Chapter II: Part 2

We have discussed (5), (6), (7), and (8) in the notes.[75] As further examples of the development into fabulous story,[76] we may cite any of those stories in which the wild werewolf, or animal-man is represented as roaming the land, howling, robbing, and tearing to pieces men and beasts, until he resumes his human form. Thus an early scout in animal garb would be obliged to live 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,[77] concerning what eyewitnesses reported of the wild reveling over corpses of the hyena-men of Africa. Naturally the uninitiated savage who witnessed 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,[78] came to regard any animal that robbed them of children, goats or other animals, as a witch in animal form;[79] just as the American Indians ascribe to evil spirits death, sickness and other misfortunes.

[75] Notes 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69.

[76] See (8) above.

[77] Page 71.

[78] Andree, p. 69.

[79] Ethn. Rep. 1889-90, p. 263. gives the following story of
the origin of the wolf: “_The wolf_ was a poor woman, who had
so many children that she could not find enough for them to
eat. They became so gaunt and hungry that they were changed
into wolves, constantly roaming over the land seeking food.”

We can see how at first the man in animal disguise or an animal robe would go quietly to work, like 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.[81] Andree,[82] 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, just as we to-day put to death the man who so violates our laws, as to become a menace to our society, or as formerly kings killed those who stood in their way; or as religious sects murder those who dissent 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 disciples in caves and at _night_ come forth to plunder and kill.[83] It is to their interest to counterfeit well, for if suspected of being malevolent, they were put to death or outlawed, like criminals to-day.[84] Their frenzies 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.[85]

[80] Ante p. 12 fol.

[81] Ethn. Rep. 1885-86, p. 152: It is impossible to imagine
the horrible howlings, and strange contortions that these
jugglers (shamans) or conjurers make of their bodies, when they
are disposing themselves to conjure.

[82] Page 71.

[83] Andree, p. 70, gives an account of the chief magician
(Abyssinia), who demands as yearly tribute of his subordinate
animal-men the teeth of the persons whom they have killed
during the year, with which he decorates his palace. See also
pp. 72, 75, etc.: Ethn. Rep. 1885-86, p. 151, about sorcery
among American Indians: Societies existed. The purposes of
the society are twofold; 1. To preserve the traditions of
Indian genesis and cosmogony, etc. 2. To give a certain class
of ambitious men and women sufficient influence through
their acknowledged power of exorcism and necromancy to lead
a comfortable life at the expense of the credulous. Page
162: “Each tribe has its medicine men and women, an order of
priesthood consulted and employed in all times of sickness. It
is to their interest to lead these credulous people to believe
that they can at pleasure hold intercourse with the munedoos,”
etc. Sometimes one family constitutes the class. See note 65;
Andree, p. 69.

[84] Grimm, Teut. Myth. III. 1104: To higher antiquity witches
were priestesses, physicians, fabulous _night_-wives, never
as yet persecuted. Maidens might turn into swans, heroes into
werewolves, and lose nothing in popular estimation. The abuse
of a spell was punished. A wise woman, healing sickness and
charming wounds, begins to pass for a witch only when with
her art she does evil. In course of time, when the Devil’s
complicity with every kind of sorcery came to be assumed, the
guilt of criminality fell upon all personal relations with him.
Ethn. Rep. 1901-2, p. 393: “Though the witch may be regarded as
all powerful, none but the poor and unfortunate are condemned.
Few others are even brought to trial—their prominence prevents
public accusation.” This again reminds us some of our customs;
namely, that of overlooking the transgressions of the rich and
powerful. See note 91, and for outlaws note 112.

[85] Such artificial frenzies had a serious effect upon the
body, and more particularly the eyes, so that many shamans
(Siberia, America, etc.) become blind.

Only by instilling in their fellows a firm belief in this superstition and maintaining the sham, could the perpetrators of the outrages hope to escape punishment for their depredations, could they hope to plunder and steal with impunity.[86] So they prowled usually under the cloak of _night_ or of the dark of the forest,[87] howled and acted like the animals they represented, hid the animal skin or blanket, if they used one,[88] in the daytime where they thought no one could find it, whereas the animal skin which was worn for defence, was put on either by day or night,[89] and one story recounts the swallowing of a whole goat, the man bellowing fearfully like a tiger while he did it.[90] Some of the transformed men claimed they could regain human form only by means of a certain medicine or by rubbing. The imposters were the criminal class of society that is still with us to-day,[91] no longer in werewolf form, but after all wolves in human dress, each maintaining his trade by deception and countless artifices, just as did the werewolf of old. Not unlike these shams are those of the American negro, who in church, when “shouting,” that is, when stirred up by religious fervor, inflicts blows on his enemy who happens to be in the church, of course with impunity; for he is supposed to be under some outside control, and when the spell has passed off, like some of the delusionists mentioned,[92] claims not to know what he (or generally she) has done. Similar also are the negro voudoo ceremonies, those of the fire-eaters, or any other sham.

