tion>S. Baring-Gould
The Book of Were-Wolves
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664648747
Table of Contents
LYCANTHROPY AMONG THE ANCIENTS.
THE ORIGIN OF THE SCANDINAVIAN WERE-WOLF.
THE WERE-WOLF IN THE MIDDLE-AGES.
FOLK-LORE RELATING TO WERE-WOLVES.
NATURAL CAUSES OF LYCANTHROPY.
MYTHOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF THE WERE-WOLF MYTH.
THE MARÉCHAL DE RETZ.-I. THE INVESTIGATION OF CHARGES.
THE MARÉCHAL DE RETZ.--II. THE TRIAL.
MARÉCHAL DE RETZ.--III. THE SENTENCE AND EXECUTION.
ANOMALOUS CASE.--THE HUMAN HYÆNA.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
I SHALL never forget the walk I took one night in Vienne, after having accomplished the examination of an unknown Druidical relic, the Pierre labie, at La Rondelle, near Champigni. I had learned of the existence of this cromlech only on my arrival at Champigni in the afternoon, and I had started to visit the curiosity without calculating the time it would take me to reach it and to return. Suffice it to say that I discovered the venerable pile of grey stones as the sun set, and that I expended the last lights of evening in planning and sketching. I then turned my face homeward. My walk of about ten miles had wearied me, coming at the end of a long day's posting, and I had lamed myself in scrambling over some stones to the Gaulish relic.
A small hamlet was at no great distance, and I betook myself thither, in the hopes of hiring a trap to convey me to the posthouse, but I was disappointed. Few in the place could speak French, and the priest, when I applied to him, assured me that he believed there was no better conveyance in the place than a common charrue with its solid wooden wheels; nor was a riding horse to be procured. The good man offered to house me for the night; but I was obliged to decline, as my family intended starting early on the following morning.
Out spake then the mayor--"Monsieur can never go back to-night across the flats, because of the--the--" and his voice dropped; "the loups-garoux."
"He says that he must return!" replied the priest in patois. "But who will go with him?"
"Ah, ha,! M. le Curé. It is all very well for one of us to accompany him, but think of the coming back alone!"
"Then two must go with him," said the priest, and you can take care of each other as you return."
