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Page 1
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 French
writers, a translation of one of whose works is here attempted, are
singularly faithful in their adherence to historic truth. Remove the
thread of obvious fiction which is indispensable to make these admirable
productions romances or tales, and what we have left is perfectly
reliable history. It is this feature mainly which gives the indescribable
charm to their historical tales--a charm powerfully realised in the
original, though less appreciable in an imperfect translation.
The same claim to perfect truthfulness in all essential points may be
placed to the credit of the following "Roman Populaire," notwithstanding
the startling supernatural element on which the story is founded.
Erckmann-Chatrian have not thought it right or necessary to depart in
this case from their practice of abstaining from all prefaces or notes in
every edition of their works. Yet perhaps the translator may be forgiven,
and even condoned with thanks, if he ventures upon an explanation tending
to show that the tale of _Hugh the Wolf_ is not entirely founded upon
superstition and the supernatural.
"Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given
unto him!" Such was the sentence pronounced and executed upon him of
Babylon whose pride called for abasement from the Lord. Dr. Mead (_Medica
Sacra_, p. 59) observes that there was known among the ancients a mental
disorder called lycanthropy, the victims of which fancied themselves
wolves, and went about howling and attacking and tearing sheep and young
children (_Aetius, Lib. Med_. vi., _Paul �gineta_, iii. 16). So, again,
Virgil tells of the daughters of Pr�tus, who fancied themselves to be
cows, and running wildly about the pastures, "impl�runt falsis mugitibus
agros."--Ecl. vi. 48. This horrible disease appears happily to have been
a rare one, and recoveries from it have taken place, for it is not
destructive of the sufferer's life. It has even been thoroughly cured
after a lapse of many years.
Dr. Pusey (_Notes on Daniel_, p. 425), in a disquisition of great fulness
upon the disease of Nebuchadnezzar, refers to a communication which he
received from Dr. Browne, a Commissioner of the Board of Lunacy for
Scotland, in which he says, "My opinion is that in all mental powers or
conditions the idea of personal identity is but rarely enfeebled, and
that it is never extinguished. The ego and non-ego may be confused; the
ego, however, continues to preserve the personality. All the angels,
devils, dukes, lords, kings, "gods many" that I have had under my care
remained what they were before they became angels, dukes, etc., in a
sense, and even nominally. I have seen a man declaring himself the
Saviour or St. Paul sign himself _James Thomson_, and attend worship as
regularly as if the notion of divinity had never entered into his head."
Esquirol, a very trustworthy writer, has a description of an
extraordinary 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 the
15th century, and the name of '_loups-garous_' has been given to the
sufferers. These unhappy beings fly from the society of mankind and live
in the woods, the cemeteries, or old ruins, prowling about the open
country only by night, howling as they go. They let their beard and nails
grow, and then seeing themselves armed with claws and covered with shaggy
hair, they become confirmed in the belief that they are wolves. Impelled
by ferocity or want, they throw themselves upon young children and tear,
kill, and devour them." (Esquir�l, _Des Maladies Mentales_, Paris, 1838,
vol i., p. 521.) Those whom the French called _loups-garous_ were in
German termed _werewolves_.
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