[86] Encyc. Brit., XV. under Lycanthropy: In Prussia, Livonia
and Lithuania, according to two bishops, werewolves were in
the 16th century far more destructive than “true and natural
wolves.” They were asserted to have formed “an accursed
college” of those “desirous of innovations contrary to the
divine law.” Also see note 90.

[87] See ante p. 13, and notes 64, 65, 66, 69, 84, 102, 110.

[88] Note 22 close, and note 102.

[89] See ante p. 13.

[90] Andree, p. 72. This same tiger-man in Asia killed a
woman, whose husband set out in pursuit, followed him to his
house, got hold of him later in his man shape and killed him.
Feats similar to some performed by him are cited in Ethn. Rep.
1887-88, p. 470: The medicine-men of the Pawnee swallowed
arrows and knives, and also performed the trick of apparently
killing a man and bringing him back to life, like the Zuñi.

[91] Grimm, Rechtsalterthümer, II. 566: Hexen waren fast alle
aus der ärmsten und niedrigsten Volksklasse (see note 84).
Literary Digest, March 9, 1907, p. 378, article on Spiritualism
and Spirituality: “Many, very many, spiritualists seem to care
for communion with spirits only that they may more surely keep
physically well, and earn their bread and butter and clothing
the easier.” Encyc. Brit. under Lycanthropy: The absurdity of
the superstition would have much sooner appeared, but for the
theory that a werewolf when wounded resumed human shape; in
every case where one accused of being a werewolf was taken, he
was certain to be wounded, and thus the difficulty of his not
being found in beast form was satisfactorily disposed of.

[92] Notes 57 and 67.

The wolf disguise, or transformation into a werewolf was that most often assumed for example in Germanic lands.[93] The term _wolf_ became synonymous with _robber_, and later (when the robber became an outlaw,[94]) with _outlaw_, the robber and outlaw alike 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 civilization advanced, there came a time when the wolf was practically the only one of the larger undomesticated animals that survived.[95] We can notice this in our own United States, for example in eastern Kansas, where at night coyotes and even wolves are sometimes heard howling out on the prairie near woodlands, or in the pastures adjoining farms, where they not infrequently kill smaller animals, and dig up buried ones.[96] In Prussia also it is the wolf that survives to-day. American Indians, and other savages however do not restrict the transformations to the wolf,[97] because other wild animals, are, or were till recently, abundant amongst them. As civilization advances, one by one the animal myths disappear with the animals that gave rise to them (like that connected with the mastodon);[98] or else stories of such domestic animals as the pig, white bull, dog superseded them.[99] When this stage 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 a long step in advance of our were-wolf believing peoples of an earlier period.

[93] Notes 9 and 19.

[94] Note 112.

[95] See note 11, also Ethn. Rep. 1897-98, I. 263: “The deer,
which is still common in the mountains, was the principal
dependence of the Cherokee hunter, and is consequently
prominent in myth, folklore, and ceremonial.” see note 42.
Page 264: “The largest gens (clan) in the tribe bears the name
of ‘wolf people.’” Page 420: The Cherokee have always been an
agricultural people, and their old country has a luxuriant
flora, therefore the vegetable kingdom holds a far more
important place in the mythology and ceremonial of the tribe
than it does among the Indians of the treeless plains and arid
sage deserts of the West.

[96] The St. Louis “Westliche Post” for January 9, 1908,
furnishes another example: A tame wolf which for the past
two years has been a pet in a farmer’s family at Marshfield,
Wisconsin, escaped and attacked a chicken. The farmer’s
daughter called to the wolf, but it had become wild from the
taste of blood, attacked her, and bit her on both arms and one
leg. It held so fast that the young lady could not be released
until she had nearly choked the wolf with its collar.

