· the origin of the werewolf superstition. 1 {the belief that a human being is capable of...
TRANSCRIPT
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION.1
{The belief that a human being is capable of assuming anan imal ’s form, mos t frequently that o f a wo lf, is an almos t
worldwide superstition . Such a transformed person is the Ger
manic werewolf, or man-wolf ; that is, a wolf which is really
a human being .
2 So the werewolf was a man in wolf’s form or
wolf’s dress,2 seen mostly at night,3 and believed generally to
be harmful to manfjThe origin of this werewolf superstition has not been satis- fl'
factorily explained . Ado lf Erman 5 explains the allusion of
Herodotus 6 to the transformation of the Neurians (the people
Norm—After the autho r had written the fo l lowing arti cl e, shegathered mos t of the materi al contained in the notes . That the o r iginand deve lopmen t of the u se of masks as given in thwm w ,
w ted States Bureau of E thno logy, 188 1 -82, p . 73 fo l . ( see note 32 ) iss im i l ar to the o rigin an d development of the werewo l f superstit ion itse lf,as given in the fo l lowing pages, was an unexpected co i n c id en ce . T he
author has i tal i c ized some wo rd s i n the quo tat ions .2Accord ing to Mogk, in Pau l ’s Grundriss d er german ischen Phi lo logie
III . 272 wer means “man,” found in O l d Saxon,Anglo-Saxon, O l d H ighGerman, and werewo l f a man in wo lf’s form . Koge l connects wer withGo th i c wa sj a n
“kl e iden .
” Darum bedeu te twerwolf eigentl ichWo lfsgewand
ulfsham r ; iihn l ich bedeutet v ie l le i ch t ber serkr Barengewand,” therefore
werewo l f accord ing to Koge l means a wo lf’s dress . See a l so Schrader,Real l exikon der indogerman ischen Al tertumskunde.
3 Post p . 24 .
4 Encyclopaed i a B ritann ica,XV. 90 f01., 1883 z—Beastform in mytho logy
proper is far often er assumed for mal ignan t than for ben ignant ends . Seenote 52 .
5 Reise um d ie erde durch Nordas ien,Berl in, 1833, I . 232 .
6 Herodotus says of the N eurians, that among Scythians and Greekssettl ed i n Scyth ia they pass fo r magicians, becau se on ce a year every Neuri an becomes a wo lf for a few days, and then resumes the human fo rm .
See con cern ing th is al so Hirt, Die Indogermanen, I . 1 20.
253] I
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI STUD IE S [2 54
of the present Volhynia, in West Russia ) into wolves as duemerely to their appearance in winter
,dressed in their furs . This
explanation, however , would not fit similar superstitions in warm
climes . Others ascribe the origin of lycanthropy to primitiveTotemism,
in which the totem is an animal revered by the mem~
bers of a tribe and supposed to be hostile to their enemies .7 Still
another explanation is that of a leader of departed souls as the
original werewolf.8
Th e exp lanation o f the origin of the be l ief in werewo lves must
b e one wh ich wil l apply th e world over, as the werewo lf super
stition i s found pretty much all over the earth,9 especially to-day 10
however in Northwest Germany and Slavic lands ; namely, in
7 Encyclopaed ia Britann ica, XXIII . 467 fo l .8 No te 102, al so see no te 2 2 .
9 See al so Mogk in Pau l’s Grundriss, I II . 2 72 . Dr . Rud . Le ubu scher:
Uber die W ehrwolfe und T h ierverwan d lungen im M i tte l al ter, Berl in, 1850,mentions cases i n an cient Arcad ia, i n Arab ia,Abyssin ia (hyenas) , and thealmost ep idem i c d isease in the M idd l e Ages . Dr . W . Hertz,Der Werwo lf,S tuttgart, 1 862, ascr ibes the superst ition to Armen ia, Egypt, Ab y ss in i a(hyenas ) , Greece (pages 20 but not to Ind ia, contrary to Encyc . Bri t .be low ; on p . 133 he says : “Tierverwand lungen sind al lgeme in mensch l ich,finden wir ub eral l . Die e igen tiim l iche Entwickl ung der Werwo lfsagen
aber finden wir vorzugsweise be i e i ner best immten volkergruppe, denar i s
'
chen Stammen der Griechen, Romer, Kel ten,Germanen und S l aven ;be i d en siidwiirts gezogenen S t
'
simmen der Inder und Iran ie r s ind un sgl e i che Sagen n i cht begegnet [but see below] . Am m assenhaftesten tretend ie Werwo
'
lfe be i den S l aven auf, und ihnen geh iirt d ie ii l te ste h isto rischeErw
’
ahn ung der Sage ; v iel al ter aber ist der Lykaon Mythus und arkad ischeW erwb
'
lfe” . Accord ing to Andree, Ethnographische Paral l e l en und Vergl e i che, Stuttgart, 1878, ss . 62-80, the superst i tion i s found i n every European country (amongst Anglo -S axons, Engl ish, Fren ch, Bretons, Po l es,T schechs, Lithuan ians,White Russ ians of Po l and, i nhab itants of i sl andOese l, Russ ian s, Ital ian s, Po rtuguese, Provencal peop l es, Greeks, Kel ts, i nAsia, Afri ca,Am erica ; but not in Ind ia no r Persia,contrary to Encyc . Brit .below) , espec ial ly though in northwestern Germany and in S l avi c l ands .
As to the American Ind ians, see Ethno logical Report for 1 880-8 1,p . 83,“From their clo se rel ation s with wi ld an imal s Ind ians’ sto ries of tran sformations into beas ts and beasts into men are numerous and interest ing . Int imes of peace, during the long winter even ings, some famous story
2 55] T HE ORIG IN on T HE WEREWOLF SUPER STITION
the lands where the wolf i s most common .
” 12 According to
tel l er to l d of those days i n the past when men and an imal s coul d transfo rmthemselves at wi l l and ho l d converse with one ano ther .”
Jacob Grimm, Teuton i c Mytho logy, Bel l Sons, 1 883, I I . 668
says n o metamo rphos i s o ccurs more frequently i n German i c ant iqu it i esthan that of men in to werewo lves . Thu s F enri sfi lfr, a son of Lok i, make sh is appearan ce i n wo l f’s shape among the gods .En cyc . Brit . XV . 89 fo l ., under the heading Lycanthropy, states z—A
be l i ef firm ly ro o ted among al l savages i s that men are in certain c i rcumstan ces transfo rmed tempo rari ly o r permanen tly i nto wo lves and o ther infe r ior an imal s . In Europe the transformation in to a wo lf i s by far mo reprominen t and frequen t (amongst Greeks, Russ ians, Engl ish, Germans,French, S cand inavian s ) . Bel ief i n metamorphos is i nto the an imal mo stp rominent in any lo cal i ty i tself acqu ires a spec ial p rominen ce . Thus thewere-wolf prevai l s i n Europe, al so i n Engl and,Wal es, Irel and ; and i n S .
Fran ce, the Netherl ands,Germany, Lithuan ia, Bulgaria, Serv ia, Bohemia,Po l and , Russ ia, he can hard ly be p ronoun ced extin ct now ( see no teIn Denmark, Sweden , No rway and Ice l and the bea r competes with thewo l f fo r pre-eminen ce . In Pers i a the bea r i s supreme ; in Japan the f ox ; i nIn d ia the serf erz t v ies with the tig er ( contrary to Mogk i n Pau l
’s Grd . , I I I .272, who says z
—“Nur Griechen, Romer,Kel ten,Germanen , Sl aven unte rden indogerman ischen Volkern kennen den Werwo lf, den Indern u ndIran i ern i st er unbekannt .” Compare no tes 6 and 9, Hertz, p . i nAbyssi n i a and Born eo the Izy ena with the l ion ; i n E . Afri ca the l ion with th ea l l ig a tor ; i n W . Africa the l eop a rd i s p erhaps mo s t frequently the formassumed by man ; among the Ab ipones the tig er, among the Arawaks the
j ag u a r, etc .
In B ro ckhaus’ Konversations-Lexikon, for the M idd l e Ages the werewolf bel ief i s ascribed to al l S l av i c, Kel ti c, German i c and Romani c p eop l es ; found to-day espec ial ly i n Vo l hyn ia and Wh ite Russ ia .
Pau l, Grundriss, II I . 272 :—Bei den Angel sachsen lasst s ich der Wer
wo l f im 1 1 . Jahrh . n achweisen : Knut befah l d en Priestern, ihre Herdenv or dem werewu lf z u sch i rmen Das alteste Zeugn is auf deutschemGebiete vom Werwo lf ist vom Burchard v. Wo rms ( 1 1 century ) .
10See no te 9 .
“En cyc . Brit. XV . 89 fo l . :—There can nowhere be a l iving bel ief i n
contempo rary metamo rphos i s i n to any an imal wh ich has ceased to existi n the parti cu l ar local ity . Bel i ef in metamo rphos i s in to the an imal mostprominen t i n any lo cal ity i tse l f acqu ires a spec ial prominence . (Seeno te In non e of these cases however is the power of transformationl im ited exc lusively to the prominen t and dominant an imal .
ufEncyc . Brit. XXIV. 628 fo l . under Wolf z—The wo lf is found
UN IVER SITY OF MI SSOURI STUDIE S
Mogk13 the superstition prevails to-day especially in the north
and east of Germany.
14
The werewolf superstition i s an old one, a primitive one .
1 5
I e" Q(a. flow .“ A 1 m w a W an t -“QM
in nearly the who l e of Europe and Asia, North America from Greenl and to Mexi co, the Ind ian pen insu l a, but not i n Ceylon, Burmah or
Siam ; and not in South America or Afri ca, i n the two l atter j ackal si nstead .
Meyer’s Kleines konversations-l ex ikon : -Der wo lf “i st haufig i n Ostund Nordeuropa, Mitte l-und Nordasien, No rdamerika, sel tener in Frankre ich and Belgien,den Herden gefahrl i ch,besonders i n Russl and .
” Encyc .B rit., XXIV under Wolf : —In no rthern countries the wo lf is general lyl arger and more powerfu l than i n the sou thern portion of its range .Its habits are s im il ar everywhere . It h as from time immemorial beenknown to man in al l the countries i t inhab its as the devastato r of h isflocks of sheep . I t has speed and remarkab l e enduran ce . They usual lyassemb l e i n tr00ps or packs, except in summer, and by the ir combinedand persevering efforts are abl e to overpower and ki l l even such greatan imal s as the American b ison . Chi ld ren and even grown peop l eare no t i nfrequently attacked by them When pressed for hunger . Thefero c i ty of the wo lf i n the wi ld state i s p roverb ial . Even when tamed,they can rare ly be trusted by strangers .
13 Paul, Grundriss, II I . 272 .
14Gustav Freytag, B i l der au s neuer ze it, Leipz ig, 1904, p . 275 fo l .,
speak ing of the Po l ish borderl ands, says “Noch l ebte d as Landvo l kin ohnmachtigem Kampf mit den Heerden der Wii l fe, wen ig Do
'rfer,
wel chen n icht i n j edem W in ter Menschen und Thiere de c im irt wurden,”
and i n the same note 2, pp . 275-6 z—“A1s 18 1 5 d i e gegenwéirtige Provinz
Posen an Preussen z urii ckfi e l,waren auch dort d ie Wolfe e ine Landplage .
