, and animals are the mirrors of man. Whatever animal elements\nexist in the world exist in the soul of man, and therefore the\ncharacter of one man may resemble that of a fox, a dog, a snake, a\nparrot, etc. Man need not, therefore, be surprised that animals have\nanimal instincts that are so much like his own; it might rather be\nsurprising for the animals to see that their son (animal man)\nresembles them so closely....\n\n\"A man who loves to lead an animal life is an animal ruled by his\ninterior animal heaven. The same stars (qualities) that cause a wolf to\nmurder, a dog to steal, a cat to kill, a bird to sing, etc., make a man\na singer, an eater, a talker, a lover, a murderer, a robber, or a thief.\nThese are animal attributes and they die with the animal elements to\nwhich they belong; but the divine principle in man, which constitutes\nhim a human being, comes from God. Man should therefore live in harmony\nwith his divine parent, and not in the animal elements of his soul.\"\n\nThe object of human life is therefore to realise that one is not an\nanimal, but a god-like being inhabiting a human animal form. If man\nonce realises what he actually is, he will be able to use his divine\npowers and be himself a creator of forms.[184]\n\nThe same writer describes beings which are neither animal nor man, but\nwhich have characteristics of both, and which he calls Nature-spirits or\nElementals. To these he gives the names of the Gnomes, the Nymphs or\nUndines, the Sylphs or Sylvestres, the Salamanders, the Pigmies and the\nSirens. He attributes to them curious qualities and shapes. They can,\nfor instance, pass through matter, yet they are not spirits, rather\noccupying a place \"between men and spirits.\" They are not immortal, and\nwhen they die they perish like animals. They have only animal intellects\nand are incapable of spiritual development. The Nymphs live in the\nelement of water, the Sylphs in that of the air, the Pigmies in the\nearth, and the Salamanders in the fire. Each species moves only in the\nelement to which it belongs. To each elemental being the element in\nwhich it lives is transparent, invisible, and respirable. The Gnomes\nhave no intercourse with the Undines or Salamanders, nor the Sylvestres\nwith either. Animals receive their clothing from Nature, but the spirits\nof Nature prepare it themselves. The Elementals belonging to the element\nof water resemble human beings of either sex; those of the air are\ngreater and stronger; the Salamanders are long, lean and dry; the\nPigmies are of the length of about two spans, but they can extend or\nelongate their forms until they appear like giants. The Elementals of\nair and water, the Sylphs and Nymphs, are kindly disposed towards man;\nthe Salamanders cannot associate with him on account of the fiery nature\nof the element wherein they live, and the Pigmies are usually of a\nmalicious nature.\n\nMen live in the exterior elements and the Elementals live in the\ninterior elements. They are sometimes seen in various shapes.\nSalamanders have been seen in the shapes of fiery balls, or tongues of\nfire running over the fields or appearing in houses. Nymphs have been\nknown to adopt the human shape, clothing, and manner, and to enter\ninto a union with man. The Undines appear to man but not man to them.\nThey may meet him on the physical plane, marry him and keep house with\nhim and the children will be human beings and not Undines, because\nthey receive a human soul from the man. If an Undine becomes united to\nman she will thereby receive the germ of immortality. As an Undine\nwithout her union with man dies like an animal, likewise man is like\nan animal if he severs his union with God. If any man has a Nymph for\na wife, let him take care not to offend her while she is near the\nwater, as in such case she might return to her own element.\n\nThe Sirens are merely a kind of monstrous fish, and are related to the\nUndines much as giant and dwarf monsters are related to the Sylvestres\nand Gnomes. The monsters have no spiritual souls and are comparable to\nmonkeys rather than to human beings.\n\nSuch creatures seem almost too elusive to be labelled as human-animals,\nbut the description given of them by the great occultist at least opens\nthe mind to the possibilities of classifying beings not defined by\nmaterial limitations or by animal senses. Of this character are the\nspirits or elementals called up in strange, and sometimes even gruesome,\nanimal form by magicians when at work casting spells.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[173] \"The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali.\" Translated by Manilal Nabhubhai\nDvivedi, 1890, p. 66.\n\n[174] _Ibid._, p. 56.\n\n[175] _Ibid._, p. 71 and pp. 73-4.