Also the following clipping from the same paper, January 13,
1908, shows the prevalence of wolves to-day in even quite
populous districts: “Wolf-Plage. Aus dem nördlichen Wisconsin
wird gemeldet, dass Wölfe in diesem Jahre zahlreicher sind
denn je, und dass sie, durch Hunger getrieben, sich nahe
an die Ortschaften wagen, und Hausthiere und auch Menschen
angreifen. Zwei grosse Wölfe griffen in dieser Woche das Pferd
der Frau Branchard an; das Pferd scheute und jagte in den Wald,
wo es durch Arbeiter angehalten wurde, welche die Bestien
verscheuchten.”

[97] Note 11.

[98] Note 20.

[99] Note 109.

[100] Note 24.

Up to this point the illustrations have shown that the werewolf 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 spies; 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] Close of note 102.

[102] John Fiske, Myths and myth-makers, p. 78, fol., gives
the origin and development of the werewolf as follows: From
the conception of wolf-like ghosts it was but a short step to
the conception of corporeal werewolves.... Christianity did
not fail to impart a new and fearful character to the belief
in werewolves. Lycanthropy became regarded as a species of
witchcraft, the werewolf as obtaining his powers from the
Devil. It was often necessary to kill one’s enemies, and at
that time some even killed for love of it (like the Berserker);
often a sort of homicidal madness, during which they would
array themselves in the skins of wolves or bears and sally
forth by _night_ to crack the backbones, smash the skulls and
sometimes to drink with fiendish glee the blood of unwary
travelers or loiterers.... Possibly often the wolves were an
invention of excited imagination. So people attributed a wolf’s
nature to the maniac or idiot with cannibal appetites, then
the myth-forming process assigned to the unfortunate wretch
a tangible lupine body. The causes were three: 1. Worship
of dead ancestors with wolf totems originated the notion of
transformation of men into divine or superhuman wolves. 2. The
storm-wind was explained as the rushing of a troop of dead
men’s souls or as the howling of wolf-like monsters (called by
Christianity demons). 3. Berserker madness and cannibalism,
accompanied by lycanthropic hallucinations, interpreted as due
to such demoniacal metamorphosis, gave rise to the werewolf
superstition of the Middle Ages. The theory that if one put on
a wolf’s skin he became a werewolf, is perhaps a reminiscence
of the fact alleged of Berserkers haunting the woods by
_night_, clothed in hides of wolves or bears. A permanent cure
was effected by burning the werewolf’s sack, unless the Devil
furnished him with a new wolfskin. Primitively, to become
incarnated into any creature, the soul had only to put on the
outward integument of the creature. The original werewolf is
the night-wind—a kind of leader of departed souls, howling
in the wintry blasts. Encyc. Brit, under Lycanthropy:—The
Berserkir of Iceland dressed in the skins of bears and wolves,
and further on: “Beastform is in mythology proper far oftener
assumed for malignant than for benignant ends.”

The starting point of the whole superstition of the harmful werewolf is the 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 is caused merely by a shirt or girdle made of wolf-skin.[107] This shirt or girdle of wolf-skin of the Germanic werewolf is the survival of the robe or mantle originally disguising the entire body. It would be but a step further to represent a person as rendering himself invisible by putting on any other article of apparel, such as the Tarnkappe.[108] 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.[109] It was the stories of the commonest animal, the wolf, which crystallized into the household werewolf or transformation tales.[110]

[103] Ante p. 22.

[104] Note 57.

[105] Close note 65.

[106] Grinnell; and Ethn. Rep. 1888-89, p. 737.

[107] Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, III. 1094, fol. says: Our
oldest native notions make the assumption of wolf-shape
depend on arraying oneself in a wolf-belt or wolf-shirt, as
transformation into a swan does on putting on the swan-shirt
or swan-ring. Page 1095: “The transformation need not be for a
magical purpose at all: any one that puts on, or is conjured
into, a wolf-shirt, will undergo metamorphosis.... With the
appearance, he acquires also the fierceness and howling of the
wolf; roaming the _woods_, he rends to pieces everything that
comes in his way.” This is like the belief of the American
Indian that the wearer of a mask becomes imbued with the spirit
of the being which his mask represents (note 57); or that the
shaman in full regalia becomes, or tries to make his followers
believe that he has become, the power he represents (note 67).

[108] Thus some American Indian stories represent men
transformed into wolf, turkey or owl turning into stone or
piece of decayed wood when pursued. And mantles of invisibility
are mentioned in note 60.

[109] See Hirt, Die Indogermanen, I. 187: “Unter den grossen
Raubtieren treten uns Bär und Wolf mit alten Namen entgegen.
Der Wolf ist freilich überall in Europa verbreitet gewesen, der
Bär ist aber ganz sicher ein Waldtier,” etc. Encyc. Brit, under
Lycanthropy: “In England by the 17th century the werewolf had
long been extinct. Only small creatures, the cat, hare, weasel,
etc., remained for the malignant sorcerer to transform himself
into.” See note 11.

