The Book of Were-Wolves, Sabine Baring-Gould [chapter books to read to 5 year olds txt] 📗
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uncertain which. is the correct derivation—is expressive of the white
cirrus, constantly changing form, and apparently floating swan-like on
the blue heaven-sea. These apsaras, according to the Vedaic creed,
were fond of changing their shapes, appearing generally as ducks or
swans, occasionally as human beings. The souls of heroes were given to
them for lovers and husbands. One of the most graceful of the early
Indian myths is the story of the apsaras, Urvaçî. Urvaçî loved
Puravaras and became his ‘wife, on the condition that she was n-ever
to behold him in a state of nudity. They remained together for years,
till the heavenly companions of Urvaçî determined to secure her return
to them. They accordingly beguiled Puravaras into leaving his bed in
the darkness of night, and then with a lightning flash they disclosed
him, in his nudity, to his wife, who was thereupon constrained to
leave him. He pursued her, full of sorrow at his loss, and found her
at length swimming in a large lotus pond, in swan’s shape.
That this story is not a mere invention, but rests on some
mythological explanation of natural phenomena, I think more than
probable, as it is found all over the world with few variations. As
every Aryan branch retains the story, or traces of it, there can be no
doubt that the belief in swan-maidens, who swam in the heavenly sea,
and who sometimes became the wives of those fortunate men who managed
to steal from them their feather dresses, formed an integral portion
of the old mythological system of the Aryan family, before it was
broken up into Indian, Persian, Greek, Latin, Russian, Scandinavian,
Teutonic, and other races. But more, as the same myth is found. in
tribes not Aryan, and far removed from contact with European or Indian
superstition,—as, for instance, among Samoyeds and American
Indians,—it is even possible that this story may be a tradition of
the first primæval stock of men.
But it is time for me to leave the summer cirrus and turn to the
tempest-born rain-cloud. It is represented in ancient Indian mythology
by the Vritra or Râkshasas. At first the form of these dæmons was
uncertain and obscure. Vritra is often used as an appellative for a
cloud, and kabhanda, an old name for a rain-cloud, in later times
became the name of a devil. Of Vritra, who envelopes the mountains
with vapour, it is said, “The darkness stood retaining the water, the
mountains lay in the belly of Vritra.” By degrees Vritra stood out
more prominently as a dæmon, and he is described as a “devourer” of
gigantic proportions. In the same way Râkshasas obtained corporeal
form and individuality. He is a misshapen giant “like to a cloud,”
with a red beard and red hair, with pointed protruding teeth, ready to
lacerate and devour human flesh. His body is covered with coarse
bristling hair, his huge mouth is open, he looks from side to side as
he walks, lusting after the flesh and blood of men, to satisfy his
raging hunger, and quench his consuming thirst. Towards nightfall his
strength increases manifold. He can change his shape at will. He
haunts the woods, and roams howling through the jungle; in short, he
is to the Hindoo what the werewolf is to the European.
A certain wood was haunted by a Râkschasa; he one day came across a
Brahmin, and with a bound reached his shoulders, and clung to them,
exclaiming, “Heh! go on with you!” And the Brahmin, quaking with fear,
advanced with him. But when he observed that the feet of the Râkschasa
were as delicate as the stamens of the lotus, he asked him, How is it
that you have such weak and slender feet? The Râkschasa replied, “I
never walk nor touch the earth with my feet. I have made a vow not to
do so.” Presently they came to a large pond. Then the Râkschasa bade
the Brahmin wait at the edge whilst he bathed and prayed to the gods.
But the Brahmin thought: “As soon as these prayers and ablutions are
over, he will tear me to pieces with his fangs and eat me. He has
vowed not to walk; I will be off post haste!” so he ran away, and the
Râkschasa dared not follow him for fear of breaking his VOW.
(Pantschatantra, v. 13.) There is a similar story in the
Mahâbhârata, xiii., and in the Kathâ Sarit Sâgara, v. 49-53.
I have said sufficient to show that natural phenomena gave rise to
mythological stories, and that these stories have gradually
deteriorated, and have been degraded into vulgar superstitions. And I
have shown that both the doctrine of metempsychosis and the
mythological explanations of meteorological changes have given rise to
abundant fable, and among others to the popular and wide-spread
superstition of lycanthropy. I shall now pass from myth to history,
and shall give instances of bloodthirstiness, cruelty, and
cannibalism.
CHAPTER XI.
THE MARÉCHAL DE RETZ.-I. THE INVESTIGATION OF CHARGES.
The history of the man whose name heads this chapter I purpose giving
in detail, as the circumstances I shall narrate have, I believe, never
before been given with accuracy to the English public. The name of
Gilles de Laval may be well known, as sketches of his bloody career
have appeared in many biographies, but these sketches have been very
incomplete, as the material from which they were composed was meagre.
M. Michelet alone ventured to give the public an idea of the crimes
which brought a marshal of France to the gallows, and his revelations
were such that, in the words of M. Henri
Martin, “this iron age, which seemed unable to feel surprise at any
amount of evil, was struck with dismay.”