\n\n[176] \"The Secret Doctrine,\" Vol. II, p. 247.\n\n[177] _Ibid._, 1897, Vol. III, pp. 524-6.\n\n[178] _Ibid._, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 262-3.\n\n[179] \"The Sacred Books of the East,\" ed. by F. Max Muller, 1880, The\nInstitutes of Vishnu, Vol. VII, pp. 144-5.\n\n[180] \"Mysteries of Magic,\" 1897, pp. 233-4.\n\n[181] _Ibid._, pp. 237-40.\n\n[182] \"De Lunaticus.\"\n\n[183] Hartmann, F., \"Life of Paracelsus and Substance of his\nTeaching,\" 1896, pp. 60-2.\n\n[184] _Ibid._, p. 62.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XXIV\n\n                  ANIMAL SPIRITS IN CEREMONIAL MAGIC\n\n\nTo call up demons the magician takes certain steps by which he puts\nhimself into the right frame of mind, and by which he also ensures\nmeans of protection against harmful magical powers which he may bring\ninto play.\n\nHe first draws a magical circle, of different character according to\nthe time of the year, the order of the spirits desired, the day, the\nhour, and so forth. Three circles about nine feet in diameter with the\nspace of a hand's breadth between them is one method, certain signs\nand written particulars being made within each circle. It is then\nnecessary to bless and consecrate the work, and after nine days'\npreparation, being provided with holy water, perfumes, salves, and\nointments, a fine white linen garb of a certain shape; having drawn\nthe pentacle of Solomon upon parchment in which to bind unruly evil\nspirits and having recited certain magical incantations, exorcisms,\nand prayers, he is ready and prepared for the appearance of the\nspirits he desires to consult for purposes of obtaining knowledge on\nvarious things that concern him and his destiny.\n\nBooks on ceremonial magic explain how it is possible to call up demons\nin the shape of beasts. \"According to their various capacities in\nwickedness,\" says Reginald Scott, \"so these shapes are answerable\nafter a magical manner; resembling spiritually some horrid and ugly\nmonsters, as their conspiracies against the power of God were high and\nmonstrous, when they fell from heaven.\"[185]\n\nDevils that belong to the supreme hierarchy, when they are called up\nby magicians, at first appear in the form of lions, vomiting fire and\nroaring hideously about the circle. Then they convert themselves into\nserpents, monkeys, and other animals. After the conjuration is\nrepeated, they forsake these bestial shapes and gradually become more\nand more human, appearing at last after frequent repetition of\nceremony, as men of gentle countenance and behaviour.\n\nDemons from the two next orders of the infernal regions represent the\nbeautiful colours of birds and beasts as leopards, tigers, peacocks, and\nso forth. By conjurations these also may be induced to take on human\nshape. Some, however, can hardly be conjured to desert their monstrous\nforms and continue to exhibit to the exorcist a pair of crocodile jaws\nor a lion's paw \"with other dreadful menaces, enough to terrify any\nnovice from such damnable injunctions as the practice of magic.\"\n\nSuch devils as Astaroth, Lucifer, Bardon, and Pownok, continues Scott,\nwho incline men and instigate them to pride and presumptuousness, have\nthe shapes of horses, lions, tigers, or wolves. Those that instigate\nlust and covetousness appear in the form of hogs, serpents, and other\nenvious reptiles or beasts, such as dogs, cats, vultures or snakes.\nThose who bend men's thoughts to murder, have the shape of birds or\nbeasts of prey. More tolerable are those qualified to answer questions\nabout philosophy and religion when called up, they seem almost human,\nbut have crooked noses like mermaids or satyrs. Such evil spirits as\nhave a predilection towards inducing mixed vices are not of distinct\nshape like one single beast, but are compound monsters with serpent\ntails, four eyes, many feet and horns and so on.\n\nIn Barrett's \"Magus or Celestial Intelligencer,\"[186] the author gives\nthe Key to Ceremonial Magic with Conjurations for every day in the\nweek--to be used in calling up familiars and spirits. Many of these\nappear in animal form, namely, as a cow, a small doe, a goose, and\nmany others.\n\nThe familiar forms of the spirits of Mars, according to Barrett,[187]\n\"appear in a tall body and choleric, having a filthy countenance, of\ncolour brown, swarthy, or red, having horns like harts, and griffins'\nclaws and bellowing like wild bulls.\" Sometimes they take the shape of\na she-goat, a horse, or a stag. The spirits of Mercury are more\naffable and human, though they cause horror and fear to those that\ncall them. Sometimes they appear as a dog, a she-bear, or a magpie.