A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & IISleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
History
A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II
Sleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
Oudh (India) -- Description and travel
Rajah Hurdut Sewae, who is now in Lucknow on business, tells me (28th
January, 1851) that the sowar brought the boy to Bondee, and there
kept him for a short time, as long as he remained; but as soon as he
went off, the boy came to him, and he kept him for three months; that
he appeared to him to be twelve years of age; that he ate raw meat as
long as he remained with him, with evident pleasure, whenever it was
offered to him, but would not touch the bread and other dressed food
put before him; that he went on all fours, but would stand and go
awkwardly on two legs when threatened or made to do so; that he
seemed to understand signs, but could not understand or utter a word;
that he seldom attempted to bite any one, nor did he tear the clothes
that he put upon him; that Sanaollah, the Cashmeeree merchant, used
at that time to come to him often with shawls for sale, and must have
taken the boy away with him, but he does not recollect having given
the boy to him. He says that he never himself sent any letter to
Sanaollah with the mother of the boy, but his brother or some other
relation of his may have written one for her.
It is remarkable that I can discover no well-established instance of
a man who had been nurtured in a wolf's den having been found. There
is, at Lucknow, an old man who was found in the Oude Tarae, when a
lad, by the hut of an old hermit who had died. He is supposed to have
been taken from wolves by this old hermit. The trooper who found him
brought him to the King some forty years ago, and he has been ever
since supported by the King comfortably. He is still called the "wild
man of the woods." He was one day sent to me at my request, and I
talked with him. His features indicate him to be of the Tharoo tribe,
who are found only in that forest. He is very inoffensive, but speaks
little, and that little imperfectly; and he is still impatient of
intercourse with his fellow-men, particularly with such as are
disposed to tease him with questions. I asked him whether he had any
recollection of having been with wolves. He said "the wolf died long
before the hermit;" but he seemed to recollect nothing more, and
there is no mark on his knees or elbows to indicate that he ever went
on all fours. That he was found as a wild boy in the forest there can
be no doubt; but I do not feel at all sure that he ever lived with
wolves. From what I have seen and heard I should doubt whether any
boy who had been many years with wolves, up to the age of eight or
ten, could ever attain the average intellect of man. I have never
heard of a man who had been spared and nurtured by wolves having been
found; and, as many boys have been recovered from wolves after they
had been many years with them, we must conclude that after a time
they either die from living exclusively on animal food, before they
attain the age of manhood, or are destroyed by the wolves themselves,
or other beasts of prey, in the jungles, from whom they are unable to
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