M. Michelet derived his information from the abstract of the papers
relating, to the case, made by order of Ann of Brittany, in the
Imperial Library. The original documents were in the library at
Nantes, and a great portion of them were destroyed in the Revolution
of 1789. But a careful analysis had been made of them, and this
valuable abridgment, which was inaccessible to M. Michelet, came into
the hands of M. Lacroix, the eminent French antiquarian, who published
a memoir of the marshal from the information he had thus obtained, and
it is his work, by far the most complete and circumstantial which has
appeared, that I condense into the following chapters.
“The most monstrously depraved imagination,” says M. Henri Martin,
“never could have conceived what the trial reveals.” M. Lacroix has
been obliged to draw a veil over much that transpired, and I must draw
it closer still. I have, however, said enough to show that this
memorable trial presents horrors probably unsurpassed in the whole
volume of the world’s history.
During the year 1440, a terrible rumour spread through Brittany, and
especially through the ancient pays de Retz, which extends along the
south of the Loire from Nantes to Paimbuf, to the effect that one of
the most famous and powerful noblemen in Brittany, Gilles de Laval,
Maréchal de Retz, was guilty of crimes of the most diabolical nature.
Gilles de Laval, eldest son of Gay de Laval, second of his name, Sire
de Retz, had raised the junior branch of the illustrious house of
Laval above the elder branch, which was related to the reigning family
of Brittany. He lost his father when he was aged twenty, and remained
master of a vast territorial inheritance, which was increased by his
marriage with Catharine de Thouars in 1420. He employed a portion of
their fortune in the cause of Charles VII., and in strengthening the
French crown. During seven consecutive years, from 1426 to 1433, he
was engaged in military enterprises against the English; his name is
always cited along with those of Dunois, Xaintrailles, Florent
d’Illiers, Gaucourt, Richemont, and the most faithful servants of the
king. His services were speedily acknowledged by the king creating him
Marshal of France. In 1427, he assaulted the Castle of Lude, and
carried it by storm; he killed with his own hand the commander of the
place; next year he captured from the English the fortress of
Rennefort, and the Castle of Malicorne; in 1429, he took an active
part in the expedition of Joan of Arc for the deliverance of Orleans,
and the occupation of Jargeau, and he was with her in the moat, when
she was wounded by an arrow under the walls of Paris.
The marshal, councillor, and chamberlain of the king participated in
the direction of public affairs, and soon obtained the entire
confidence of his master. He accompanied Charles to Rheims on the
occasion of his coronation, and had the honour of bearing the
oriflamme, brought for the occasion from the abbey of S. Remi. His
intrepidity on the field of battle was as remarkable as his sagacity
in council, and he proved himself to be both an excellent warrior and
a shrewd politician.
Suddenly, to the surprise of every one, he quitted the service of
Charles VII., and sheathed for ever his sword, in the retirement of
the country. The death of his maternal grandfather, Jean de Craon, in
1432, made him so enormously wealthy, that his revenues were estimated
at 800,000 livres; nevertheless, in two years, by his excessive
prodigality, he managed to lose a considerable portion of his
inheritance. Mauléon, S. Etienne de Malemort, Loroux-Botereau, Pornic,
and Chantolé, he sold to John V., Duke of Brittany, his kinsman, and
other lands and seigneurial rights he ceded to the Bishop of Nantes,
and to the chapter of the cathedral in that city.
The rumour soon spread that these extensive cessions of territory were
sops thrown to the duke and to the bishop, to restrain the one from
confiscating his goods, and the other from pronouncing
excommunication, for the crimes of which the people whisperingly
accused him; but these rumours were probably without foundation, for
eventually it was found hard to persuade the duke of the guilt of his
kinsman, and the bishop was the most determined instigator of the
trial.
The marshal seldom visited the ducal court, but he often appeared in
the city of Nantes, where he inhabited the Hôtel de la Suze, with a
princely retinue. He had, always accompanying him, a guard of two
hundred men at arms, and a numerous suit of pages, esquires,
chaplains, singers, astrologers, &c., all of whom he paid handsomely.
Whenever he left the town, or moved to one of his other seats, the
cries of the poor, which had been restrained during the time of his
presence, broke forth. Tears flowed, curses were uttered, a
long-continued wail rose to heaven, the moment that the last of the
marshal’s party had left the neighbourhood. Mothers had lost their
children, babes had been snatched from the cradle, infants had been
spirited away almost from the maternal arms, and it was known by sad
experience that the vanished little ones would never be seen again.
But on no part of the country did the shadow of this great fear fall
so deeply as on the villages in the neighbourhood of the Castle of
Machecoul, a gloomy château, composed of huge towers, and surrounded
by deep moats, a residence much frequented by Do Retz, notwithstanding
its sombre and repulsive appearance. This fortress was always in a
condition to resist a siege: the drawbridge was raised, the portcullis
down, the gates closed, the men under arms, the culverins on the
bastion always loaded. No one, except the servants, had penetrated
into this mysterious asylum and had come forth alive. In the
surrounding country strange tales of horror and devilry circulated in
whispers, and yet it was observed that the chapel of the castle was
gorgeously decked with
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