Chapter XI

WERE-WOLVES AND THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS.

Bodies of birds and animals supposed to be tenanted by the souls of
men. Instances from Shakspere. The Druids. The Egyptian,
Pythagorean, and the Hindoo Doctrines. The Taliesin romance. The
bell-tolling ox at Woolwich. Were-wolves. Irish were-wolves. King
John a were-wolf. Greek and Roman were-wolves. German were-wolves.
Swan shirts and eagle shirts. Irish Mermaids. Bears. Detection of
were-wolves. Vampires. Witches transformed into cats. Were-wolves,
like witches, burnt at the stake. The witches' magic bridle, which
transformed human beings into horses. Lancashire witches
transformed into greyhounds. Margery Grant, a recently deceased
Scotch witch, sometimes transformed into a pony, and sometimes into
a hare. Men transformed into crocodiles. Owl transformations. The
owl, the baker, and the baker's daughter. Bakers transformed into a
cuckoo and a woodpecker. The White Doe of Rylstone. The Manx wren,
the robin, the stork, etc., each supposed to enshrine the soul of a
human being. Men transformed into leopards, etc., in Africa. Greek
Lykanthropy. Aryan conception of the howling wind as a wolf. The
souls of the damned were-wolves in Hell. The wolf a personification
of the darkness of the Night. Greek forms of this myth in Apollo
and Latona his mother. Personifications of natural phenomena.
Children suckled by wolves. Page 224

CHAPTER XII.

SACRED AND OMINOUS BIRDS, ETC.

Sacred Birds. Beautiful Welsh legend of the robin. Stork legends in
Germany. Their nests built upon wheels (sun emblems) placed on the
roofs of houses. Remains in Danish "Kitchen middens." Birds of evil
omen. The owl. Shakspere's profound insight. Cuckoo superstitions.
Transformation of cuckoos into sparrowhawks. The cuckoo the
messenger of Thor. The wren hunted to death in the Isle of Man,
Ireland, and some parts of France. A sacred bird in England.
Swallows and crickets. Ravens, crows, jackdaws, etc., ominous birds.
Lancashire superstitions of this class. The "Seven Whistlers." The
Woodpecker. Picus and Pilumnus. Fire and soul bringers. Weather
prophets. The stormy petrel, the heron, and the crane. The
lady-bird. Rats leaving ships about to founder at sea. Page 242