Nach Angaben der Posener P rov in z ialb l éitter wurden im RegierungsbezirkPosen vom 1 . Sept . 18 1 5 b i s Ende Februar 18 16, 4 1 Wii lfe erl egt, nochim Jahre 18 19 im Kre ise Wongrowitz 16 Ki nder und 3 Erwachsene vonWolfen gefressen .
”
15Thus in no te 6 was mentioned Herodo tus’ (484-425 B . C . ) s tatementabou t the N eu rians . The o l dest werewo lf legend acco rd ing to He rtz, i sthat of Lykaon, the son of Pe lasgos,the first king of ancient Arcad ia .
These Arcad ians l ived as huntsmen and shepherds . Accord ing to J . Opp ert
(Andree, p . 65 ; and no tes 6 and 9) the werewo l f superst i tion existedamongst the Assyr ians ; and Andree states, the o l d est Hel l en i c werewo lfmyth i s found in Pausan ias (d ied 467 B . C ) . In the Norse “Edda” we findOd in’s wo lves, al so S kdl l, Hat i and Fenri r. In the Vglsunga Saga, S ig
257] T HE ORIGIN OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
[Tihew point 1n common everywhere 15 the transformation of a l iv
ing human being into an animal, into a wolf in regions where thewolf was common 16 into a lion, hyena or leopard in Africa,
“
Where these animals are common ; into a tiger or serpent in
India ; 17 in other localities into other animal s characteristic of
the region .
18 Among Lapps and Finns occur transformations
into the bear, wolf, reindeer, fish or birds ; amongst many North
Asiatic peoples,as also some American Indians, into the bear ;
amongst the latter also into the fox,wolf, turkey or owl ; in
South America,besides into a tiger or j aguar
,also into a fish, or
serpent . Most universal though it seems .was
“the transformation
into wolves or dogs .”a QAs the superstition is so w idespread— Germany, Eastern
Europe,Africa,Asia,America, it either arose at a very early time,
mund and S infjgtl i become wo l ves . F or o ther reflections of the fear i nwh ich wo lves were hel d, see the 10th century ms . of the “W i en erHunde segen
” against mal e and femal e wo lves (Braune, Al thochdeutschesLesebuch, 6. aufi . 1907, p . Jacob Gr imm,
—Gesch i chte der deutschensprache s . 233 :—“U nsere th ierfab e l ste l l t vortrefli ich das gebannte raub th ie rdes waldes dar, und lehrt d i e n éihe des wo lfs und fuchses .”
C. Lemcke, Aesthetik, 6 . aufi . II . 1890, s . 562 :—Ih d ie altesten Ze iten
h inauf re icht au ch be i Jagervolkern d ie T iersage, i n ihrer We ise zum Te i ld ie E igentiim l ichke i ten der Tiere erk léirend, ihr G eb ahren erz ahl endf
Die furchtbaren und d ie l ist igen Tiere bo ten s i ch am bes ten dar. W0
d ie Menschen stadtisch be isammen wohnen, bl e ib t Tier Tier ; wo si ee insamer mit T iere n l eben, bekommen d iese e in e hohere Bedeu tung . S o
wird dem waldler Bar und Wo lf zum eb enb ii rtigen Réiub er und Kampfer,menschl icher aufgefasst zum Gegner vo l l Mut, List, Rachsucht, derGedanken hat wie der Mensch se lbst .”
16Vo lhyn ia,Europe,Northern Asi a. Formerly,accord ing to Andree, p .
65, the wo lf was as common throughout Eu rope as it i s to-day in Russ ia .
Hirt, Die Indogermanen, I . 187, says : “Der Wo l f i s t iib eral l i n Europaverbreitet gewesen, der Bii r ist aber ganz s icher e in Wa ldtie r.”
‘7 No te 9.
18 Cf . no te 9, Encyc . Brit.19Leub uscher, p . 1 :—We i l d ie Verwand lung vorzugswe ise in Hunde
und wolfe geschehen so l l te, so erh ie l t d ie Krankhe it den n amen Lykanthrop ie .
UN IVER SITY OF MI SSOURI STUDIES [2 58
M
when all these peopl es were in communication with each other 20
or else, in accord with another view of modern science, it aroseindependently in various continents in proc ess of the natural psychical development of the human race under similar conditions .
[The origin of the superstition must have been an old cus
tom of primitive man’s of putting on a wolf’s or other animal’s
skin 2 1or dress
,or a robe .
22 Thus Leubuscher,23 says :“E s i st
2001 as Mogk i n Pau l ’s Grd .
, II I . 2 72 expresses i t, for examp l eamongst th e West Indoge rm an i c peopl es when they sti l l fo rmed a who l e,as shepherds, by whom the wo lf as robber of herds was espec ial ly feared .
Leu b u scher,p . 55 writes “Die meisten Lykan thropen waren H irten, d ie
im Fre ien l ebten, mit Tieren vie l verkehrten, und der Wo lf schweb teihrer E inb i l dungskraft am oftersten vor, wei l s ie am meisten damit z u
kiimp fen hatten . Wenn das Gespenst des Wehrwo l fe s s i ch in E inzelnenals Krankhe i t erhob,war d ie Gegend wahrschein l i ch von Wii lfen beso ndersbeunruhigt wo rden, und wahrsche i n l ich manche Mordtha t nur von
Wii l fen beg angen .
” B thu . Rep . 1888-89, p . 282 :—“The Dako tas have longbe l i eved in the appearance from time to t ime of a monstrous an imal thatswal lows human be ings . The superst i tion was perhaps suggested by thebones of m astodons, o ften found in the territo ry o f tho se Ind i an s .”
21E thn . Rep . 1893-
94, p . 267 :—~In ce l ebrat ions it is poss ib l e that the
foxsk in so un iversal ly worn by the an im ist i c p erson ificat ion s i s a surv iva l comparabl e wi th the sk in of the an imal i n wh ich fo rmerly the who l ebody was clo thed .
22Hertz, p . 1 7, gives the o r igin as fo l lows : “In der a l testen Natu rrel igion i st d ie Go tthe i t d es Todes und der winterl i chen Erde al s Wo l fgedacht. Ih re Pr ieste r trugen woh l i n d er Vorze i t Wo lfsfe l l e und ha tte nnach dem Vo lksgl auben d ie Gabe, s i ch in das Tier der Gotthe i t z u
verwandel n . Der Wo l f, al s das schnel l e, kamp fgewandte Tier, war zumraschen Zu ru cklegen weiter Wege und zur Erl egung von Fe inden besondersgee ignet . Darum nahmen d ie Gotte r u nd d ie z aub erb egab ten Me nschenz u so l chen Zwecken Wo lfsgestal t . Der Wo lf i st von Natur gefahrl i ch undwurde darum als d iabo l i sch gedacht, und be im Werwo lfe auch ist Drangnach Mo rd und Z e rstorung d ie Hauptsache . Die U rsprii nge des Werwo lfgl aubens waren al so 1 . rel igio’ se Vo rstel l ungen, 2 . Rechtsvorste l lung(der fr ied lo se Mo
'rder ist e i n Wo lf be i Griechen und Germanen 3 . d i eGe isteskrankhe it de r Lykanthrop ie .
” Page 5 1 .
“Die Verwand lung inW ii lfe gesch ieht vo rzugswe ise durch Wo lfshemden .
” Page 57 : “Dass d iev on al l em mensch l i chen Verkehr abgeschn ittenen Wa ldflii chtigen s i ch i nTierfel l e kl e ideten, i st nahe l iegend .
23 Page 46. See al so no te 9 .
2 59] T HE ORIGIN on. THE WEREWOLF SUPER STITION
der Mythenkreis eines j eden Volkes aus einfachen wahren Bege
benheiten hervorgewachsen .
”24-25 Likely also the notion of at
tributing speech to animals originated from such disguising or
dressing of men as animals . In the following we shall examine
into primitive man’s reasons for putting on such a skin or robe .
Primitive man was face to face with animal foes, and had
to conquer them or be destroyed! The werewolf superstition in
Europe arose probably wh il e the Greeks,Romans, Kelts and Ger
manic peoples were still in contact with each other,if not in the
original Indo-Germanic home, for they all have the superstition
(unless, as above, we prefer to regard the belief as aris ing in
various localities in process of p sychical development under sim
i lar conditions ; namely, when peopl e sti ll lived principally by the
chase -2 6 ) E’robably the primitive Indo-European man before andat the time of the origin of the werewolf superstition, was almost
helpless in the presence of inexorable nature. This was before
he used metal for weapons . The great business of l ife was to
secure food . Food was furnished from three sources roots,berr ies
,animals
,and the most important of these was an lmals .
27
24S im i larly D i l they, Er lebn i s und D ichtung, 1906, p . 1 53 fo l . ;-“Ist so
d ie E inb i l dungskraft i n Mytho s und Gotterg laub en, z unachst gebunden and as Bedii rfn i s des Lebens, so sondert s i e s i ch do ch al lmah l ich im Ve rl aufder Ku l tu r von den re l ig ib
’
sen Zweckbeziehungen und erhebt j ene zwe iteWe l t z u e in er u nabhang igen Bedeutsamkeit”— l ike Homer, Dante, e tc .
See no te 20, c lose, and En cyc . Br it ., Lycan thropy z—“Insane de lusion smust reflect the usages and be l i efs of contemporaneous society .
”
25 No tes 20, 2 1 and 27.
26 See no te 1 5 .
27Grin nel l, S to ry of the ind ian, p . 54, says z—Traces o f the fear i n
whi ch buffalo “were he l d may sti l l b e d iscovered in the trad i tional stori esof certain t ribes, whi ch set forth how, i n tho se days,” [ i . e . i n the ston eage] “befo re men were provided wi th arms, the buffalo used to chase, k i l l,and eat the peop le . Such tal es show very cl early how great ly the bu ffalowere d readed in an cien t t imes, and such fear cou ld hard ly have arisen saveas the resul t of actual experien ce of the i r power to i nfl i ct i njury andd eath .
” P l i ny informs us how the Romans kept the wo lf ou t of the ir
UN IVERSITY OF MISSOUR I STUDIES
Without eflicient weapons, it was difficult to kill an animal of anys ize
,in fact the assailan t was likely himself to be killed . Yet
primitive man had to learn to master the brute foe. Soon he no
longer crouched in sheltered p laces and avo ided the enemy, but
began to watch and study it,/ to learn its habits, to l earn what
certain animals would do under certain circumstances, to l earn
what would frighten them away or what would lure them on .
So at least the large animals were to early man a constant cause
of fear and source of danger ; yet it was necessary to have their
flesh for food and their skins for cloth ing.
28
Very soon various ingenious contrivances were devised for
trapp ing them . No doubt one primitive method was the use of
decoys to lure animals into a trap . Some could be lured by baits,others more easily by their kind . Occasionally masks were used,29
and similarly,another form of the original decoy was no doubt
simply the stuff ed skin of a member of the species,whether ani
mal or bird,say for example a wild duck .
30 Of course the
fiel ds, see Grimm, Teuton i c Mytho logy, III . 1 24 1 . Whether the Ind ian sl ived on the steppes, in the woods, on the coast, or i n the mountains,the an imal s were the i r who l e study . They moved with the an imal s,fo l lowed them for food .