\nWhen the familiar forms of the spirits of Jupiter are called, there\nwill appear about the circle men who shall seem to be devoured by\nlions, and the demons may take the shape of bulls, stags, or peacocks.\nOn Friday, for instance, the conjuration may bring a camel, a dove, or\na she-goat, on Saturday a hog, a dragon, or an owl, but it must always\nbe borne in mind that apparitions in human shape exceed in authority\nand power those that come as animals.\n\nThe raising of ghosts by fumes is discussed by Cornelius Agrippa.[188]\n\n\"If Coriander, Smallage, henbane, and hemlock be made a fume, spirits\nwill presently come together, hence they are called the spirit herbs.\nAlso it is said that a fume made of the root of herb sagapen with the\njuice of hemlock and henbane, and the herb tapsus barbatus, red\nsanders and black poppy makes spirits and strange shapes appear.\n\n\"Moreover, it is said that by certain fumes certain animals are\ngathered together, and put to flight, as Pliny mentions concerning the\nstone Leparis, that with the fumes thereof all beasts are called out;\nso the bones in the upper part of the throat of a hart, being burnt,\ngather all the serpents together, but the horn of the hart being burnt\ndoth with its fume chase them all away. The same doth a fume of the\nfeathers of peacocks.\"\n\n\"Hags and goblins,\" says Agrippa, \"inoffensive to them that are good,\nbut hurtful to the wicked, appear sometimes in thinner bodies, another\ntime in grosser, in the shape of divers animals and monsters whose\nconditions they had in their lifetime.\n\n      \"Then divers forms and shapes of brute appear,\n       For he becomes a tiger, swine, and bear,\n       A scaly dragon and a lioness,\n       Or doth from fire a dreadful noise express,\n       He doth transmute himself to divers looks,\n       To fire, wild beasts, and into running brooks.\n\n\"For the impure soul of man, who in this life contracted too great a\nhabit to its body, doth by a certain inward affection of the elemental\nbody frame another body to itself of the vapours of the elements,\nrefreshing as it were from an easy matter as it were with a suck that\nbody which is continually vanishing....\"\n\nThese souls sometimes do inhabit not these kind of bodies only, but by\na too great affection of flesh and blood transmute themselves into\nother animals, and seize upon the bodies of creeping things, and\nbrutes, entering into them what kind soever they be of, possessing\nthem like demons.\n\nSuch herbs as belladonna, aconite, parsley, poplar leaves, and drugs\nlike opium, hyoscyamine and other ingredients, as the blood of the\nbat, were used among other strange ingredients for making the\nointments, which were rubbed upon the skin until it reddened with the\nfriction. This had the effect of making the recipient believe he was\nbeing transported through the air, and as the ingredients mounted more\nand more to his brain, he was filled with imaginary visions of lovely\ngardens, and forests, banquets, music, and dancing, probably also less\npleasant ideas of devils and mocking ghoulish faces.\n\nPerfumes too had strange effects in producing states of exaltation or\ntrance.\n\nMexican priests rubbed the body with a pomade or salve to which they\nattributed magical virtues, and at night they wandered in the forests\nwithout fear of wild beasts, but not necessarily believing they had been\ntransformed, yet the idea of metamorphosis can surely be regarded as a\npossible hypothesis when it is remembered that Man's body is composed\nfundamentally of the same substances as the bodies of animals, that the\nsame elements murmur in the waters, rush in the winds and form the\ninsensate soil of the earth, that the cells in the human being are not\nessentially different in composition or structure from the cells in the\nbodies of animals, that all cells are formed primarily of protoplasm, a\ncompound of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, and that scientists have\nalready solved the problem of separating matter into electrons, and of\nmeasuring vibrations even to the million and trillion per infinitesimal\ndivision of time. Is it to be wondered at that in investigating such\ntheories strange results have been obtained and curious sights and\nsounds have been seen and heard by the student?