[110] Amongst the American Indians, where various larger
animals were common, the designation “wolf-people” (see the
sign-language of the plains) was bestowed especially on the
Pawnees, because, as we have seen, they best imitated wolves.
In Europe, where, of the larger animals, the wolf alone was
universally common, the designation “wolf-people” (or if we
choose, later, werewolves) was not restricted to any one
locality or people, but was bestowed in general on those who
assumed the manner of wolves, and because of their crimes
became outcasts like the wolves. They best imitate wolves, and
no doubt, to escape detection, disguised themselves as wolves
(see note 102), and for this reason the _warg_ or outlaw came
to be called a _wolf_ (see close of note 112). Thus Golther,
Mythologie, p. 102, says: “Wird ein Werwolf verwundet oder
getötet, so findet man einen wunden oder toten Menschen.” The
werewolves, as we have seen (ante p. 25), keep to the _woods_
and the _dark_, of course in many cases to avoid detection.
Similarly witches, Ethn. Rep. 1901-02, p. 393: “They say that
witches love the _night_ and lurk in _shadows and darkness_.
Witches are believed to be able to assume the shape of beasts.”
Sigmund and Sinfjötli dwelt as wolves in the _woods_. Also the
progenitor of the Mýramenn in Iceland at _night_ could leave
his house in wolf’s form. Another Norwegian account reports
how earlier many people were able to take on wolf’s form, then
dwelt in _grove_ and _woods_, where they tore people to pieces,
etc. See Paul, Grundriss, III. 272 fol.; also note 113.

[111] Names. See note 31. The development in the case of names
was perhaps the same as in the case of masks (note 57), and of
the werewolf superstition itself (ante p. 15, fol.); namely, a)
protection against outside agencies was sought; b) growth of
supernaturalism; c) element of humor.

a) See Encyc. Brit. under Lycanthropy: “Children are often
named _wolf_, are disguised as a wolf to cheat their
supernatural foes” (for similar assumption of characteristics
or the nature of animals for personal advantage see note 33).
See also Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, III. 1139: “The escort of
_wolf_ or _raven_ augured victory;” and in the note: “A name
of happiest augury for a hero must have been the O. H. G.
_Wolf-hraban_ (Wolfram), to whom the two animals jointly
promised victory. Old names are no product of pure chance.
Servian mothers name a son they have longed for, _Vuk_,
_Wolf_: then the witches can’t eat him up. O. H. G. _Wolfbizo_
was a lucky name, i. e., one bitten by the wolf and thereby
protected,” like our modern curing of like by like in medicine.

b) With growth of supernaturalism came probably the development
mentioned by Meringer, Indog. Forsch., 1904, XVI. 165, about
the conferring of secret names, since one could harm a person
by his name alone, and could summon a foe merely by mentioning
his name: “Wenn man den Wolf nennt, kommt er g’rennt.” Again
in XXI. 313 fol.: It was dangerous to name _bear_ or _wolf_
in regions infested by these animals, so people, out of fear,
avoided calling the name of such animals; called the bear for
example _honey-eater_, etc.

c) Finally, when man could better cope with animal foes, his
fear of them disappeared, the elements of fearlessness and
humor enter in, and such names arise as are mentioned in note
53; and such stories as that of Romulus and Remus, suckled by a
wolf.