28 No te 27.
2l’E thn . Rep . 1 881 -82, p . 1 2 2 , no te z— It seems that masks were o ccas ional ly used as decoys . N ext to the o tter the most valuabl e an ima l inthe est imation of the Kadiak men, i s the spec ie s of seal o r sea-dog cal l edby the Russian s nerpa . The eas iest manner of taking i t is to enti ce i ttoward the shore . A fisherman, con ceal ing the lower part of h is bodyamong the rocks, puts on his head a wooden cap or rather casque resembl ing the head o i a seal and makes a no ise l ike that an imal . The nu
susp ic ious seal, imagin ing that he is about to meet a partner o f his ownspec ies
,hasten s to the spo t and is i nstantly ki l l ed . Compare no te 57.
3°E thn . Rep . 1896-97. I . 132
-Bering Strai t Esk imo stuff rudely theskin of the b i rd cal l ed ptarmigan, and mount i t upon a st i ck wh ich ho ldsthe head outstretched, then im itate the cal l of the b ird,which i s trappedin the net attached to the decoy . O ther decoys are made by mo ld ing softs now into the form of a b ird ; for the ptarm igan, brown moss is pu t aroundthe neck for pl umage . The cal l then brought the real birds .
26 1] THE ome ns OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
hunter would soon hit on the plan of himself putting on the animalskin, in the case of larger animals ; that i s, an individual dressed
for example in a wolf’s skin could approach near enough to a
sol itary wolf to attack it w ith hi s club, stone or other weapon,without exciting the wolf’s suspicion of the nearness of a dan
gerous foe .
3 1 So the animal disguise, entire or partial, was used
by early man acting in the capacity of a decoy, firstly, to secure
food and clothing. Secondly,he would assume animal disguise
,
whol e or partial, in dancing and singing ; and both these accom
31Thus G . B . Grinne l l, S to ry of the ind ian, p . 6 1, i n h is descr ipt ion of the pr im itive Ind ians’ method o f trapp ing bu ffalo, says : “Somemen wen t forth naked, o thers carried a d ress made of the ent i re skin of abuffalo, the head and ho rn s arranged l ike a buffalo head, wh i l e the rest o fthe sk in hung down ove r the wearer’s back,” etc . This “cal l er” went nearto a herd of buffalo, go t them in pursu i t o f h im, then l ed them in to the
trap, a chute, o r to a precip i ce, the fal l from which often proved fatal tothe enti re herd . Again, i n E thn . Rep . 1884
-85, p . 484,about Cen tral E skimo
seal hunting, i s stated : If a hunter i s close to an an imal he imitates i tsmovements . Some utter sounds s im i l ar to those of a b lowing sea l . “Theseal ski n clo th ing makes man and seal look so extremely al ike that i t i sd ifii cu lt to d ist inguish on e from the o ther at some d istan ce .
” And on p .
508, abou t deer hunt ing : I n a p l ain the Central E skimos carry gun s on
the i r shoul ders,two men go i ng together, so as to resemb l e the an tl ers of adeer . The men imit ate the i r grunting . If they l ie on the ground at somed istan ce they greatly resembl e the an imal s themse lves . Acco rd ing to
Ro ss the “inhabitants of Boo th ia im itate the appearance o f the deer,the
foremo st o f two men stal king a herd bearing a deer’s head upo n h is own .
"
E thn . Rep . 1888-89,p . 534 :—“The o ld manner of hunting ante lope and deer
th e hunter wou ld d isgu ise h imself by cover ing h is head with the head andskin of an an telope, and so be enabl ed to approach th e game near enoughto use h is b ow and arrow . In a s im i l ar manner the H idatsa would maskthemselves wi th a wo l fsk in to en abl e them to approach buffalo .
” E thn .
Rep . 1901-02, p . 439 ;
—T wo o f the party of hunters (Zu fi i) ou t after dee r“wear co tton sh irts with sl eeves to the e l bow, the front and back of thesh irt be ing painted to represen t as nearly as poss ibl e the body o f the deer ;the hands and the arms to the elbow and al so the s l eeves are co lored to
represen t the deer’s fore l egs . Each wears the sk in o f a deer’s head overhi s head . I n th is d ress the two huntsmen imitate as c lose ly as poss ibl e,even to the browsing, the game they woul d catch .
”
UNIVERSITY OF M ISSOURI STUDIES [262
plishments seem to have arisen from the imitation of the motions
and cries of animals,3 2 at first to lure them, when acting as a
decoy . With growth of culture came growth of supernaturalism,
and an additional reason for acquiring dance and song was tosecure charms against bodily ills,3 3 and finally enl ivenment .3 4 Inboth dance and song, when used for a serious purpose, the per
formers imagined themselves to be the animals they were imi
3”E thn . Rep . 1 897-
98, I . 352 : -Trad it ion says the Iroquo i s d erived themusic and action of the Buffalo dance whi l e on an exped it ion against theCherokee, from the bel lowing and the movements of a herd of buffalowh ich they heard for the first t ime ‘s inging the i r favo rite songs,’ i . e .
bel lowing and sno rt ing.
” Also no te 33 .
33E thn . Rep . 1897-98, I . 266, gives a song to prevent frostb ite . The
wo lf’s, deer’s, fox’s, opossum’s feet i t i s he l d never become fro stb i tten .
After each verse of the song, the s inger im itates the cry and the act ion of
the an imal . The words used are archai c i n form and may be rendered“I become a real wo lf, e tc .” The song runs
1 . T sfifi'wa' ‘ya
-
ya'(repeated four times ) , wa+a l (pro longed how l) .
The si nger im itates a wo lf pawing the ground with h is feet .2 . T sfifi '-ka'wi-ye
'(four t imes) , sauh ! sauh l sauh ! sauh ! ( im itating
the cal l and j umping of a deer) .
3 . T sfli’i '-tsu ’ ‘ la-ya' (four t imes ), gaih ! gaih ! ga ih ! ga ih ! ( imitates barking and scratch ing of a fox ) .
4 . Tsafi '-s i ’-kwa-ya'
(four times ) , ki+( im i tates cry of th e opossumwhen cornered, and throws h is head back as that an imal does whenfe ign ing death ) .
84E thn . Rep . 1 88 1 -82,p . 323, about the Omaha Coyote d ance performedby warr iors whenever i t was thought necessary to keep up the i r sp iri ts, i nwh ich each had h is robe about h im and im itated the actions of the coyo te,t ro tting, gl an c ing around, etc . Page 348 describes the Omaha Buffalod ance, i n which each of fou r men used to put the skin of a buffalo overh is head, the ho rns stand ing up, and the hai r of the buffalo head hangingdown below the chest o f the wearer . The var ious movements of th e
buffalo were im itated by the dancers . Pages 348-349, the Omaha wo lfdance, by the soc iety of those who have supernatural commun ication withwo lves . The dan cers wear wo l fsk in s, and dan ce in imitation o f theact ions of wo lves . S im i l ar ly they performed the grizzly bear dan ce,ho rse dance, etc .
T HE OR IGIN OF THE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
tating,3 5 and in the dance they wore the skins of the animals
represented.
3§lProbably as long as animal form
,partial or entire, was as
sumed merely for decoys and sport (early dancing) , for peaceful
purposes therefore,such people having whole or partial animal
shape were not regarded as harmful to man,3 8 j ust as wise women
began to pass for witches only when with their art they did evil .3 9
A similar development can be traced in the case of masks .
40 It
was some time before man could cope w ith food-and clothing
furnishing animals that were dangerous to l ife, though these are
the ones he first studied ;4 1 and we cannot presuppose that he dis
guised to represent them unti l he could cope w ith them, since the
original purpose of the disguise was to secure food and cloth ing.
Thus far then we see whol e or partial disguise as animal s used to
secure food and clothing when acting as decoys to lure animals ;and in dancing .
35 No tes 22,34 and 37.
3“See notes 34 and 37.
37S im i l arly i n the u se of masks ( see no te See Wundt,Volkerp sycho log ie II . i . 4 1 2 fo l ., and in regard to th is Ze itschrift fii r deutsch ePh i lo logie,XXXVI I I . 1906, se. 558
-568 z—“Der maskierte mensch i st d e r
ekstatische Mensch . M i t dem anl egen der maske versetzt er s i ch i nekstase
, fiih l t er s ich in fremde leb en svorgange e in, e igne t e r s i ch daswesen an
,mit dem er s ich du rch d ie maske iden tific iert.
” F ii r dennaiven menschen, wie fii r das kind, ist d ie maske durchaus n ichtblosser s che in, sondern wirkender charakter . Der augenb l ickstan z
wurd e zum z aub e rtan z . D ie natu rvolker verwenden ihre masken nurbe i den fe ierl i ch-ernsten z aub ertan z en, n i cht z u ih rer burl esken m im ik ;d ie tanzer s ind in T ie rrnasken , etc .
33Amongst Ameri can Ind ians for exampl e a man transform ed into abear and vice versa i s usual ly regarded as benevo lent (E thn . Rep . 1880-8 1,
p . See,also
,Grimm, Teu ton ic Mytho logy, I I I . 1097 :
— In No rseaccounts al so we find tran sfo rmation into a bear, for the bear was regardedas rationa l and was esteemed .
39 No te 84 .
40See no te 57a .
41No tes 27 and 42 .
UN IVERSITY OF M ISSOURI STUDIES
Eourthly, primitive man would put on an animal’s skin or
dress when out as forager (or robber) or spy, for the purpose
of avoiding detection by the enemy.) The Pawnee Indians forexample,4 3 were called by neighboring tribes wolves, probably
not out of contempt, since it may be doubted that an Indian feels
contempt for a wolf any more than he does for a fox, a rabbit, or
an elk,but because of their adroitness as scouts, warriors and
stealers of horses ; or, as the Pawnees think, because of their
great endurance, their skill in imitating wolves so as to escape de
tection by the enemy by day or night ; or,according to some
neighboring tribes,because they prowl like wolves4 4 “have the
endurance of wolves, can travel all day and dance all night, can
make long journeys,l iving on the carcasses they find on their
way,or on no food at all.” And further, The Pawnees
,
when they went on the warpath, were always prepared to sim
42The important cons iderat ion in the m ind of primitive man waswhether certai n th ings were harmfu l o r useful . See Behaghe l, Diedeutsche Sprache, p . 98 :
-“Die gro ssen Tiere und d ie machtigen
Baume,d ie Tiere und Pflan z en,d ie fii r d ie E rna'
lz rang and B elelez'
dn de sMenschen von Bedeutung s ind,d ie Tiere,d ie se in Leben bed rohen, s ie habenvie l friiher sprachl i che Beze ichnung gefunden, al s der unsche inbare Kaferim Sande, al s d ie kl e ine B l ume des Wal des . S o kommt es, dass d ie Namender grosseren Tiere,der gro ssen Wa ldbaum e, der wichtigsten Getre idearte nal l en german ischer S tammen gemeinsam s ind, e inze ln e sogar, wie WolfK ub , Oc se, E r l e, Gerste mit den Benennungen andereri ndogerman ischer Volker ub ere in stimm en .
" Doubtl ess an imal s occup iedthe i r attention sooner than p l ants . See Wundt, Volkerp sycho log ie, I I .4 1 2 fo l ., about the m a sken ta n z “Ub erhaup t haben d ie Tiermotive weitfriiher Berii cks i cht igung erfahren al s d i e Pflan z enmot ive .
See no te 95 .
