� 2001-2006 by Shiloh
�
all rightThe vampire is mysterious, compelling, frightening, a sometimes romantic figure with an otherworldly beauty. The mummy is ancient, historical, sometimes delivering a curse upon those who would dare break into and rob his or her pyramidal tomb. The ghost, a phantom of many types, can be mischievious and playful; tragic, solemn and lost; a mere image imprint on the fabric of Time that sometimes replays itself before mortal eyes; or it can be an evil, malevolent poltergeist with the intent to harm. The witch is a maiden, a mother or crone. She has ancient knowledge and knows the arcane arts and will use them, depending upon her nature, in the White Way or the Dark Way. Frankenstein's monster, a tragic human aberration with a gentle, child-like soul, he never asked for the dark, lonely life that was jumpstarted into his stolen dead heart. Only one other monster is there left to be named, who could be considered as tragic as he, and that is...
The werewolf.
Until on the night of the full moon, totally exhausted and beaten, the werewolf can no longer resist or deny the Wolf. The inevitable has come. The Wolf will out; the metamorphosis a painful delirium. As the Wolf and its voracious appetites surface and take over, the moral consciousness of the human is lost. The werewolf has a dim, or no memory at all, of the terrible, gruesome deeds done in his or her animal form. But he or she eventually hears of them, however, as panic, fear and speculation run rampant in his or her community as the deeds are discovered.
As the curse of the werewolf repeats each full moon, with no release in sight, the tortured soul becomes more introspective. Falling deeper into hopeless, helpless despair, guilt, fear and self-loathing eat at him or her from the inside-out until there is almost nothing left of the once kind, friendly, moral soul. The only salvation and end to the cursed, lonely half-life led by this tragic individual is a silver bullet or instrument.
This is the Classic Hollywood version. A sorrowful depiction of someone whose life is good until one dark and misty night when he or she has a most unfortunate, fateful encounter with a wolf. Soon after he or she begins to notice subtle changes in himself or herself. The senses are keener, he or she becomes moody, aggressive and territorial. Then the Change itself comes upon him or her with the next full moon. The person never asked for or deserved this curse. That is the tragedy of the werewolf.
The werewolf isn't as old as the vampire is in human history. But, like the vampire's bloodlust, the changing from human to wolf is a curse, a punishment from the gods. Lycaeon, a king in Ancient Greece, earned the wrath of several visiting deities when, unbelieving they were true gods, he decided to test them. At a banquet held in their honor, King Lycaeon served the Olympians human flesh in one of the dishes prepared. Cannibalism even then was a barbaric and vile act and definitely a major insult to the gods. Upon discovery of the tainted dish, they, in a fury, changed the disrespectful ruler into a wolf. Since he obviously liked the taste of human flesh, this new form was more acceptable when taking part in such a despicable act. Thus Lycaeon became the first werewolf.
It is from his name and Greek origins, naturally, that we get the words lycanthrope and lycanthropy--from lykoi comes the meaning "wolf" and from anthropos comes the meaning "man." Literal translation: the Wolf Man.
Since then, legends and actual accounts of werewolves have been told throughout history around the world. The most well-known "werewolf," besides King Lycaeon himself, is the (German) wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. He meets the young girl in the woods and, upon smelling and espying her basket of food, hatches a plan to have the meal all to himself. He converses with her, finding out about her and her destination. He beats Little Red Riding Hood to Grandma's, does away with Grandma--either by eating her or stuffing her into a closet, though I would think after eating her he wouldn't be so hungry for more anyway, but then he is a wolf, so what do I know?--dons the old woman's nightgown and cap and hops into her bed. A short time later here comes Little Red Riding Hood, innocently and foolishly falling into the wolf's trap.
In Areminia legend has it, if a woman commits a deadly sin, she is condemned to pass seven years as a wolf. A spirit will visit her, bringing her a wolf's skin to put on. As soon as she has done so she becomes a shewolf, with all the wolf's appetites, temperment and instincts. Her human consciousness repressed, she attacks and kills her children one by one, then those of her relatives, according to the degree of relationship. Once this is done other children in her village become her prey. She wanders forth only at night, doors and locks springing open at her approach. As morning dawns she returns to human form and removes the wolfskin. (Talk about harsh punishment!)