[112] Outlaws. The notion of werewolves (see Grimm, Teutonic
Mythology, III. 1095) also gets mixed up with that of outlaws
who have fled to the woods. A notable instance is that of
Sigmund and Sinfjötli in the Völsungasaga. In regard to this W.
Golther, Handbuch der germanischen mythologie, Leipzig 1895,
p. 102, says: “Die Sage mag auf einem alten Misverständniss
beruhen. _Warg_, _Wolf_ hiess der Geächtete in der germanischen
Rechtssprache. _Warg_ wurde wörtlich als _Wolf_ verstanden,
und so bildete sich die Werwolfsgeschichte.” Golther again, p.
424:—“Gefesselt wurde Loki als Ächter in den Wald getrieben,
er wurde “_Warg_”, d. h. _Wolf_. _Wölfe_ heissen die friedlosen
Waldgänger.” As to _warg_, Schade in his altdeutsches
Wörterbuch defines it as a räuberisch würgendes wütendes Wesen,
Mensch von roher verbrecherischer Denk- und Handlungsweise,
geächteter Verbrecher, ausgestossener Missetäter; _warg_ ist
Benennung des Wolfes, in der Rechtssprache ein treu- und
vertragbrüchiger Mensch, vogelfreier Mann, der den Frieden
durch Mord gebrochen und landflüchtig geworden, oder nun im
wilden Walde gleich dem Raubtiere haust und wie der Wolf
ungestraft erlegt werden darf; im jetzigen Gebrauche auf Island
Bezeichnung einer gewalttätigen Person. Similarly, J. Grimm,
Gesch. d. d. Spr. p. 233. For customs amongst the American
Indians relating to the outlaw see Ethn. Rep. 1879-80, p. 67
fol.: An outlaw is one who by his crimes has placed himself
without the protection of his clan, is not defended in case he
is injured by another. When the sentence of outlawry has been
declared, for example among the Wyandots, it is the duty of
the chief of the Wolf clan to make known the decision of the
council.... In outlawry of the highest degree it is the duty
of any member of the tribe who may meet the offender to kill
him like an animal. Page 60 fol.: “The chief of the Wolf gens
is the herald and the sheriff of the tribe” (see also Ethn.
Rep. 1893-94, p. cxiv). Criminals kept to the _woods_ and the
_dark_. Many of them lived like animals, dressed in animal
skins, and to terrorize others assumed the role of werewolves.
Since therefore so many outlaws lived, dressed (note 22 close)
and acted like wolves, to all intents and purposes became
wolves, _wolf_ and outlaw became synonymous terms.

[113] The widespread custom of keeping windows closed at night
in Germany is perhaps a relic of heathen days, when people
believed that werewolves, etc., entered houses at night. In
place of the earlier harmful werewolf is now the “harmful”
night air.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INDEX

[The pages are in roman numerals, the notes in italic.]

Abipones, _9, 66._

Abyssinia, _9._

Africa, 5, 23; _9, 47, 65._

Alligator, _9._

America, 5; _9, 85._

American Indians, 5, 14, 21, 23, 27; _9, 27, 66, 110._

Anglo-Saxons, _9._

Animals, _42._

Animal fable, _15._

Arabia, _9._

Arawaks, _9._

Arcadia, _9, 15._

Asia, 5; _9, 12, 16._

Assyrians, _15._

Bear, 5; _9, 15, 16, 38, 102, 109, 111._

Belgium, _12._

Benignant, _4, 38._

Berserkr, 1; _102._

Bird, 5.

Bison, _12, 27, 31, 32, 73, 74._

Bohemia, _9._

Borneo, _9._

Bretons, _9._

Bulgaria, _9._

Burchard von Worms, _9._

Burmah, _12._

Celebrations, _21._

Ceylon, _12._

Charms, 10, 16.

Clothing, 8, 9, 11, 16, 28.

Coyote, 13.

Dancing, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16; _32, 33, 34, 37, 42, 57._

Dante, _24._

Death, _22._

Decoy, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 28; _29, 30, 31._

Denmark, _9._

Dog, 5, 21, 27; _19, 64, 73, 74._

Dreams, 21; _67._

Edda, _15._

Enemy, 8, 12, 14, 21, 26, 29; _48, 60, 65, 102, 111._

English, _9, 109._

Eskimo, _30, 31, 67._

Europe, 5, 7; _9, 12, 16, 110._

Fenrisûlfr, _9, 51._

Finns, _5._

Fish, _5._

Fisherman, _29._

Food, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 28, 29; _27, 29._

Forest, 25; _22, 65, 102, 107, 110, 112._

Fox, 5, 12; _9, 15, 21._

French, _9, 12._

Germany, 2, 4, 5; _9, 22._

Greece, 1, 7; _9, 15, 22._

Greenland, _12, 69._

Harmful, 1, 11, 13; _42, 51._

Herds, _9, 12, 20._

Herodotus, 1; _15._

Hindoos, _9._

Homer, _24._

Hunter, 7, 8; _15, 31, 52, 53, 64, 95._

Hyena, 5, 23; _9._

Iceland, _9, 110._

India, 5; _9, 12._

Indogermanic, 7; _9, 20, 42._

Insanity, 21, 22, 24; _24, 73, 85, 102._

Iranians, _9._

Ireland, _9._

Italians, _9._

Jackal, _12._

Jaguar, _9._

Japan, _9._

Kadiak, _29._

Kelts, 7; _9._

Knut, _9._

Lapps, 5.