43 G . B . Grinnel l, Pawnee hero sto ri es and fo l k-tal es, N . Y., S c ri b
ners, 1893, p . 245, fo l .
“Jacob Grimm, Gesch ichte der deutschen Sprache,s . 233 : E i n
sab in i scher stamm h ie sz H i rp i ( l at. lz z'
rpa s bedeutet wolf i n sab in ischer
osk i scher Mundart) , wei l den e inwandernden ei n wo l f fiihrer gewo rdenwar
, oder n ach andrer sage s ie Wolfe gejag t h atten und gl e ich wolfenraubten,d . h . im s in n des deutschen ausdrucks fr ied lo s waren .
2 65] T HE OR IGIN OF T HE W ERqLF SUPERSTITION
u late wolves . Wolves on the prairie were too common 4 5
to excite remark, and at night they would approach close
to the Indian camps .” The Pawnee starting off on the
warpath usually ca rried a robe made of wolf skins,or in later
times a White blanket or a white sheet ; and, at night, wrapping
himself in this,and getting down on his hands and knees, he
walked or trotted here and there l ike a wolf,having thus trans
formed himself into a common obj ect of the landscape . This
disguise was employed by day as well,for reconnoissance .
While the party remained hidden in some ravine or hollow, one
Indian would put his robe over him and ga110p to the top of the
h ill on all fours,and would sit there on his haunches looking all
over the country, and anyone at a distance who saw him, would
take him for a wolf . It was acknowledged on all hands that the
Pawnees could imitate wolves best . “An Indian going into an
enemy’s country is often called a wolf,4 6 and the sign for a scout
i s made up of the signs wolf and look.
”4 7 Should any scout de
teet danger, as at night when on duty near an encampment, he
must give the cry of the coyote .
4 8
fihe idea of the harmfulness to other men of a man in
animal form or dress became deeply seated now, when men in an
imal disguise began to act not only as decoys for animals danger
ous to l ife, but also as scouts (robbers4 9— and later as posses
45The werewo lf sto ry cou l d ar ise on ly where the an imal,wo lf, t iger o r Il ion, e tc .
, was common ; and l ikewise the werewo l f tal es g radual ly d iedou t when the an imal s became rare or ext in ct . See note 1 1 .
“5Grinnel l , p . 245 .
47The Watus i of East Afr ica d isti n ctly describe al l wi ld beasts savethe ir own totem-an imal s as enemy -scouts (Encyc . Brit . under Lycanthropy ) .
48E thn . Rep . 1881-82, p . 323 . See al so Grinne l l, Sto ry of the i nd ian,p .
208 : The wo lf was bel i eved, i n the an imal s’ counc i l, to be abl e to givethe Ind ian the power to creep right i nto the m idst of the en emy’s campwithout be ing seen .
49 See note 53 .
UNIVERSITY OF M ISSOUR I STUDIES
sors of supernatural power,when growth of culture brought
with it growth of supernaturalism 50) when people began to as
sociate,for example
,the wolf’s form with a lurking enemy .
5 1
All uncivil ized tribes of the world are continually on the
defensive,l ike our American Indian ; they all no doubt on occas
ion have sent out scouts who,like our American Indians
,to avoid
detection,assumed the disguise of the animal most common to
the special locality in question, j ust as to—day they are known todisguise in animal skins for purposes of plunder or revenge .
5 2 5 3
50See note 57-b .
“S o original ly the german ic god Log i was no t an evi l god . Log z'
mean t
the n atural fo rce of fire ; Loki meant the same, but the burly gian t hasbeen made a sly, sedu c ing vi l l a in (Grimm, Teu t . Myth . I . A son of
Loki, Fenrisfilfr, appears in wo lf’s shape among the gods . Perhapsasso c iat ion with the wo l f is in part responsib le for the transformation of
Logi (Loki ) from a good to an ev i l god .
52Encyc . Brit . under Lycan thr0py z—In modern savage . l ife we findb eastform of chiefs or sp i ri ts, med ic ine men, some hunt in beast fo rm for
the commun ity ; o thers are said to assume beast form in o rder to avengethemse lves j ustly on enem ies ; o thers for love of bloodshed and can n ibali sm . See al so note 58 .
53No doubt some of these men d isgu ised as wo l ves won considerabl efame through the i r sk il l and bravery, as we shou l d judge from suchproper nam es as Rudolf,which mean s real ly Ruhmwolf , R ahm re l ated toGoth ic hrop e zgrs “victorious,” Sanskri t kz r “to p ra ise” ; o r Adolf fromAda lolf ,wh i ch means E delwolf, original ly, therefo re, E del r ii aber, forwolf meant o rigin al ly about the same as robber (Kluge) . S o roboer or
wolf was o riginal l y a h igh ly respectab l e appe l l ation, at a t ime when menl ived from robbery and the chase, e ither as searobb e
’
rs, or mountainrobbers, etc . (about th is early profess ion see H irt, Die Indogermanen,1905, p . 268 and the p rofess ion was no t looked on as a d isgrace
(see appel lat ion “wo lve s” app l ied to Pawnees, p . Later we findsuch names as Wu lfil a
“l i tt l e wo l f.” Many Ind ian names are those o f
an imal s,such as Good Fox, Good Bear,Wal k ing Bear, Conquer ing Bear,
Rush ing Bear, Stumbl ing Bear, Brave Bear, Bear R ib, Smoking Bear,
B it ing Bear, Bear-Looks-Back, Cloud Bear, Mad Bear, Mad Wo lf,Lone
Wo l f, Lean Wo lf, Wo lf-Ear, Wo lf-Robe, etc . See Bthu . Rep . 1882 -83,
p . 169 : The names of Ind ians very often refer to some an imal, pred icatingsome attribu te o r pos ition of that an imal . For d iscuss ion of names
,see
note 1 1 1 .
267] T HE ORIGIN OF THE WEREWOLF SUPER STITION
The kind of animal makes no diff erence,the underlying
principle is the same ; namely, the transformation of a l iving hu
man being into an animal . The origin of the be l ief in such a
transformation, as stated above 5 4 was the simple putting on of
an animal skin by early man‘
f] The obj ect of putting on animalskins was
,
J
( 1 ) T0 gain food . For this purpose the motions and cries
of animals were imitated (origin of dancing and s inging) ,5 5
artificial decoys ( l ike decoy ducks to-day) 5 6 and finally even
masks were used .
5 7
54Ante p . 6 .
55 See (3) below .
“See ante p . 8 .
57 See note 4 and a l so Bthu . Rep . 188 1-82, p . 73 fo l . (see no te 37) —Theuse of masks is worl dwide . The or igin an d deve lopment of the u se of
masks i s very much the same as the o rig in and deve lopmen t of the werewo l f as given in the preced ing pages . T he wo lfrob e and th e mask, botho r igin al ly usefu l d ev ices, degenerated in unscrupul ou s hand s i nto instru
ments for personal aggrand izemen t and gai n . The use of the mask is d escrib ed in the above report as fo l lows
a ) . I t was used as a sh ie ld or protection for the face, for defenseagainst physi cal v io len ce, human o r o therwise . It was therefore fi rs t usedmere ly as a mechan ical resi stan ce to the oppos ing force ; then second ly,st i l l i n the lowest grade of cul tu re, i t was used to i nsp ire terro r, to gain amo ral i nfluence over the Oppos ing agen t by h ideousness or bysymbo l i z ingsuperhuman agenci es . N ow ind iv idual vari ations arose—dev ices fo r examp l e d er ived or conventional ized from some predatory, shrewd o r mysterious an imal .
b ) . W i th growth of cu ltu re came growth of supernatural ism, andthe mask came to be used i n re l igious performan ces, as a part of the re l igious paraphernal ia, l ike the sh irts or gird l es o f the shamans. E thn . Rep .
1896-97, I . 395 :—“When worn i n any ceremon i al, the wearer is
bel ieved to become mysterious ly and un consc iously imbued with the sp i r i tof the be ing wh i ch h is mask represents .
”
c ) . F inal ly the e l ement of humo r enters in, and the mask is used forpubl ic amusements and games ; by secre t societ ies ; as p ro tection againstrecogn i t ion on festive o ccas ion s,” etc ., l ike the an imal skins worn i ndan ces .
UN IVERSITY OF MISSOUR I STUDIES
(2 ) To secure clothing in cold climes by trapping or decoy
ing animals, as in ( 1 ) above.
3) The imitation when decoying,of the motions of ani
mals led to dancing, and in the dances and var ious ceremonies the
faces and bodies of the participants were painted in imitation of
the colors of birds and animals,the motions of animals imitated
and animal disguises used .
5 8
1 (4 ) Scouts disguised themselves as animals when out
foraging, as well as for warfare,5 9 60 therefore for booty, and self
defense . E ither they wore the entire skin, or probably later j ust
a part of it as a fetich, l ike the left h ind foot of a rabbit, worn as
a charm by many of our colored peopl e to—day .
6 1
58 No tes 32, 34, 33, an te p . 1 1 .
59 See p . 1 3.
60E thn . Rep . 1888-89, p . 5o3 z—Account of “a c loak or mantl e made
from the skin of a deer, and covered with various myst i c paint ings . It wasmade and used by the Apaches as a mantl e of invis ibi l ity, that is, acharmed cover ing for sp ies wh ich woul d enab l e them to pass with impuni ty through the country, and even through the camp of the ir enemies . Inth i s in stan ce the fet ich ist i c power depends upon the devices drawn .
” TheApache have a s im i l ar feti ch o r charm . The symbo l s drawn were the rainc loud, serpent l ightn ing, raindrops and the cro ss of the winds of the fourcard inal po in ts . E thn . Rep . 1889
-
90, p . 5 15 z—Among the Hidatsa (Sioux )
feti ches are espec ial ly the skin s of the wo l f. “When they go to war, theya lways wear the str ipe off the back o f a wo lf sk in, with the ta i l hangingdown the shou lders . They make a sl i t i n the sk in through wh i ch the warriorputs h is head, so that the sk in of the wo lf’s head hangs down upon hi sbreast .” Fin al ly the magic robes or sh irts and gird l e s came to be a part oft he regu l ar paraphernal ia of the shamans, o r practi sers of magic . I n thefo l k lore o f al l countr ies we find numerous no t i ces of ho ly gi rd l es .
E thn . Rep . 1897-
98, I . (Cherokee) 393 : “Some warriors had med ici n eto change their shape as they p l eased, so that they coul d escape from thei renem ies .” Page 501 : Such stor ies m ight be paral l el ed in any tribe .
61 See further deve lopment i n no te 64 .
UNIVERSITY OF M I SSOUR I STUDIES
superhuman power or attributes,6 5 and then ,
26, of the Bureau of American Ethno logy,Wash ington , 1901, Kath lame t
texts, p . 156 fo l . —A woman ate of some of the fat of a b itch, gaveb irth to five male dogs and one femal e dog . When they grew o l der, shed iscovered one day that they could transfo rm themselves in to real ch i ld ren . Wh i l e they were down at the beach, she entered the house, andnow she saw the dog b l ankets . She took them and burnt them . Then thech i l d ren retained the i r human fo rm ( l ike S igmund and S infjgtl i in theVo l sungasaga) . Page 58 fo l ., i s the Myth of the E lk, acco rd ing to whichan o ld man transfo rmed h imself i n to an e lk by putting on an e l ksk in .