\n\nThe Chaldeans, who were among the world's greatest magicians, like the\nEgyptians, represented demons under such monstrous forms, with\ncombined human and animal characteristics, that it was thought\nsufficient to show them their own image to cause them to flee away in\nalarm. One such specimen, for instance, had the body of a dog, the\nfeet of an eagle, the claws of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, the\nhead of a skeleton but half decayed, and adorned with goats' horns and\nthe eyes still remaining, and four great expanded wings. Such hideous\nforms, borrowed as they were from the most different animals as well\nas from man, were thought to have the characteristic features of the\nfirst rudimentary beings born in the darkness of chaos. The magical\ndocuments of the day throw light upon the interpretation of these\nuncanny monsters. They undoubtedly were possessed of a talismanic\ncharacter and were intended to avert fatal influences, on the\nprinciple that an image has the same value as an incantation, and like\nit, acts in a direct manner on wicked spirits.\n\nWinged bulls with human heads which flanked the entrance gates to\npalaces were thought to be genii which kept real guard for the whole\ntime that their images dwelt there without disturbance. Expressive of\nthis was the ancient inscription:\n\n    May the guardian bull, the guardian genius, who protects the\n    strength of my throne, always preserve my name in joy and honour\n    until his feet move themselves from their place.\n\nIn one of the magnificent palaces at Nineveh enormous figures are\nrepresented having the body of a man, the head of a lion and the feet\nof an eagle. These were arranged in groups of two figures fighting\nwith daggers and clubs. Sometimes the groups represent the struggle of\ngods against malevolent spirits. Occasionally the gods were depicted\nwrestling with one or many bulls or bull-headed men whom they assail\nwith swords. Demons of this character, called Telal by the Accadians\nand Gallu by the Assyrians were believed to be particularly harmful to\nman. The following fragment of a conjuration applies to a struggle of\ntwo persons combating two bulls, or creatures which are half-men,\nhalf-bulls.\n\n      Telal, the bull which pierces, the very strong bull, the bull\n                which passes through dwellings,\n      (It is) the indomitable Telal, there are seven of them\n      They obey no commands,\n      They devastate the country\n      They know no order,\n      They watch men,\n      They devour flesh; they make blood flow; they drink blood;\n      They injure the images of the gods;\n      They are the Telal which multiply hostile lies,\n      Which feed on blood, which are immovable.\n\nIn ancient Egypt incantations and exorcisms were used in order to\nprotect the departing soul of man from malevolent beasts and also to\nkeep the body from becoming, during its separation from the soul, the\nprey of some wicked spirit which might enter, reanimate, and cause it\nto rise again in the form of a vampire.\n\nThe following formula has been translated by M. Chabas:--\n\n    O sheep, son of a sheep! lamb, son of a sheep, that suckest the\n    milk of thy mother the sheep, do not allow the deceased to be\n    bitten by any serpent, male or female, by any scorpion, by any\n    reptile; do not allow their venom to overpower his members. May no\n    deceased male or female penetrate to him! May the shadow of no\n    spirit haunt him! May the mouth of the serpent have no power over\n    him! He, _he is the sheep_!\n\n    O thou which enterest, do not enter into any of the members of\n    the deceased! O thou which killest, do not kill him with thyself!\n    O thou which entwinest, do not entwine thyself round him!\n\nIn another incantation, which was directed against various noxious\nanimals, the man who wished to obtain shelter from their attacks\ninvoked the aid of a god, as being himself a god.\n\n      Come to me, O lord of Gods!\n      Drive far from me the lions coming from the earth,\n      The crocodiles issuing from the river;\n      Do not wave thy tail;\n      Do not work thy two arms;\n      Do not open thy mouth;\n      Stop crocodile Mako, Son of Set!\n\nIn a third formula the enchanter entreats the support of Isis and\nNephthys\n\n      In order that the jaws of the lions and hy\u00e6nas may be sealed,\n      The head of all the animals with long tails,\n      Who eat flesh and drink blood;\n      That they may fascinate (me)\n      To lift up their hearing;\n      To hold me in darkness\n      To render me invisible\n      Instantly in the night!\n\nThese magical words did not communicate divine virtue alone to man;\nanimals could also participate in them for the protection of man, as\nthey caused an invincible power to dwell in creatures, like, for\ninstance, the watch-dog, to increase his strength by enchantment, the\nformula for which commences:\n\n      Stand up! wicked dog!\n      Come! that I may direct thee what to do to-day:\n      Thou wast fastened up, art thou not untied?\n      It is Horus who has ordered thee to do this:\n      May thy face be open to heaven!