Hugues-le-Loup. English Read online

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  THE MAN-WOLF

  AND OTHER TALES

  By Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian

  1876

  CONTENTS.

  The Man-Wolf:--

  CHAPTER I.

  CHAPTER II.

  CHAPTER III.

  CHAPTER IV.

  CHAPTER V.

  CHAPTER VI.

  CHAPTER VII.

  CHAPTER VIII.

  CHAPTER IX.

  CHAPTER X.

  CHAPTER XI.

  CHAPTER XII.

  CHAPTER XIII.

  Myrtle:--

  CHAPTER I.

  CHAPTER II.

  Uncle Christian's Inheritance

  The Bear-Baiting

  The Scapegoat

  A Night In The Woods:--

  CHAPTER I.

  CHAPTER II.

  PRELIMINARY NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR.

  It has often been remarked, with perfect justice, that the eminent Frenchwriters, a translation of one of whose works is here attempted, aresingularly faithful in their adherence to historic truth. Remove thethread of obvious fiction which is indispensable to make these admirableproductions romances or tales, and what we have left is perfectlyreliable history. It is this feature mainly which gives the indescribablecharm to their historical tales--a charm powerfully realised in theoriginal, though less appreciable in an imperfect translation.

  The same claim to perfect truthfulness in all essential points may beplaced to the credit of the following "Roman Populaire," notwithstandingthe startling supernatural element on which the story is founded.Erckmann-Chatrian have not thought it right or necessary to depart inthis case from their practice of abstaining from all prefaces or notes inevery edition of their works. Yet perhaps the translator may be forgiven,and even condoned with thanks, if he ventures upon an explanation tendingto show that the tale of _Hugh the Wolf_ is not entirely founded uponsuperstition and the supernatural.

  "Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be givenunto him!" Such was the sentence pronounced and executed upon him ofBabylon whose pride called for abasement from the Lord. Dr. Mead (_MedicaSacra_, p. 59) observes that there was known among the ancients a mentaldisorder called lycanthropy, the victims of which fancied themselveswolves, and went about howling and attacking and tearing sheep and youngchildren (_Aetius, Lib. Med_. vi., _Paul AEgineta_, iii. 16). So, again,Virgil tells of the daughters of Praetus, who fancied themselves to becows, and running wildly about the pastures, "implerunt falsis mugitibusagros."--Ecl. vi. 48. This horrible disease appears happily to have beena rare one, and recoveries from it have taken place, for it is notdestructive of the sufferer's life. It has even been thoroughly curedafter a lapse of many years.

  Dr. Pusey (_Notes on Daniel_, p. 425), in a disquisition of great fulnessupon the disease of Nebuchadnezzar, refers to a communication which hereceived from Dr. Browne, a Commissioner of the Board of Lunacy forScotland, in which he says, "My opinion is that in all mental powers orconditions the idea of personal identity is but rarely enfeebled, andthat it is never extinguished. The ego and non-ego may be confused; theego, however, continues to preserve the personality. All the angels,devils, dukes, lords, kings, "gods many" that I have had under my careremained what they were before they became angels, dukes, etc., in asense, and even nominally. I have seen a man declaring himself theSaviour or St. Paul sign himself _James Thomson_, and attend worship asregularly as if the notion of divinity had never entered into his head."

  Esquirol, a very trustworthy writer, has a description of anextraordinary outbreak of lycanthropy in France (in the Jura, at Dole,and other places in Eastern France) in the 16th century.

  "This terrible affliction began to manifest itself in France in the15th century, and the name of '_loups-garous_' has been given to thesufferers. These unhappy beings fly from the society of mankind and livein the woods, the cemeteries, or old ruins, prowling about the opencountry only by night, howling as they go. They let their beard and nailsgrow, and then seeing themselves armed with claws and covered with shaggyhair, they become confirmed in the belief that they are wolves. Impelledby ferocity or want, they throw themselves upon young children and tear,kill, and devour them." (Esquirol, _Des Maladies Mentales_, Paris, 1838,vol i., p. 521.) Those whom the French called _loups-garous_ were inGerman termed _werewolves_.

  It may be observed on this that when the nails of the fingers and toesare cut they grow indefinitely; but if they are allowed to grow uncheckedthey soon curve over the extremities, form talons or claws, and cease togrow--answering to the Scriptural account of the effects of the mentaldisorder of Nebuchadnezzar.

  Of course for every case of real malady many were imputed or charged uponpoor creatures, who were driven to madness by groundless charges ofwitchcraft and sorcery, and being _loups-garous_ in secret. Many innocentpeople were in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries burnt at the stakeas wolves in human form.

  A correspondent has kindly supplied the following information:--"When inOude in India, twenty-six years ago, we heard of several instances ofnative babies being carried off out of the villages by she-wolves, andplaced with their whelps, and brought up wild there; there was one aboutwhen we were there, partially reclaimed, but retaining much of the savagenature imbibed with the wolf's milk, and having been accustomed to go onall-fours--_i.e._, knees and elbows; but I conclude these were notaffected with 'Lycanthropy.'"

  With a few touches of his magic pencil the Laureate has drawn a powerfulpicture of such a state of things in ancient Britain, of which we canscarcely deny the literal faithfulness. It is not a poetic conception; itis historic truth:--

  "And ever and anon the wolf would stealThe children and devour; but now and then,Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teatTo human sucklings; and the children, housedIn her foul den, there at their meat would growl,And mock their foster-mother on four feet,Till, straightened, they grew up to wolf-like men,Worse than the wolves."

  _Coming of Arthur_.

  The following tale, in which the lycanthropy is far from being altogethera mere effort of the imagination, appears to be founded upon the beliefin the continued existence of this rare species of madness down to ourown day--or near it--for the story seems to belong to the year 1832.

  The English reader will not fail to notice the correspondence between thetitle and the well-known designation of the illustrious head of the noblehouse of Grosvenor. Whatever connection there may or may not be betweenthat German Hugh Lupus of a thousand years ago and the truly British HughLupus of our day, all the base qualities of his supposed progenitor havedisappeared in him who is adorned with all the qualities which make theEnglish nobility rank as the pride and the flower of our land.

  F. A. M.

  _The Vicaraqe,Broughton-in-Furness_.