W . G o l ther, Handbuch der german ischen mytho logie, 1895 , p . 100,
writes, Die Fah igke i t von Leuten, d ie s ich verwande l n kbnnen, he isst ‘s i chz u hauten, d i e Hii l le z u wechsel n’. Das Umwerfen e ines au sse rl ichenGewandes kann den We chse l der Gestal t hervo rbringen, wie Freyj asF edergewand, d ie Schwan und Kréihenhem den der Va l kyrjen , Od in sAd l ergewand . Die Wo lfsgewiinder (filfaham i r) wenn angel egt, ve rwan
de ln den Menschen zum Wo lfe” . See al so Me issner, R i tte r T iode l,Zeitschrift fii r deutsches al tertum, XLVI I . 2 61 .
65 E thn . Rep . 1901-02, p . 392 :
—The owner of fine beads fears that somewitch
,promp ted by j ealousy, wi l l str ike him with d isease .
As ano ther example’
of the p retended assumption of superhumanpowers to gain i nfluen ce over o thers,we may c ite the instances given byAnd ree, p . 68 fo l ., acco rd ing to whi ch Livingston met i n Afr i ca a n at ivesaid to have power to transfo rm h imself into a l ion . As l ion he wou l ds tay for days and months i n the forest, i n a sacred b u t to which howeverh is wife carr ied beer and food for h im, so we may j udge that at l east th isl ion d id no t cause much devastation amongst the wi ld beasts . He was abl eto reassume human form by means o f a certa in med ic in e brought h im byh is wife . Again Andree, p . 69 :
— In Banana, Afri ca, the members of a certain fam ily transfo rm themselves i n the da rk of th e forest i n to l eopard s .They throw down those they meet in the fo rest, but dare no t i njure themno r d rink the i r blood, l est they remain l eopards . (See no te
The mo t ive o f personal gain i s exemp l ified by ou r Ameri can Ind ian s,
who put on a wo lf’s mantl e to steal, or to recove r sto l en an imal s (Grinne l l, Pawnee hero stories, p . 247, al so the story of robbery enti t l edWo lves in the n ight, p . 70 S im i l arly i n Abyss in ia, Andree, p . 69,
where the lowest caste of l abo rers are bel ieved to have power to transfo rmthemselves in to hyenas or o ther an imal s, as such, p lund er ing graves . Theyemp loy natural ly vario us artifi c es to help along thei r cause, s ince it y iel dssuch returns . They are repo rted to act l ike o ther fo lk by day, at n ightthough to assume the ways of wo lves, kil l the i r enem ies and suck the i rb lood, roam ing about with o the r wo l ves t i l l mo rn ing . They are supposed
27 1] T HE ORIGIN OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
I(7) Witchcraft .6 6 It is very easy to see why it was usually
to gain the i r supernatural powers by a secret beverage made from herb s .
They are no t l ike ly to be d iscovered to be on ly sham an imal s, s in ce the i rro am ing and p lundering is done i n the n ight ; i n the daytime they of
course con ceal the an imal sk ins ( see Andree, p .
Bthu . Rep . 1 880-81, p . 68 : -Amo ng the Chaldeans, Egyp tians an dGreeks, th e su ccess of magi c depended upon the igno ran ce of the massesand the comparat ive l earn ing of the few who practised i t . Among theAmer i can Ind ian s the med icine-man and th e more expert so rceress h avel i ttl e l earn ing above that of the body of the tr ibe, and the i r su ccess d epends entirely upon the ir own be l ief i n be ing supernatural ly gifted, andupon the faith and fear of the ir fo l lowers .
The I roquo i s be l ieved i n peopl e who cou ld assume a partly an ima lshape . See Grinne l l, Blackfoo t lodge tal es, p . 79 :
—“An o ld bl ind wo l fwith a powerfu l med ic ine cured a man, and made h i s head and hands lookl ike tho se of a wo lf . The rest of h is body was n o t changed . He wascal l ed a man-wo lf .”
66 E thn . Rep . 1 880-8 1, p . 73 :—W i tches cou ld and d id assume an imal
shapes . For examp le a dog seen by a man wh ich had fire stream ing fromits mouth and no str i l s . It was n zg lz t . The man sho t at i t, and the nextmo rn ing tracked i t by the marks of blood from its wound . At a br idge awoman ’s tracks took the p l ace of the dog’s, and final ly he found thewoman . She had d ied from the effect o f the sho t . Page 73 : Likewise ahog,when pursued, d isappeared at a smal l creek, and final ly reappearedas an o ld man,who said i t was he,whom they had been chasing . S o they,the pursuers, knew he was a wi tch . Page 74 : A Canad ian Ind ian on e
ev en ing pursued a wh ite hu l l with fire stream i ng from its no str i l s . He hadnever seen a white bu l l on the reservat ion before . “As i t passed in f ront ofa house i t was tran sformed i nto a man with a l a rg e white b la nket,who waseve r afterward known as a witch .
”
E thn . Rep . 1901-02, p . 395 :
—A man go i ng ou t at n ight no t i ced a queerlooking burro . U pon h is return home he was to l d that a l arge cat had en
tered the house . He wen t ou t again, d iscovered a man wrapped in a b l anket, bu t no t i n the Zu i‘i i fash ion , h is head was sunk low i n the bl anket .He knew th i s creature to be a wizard .
E thn . Rep . 1 887-88, p . 458 :—That the med i c in e man (Shaman ) has th e
facu l ty of transfo rm ing h imsel f i n to a coyo te and o th er an imal s at p l easure and then resum ing the human fo rm, i s as impl i c it ly bel ieved i n by theAmeri can Ind ian s as i t was by our own forefathers i n Europe . And page
459 : The Ab ipones of Paraguay cred it the ir med ic ine-men with powerto put on the form of a t iger . The med ic in e-men o f Honduras c l aime d
UNIVERSITY OF MI SSOUR I STUDIES [ 2 72
the so-called medicine-men (more correctly Shamans ) , who
claimed such transformation power, because they received remun
cration from their patients .6 7
the power of turn ing themselves i nto l ions and tigers . Also the Shaman sof the N icaraguans possessed s im i l ar power. Hertz, p . 133 fo l . :
—“In derchristl i chen Zeit wurde d er he idn ische Cul tu s Teufe l sanbetung und h ie re ntstand m it dem Hexengl auben d ie Vorste l lung von Menschen, d ie s i chm it H ilfe des Satans au s re i ner Mo rd lust z u Wb lfen verwandel n . S o wurd eder We rwo lf das Bi l d des ti eri sch Damon i schen i n der Menschennatur .”
“7 Bthu . Rep . 1887-88,p . 467 z
—The med icine-men of the Apache are paidat the t ime they are con sul ted, the priest befo rehand among the Eskimo .
E thn . Rep . 1889-90,p . 1 87 :
“The magn itude of the d isease is general ly measu red by the amount of the patien t’s wor l d ly weal th .
” Page 4 16 z— S iouxsorcerers prepared love-pot ions for those who bought them . E thn . Rep .
1901-2,p . 568
—The shaman, l ike the theurgist is usual ly paid after each vis i twith cal ico ,co tton, or food,acco rd ing to th e weal th o f the fami ly, S in ce i t i salways understood that these do ctors expect proper compensatio n fo r the i rservi ces .” Page 387 : The Zufi i docto r i s paid accord ing to h is reputat ion .
” Grinne l l, Bl ackfoo t lodge tales, p . 284 :“In early days if a man
remained s ick for three or four weeks, al l h is possessions went to paydoctors’ fees .”
E thn . Rep 1887-88,p . 462 fo l .
—The American Ind ian’s theo ry of d is easei s the theo ry of the Chaldean, the Assyr ian,the Hebrew, the Greek,the R0man— al l bod i ly d isorders are attr ibuted to the m a leficen ce of sp ir i ts ( thati s of animal sp i ri ts, gho sts or witches) , who must be expel l ed o r p l acated .
Gibberi sh was be l ieved to be more po ten tial i n magic than was l anguagewhi ch the practi t ioner or h is dupes could comprehend . Page 468 :—Themedic ine-men are accused of admin i stering po isons to the ir en em ies .E thn . Rep . 1889-90, p . 4 I 6 z
—S ioux so rcerers were thought to cause thedeath of those persons who had in curred thei r d isp l easure . E thn . Rep .
1 887-88, p . 58 1
—“When an Apache o r o ther med ic ine-man is i n ful l regal iahe ceases to be a man, but becomes, o r tries to make his fo l lowers bel ievethat he has become, the power he represents .” The Mexi can pries tsmasked and d isgu ised, and dressed i n the skins of the women o ff eredup in sacrifice .
S o the shaman pract i ced sorcery,medicine and was a pr iest . E thn .
Rep . 1887-88, p . 594 :
-The Ind ian doctor re l i ed far mo re on magic than on
n atural remed ies . Dreams, beating of the drum, songs, magi c feasts anddances, and howl ing were his o rd inary methods of cure . Grinne l l, S to ryof the indian, p . 2 10 fo l . :—They have “fi rm confidence i n dreams .”“The ir be l ief i n a future l ife i s i n p art founded on dreams,” etc .
T HE ORIG IN OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
(8 ) Finally dreams 6 8 and exaggerated reports gave rise
to fabulous stories .
6 9
We have discussed and 3) ;70 for an example un
der (4 ) we have cited the practices of American Indians .
7 1 It is
probable that about now (at the stage indicated in (4 ) above ) ,what is known as the real werewolf superstition (that of a fren
nz ied, rabid manwolf) began to fully
Skin was already a lurking thief or enemy,
human '
l ife . To advance from this stage to the werewolf frenzy, our
ing l ink would be the crazy or mad wolf (or dog, as the
mation was usually into a wolf or dog ” ) for persons b
y it usually went mad too .
7 3 The ensuing frenzy, with the
68 Note 67, close .
69An exampl e of fabulous inven tion for pure persona l gain o ccurs An
dree, p . 77 : If the Green landers catch too many seal at on e p l ace, th el atter wi l l take a terr ib l e revenge . Assum ing human form, they attackthe i r enemy in the n ight at h is home . This i s the transfo rmation of anan imal into a man, bu t the inven to r of the story was no doubt look ingtowards h i s own gain . It i s the same o ld fight for seal pro te ction whi chi n ano ther form is sti l l go ing on to-day . Andree, p . 72 . In S i am sto r i esare to l d of peopl e who by magic formulae become tigers and ro am abou tat n ig ht i n search o f boo ty . One of the man-tigers was ac tual ly a pri est .
70Ante pp . 7, 8,9.
71Ante p . 1 2 fol .
72 See no tes 19 and 74 .
73Grinnel l, B l ackfoo t lodge tal es, p . 283:“I t i s s ai d that wo lvés
kwhich in fo rmer days were extreme ly numerous, somet imes went crazy,and h it every an imal they met with, sometimes even coming i n tocamps and b it ing dogs, ho rse s and peop l e . Person s b itte n by a mad wo l fgeneral ly went mad, too . They tremb led and the i r l imbs j erked
,they
made the ir j aws wo rk and fo amed at the mouth, o ften try ing to bite o the rpeopl e . When any one acted in th is way, h is re l at ives t ied h im hand an dfoo t with ropes, and, having ki l l ed a buffalo, they ro l l ed him up i n thegreen h ide, bu il t a fire on an d around h im , l eaving him in the fi re un ti lthe h id e began to dry and burn . Then they pu l l e d h im ou t and removed thebuffalo h ide, and he was cured . This was the cure for a mad wo lf’s b i te .