\n      May thy jaw be pitiless![189]\n\nThrough solemn incantations, through desire and by will power it may\nthus be possible to strengthen animal-qualities for purposes best known\nto those who employ such means. A modern writer on occult matters\nexplains the existence of wer-wolves and vampires on some such psychic\nbasis.\n\n\"The popular legends about them,\" he says,[190] \"are probably often\nconsiderably exaggerated, but there is nevertheless a terribly serious\nsubstratum of truth beneath the eerie stories which pass from mouth to\nmouth among the peasantry of Central Europe.... All readers of\nTheosophical literature are familiar with the idea that it is possible\nfor a man to live a life so absolutely degraded and selfish, so\nutterly wicked and brutal, that the whole of his lower Manas may\nbecome entirely unmeshed in Kama, and finally separated from its\nspiritual source in the higher Ego.... To attain the appalling\npre-eminence in evil which thus involves the entire loss of a\npersonality and the weakening of the developing individuality behind,\na man must stifle every gleam of unselfishness or spirituality and\nmust have absolutely no redeeming points whatever. And when we\nremember how often, even in the worst of villains there is to be\nfound something not wholly bad, we shall realize that the abandoned\npersonalities must always be a very small minority. Still\ncomparatively few though they be, they do exist and it is from their\nranks that the still rarer vampire is drawn....\"\n\nThe wer-wolf, though equally horrible, is the product of a somewhat\ndifferent Karma, and indeed ought perhaps to have found a place under\nthe first instead of the second division of the human inhabitants of\nK\u00e2mal\u00f4ka, since it is always during a man's lifetime that he first\nmanifests under this form. It invariably implies some knowledge of\nmagical arts--sufficient at any rate to be able to project the astral\nbody. When a perfectly cruel and brutal man does this, there are\ncertain circumstances under which the body may be seized upon by other\nastral entities and materialised, not in the human form but into that\nof some wild animal, usually the wolf; and in that condition it will\nrange the surrounding country killing the animals and even human\nbeings, thus satisfying not only its own craving for blood, but that\nof the fiends who drive it on. In this case, as so often with the\nordinary astral body, any wound inflicted upon the animal\nmaterialisation will be reproduced upon the human physical body by the\nextraordinary phenomenon of repercussion....\n\n\"The vast majority of animals have not as yet acquired permanent\nindividualisation and when one of them dies the Monadic essence which\nhas been manifesting through it flows back again into the particular\nstratum from which it came.... The Kamic aura of the animal forms\nitself into a Kamarupa ... and the animal has a real existence on the\nastral plane, the length of which, though never great, varies\naccording to the intelligence which it has developed.\"[191]\n\nThere is, says J. C. Street in \"The Hidden Way Across the Threshold,\"\nan electro-magnetic invisible liquid in which we all float like fish\nin water. We are living continually immersed in this ethereal fluid,\nwhich is always in motion in a whirling vibration. \"A cat-like\nsoul-force can only find satisfaction in a cat-like body, a dog-like\nsoul-force in a dog-like body. In every case the soul-force, or\nessence shadow, has a corresponding material body. An ape soul-force\ncould no more mould and clothe itself in a human body than a mouse\nsoul-force could do the same with an elephant body,[192] \"yet the\nelements that go to make up the human, animal, or floral envelopes or\nbodies, are held in solution in the atmosphere, and can _through a\nknowledge of the laws governing it_, be utilised to construct\ninstantaneously any of the multitudinous forms that exist in Nature.\"\nFurther than this it is impossible at the present moment to explain or\nto grasp this strange theory of transformation which has held a place\nin human thought since the earliest times, as is proved by the\nforegoing collection of traditional phenomena.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[185] Scott, R., \"The Discoverie of Witchcraft,\" 1886, p. 493.\n\n[186] 1801.\n\n[187] \"The Magus,\" 1801, p. 120.\n\n[188] \"Occult Philosophy,\" 1651, Vol. I, p. 86 _et seq._\n\n[189] _See_ Lenormant, F., \"Chaldean Magic,\" chapters III and VII.\n\n[190] Leadbeater, C. W., \"The Astral Plane: its Inhabitants and\nPhenomena,\" 1895, pp. 37-9.\n\n[191] _Ibid._, pp. 51-2.\n\n[192] Street, J. C., \"The Hidden Way Across the Threshold,\" 1896, p.\n359.