An Account of a Savage Girl, Caught Wild in the Woods of Champagne/Appendix III
DUring the residence of this young girl about the castle and village of M. d'Epinoy, she gave proofs of an extrordinary sagacity. Neither money, (of whose value and use she is perhaps, equally ignorant) threats, or caresses, had any effect upon her: But the approach alone of a man, with an intention to touch her, made her utter frightful shrieks, and produced a disorder in her eyes and whole appearance, that it were impossible to imitate. It is thought extremely prudent in the governor to have removed her into one of the hospitals of Chalons, called the Renfermerie, where there shall be better opportunity of discovering her state and origin, and of giving her the education and instruction, of which she appears to be already capable.
Before this retirement, she was a great deal more wild. Those who have seen her run in the fields, say, that her manner of running was extremely singular, her step being short, but so very quick and rapid, that she could easily outstrip the swiftest man.
At present she is employed in the business of the house, and she lays her hand to every thing with a good grace. Nothing appears above her strength, or disagreeable to her, from a firm persuasion, that obedience is necessary for her being admitted one day to visit the Holy Virgin her mother.
The archbishop of Vienna, in passing lately by this town, desired to see her. For that purpose, she was brought by the sisters of the hospital to the governor's house. We beheld her that day, with a kind of horror, devour more than a pound and a half of raw beef, without once offering to chew it; then fall, with a sort of fury, on a young rabbit that was set before her, which she skinn'd in the twinkling of an eye, with an ease that indicated a frequent practice, and then devoured it in an instant, without taking out its intrails. The archbishop ask'd her a great many questions, to which she made the same answers that she had before made to others, not forgetting the adventure of a negroe girl, the companion of her journey, who has been seen since, but whom they have not bean able hitherto to apprehend. The sisters told us, that for some time past, they have been endeavouring to accustom her to our ordinary food, in spite of the disgust of her stomach, to cooked victuals and bread, which has made her vomit even her blood. They are endeavouring, in a singular way, to make her acquainted with the principles of religion, that she may be soon in a situation to receive the first sacrament.