Leopard, 5; _9, 65._

Leubuscher, 6; _9, 20._

Lion, 5; _9, 45, 65._

Lithuanians, _9._

Loki, 14; _9, 112._

Lycanthropy, 2; _9, 19, 20, 22, 74, 102._

Lykaon, _9, 15._

Magic, 23, 24; _22, 37, 60, 64, 65, 67, 69, 74, 81, 83, 84, 107._

Malignant, 24; _4, 84, 102, 109, 113._

Mask, 8, 11, 15; _29, 37, 42, 57, 64, 67, 107, 111._

Mastodon, _20._

Medicinemen (Shamans), 20; _52, 63, 66, 67, 74, 81, 83, 85, 90,
107._

Mexico, _12, 67._

Middle Ages, 22; _9, 74, 102._

Murder, 24; _20, 22, 52, 102, 112._

Myths, 7, 27; _24, 95, 102._

Names, _42, 53, 109, 111._

Netherlands, _9._

Neurians, 1; _15._

Night, 1, 12, 13, 23, 24, 25; _63, 65, 66, 69, 74, 84, 102, 110,
112, 113._

North America, _12._

Norway, _9._

Odin, _15._

Island Oesel, _9._

Otter, _29._

Outlaw, 24, 26; _84, 110, 112._

Owl, 5, 30; _64._

Pawnees, 12, 13, 23; _110._

Persia, _9._

Plants, _42, 95._

Poles, _9, 14._

Portuguese, _9._

Posen, _14._

Priests, _22, 67, 69, 83._

Professionals, 22, 23, 24, 25; _74, 81, 83, 86._

Provencal, _9._

Prussia, _14._

Reindeer, 5.

Religion, _22, 24, 57._

Revenge, 14, 17, 24, 28; _52, 69._

Robber, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28; _15, 20, 44, 53, 65,
112._

Romans, 7; _9, 27._

Russia, 2; _9, 12, 16._

Scandinavia, _9._

Scout, 12, 13, 14, 16, 22, 23, 28, 29; _47, 48, 60._

Scythians, _6._

Seal, _29, 31, 69._

Serpent, 5; _9._

Servia, _9._

Shepherds, _15, 20._

Siam, _12, 69._

Sinfjötli, _15, 64, 110._

Song, 9, 10, 15; _33, 64._

Skins (or dress) of animals, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22,
23, 25, 28, 29, 30; _21, 22, 31, 34, 52, 53, 57, 60, 63, 64,
65, 66, 67, 74, 102, 107, 108, 110, 112._

South America, 5; _12._

Speech (animals), 7.

Stories, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29; _9, 27, 60, 69, 102, 111._

Supernaturalism, 10, 17, 18; _57, 65, 102, 111._

Superstition, 1, 4, 5, 14, 23; _20, 64._

Sweden, _9._

Tiger, 5; _9, 45, 69, 90._

Totemism, 2; _47, 102._

Transformation, 5, 15, 21; _9, 11, 19, 22, 52, 64, 65, 66, 69,
107._

Traps, 8; _31._

Tschechs, _9._

Turkey, 5; _108._

Volhynia, 2; _9, 16._

Völsungasaga, _15, 112._

Wales, _9._

Warfare, 12, 13, 16; _60._

Weapons, 7, 8, 9.

Werewolf, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 21, 22, 28, 29, 30; _9, 15, 20, 22, 45,
64, 84, 86, 91, 102, 107, 109, 110, 112, 113._

Wiener Hundesegen, _15._

Witches, 11, 19, 23; _65, 66, 67, 74, 83, 84, 91, 102, 109, 110,
111._

Transcriber’s note

Words in italics were surrounded with _underscores_, and small capitals changed to all capitals.

Anchors for notes 37 and 42 were missing in the original, they were added. Notes 111, 112 and 113 also had no anchors in the original, they were referred to in other notes. The notes were moved to directly after the paragraph with the corresponding anchor.

“Völsungasaga” and “Sinfjötli” were in the original mostly written with a little c under the o, and a few times with a plain o. For reader’s convenience this has been changed and standardised to the more common spelling with ö.

Some punctuation was corrected and a few missing spaces added. In note 12 “and” was changed to “und” (seltener in Frankreich und Belgien).

Otherwise the original was preserved, including possible errors and missing capitalisation in quotes from German sources, and inconsistent spelling, for example the word Berserkr, Berserker or Berserkir.