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XXV\n\n                              CONCLUSION\n\n\nNo completely satisfactory explanation of the phenomena with which this\nbook deals has as yet been formulated, but the elucidation of the\nproblems of transformation, collected from many sources, should be\nsought primarily in the latent power innate in man which enables him to\nexert or project thought-forces, but little understood to-day, of which,\nhowever, hypnotism and suggestion are the most familiar forms of\nmanifestation. Such power, acting upon the plastic mind-substance of the\nspiritual world, may, as far as we know, produce forms, animal or\notherwise, in accordance with the desire (conscious or subconscious) and\nthe will of the projector. To bring about his purpose and procure\nmanifestation he has to induce a suitable state of mind, and to this end\nhe employs ritual and accessories of various kinds.\n\nTo take a single illustrative case in point. The animal masks used in\nIndian theatrical shows serve as a means of suggestive illusion. In\nmystical shows anticipatory fear is evoked by such means. Indians are\neasily brought to a stage of inability to grasp the difference between\nthe real and the suggested wild beast. But Indians and other primitive\nraces are not the only ones to succumb to a strong will bent on\nproducing phenomena. These things affect all kinds of people, even in\nthe so-called higher grades of civilisation, and the effect of\nauto-suggestion is quite as curious as that of hypnotism. A case has\nrecently come under notice of a woman who acquired the habit of going\ndown on all fours and making a noise of barking, firmly believing\nthat she has been turned into a dog. In how much is she removed from\nthe hy\u00e6na-woman of Abyssinia? The cure is much the same, and is\nbrought about by counter-suggestion in one form or another. In such\ninstances, of course, it is not to be supposed that actual\ntransformation has taken place, but spectators may nevertheless be\nhypnotised into believing what the victim believes. By some such\nmeans, too, Nebuchadnezzar may have been made to think himself a\nsubject of boanthropy when \"he was driven from men and did eat grass\nas oxen,\" continuing this occupation until his body was soaked with\nthe dews of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and\nhis nails like birds' claws.\n\nWhat difference is there between such a belief and that of the\nspectator who thinks he sees the devil depart from a woman possessed\nin the shape of a huge black slug? He also may have been influenced by\nconcentrated thought on the subject, and the question arises how far\ncan human credulity be worked upon by the almost limitless and as yet\nlittle-understood power of the human mind. Much depends on the nature\nof the individual, the environment, and the receptivity to the kind of\npressure brought to bear. Love of mystery and awe of the unknown are\nalso strong factors in establishing faith, the first principle\nnecessary for producing creative power. Even the wildest superstition\nenshrines something of reality and a stratum of truth underlies most\nwidespread beliefs.\n\nResearch on these psychical subjects should be carried on earnestly\nand with untiring patience, always with a view to eliminate the false\nand preserve the true, wherever possible transmuting apparently evil\nelements and bringing forth the fundamental good. Such methods should\nmake the prospects of discovering scientific facts more and more\nfavourable in the future.\n\nUnfortunately a miscellaneous study of \"isms\" and \"ogonies\" is often\nunproductive. Byron described the state of mind induced by ill-judged\nefforts in this direction in \"Don Juan,\" Canto IX, 20:\n\n      Oh! ye immortal gods! What is Theogony?\n      Oh! thou, too, mortal man! What is philanthropy?\n      Oh! World, which was and is, what is cosmogony?\n      Some people have accused me of misanthropy;\n      And yet I know no more than the mahogany\n      That forms this desk, of what they mean,--Lycanthropy\n      I comprehend, for without transformation\n      Men become wolves on any slight occasion.\n\nThe seeker after the facts about animal-metamorphosis, confused by\nmany undigested propositions, might thus also attempt to salve his\nconscience, for man is certainly sometimes near enough to the animal\nwithout physical change, but he would be fleeing to a subterfuge\nsuitable only for the idle and the ignorant. To the earnest student\nthere can be no rest until this obscure branch of occult science is\ncleared up, though it may be but a side issue leading to more\nimportant facts. If in the foregoing chapters a grain of truth lies\nhidden which will help to elucidate the problem with which they deal,\nthey will have served their purpose in pushing a step or two through\nthe darkness which shrouds so many secrets of Nature.