”
UNIVERSITY OF M IS SOUR I STUDIES [274
sternation 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 unini
tiated.
7 4 Later, in the M iddle 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;v ’Wé have discussed and (8 ) in the notes .7 5 As
further examples of the development into fabulous story,7 6 we may
cite any of those ston es in which the wild werewolf, or animal
man is represented as roam ing the land, howling, robbing, and
tearing to p ieces men and beasts, until he resumes his human
form . Thus an early scout in animal garb would be obliged
to l ive on food he found on his way, and later fabulous report
would represent him as himself when in disguise possessing the
attributes of the animal he represented, and tearing to pieces man
and beast . For such an account see Andree,7 7 concerning what
74Sometimes the profess ional s even became possessed,of a monoman i a
themse lves, as in witch craft . Andree goeso r delus ion (of the first cen tury ti l l l ate in the m idd l e ages) , p . 76 fo l .
“The s ick” ones would prowl about burial p l aces a t n ight, imagin ingthemselves to be wol v es o r dog s, and go about bark ing and howl ing . Inthe m iddl e ages such peop l e wou ld even k i l l ch i l dren and grown peop l e .
When they came to themselves again, o r were cured, they cl aimed to
know noth ing of what had happened . E thn . Rep . 1888-89,p . 49 1 : Amongstthe Shamans feats of j uggl ery or pretended magic rival ing o r surpass ingthe best of sp ir itual i st i c S eances are recounted . Page 207 : The use o f
robes made of the h ides of buffalo and o ther l arge an imals, painted wi thshaman isti c d evices
,i s ment ioned . Page 235 : The speaker terms him
self a wo lf sp ir i t, possess ing pecu l iar power.75 No tes 63, 64 . 65, 66, 67, 69.
76 See (8) above .
77 Page 71 .
2 75] T HE OR IGIN OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
eyewitnesses reported of the [wi ld reveling over corpses of thehyena-men of Africa . Naturally the uninitiated savage who wit
nessed such a sight would become insane,or at least would spread
abroad such a report as would enhance the influence of the
hyena-men far and wide . Some savages,as in Africa,7 8 came
to regard any animal that robbed them of ch ildren, goats or other
animals,as a witch in animal form st as the Am erican Indians
ascribe to evil Spirits death, Sickness and other misfortunes .
We can see how at first the man in animal disguise or an
animal robe would go quietly to work, l ike the Pawnee scout ;80
how though,as soon as the element of magic enters in, he would
try to keep up the illusion . At this stage, when the original
defensive measure had become tainted with superstition,men
would go about in the night time howling and holding their
vile revels .
8 1 (Andree,8 2 narrates how a soldier in Northeast
Africa shot at a hyena,followed the traces of blood and came to
the straw hut of a man who was widely famed as a magician .
No hyena was to be seen, only the man himself with a fresh
wound . Soon he died,however the soldier did not survive him
long . Doubtless one of the magician class was responsible for
the death of the soldier, j ust as we to-day put to death the man
who so violates our laws, as to become a menace to our soc iety,or as formerly kings killed those who stood in their way ; or as
73Andree, p . 69.
79E thn . .Rep . 1889-90,p . 263. gives the fo l lowing sto ry of the o rigi n of the
wo l f : “The wolf was a poo r woman,who had so many ch i l d ren that shecou l d no t find enough for them to eat . They became so gaunt andhungry that they were changed into wo lves, constantly roam ing ove r th el and seek ing food .
”
80Ante p . 1 2 fo l .
81E thn . Rep . 1885-86, p . 15 2 : I t i s imposs ib l e to imagine the ho rr ib l e
howl ings, and strange contor tions that these j uggl ers (shamans) or co n
ju rers make of the i r bod ies, when they are d ispo s ing themse lves to
conj ure .
82Page 71 .
UN IVERSITY OF M ISSOURI STUDIE S [ 276
religious sects murder those whodissent from their faith . These
magicians,supposed to be men who could assume animal form,
as a matter of fact do often form a class,are greatly feared by
other natives, often dwell with their discip les in caves and at
night come forth to plunder and ki It i s to their interest to
counterfeit well,for if suspected malevolent, they were
put to death or outlawed,l ike criminals to-day.
8 4 Their fren
z ies were, as said above, in some cases genuine delusions ; in:
other cases they offered, as one may readily imagine, excellent
Opportunities for personal gain or vengeance .
8 5
83Andree, p . 70, gives an account of the ch ief magic ian (Abyssin ia) ,who demands as yearly tribute of h is subord inate an imal -men the teeth of
the persons whom they have ki l l ed during the year, with wh ich he
deco rates h is pal ace . See al so pp . 72, 75, etc . : E thn . Rep . 1885-86, p . 15 1,
about sorcery among American Ind ians : Soc ieti es exi sted . The purpo seso f the society are twofo l d ; 1 . T o preserve the trad it ions of Ind iangenes is and co smogony, etc . 2 . T o give a certain cl ass of amb it iousmen and women suffi cient influence through their acknowledged power ofexorc ism and necromancy to l ead a comfo rtab l e l ife at the expense of th ecredulous . Page 1 62 : “Each tr ibe has i ts med i ci ne men and women, a no rder o f pries thood consu l ted and employed i n al l t imes of s i ckness . Iti s to the ir i ntere st to l ead these credulous peopl e to be l i eve that they canat p l easure ho l d i ntercourse with the m unedoos,
” etc . Sometimes on e
family const itu tes the cl ass . See n o te 65 ; Andree, p . 69.
84Grimm, Teut . Myth . I I I . 1 104 : T o h igher ant iqu ity witches werepriestesses, physi cians, fabu lous n ig ht
-wives, never as yet persecuted .
Maidens m ight tu rn in to swans, heroes into werewo lves, and l o se no th ingin popul ar est imat ion . The abuse of a spe l l was pun i shed . A wisewoman, heal ing s i ckness and charm ing wounds, begins to pass for a wi tchonly when with her art she does evi l . In course o f t ime, when the Devi l ’scompl ic ity with every kin d of sorcery came to be assumed, the g u i l t o f
crim inal i ty fe l l upon al l personal rel ations with h im . E thn . Rep .
190 1-2,p . 393 :
“Though the witch may be regarded as al l powerful, non ebut the poor and unfortunate are condemned . Few o thers are even brough tto tr ial— thei r prominence prevents publ i c accusation .
” This again re
minds u s some of ou r customs ; namely, that of overlooking th e tran s
gress ion s of the ri ch and powerfu l . See no te 9 1, and fo r outl aws no te 1 1 2
8"Such artifici al frenzies had a ser ious effect upon the body, and m orepart i cul arly the eyes, so that many shamans (S iberia, Ameri ca, etc . )become bl ind .
UNIVERSITY OF M ISSOUR I STUDIE S [278
no longer in werewolf form,but after all wolves in human dress,
each maintaining his trade by deception and countless artifices,
j ust as did the werewolf of old . Not unlike these s'
hams are those
of the American negro,who in church
,when “shouting,
” that is,when stirred up by religi ous fervor, inflicts blows on his enemywho happens to be in the church, of course with impunity ; for
he is supposed to be under some outs ide control,and when the
spell has passed Off , l ike some of the delusionists mentioned,92
claims not to know what he (or generally she) has done. S imilar
also are the negr o voudoo ceremonies, those of the fire-eaters, or
any other sham .
The wolf disgu i se, or transformation into a werewolf was
that most often assumed for example in Germanic lands.93 The
term wolf became synonymous w ith robber,and later (when
the robber became an outlaw,94 ) with ou tlaw
,the robber and out
law al ike being called wolf and not some other animal ( i . e .,
only the wolf-man surviving to any extent ) firstly,because the
wolf was plentiful ; and secondly, because as civil ization advanced,there came a time when the wolf was practically the only one of
the larger undomesticated animals,that survived .
“5 We can
every case where one accused of being a werewo l f was taken , he wa scertain to be wounded, and thu s the d iffi cul ty of hi s not be ing found i nbeast form was satisfacto ri ly d isposed of.
92No tes 57 and 67 .
93No tes 9 and 19.
94Note 1 1 2 .
95See note 1 1, al so E thn . Rep . 1897-98, I . 263 : “The deer,which i s
st i l l common in the mountains, was the prin c ipal dependence o f theCherokee hunter, and i s consequently prominent i n myth, fo l klo re, andceremon ial .” see no te 42 . Page 264 :
“The l argest gen s ( cl an ) i n thetrib e bears the n ame of ‘wo lf peopl e .
’ Pag e 420 : The Cherokeehave always been an agricul tural peopl e, and the ir o ld country has aluxuriant flora, therefore the vegetabl e k ingdom ho l d s a far mo re important pl ace i n the mytho logy and ceremon ial of the tribe than i t doesamong the Ind ian s of the tree l ess p l ain s and arid sage deserts of the West .
2 79] THE ORIGIN OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
notice this in our own United States, for example in ea stern
Kansas, where at night coyotes and even wolves are sometimes
heard howling out on the prairi e near woodlands, or in the
pastures adjoining farms,where they not infrequently kill smaller
animals, and dig up buried ones .96 In Prussia al so it i s the wolf
that surv ives to-day . American Indians,and other savages how
ever do not restrict the transformations to the wolf,97 because
other w ild animals,are, or were til l recently, abundant amongst
them. As civilization advances, one by one the animal myths
disappear with the an imals that gave rise to them (l ike that con
nected with the mastodon ) ;9 8 or else stor ies of such domestic
animals as the pig, white bull, dog superseded them .
99 When thisstage was reached
,as time went on and means of successfully
coping with the brute creation became perfected, the animals
were shorn of many of their terrors,and finally such stories as
Aesop’s fables would arise .
100 This however was psychologically
96The St . Lou i s “Westl iche Po st” for January 9, 1908, furn ishesanother examp l e : A tame wo l f which for the past two years has been apet in a farmer’s fami ly at Marshfie ld, W iscons in, e scaped and at tackeda ch icken . The farmer’s daughter cal l ed to the wo l f, but i t had becomewil d from the taste of blood, attacked her, and hi t her on bo th arms andone leg . I t hel d so fast that the young l ady coul d not be re l eased u n t i lshe had nearly choked the wo l f with i ts co l l ar .
A l so the fo l lowing cl ipp ing from the same paper, January 13, 1908,
shows the preval en ce of wo l ves to-day in even qu ite popu lous d istr i cts“Wo lf-Plage . Aus dem nOrdl ichen W i scon s i n wird geme ldet, das sWol fe i n d iesem Jahre zah l re i cher s ind denn je, und dass s i e, durch
Hunger getr ieben, s ich nahe an d i e Ortschaften wagen, und Hausth iere
und auch Menschen angre ifen . Zwe i grosse WOlfe griffen in d ieserWochedas Pferd der Frau Bran chard an ; das Pferd scheute und j agte i n d enWald, wo es durch Arbe i ter angehal te n wurde, wel che d i e Best i e nverscheuchten .
97 No te 1 1 .
98 No te 20.
99No te 109.
”0No te 24 .
UNIVERSITY OF M ISSOURI STUDIES [ 4 80
a long step in advance of our were-wolf believing peoples of an
earlier period .
