Balder the Beautiful, Volume I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 545 pages of information about Balder the Beautiful, Volume I..

Balder the Beautiful, Volume I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 545 pages of information about Balder the Beautiful, Volume I..
farm every night and to excite the dogs in the farmyard to fury by thrusting his snout derisively through the cat’s hole in the great gate.  The farmer had his suspicions and he determined to watch.  One night, when the herdsman went out as usual, his master followed him quietly till he came to a hut, where with his own eyes he saw the man put on a broad belt and at once turn into a wolf, which scoured away over the fields.  The farmer smiled a sickly sort of smile and went back to the farm.  There he took a stout stick and sat down at the cat’s hole to wait.  He had not long to wait.  The dogs barked like mad, a wolf’s snout shewed through the hole, down came the stick, out gushed the blood, and a voice was heard to say without the gate, “A good job too.  I had still three years to run.”  Next day the herdsman appeared as usual, but he had a scar on his brow, and he never went out again at night.[761]

[Werewolves in China.]

In China also the faith in similar transformation is reflected in the following tale.  A certain man in Sung-yang went into the mountains to gather fuel.  Night fell and he was pursued by two tigers, but scrambled up a tree out of their reach.  Then said the one tiger to the other tiger, “If we can find Chu-Tu-shi, we are sure to catch this man up the tree.”  So off went one of them to find Chu-Tu-shi, while the other kept watch at the foot of the tree.  Soon after that another tiger, leaner and longer than the other two, appeared on the scene and made a grab at the man’s coat.  But fortunately the moon was shining, the man saw the paw, and with a stroke of his axe cut off one of its claws.  The tigers roared and fled, one after the other, so the man climbed down the tree and went home.  When he told his tale in the village, suspicion naturally fell on the said Chu-Tu-shi; next day some men went to see him in his house.  They were told that they could not see him; for he had been out the night before and had hurt his hand, and he was now ill in bed.  So they put two and two together and reported him to the police.  The police arrived, surrounded the house, and set fire to it; but Chu-Tu-shi rose from his bed, turned into a tiger, charged right through the police, and escaped, and to this day nobody ever knew where he went to.[762]

[Werewolves among the Toradjas of Central Celebes.]

The Toradjas of Central Celebes stand in very great fear of werewolves, that is of men and women, who have the power of transforming their spirits into animals such as cats, crocodiles, wild pigs, apes, deer, and buffaloes, which roam about battening on human flesh, and especially on human livers, while the men and women in their own proper human form are sleeping quietly in their beds at home.  Among them a man is either born a were-wolf or becomes one by infection; for mere contact with a were-wolf, or even with anything that has been touched by his spittle, is quite enough to turn the most innocent person into

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Balder the Beautiful, Volume I. from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.