\n\n      It is the mystery of the unknown\n      That fascinates us, we are children still,\n      Wayward and wistful; with one hand we cling\n      To the familiar things we call our own,\n      And with the other, resolute of will,\n      Grope in the dark for what the day will bring.\n\n\n\n\n                                  INDEX\n\n\n  Abyssinia, 79, 80\n\n  Accadians, 288\n\n  Agrippa, Cornelius, 285, 286\n\n  Ainus, 182, 188\n\n  Alexander the Great, 174\n\n  Alligator, 23\n\n  Andersen, Hans C, 156, 166, 212\n\n  Animal Elementals, stories of, 271-2\n\n  Animal trials, 200\n\n  Antheus, 66\n\n  Ants, 26\n\n  Arabian Nights, 145, 211\n\n  Arawaks, 24-5, 27, 141\n\n  Arcadia, 66\n\n  Arundels of Wardour, legend of, 224\n\n  Ass, 80-1, 113-14, 131, 135-6, 140-1, 149, 155\n\n  Assier, Adolphe d', on animal ghosts, 261, 262, 263, 264, 267\n\n  Assyrians, 288\n\n  Auvergne, Gentleman of, 69\n\n\n  Bakongs, 19\n\n  Barrett's \"Magus,\" 284, 285\n\n  Basilisk, 171, 186\n\n  Bat, 26\n\n  Bear, 17, 147\n\n  Berserkers, 147\n\n  Beswick, Miss, legend of, 229-31\n\n  Bisclaveret, 72-7\n\n  Bison, 23, 30\n\n  Black dog of Hergest, 241\n\n  Blacksmith, suspicions concerning, 79, 80, 84, 85\n\n  Black Vaughan, 241\n\n  Blackwood, Algernon, 161, 195\n\n  Blanche Biche, 115-17\n\n  Blavatsky, Mme., 273-5\n\n  Blue milk, story of, 268-9\n\n  Boanthropy, 76, 294\n\n  Bodin, 103\n\n  Boguet, 58, 103\n\n  _Bouda_, 32, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 92\n\n  Bourgot, Pierre, 54-6\n\n  Brer Rabbit, 158\n\n  Butterfly, 26, 120\n\n\n  Cadmus, 173\n\n  Cagliostro, Count, 197\n\n  Cakchiquel Indians, 184\n\n  Callaly Castle, 232-3\n\n  Calmuc stories, 148, 167\n\n  Cambrensis, Giraldus, 13, 170-8\n\n  Cariden, Joan, witch, 125\n\n  Caridwen, 141\n\n  Cat, 3, 7, 25, 106-9, 128, 189-98\n\n  Cate, Anne, 124\n\n  Centaurs, 160, 161\n\n  Chaldeans, 287\n\n  Ch\u00e2lons, tailor of, 60, 64\n\n  Chanticleer, 200\n\n  Cherokee Indians, 3\n\n  Choctaw, 18\n\n  Circe, 131, 132, 278, 279\n\n  Clark, Helen, witch, 123\n\n  Clarke, Elizabeth, witch, 121, 122, 123\n\n  Clifton family, legend of, 224\n\n  Closeburn Castle, 220-2\n\n  Cock, 45, 198-200\n\n  Cockatrice, 172\n\n  Conaire the Great, 235\n\n  Coneely clan, 233\n\n  Corcini, Andrew, 50\n\n  Cox, Julian, witch, 105-6\n\n  Coyote, 30\n\n  Creeks, 23, 30\n\n  Crishna, 174-5\n\n  Crocodile, 17, 24\n\n  Cuchullaine, 235\n\n\n  Dodge, Richard, 258\n\n  Dog, stories of, 52, 53, 104, 109-10, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 138,\n    171, 219, 225-6, 238, 239, 240, 241-2, 243, 250, 266\n\n  Dog-ribs, 26\n\n  Donkey (_see_ Ass)\n\n  Dove, 135\n\n  -- -maiden, 211-12\n\n  Dragon, 171\n\n  -- St. George and the, 186, 226\n\n  Drake, Sir Francis, ghost of, 259\n\n  Du Chaillu, 84\n\n  Duke, _alias_ Manning, Alice, witch, 126\n\n  Dweller on the Threshold, 273\n\n\n  Elementals, 281-2\n\n  Elizabeth, Queen, 118\n\n  Eskimo, 19, 29, 31, 32 _n._\n\n  -- legend, 210\n\n\n  Ferrers family, legend of, 215-6\n\n  Flower, family of witches, 129\n\n  -- Joan, 127-8\n\n  -- Margaret, 127-8\n\n  -- Phillip, 127-8\n\n  Fotis, 139-41\n\n\n  _Galipote_, 54\n\n  Gandillon, George, 59\n\n  -- Perrenette, 59\n\n  -- Pierre, 59\n\n  Garnier, Gilles, 57\n\n  Geti Afraz, 133-8\n\n  Glanvill, Joseph, 103, 111, 249, 250\n\n  Gnomes, 281, 282\n\n  Goat, 45\n\n  Gooding, Elizabeth, witch, 123\n\n  Gordon, Sir Thomas Edward, 191-2\n\n  Gorgons, 159, 163\n\n  Gormanston, Viscounts, legend of, 223-4\n\n  _Grand Veneur_, 259-60\n\n  Grant, Margaret, witch, 11\n\n  Grenier, Jean, 61-64\n\n  Grierson, Isabel, witch, 108\n\n\n  Hallybread, Rose, witch, 124\n\n  Hapton Tower, 228-9\n\n  Hare, phantom, legends of, 105, 253-5\n\n  Harmonia, 173\n\n  Harpies, 159, 162\n\n  Hercules, 42\n\n  Herod, 42\n\n  Hiuen-Tsiang, 179, 187\n\n  Holt Castle, ghost at, 257\n\n  Hoopoe, 213, 214\n\n  Hopi, 33-5\n\n  Hopkins, Matthew, 121-3\n\n  Horse, 111-13, 163\n\n  Horseshoes, 112\n\n  Hott, Jane, witch, 125\n\n  Hound's Pool, 241\n\n  Howard, Lady, 228\n\n  Hy\u00e6na, 26, 79, 80\n\n\n  Iroquois, 18\n\n\n  James I, 64, 103\n\n\n  Kaju wizards, 130\n\n  Kalitas, 27\n\n  Kalmucks, 43\n\n  Kanaima tiger, 87\n\n  Kingfisher, 214\n\n  Kirkpatrick family, legend of, 220-2\n\n  Kobenas, 37\n\n  Kynanthropy, 76\n\n\n  \"Lady of the Lake,\" 222\n\n  La Fontaine, J. de, 156-7\n\n  Lamb, Charles, 159\n\n  _Lamboyo_, 4\n\n  Lambton family, legend of, 227\n\n  Lamia, 175\n\n  Lapwing, 214\n\n  Le Brun, Charles, 42\n\n  Leopard, 33\n\n  -- Society, 66, 86-7\n\n  Levi, Eliphas, 67-9, 278-9\n\n  Lilith, 172, 275\n\n  Livingstone, 82, 82 _n._\n\n  Ljeschi, 164\n\n  Lohengrin, 146\n\n  Lorelei, 147\n\n  _Loup-garou_, 12\n\n  Lowther, Jemmy, 