Up to this point the illustrations have shown that the were
wolf superstition went through various stages of development . The
motives for assuming wolf’s dress (or animal skins or robes ) , at
first were purely peaceful,for protection against cold, and to
secure food by acting as decoys ; then it was used for personal
advantage or gain by foragers (or robbers ) and sp ies ; then for
purposes of vengeance ; 101 later from a desire for power over
others ; and finally men (the professional and the superstitious )began to concoct fabulous stories which were handed down as
tradition or myth,according to the psychic level of the narrator
and hearer .
102
101 Clo se of no te 102 .
102John Fiske,Myths and myth-makers, p . 78, fol ., gives the o r igi nand deve lopment of the werewo lf as fo l lows : From the con ception of
wo l f-l ike ghosts i t was but a sho rt step to the conception of corporealwerewo lves . Christi an i ty d id not fai l to impart a new and fearfulcharacter to the bel ief i n werewo lves . Lycanthropy became regarded asa species of witchcraf t, the werewo lf as obtain ing h is powers from theDevi l . It was often necessary to ki l l one’s enemies, and at that time someeven k i l l ed for love of i t ( l ike the Berserker) ; ofte n a sort of homic id almadness, during which they woul d array themse lves in the skins of wo lvesor bears and sal ly forth by n ig ht to crack the backbones, smash the skul l san d sometimes to drink with fiend ish gl ee the blood of unwary travel ers orl o iterers Po ss ib ly often the wo l ves were an invention of exci tedimagination . S o peopl e attributed a wo lf’s nature to the man iac or i d io twi th cann ibal appetites, then the myth-fo rming process ass igned to theunfortunate wretch a tangib le lup in e body. The causes were three : 1 .
Worsh ip of dead an cestors wi th wo l f totems originated the no t ion of transformation of men into d ivi ne or superhuman wo lves . 2 . The storm-windwas expl ained as the rush ing of a troop of dead men’s soul s o r as the howling of wo l f-l ike mon sters (cal l ed by Christi an ity demons) . 3 . Berserker madness and cann ibal ism, accompan ied by lycanthropic hal l ucin ation s, i n ter
pre ted as due to such demon iacal metamo rpho s i s , gave rise to the werewo lf superst i tion of the M idd l e Ages . The theo ry that if one put on awo lf’s sk i n he became a werewo l f, i s perhaps a remin iscence o f th e ‘fact ai
‘
vleged of Berserkers haunting the woods by n ight, clothed in h ides of wo lves
THE ORIGIN OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
The starting point of the whole superstition of the harmful
werewolf i s th e disguising as some common animal by members
of savage races when abroad as foragers or scouts, in order to
escape detection by the enemy. Like wolves they roamed the land
in search of food . As stated above,103 later fabulous report would
represent them as possessing in their disguise the attributes of
the animal they impersonated,104 and finally even of actually
taking on animal form,either Wholly or in part,105 for longer or
shorter periods of time. Some of the North American Indian
transformation stories represent men as having only the head,
hands and feet of a wolf.106 The transformation into a werewolf
in Germanic lands i s caused merely by a shirt or girdl e made of
wolf-Skin .
1° 7 This shirt or girdle of wo lf-skin of the Germanic
or bears . A permanent cure was effected by burn ing the werewo lf’s sack,
un less the Devi l furn ished h im with a new wo lfsk in . Prim itive ly,
to become incarnated in to any creature, the sou l h ad only to put on th eoutward integument of the creature . The o riginal werewo l f i s the n igh twind— a k ind o f l eader of d eparted soul s, howl ing in the wintry blasts .
Encyc . Brit . under Lycanthropy :—The Berserk i r of I ce l and dressed i nthe ski ns of bears and wo lves, and further on
“Beastform i s i n mytho logy proper far oftener assumed for mal ignan t than for ben ignan t ends .”
‘03 Ante p . 2 2 .
104 No te 57 .
305 Clo se no te 65 .
106 Gri nne l l ; and E thn . Rep . 1888-89, p . 737.
107 Grimm, Teuton ic Mytho logy, I II . 1094, fo l . says : Our o l d est n at ivenot ion s make the assumption of wo lf-shape depend on array ing onesel f i n awo l f-bel t o r wo l f-sh irt, as transfo rmation into a swan does on putting on th eswan-sh i rt or swan-ring. Page 1095 :
“The transfo rmation n eed not befor a magical purpose at al l : any one that puts on, or i s conj ured in to, awo l f-sh irt,wi l l undergo metamorphos is. W ith the appearan ce, heacqu ires al so the fiercen ess and howl ing o f th e wo lf ; roam ing the woods,he rends to p ieces everyth ing that comes i n h is way .
” This i s l ik e the b el i ef of the Ameri can Ind ian that the wearer of a mask becomes imbuedwith the sp ir i t of the be ing wh ich h is mask represents (no te o r th atthe shaman in ful l regal i a becomes, or tri es to make h is fo l lowers be l ie v ethat he has become, the power he rep resents (no te
UNIVERSITY OF MI SSOURI STUDIES [282
werewolf i s the surv ival of the robe or mantle originally disguis
ing the entire body . It would be but a step further to represen t
a person as rendering himself invisible by putting on any other
article of apparel, such as the Tarnkappe.
1° 3 The stories especially
in Europe were of the were-wolf rather than were-bear or other
animal, because the wolf was the commonest of the larger wild
animals . 1° 93 It was the stories of the commonest animal, the wolf,which crystall ized into the household werewolf or transformationtales .
1 10
103 Thus some Ameri can Ind ian sto ri es represen t men transform ed in towo l f, turkey or ow l turn i ng in to stone or p iece of decayed wood when pursued . And mantl es of i nvisib i l i ty are ment ioned i n no te 60.
109See H irt, Die Indogermanen , I . 187 :“U nter den gro ssen Raub
tieren treten un s Bar und Wo l f mit alten Namen entgegen . Der Wo lf i s tfre i l ich ii b era l l i gewesen, der B
'
ar i s t aber ganz s i chere in Waldtier,” nder Lycanthropy : “In England bythe been extinct . On ly smal l creatures
,
the cat, hare, weasel, etc ., remained for the mal ignant so rcere r totransfo rm h imself i nto .
” See no te 1 1 .
110Amongst the American Ind ians, where various l arger an imal s werecommon, the designat ion “wo lf-peopl e” ( see the s ign-language o f thep l ains ) was bestowed especial ly on the Pawnees, because, as we have seen,they best im itated wo lves . In Europe, where, o f the l arger an im al s
,the
wo lf alone was un iversal ly common , the des ignation “wo lf-peopl e” (or if wechoo se, l ate r, werewo l ve s) was not restr i cted to any on e l o cal ity o r peop l e,b ut was bestowed in general on tho se who assumed the manner of wo l ves ,and because of the ir crimes became outcasts l ike the wo lves . They bestim itate wo lves, and no doubt, to escape detection, d isguised themselves aswo lves ( see no te and fo r th is reason the wa rg o r outl aw came to becal l ed a wolf (see c lo se o f no te Thus G o l ther, Mytho logie, p . 102 ,
says : “W i rd e in Werwo lf verwundet oder getOte t, so finde t man e inenwunden oder to ten Menschen .
” The werewo l ves, as we have seen (an tep . keep to the woods and the da rk, o f course i n many cases to avo i ddetection . S im i l arly witches, E thn . Rep . 1901
-02 , p . 393 :“They say that
witches love the n ight and lurk in sha dows a nd da rkn ess . W itches areb el ieved to be abl e to assume the shape o f beasts . S igmund an d S infjgtl idwel t as wo lves in the woods . Also the progen ito r of the Myramenn i nIce land at n ig ht coul d l eave h is house i n wo lf
’s fo rm . Ano ther N orwe
gian account repo rts how earl ier many peop l e were ab l e to take on wolf’s
T HE ORIGIN OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPERSTITION
form, then dwel t i n g rov e and woods, where they to re peop l e to p ieces,e tc . See Pau l, Grundriss, I II . 272 fo l . : al so note 1 13 .
InN am es . See no te 3 1 . The development in the case of names wasperhaps the same as i n the case of masks (no te and of the werewo l fsupersti t ion itse lf (an te p . 15, namely, a) pro tect io n aga inst ou ts ideagenc ies was sought ; b) growth of supernatural ism ; 0) e l emen t of
humo r .a) See En cyc . Brit . under Lycanthropy : “Child ren are o fte n
named wolf, are d isgu ised as a wo l f to cheat the i r supernatura l fo es”( for
s im i lar assumptio n of characterist i cs or the n ature of an imals for personaladvan tage see no te See al so Grimm, Teuton i c Mytho logy, I II .1 139 :
“The esco rt of wolf o r ra v en augured v icto ry ;” and in the no te“A name o f happiest augury fo r a hero must h ave been the O . H . G .
Wolf-hra ba n (Wo l fram ) , to whom the two an imal s jo in tly promisedvi cto ry . O l d n ames are no product of pure chan ce . Servi an mo thersn ame a son they have longed for, Vnk,Wolf : then the witches can
’t eath im up . 0. H . G . Wolfbi z o was a l u cky n ame, i . e ., on e b itte n by th ewo l f and thereby pro te cted,” l ike ou r modern curing o f l ike by l ike i nmed i c in e .
b ) W ith growth of supernatural ism came probably the deve lopmentmentioned by Meringer, Indog . Forsch ., 1904, XVI . 165, abou t the con
ferr ing o f secret names,s i nce o ne cou ld harm a person b v his name
alone, and coul d summon a foe mere ly by mention ing h i s n ame : “Wennman den Wo lf nennt, kommt er g
’renn t.” Again i n XXI . 3 13 fo l . : It
was dangerous to name bea r or wolf in regions infested by these an imal s,so peop l e, ou t of fear, avo ided cal l ing the name of such an imal s ; cal l edthe bear for exampl e hon ey -ea ter , etc .
c) Fi nal ly, when man could bette r cope wi th an ima l foes, h is fear of
them d isappeared, the e l ements of fearl essness and humor en ter in , andsuch names arise as are mentioned in no te 53 ; and such stor i es as th at ofRomulus and Remus, suckl ed by a wo lf.
”Outl aws . The no t ion o f werewo lves (see Grimm , Teuton i c Mythology, II I. 1095) also gets m ixed up with that o f outl aws who have fled to
the woods . A no tabl e instan ce is that of Sigmund and S infjgtl i i n theVo l sungasaga . In regard to th is W . G o l the r, Handbuch der germanischen mytho logie, Leipzig 1895, p . 102, says : “Die Sage mag auf einemal ten M isversté
’
tndn iss beruhen . Wa rg ,Wolf h iess der G e ii chtete in dergerman ischen Rechtssp rache . Wa rg wurde wOrtl i ch al s Wolf verstanden,und so b i ldete s i ch d ie Werwo lfsgesch ich te .
” G o l ther again, p . 4 24“Gefesse l twu rde Lok i a l s Achter i n den Wal d getr ieben,er wurde “Wa rg
”
d . h . Wolf . WOlfe heissen d ie fr ied losen Waldg'
anger.