Romanian gypsy legend of the werewolf, however, deviates from the cursed, frightening and sometimes tragic beasts depicted in the examples above. The belief is that white wolves inhabit the village cemeteries, looking for their natural enemy, the vampire. It's their sole purpose to find and destroy any and all vampires before the Undead rise fully from their graves to feed and add to their numbers.
The actual accounts are as interesting as the legends, perhaps slightly more so because they are based on fact and confessions. England's despot, King John, who ruled from 1199 to 1216 was accused after death of being a werewolf. A Norman chronicle recounts how monks, sure they heard noises coming from his grave, exhumed his body, taking him out of consecrated ground. (He musta been rreeaaalllyyy unpopular or the monks really superstitious to do that to a monarch, where before him and the Magna Carta, rulers reigned by Divine Right(?).)
Just like the witch hunts and trials, accusing one of being a werewolf in the Middle Ages was an easy way to get rid of the undesirable and strange. In 1570 a wolf killed several children near Lyon, France. An unfortunate hermit living in a cave, Gilles Granier, was caught scavenging a dead body. This was excuse enough for the locals to get rid of him. They accused him of being a werewolf, and through coercion had him confessing to the false charge. They burned him at the stake in 1573.
A young man in 1603 actually confessed of his own free will to being a werewolf. That is definitely interesting and surprising. Jean Grenier was 14-years-old. He claimed to be a werewolf because his father and a friend of his were such creatures as well. Grenier provided full and gory details of the carnage they wrought on hapless victims and was condemned to death. Because of his young age, he was transfered on a plea of clemency to a Franciscan friary in Bordeaux where Grenier spent the remainder of his days pathologically attached to werewolf lore. He demanded to eat nothing but raw meat, howling like a wolf by night and running on all fours on horribly deformed hands.
When beginning this essay, looking for facts and legends to write about, I had the basic Classic Hollywood version of the werewolf in mind, and of course, L.J. Smith's depiction from her Night World book series. What I found, as you've just read, is a different sort of werewolf. Still cursed, tragic and ferocious, with an appetite for human flesh in some cases, this creature is also good in others, with, I think, a consciousness of right and wrong in the human moral sense. (According to L.J. Smith they do.) I also discovered an interesting difference from Hollywood's idea of the werewolf. The creatures actually look like genuine wolves; they aren't hairy looking, wolf-like humanoids who stretch and burst and rip their clothes in transformation, wearing the remanants over their mutated bodies. Another difference or Hollywood addition to the lore is the full moon's role. In most legends and accounts the werewolf changes his or her form at will and has no tie to the moon's cycle, transformation-wise.
Becoming a werewolf, however, is another story. Being bitten by one isn't the only way to join the ranks. The medieval monk, Gervase of Tilbury, said stripping naked and rolling in the sand under a full moon was an effective method. And according to Italian folklore, being conceived during the time of the new moon, or simply sleeping outdoors on a full moon on a Friday was enough to become a werewolf. Ticking off St. Patrick was a sure way of becoming one too. He cursed an entire clan for their lack of faith in Christ. Every seven years they turned into wolves. In other Old World legends, eating Wolfbane or drinking from the same stream as a wolf has was another effective way.
And luckily, being shot by a silver bullet or getting clubbed by some type of silver implement isn't the only way to release someone from the curse. Canadian lore suggested an exorcism by speaking the name of Christ or calling the werewolf three times by his or her true name. The French believed the curse could be lifted by taking three drops of blood from the creature during its wolf period. (Hallelujah! With these methods one doesn't/didn't have to die to be freed from Lycaeon's punishment! Now, the trick is/was to stay alive while performing these services...or else you'd wind up a werewolf yourself...
But would you be a white wolf; a wolf who keeps its human consciousness; a cunning hunter; or a tragic, cursed wolf who is slave to its primeval animal instincts and appetites?
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