( 153 )
CHAPTER X.
MYTHOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF THE WERE-WOLF MYTH.
Metempsychosis—Sympathy between Men and Beasts—Finnbog and the Bear—Osage and the Beaver—The connexion of Soul and Body—Buddism—Case of Mr. Holloway—Popular ideas concerning the Body—The derivation of the German Leichnam—Feather Dresses—Transmigration of Souls—A Basque Story—Story from the Pantschatantra—Savage ideas regarding Natural Phenomena—Thunder, Lightning, and Cloud—The origin of the Dragon—John of Bromton's Dragon a Waterspout—The Legend of Typhoous—Allegorizing of the Effects of a Hurricane—Anthropomorphosis—The Cirrus Clond, a Heavenly Swan—Urvaçî—The Storm-cloud a Demon—Vritra and Râkschasas—Story of a Brahmin and a Râkschasas.
Transformation into beasts forms an integral portion of all mythological systems. The gods of Greece were wont to change themselves into animals in order to carry out their designs with greater speed, security, and secrecy, than in human forms. In Scandinavian mythology, Odin changed himself into the shape of an eagle, Loki into that of a salmon. Eastern religions abound in stories of transformation.
The line of demarcation between this and the