227\n\n  Lucius, 139-40\n\n  Lycanthropy, 2, 7, 8, 76, 84, 266, 295\n\n  -- faithless men consigned to prison for, 53\n\n  Lycaon, 66\n\n\n  Magnus, Olaus, 74\n\n  Magpie, 209\n\n  Malec Muhammed, 133-8\n\n  Mamor, Pierre, 51\n\n  Manx dog, 240-1\n\n  Mara, 147-8\n\n  Marie de France, 72, 74 _n._\n\n  Melanesians, 21-2\n\n  Mermaids, 164-7\n\n  Meroc, sorceress, 114\n\n  Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass of Apuleius, 114, 139, 201\n\n  Minerva, 173\n\n  Minotaur, 167-8\n\n  Monkey, 27\n\n  Moquis, 33-7\n\n  Moth, 26\n\n  Mouse-maiden, 143-5\n\n  Muscipula, 42\n\n\n  Naga, 174, 178, 187\n\n  _Nagual_, 19, 22\n\n  Navajos, 25\n\n  Nereides, 164\n\n  Nightingale, 208, 214\n\n  Nin-Gilbert, Margaret, witch, 106-8\n\n\n  Obrick's Colt, 245\n\n  Ojibways, 17\n\n  Omaha, 30\n\n  Osages, 17\n\n  O-tsze, 88, 90\n\n  Owl-women, 202-4, 206, 207\n\n  Ox, 137, 153\n\n  Oxenham family, legend of, 216-8\n\n\n  Pamphile, 139, 201\n\n  Paracelsus, 51, 267, 268, 279-82\n\n  Peele Castle, ghost at, 240\n\n  Petronius, 66\n\n  Pig, 44\n\n  Poiret, Margaret, 60-2\n\n  Pondoro, 82, 83\n\n  Powis family, legend of, 234\n\n  Puck, 155\n\n\n  Radcliffe family, legend of, 226\n\n  Raqhosh, 151-2\n\n  Repercussion stories, 109, 193-97\n\n  Reresby, Sir John, 257\n\n  Reynard, 157\n\n  Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 42\n\n  Roaring Bull of Bagbury, 237\n\n  Robin, 213\n\n  Rollet, Jacques, 59-60, 64\n\n  Ross, Lord, 127-8\n\n  Rutland, Earl of, 127-8\n\n\n  St. Benedict, 48\n\n  St. Catherine of Sweden, 49\n\n  St. Francis of Assisi, 47\n\n  St. Francis of Paula, 46\n\n  St. Macarius, 113\n\n  St. Pascal Baylon, 50\n\n  St. Peter, 49\n\n  St. Regulus, 46\n\n  St. Ronan, 47\n\n  St. Stanislaus Kostka, 49\n\n  St. Vincent Ferrer, 48\n\n  St. William of Acquitaine, 51\n\n  Salamanders, 281\n\n  _Samyama_, 270-1\n\n  Satyrs, 159, 164\n\n  Scott, Reginald, 64, 103, 113, 114 _n._, 283, 284\n\n  Scott, Sir Walter, 103, 222\n\n  Sea-gull, 210\n\n  Seal, legend of, 233-4\n\n  Sebek, 24\n\n  Sekhet, 189\n\n  Senkepeng, story of, 183\n\n  Serpent (_see_ Snake), 173-88\n\n  \"Seven Whistlers,\" the, 256\n\n  Siderial body, 68\n\n  Sirens, 281, 282\n\n  Skin-dress in transformation, 142, 143\n\n  Snake (_see_ Serpent), 18, 33-7\n\n  Sparrow, Susan, witch, 124\n\n  Sphinx, 162\n\n  Style, Elizabeth, witch, 126\n\n  Swan-maidens, 145, 201\n\n  Swifte, Edmund, 238\n\n  Swine, 46\n\n  Sybil (Lady), of Bernshaw Tower, 228-9\n\n  Sylvestres, 281, 282\n\n\n  _Tamaniu_, 21, 22\n\n  _Tanoana_, 4\n\n  _Tanuki_, 97, 98\n\n  Tedworth, Drummer of, 249\n\n  Thessala, sorceress, 154-5\n\n  Tiger, 11\n\n  _Tigritiya_, 32\n\n  Tinkhlet Indian, 19\n\n  Toradjas, 4\n\n  Tower ghost, 238\n\n  Townley family, legend of, 228-9\n\n  Transformation, methods of, 5-7, 111, 143, 149-50, 151-3\n\n  Transmigration, Egyptian belief in, 153-4\n\n  -- Indian view of, 276-7\n\n  \"Trash,\" story of, 243\n\n  Tregeagle, 242\n\n  Trials of Bourgot, 54-6\n\n  -- Gandillon family, 59, 64\n\n  -- Garnier, 57\n\n  -- Grenier, 61-3\n\n  -- Rollet, 59\n\n  Tumbukas, 77\n\n\n  Ulysses, 131, 132\n\n  Undines, 281, 282\n\n\n  Valkyries, 146, 201\n\n  Vampire, 4, 47, 53, 290\n\n  Venner, Elsie, 177-8\n\n  _Versipelles_, 67\n\n  _Vouivre_, 186\n\n\n  Webster, Dr., 103\n\n  Wells, H. G., 167, 168-70\n\n  Wer-foxes, 88-102, 149\n\n  Wer-lion, 82\n\n  Wer-tiger, 77, 87\n\n  Wer-wolf, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 51, 54-77, 290-1\n\n  Wesley, Rev. Samuel, 250\n\n  West, Anne, witch, 122, 123, 124, 125\n\n  West, Rebecca, witch, 123\n\n  White bird, legends of (_see also_ Oxenham), 255-6\n\n  White doe of Rylstone, 117-19\n\n  Wierius, Johannus, 54\n\n  William of Palermo, 70-2\n\n  Willimott, Joan, witch, 129\n\n  Willington Mill, ghosts at, 251-3\n\n  Witches of Chelmsford, 121\n\n  -- Pendle, 103-5\n\n  -- Strasburg, 109\n\n  -- Vernon, 109\n\n  Witch of Niort, 109-10\n\n  Wolf-worship, 65\n\n  Woodpecker, 208\n\n  Wyecoller Hall, ghost at, 258-9\n\n\n  York Castle, ghost at, 257\n\n\n  Zeus, 65\n\n  Zulus, 188\n\n  Zuni, 29, 30, 185\n\n\n\n                              PRINTED BY\n                      WM. BRENDON AND SON, LTD.,\n                          PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\n\nObvious punctuation and spelling errors have been fixed throughout.\n\nPage 155: The sentence ending in (...fair, large ears.\") has no\nopening quote, left as in the original text.\n\nPage 216: The sentence beginning with (\"It is a noticeable...) has no\nclosing quote, left as in the original text.\n\nPage 292: The sentence beginning with (\"A cat-like...) has no closing\nquote, left as in the original text.","title":"Human Animals","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":99011}