The Origin of the Werewolf Superstition — John Shaqi
The Origin of the Werewolf SuperstitionStewart, Caroline Taylor
History
The Origin of the Werewolf Superstition
Stewart, Caroline Taylor
Werewolves
[69] An example of fabulous invention for pure personal gain
occurs Andree, p. 77: If the Greenlanders catch too many seal
at one place, the latter will take a terrible revenge. Assuming
human form, they attack their enemy in the _night_ at his
home. This is the transformation of an animal into a man, but
the inventor of the story was no doubt looking towards his
own gain. It is the same old fight for seal protection which
in another form is still going on to-day. Andree, p. 72. In
Siam stories are told of people who by magic formulae become
tigers and roam about at _night_ in search of booty. One of the
man-tigers was actually a priest.
We have discussed (1), (2), and (3);[70] for an example under (4) we
have cited the practices of American Indians.[71] It is probable that
about now (at the stage indicated in (4) above), what is known as the
real werewolf superstition (that of a frenzied, rabid manwolf) began
to fully develop. The man in wolf-skin was already a lurking thief
or enemy, or a destroyer of human life. To advance from this stage
to the werewolf frenzy, our primitive man must have seen about him
some exhibition of such a frenzy, and some reason for connecting this
frenzy particularly with, say the wolf. He did see insane persons,
and the connecting link would be the crazy or mad wolf (or dog, as
the transformation was usually into a wolf or dog,[72]) for persons
bitten by it usually went mad too.[73] The ensuing frenzy, with the
consternation it occasioned, soon appealed to certain primitive minds
as a good means of terrorizing others. Of these mad ones some no doubt
actually had the malady; others honestly believed they had it and got
into a frenzy accordingly; others purposely worked themselves up into a
frenzy in order to impose on the uninitiated.[74] Later, in the Middle
Ages, when the nature of the real disease came to be better understood,
the werewolf superstition had become too firmly fixed to be easily
uprooted.
[70] Ante pp. 7, 8, 9.
[71] Ante p. 12 fol.
[72] See notes 19 and 74.
[73] Grinnell, Blackfoot lodge tales, p. 283: “It is said that
wolves, which in former days were extremely numerous, sometimes
went crazy, and bit every animal they met with, sometimes even
coming into camps and biting dogs, horses and people. Persons
bitten by a mad wolf generally went mad, too. They trembled and
their limbs jerked, they made their jaws work and foamed at the
mouth, often trying to bite other people. When any one acted in
this way, his relatives tied him hand and foot with ropes, and,
having killed a buffalo, they rolled him up in the green hide,
built a fire on and around him, leaving him in the fire until
the hide began to dry and burn. Then they pulled him out and
removed the buffalo hide, and he was cured. This was the cure
for a mad wolf’s bite.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account