” As to wa rg , Schad ein h is al tdeutsches WOrterbuch defines i t as a raub erisch wii rgendes
UN IVERSITY OF MIS SOURI STUDIES
wa tendes Wesen,Mensch von roher verb recherischer Denk -und Hand lungs
we i se, ge‘
achteter Verbrecher, au sgestossener M isset‘
ate r ; wa rg i st Benennung des Wo l fes, i n der Rechtssprache e i n treu-und vertragb rii chiger
Mensch, vogelfre ier Mann, der den Frieden durch Mord gebrochen undl andflii ch tig geworden, oder nun im wi ld en Wal de gl e ich dem Raubtierehaust und wie derWo l f ungestraft erl egt werden darf ; im j etz igen Gebraucheauf Isl and Beze i chnung e iner gewa l ttat igen Person . Simi l arly, J . Grimm,
G e sch . d . d . S pr. p . 2 33. For customs amongst the American Ind ian srel at ing to the outl aw see E thn . Rep . 1879
-80, p . 67 fo l . : An outl aw is onewho by h is crimes has placed h imself without the pro tection of h is c l an,i s no t defended in case he is inj ured by another . When the senten ce o foutl awry has been declared, for example among the Wyando ts, i t i s theduty o f the ch ief of the Wo l f cl an to make known the decis ion of thecoun ci l In outl awry of the highest d egree i t i s the duty of any member of the tribe who may meet the o ffender to ki l l h im l ike an an imal . Page 60fo l . : “The ch ief of the Wo l f gens i s the herald and the sheriff of the tribe”
( see al so E thn . Rep . 1 893-94, p . cxiv ) . Criminal s kept to the woods and the
da rk . Many of them l ived l ike an imal s, dressed in an imal skin s, and toterrorize o thers assumed the ro l e of werewo lves . Since therefore so manyoutl aws l ived, dressed ( no te 2 2 close ) and acted l ike wo lves, to al l i n tentsand purposes became wo lves,wolf and outl aw became synonymous terms .
“3The widespread custom of keep ing windows c lo sed at n ight in Germany is perhaps a re l i c of heathen days, when peop l e b e l ieved that werewo lves, etc ., entered houses at n ight . In p lace of the e arl ier harmfu lwerewo lf i s now the “harmful” n igh t air .
UNIVERSITY OF M ISSOURI S TUDIE S [286
LEUBU S CH ER,R . Uber d ie wehe lfe und th ierverwandlungen im mittel al te r .Berl in, 1850.
LITERARY D IG ES T. New Yo rk and London,March 9. 1907.
MEYERS . KLE INES KON VERSAT I ON S -LE ! IKON. Leipz ig, 1 899-1900.
Pang, H . Grundriss der german ischen ph i lo logie . Strassburg, 1900 .
SCHADE,O . Altdeutsches worterbu ch . Hal l e, 1872 fo l .
SCHRADER, O . Real lexikon der indogerman ischen al tertumskunde . Strassburg, 1901.
VqLS UN GASAGA. Ran isch, Berl in, 189 1,
WE S T LI OH E P O ST . St . Lou is .
WUNDT,W . VOlkerpsycho log ie. Vo l . I I . Leipzig, 1905 .
ZE I T S CHRI ET E fiR DEUTS CHES ALTERTUM . Vo l . ! LVII . Berl in, 1903-1904 .
ZE IT S CHRIET FUR DEUTS CHE RH ILOLOGI E . Vo l . ! X! VIII. Hal l e, 1906.
INDE !
[The pages are in roman numeral s, the notes in ital i c . ]
Ab ipones, 9, 66 .
Abyss in ia, 9 .
Afri ca, 5, 23 ; o, 47, 65 .
Al l igato r,9 .
America, 5 ; o, 85 .
American Ind ians, 5, 23, 27 ;
9, 2 7,66, 1 1 0 .
Anglo-Saxons, 9 .
Animal s, 42 .
An imal fable, 1 5 .
Arabia, 9 .
Arawaks, 9 .
Arcad ia, 9, 15 .
Asia, 5 ; 9, 1 2 , 1 6 .
Assyrians, 15 .
Bear, 5 ; g, 15 , 1 02, 1 00,1 1 1 .
Belgium, 1 2 .
Ben ignan t,Berserkr, I ; 1 02 .
Bird, 5 .
Bison. 1 2 1 2 71 3 1 1 3 2 : 73 , 74 .
Bohemia,9 .
Borneo,o.
Bretons,0.
Bulgaria, 9 .
Burchard von Wo rms,0.
Burmah, 1 2 .
Cel ebrations, 2 1 .
Ceylon, 1 2 .
Charms, 10, 16 .
C loth ing, 8,9, 1 1, 16, 28 .
Coyo te, 13 .
Danc ing, 9, 10, 1 1 , 1 2, 1 5,
33 : 3 4 : 3 71 43 : 5 7
Dante, 2 4 .
Death, 2 2 .
Decoy, 8, 9, 10, 1 1 , 13, 15, 16, 28 ;
2 9; 3 0: 3 1
Denmark, 9 .
Dog, 5, 2 1 ; 27 3 1 9: 64 ; 73 ) 74 °
Dreams, 2 1 ; 67 .
Edda, 15 .
Enemy, 8 , 1 2, 14, 2 1, 26,29 ; 48 . 60,
65 , 1 02 , 1 1 1 .
Engl ish, 9, 1 09.
Esk imo , 67 .
Europe . 5 , 7 ; 9, 1 2 , 1 6, 1 1 0.
F en r i s'fllfr,
F i nns, 5 .
F i sh, 5 .
F isherman, 2 9 .
Food, 7, 8,9. 1 1 , 1 2, 15 , 28, 29; 2 7,
2 9.
Fo rest, 25 ; 2 2 ,65 ,1 02 , 1 07,1 1 0,1 1 2 ,Fox, 5, 1 2 ; 9, 1 5, 2 1 .
Fren ch, 9, 1 2 .
Germany, 2 , 4, 5 ; 9, 2 2 .
Greece, 1 , 7 ; 9, 15 , 2 2 .
Green land , 1 2, 69.
Harmful , 1, 1 1, 13 ;
Herds,9, 1 2 , 2 0.
Herodo tus, 1 ; 15 .
H indoo s, 9 .
Homer, 2 4 .
Hunter: 7 ) 53 ) 64 :
Hyena. 5, 23 ; 9I ce l and,9, 1 1 0.
Ind ia, 5 ; 9, 1 2 .
Indogerm an ic, 7 ; 9, 2 0, 42 .
Insan i ty, 2 1, 2 2, 24 ; 2 4, 73 , 85 , 1 02 .
Iran ians, 9 .
Irel and, 9 .
UNIVERSITY OF MIS SOURI STUDIES
Ital ians,9.
Jackal, 1 2 .
Jaguar, 9.
Japan, 9.
Kad iak, 29.
Kelts, 7 ; 9.
Knut, 9.
Lapps 5 .
Leopard, 5 ; 9, 65 .
Leubu scher, 6 ; 9, 2 0.
Lion, 5 ; 9, 45 . 65 .
Lithuan ians, 9 .
Loki, 14 ; 9, 1 1 2 .
Lycan thropy, 2 ; 9, 1 9. 20, 2 2 . 74 ,
1 02 .
Lykaon,9, 15 .
Mag i c, 23, 24 ; 2 2 , 3 7, 60, 64 . 65 ,
67 1 69) 74 ) 81 , 83 ) 84 : 1 07
Mal ignant, 24 ; 4, 84 , 1 02 , 1 09, 1 13 .
Mask) 8, I I , 1 5 3 29 ) 3 7 ; 64 1
67, 1 07, 1 1 1 .
Mastodon, 20.
Med ic in emen (Shamans) , 20 ; 5 2 ,
63 ) 661 67 ) 74 ) 81 ) 83 ) 90) 1 07 °
Mexico, 1 2 , 67 .
M idd l e Ages, 22 ; 9, 74, 1 02 .
Murder, 24 ; 2 0, 2 2 ,5 2 , 1 02 , 1 1 2 .
Myths. 7. 2 7 ; 2 4, 95 , 1 02Names
,109, 1 1 1 .
Netherlands, 9 .
N eu rians, 1 ; 15 .
N ight, I , 1 2, I 3: 23: 24 1 25 ; 63 )
66, 69,74,84,1 02 ,1 1 0,1 1 2 , 1 13 .
No rth America, 1 2 .
No rway, 9 .
Od in, 15 .
Is land Oesel,9.
Otter, 2 9.
Outl aw, 24, 26 ; 84, 1 1 0, 1 1 2 .
OW ] ; 5 ) 30; 64 °
Pawnees, 1 2, 13, 23 ; 1 1 0.
Pers ia, 9 .
Plants, 42 , 95 .
Po l es,9, 1 4 .
Portuguese,9 .
Po sen, 1 4 .
Priests, 2 2 , 67, 69, 83 .
Profess ional s,22 , 23, 24, 25 ; 74, 81 ,83 , 86 .
Provencal, 9 .
Pruss ia, 1 4 .
Re indeer, 5 .
Rel igion, 2 2 , 2 4,5 7 .
Revenge, I 4, 1 7, 24, 28 ; 5 2 , 69.
Robber, 1 2, 13, I 4, 2 1, 2 2, 24, 2 5,
26, 20. 44,53 , 65 , 1 1 2
Romans, 7 ; 9, 2 7 .
Russia, 2 ; 9, 1 2 , 1 6 .
Scand inavia, 9 .
Scout, 1 2, 13, 14, I 6, 2 2, 23, 28, 29;47 7 48 ) 60°
Scyth ian s, 6 .
Seal , 2 9,3 1 , 69.
Serpent, 5 ; 9 .
Servia, 9.
Shepherds, 15 , 2 0.
S iam, 1 2 , 69 .
S infjo t l i, 15 , 64, 1 1 0.
Song, 9, to, 64 .
Skins (or dress ) o f an imal s,6,7,9,1 1, 1 2, 13, 14, 15, 16, 2 5,
28, 29, 30 ; 2 1 . 2 2 , 3 1 , 3 4, 5 2 ,
53 : 5 7 ) 60) 63 ) 64 : 65 : 65 : 67 )
74, 1 02 , 1 07, 1 08, 1 1 0, 1 1 2 .
Sou th America, 5 ; 1 2 .
Speech ( an imal s ), 7.
S tories, 2 1 , 2 2, 27, 28, 29 ; 60,
69, 1 02 , 1 1 1 .
Supernatural ism, 10, 1 7, 65 ,
1 02 , 1 1 1 .
Superstit ion , I , 4, 5, 14, 23 ; 20,64 .
Sweden, 9 .
Tiger, 5 ; 91 69) 90°
To temism, 2 ; 47, 1 02 .
Transfo rmation, 5, 1 5 , 2 1 ; 9, 1 1 ,
1 9, 2 2 .5 2 , 64 . 65 . 66. 69, 1 07 .
289] T HE OR IGIN OF T HE WEREWOLF SUPER STITION
Traps,T sche chs,9.
Turkey, 5 ; 1 08 .
Vo lhyn ia, 2 ; 9, 1 6 .
Vglsungasaga, 15 , 1 1 2 .
Wal es, 9.
Warfare, 1 2, 13, 16 ; 60.
Weapons, 7, 8, 9 .
37
Werewo lf, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 2 1, 2 2, 28,
291 9, I5 »20: 2 2 ) 64 ) 84 ,
1 02 , 1 07, 1 09, 1 1 0, 1 1 2 ,
1 13 .
W i ener Hun desegen, 15 .
W i tches, 1 1 , 19, 23 ; 65 , 66, 67, 74 ,83 , 84, 91 , 1 02 , 1 09, 1 1 0, 1 1 1 .