He is, again, often the disguise of a sorcerer of evil temper, an idea similar to that which was the basis of…
- Date of account
- Second edition published 1896
- Source
- The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2)
- Reference
- The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2) · selected passage 108
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-25
Record summary
He is, again, often the disguise of a sorcerer of evil temper, an idea similar to that which was the basis of the European dread of lycanthropy and the were-wolf
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyHe is, again, often the disguise of a sorcerer of evil temper, an idea similar to that which was the basis of the European dread of lycanthropy and the were-wolf. "Accounts differ as to the way in which the were-wolf was chosen. According to one account, a human victim was sacrificed, one of his bowels was mixed with the bowels of animal victims, the whole was consumed by the worshippers, and the man who unwittingly ate the human bowel was changed into a wolf. According to another account, lots were cast among the members of a particular family, and he upon whom the lot fell was the were-wolf. Being led to the brink of a tarn, he stripped himself, hung his clothes on an oak tree, plunged into the tarn, and swimming across it, went into desert places. There he was changed into a wolf, and herded with wolves for nine years. If he tasted human blood before the nine years were out he had to remain a wolf for ever. If during the nine years he abstained from preying on men, then, when the tenth year came round, he recovered his human shape. Similarly, there is a negro family at the mouth of the Congo who are supposed to possess the power of turning themselves into leopards in the gloomy depths of the forest.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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