The Essential Guide to Werewolf Literature

3. The Werewolf Enters Fiction

3 The Werewolf Enters Fiction Ensorcelled Werewolves: Classical and Medieval Stories The earliest werewolfstories were in the form ofpoems and trace their origins back to the myths and legends of antiquity, in which metamorphosis into animal form is a frequent-almost natural-phenomenon. The theme's first significant expression in literature was in Virgil's eighth Eclogue (39 B.C.), which tells ofa warlock named Moeris who effects a voluntary transformation into a wolf by eating magical herbs. A later work by another distinguished Roman poet, Ovid's Metamorphoses includes the well-known story ofLycaon, the tyrannical king of Arcadia, who, when visited by the god Jupiter in disguise, outrages the deity by serving him a meal of human flesh. As a fitting punishment 50 The Werewolf Enters Fiction for his effrontery, Jupiter transforms Lycaon into a howling wolf to make the decadent monarch's appearance correspond with his moral appetites. The first prose work to feature a werewolfwas Petronius 's Satyricon, written in A.D. 55. In Niceros's story (related in the section known as Trimalchio's Banquet) the servant of a rich merchant is passing by a moonlit graveyard when his companion, a young soldier, suddenly takes off all his clothes, lays them in a heap, and proceeds to urinate on them. At once he becomes a wolf, and after emitting a bloodcurdling howl runs off into the woods. Niceros learns afterward that a wolfhas savaged the livestock on a nearby farm; the following morning he receives confirmation that it was his traveling companion who was responsible for the attack when a wound dealt the marauding beast is found reproduced on the soldier's body. While this hoary old yarn may seem insipid by today's standards, it is important , nonetheless, for having introduced certain keyelements that have been incorporated into werewolf sto- . . nes ever SInce. The next milestone in the history of the werewolf story was the introduction ofthe motifinto English literature at the end of the twelfth century. The story credited with this honor is "The Lay of the Bisclavaret" by Marie de France, which is best read in one of the modern prose versions. The hero of this famous romance is one of the most gallant knights in Brittany and is much loved by everyone, especially the king. His 51 The Werewolf Enters Fiction wife, however, becomes concerned when he regularly disappears for three days without offering any explanation ; after questioning him repeatedly about this the knight reluctantly confesses that as a result of a curse he becomes a ravening werewolf during his absences. Pressed to reveal more he confides to his horrified wife that in order to effect the transformation he must remove all his clothes and conceal them in a safe hiding place; he also lets it be known that should he not be able to find them again, he would remain in his beastly form forever. Eventually, to the knight's cost, the location of the place of concealment is also coaxed out of him by his wife who, after hearing her husband's terrible confession, is afraid to live with him any longer. In order to get rid ofhim permanently, she persuades a former suitor to search out the werewolf's apparel and steal it away. For more than a year nothing is seen or heard of the king's favorite, enabling the treacherous couple to marry and lay claim to the missing knight's lands and titles. One day while the king is hunting in the woods, he unknowingly encounters the transmogrified knight when a wolf he and his party have been hunting runs up to him and, with human gestures, pleads for protection . Marveling at the creature's actions, the king forbids anyone in his retinue to molest the supplicant, and he returns to his castle with the strange beast trotting tamely at his side. Thenceforth the wolfis treated like a pampered pet and earns the trust ofthe royal household 52 The Werewolf Enters Fiction by its friendly nature. One evening, however, at a great feast attended by all the nobility, the normally placid creature suddenly flies into a rage after encountering the man who had helped in his betrayal; on another occasion the transmogrified knight ferociously attacks his former wife and bites off her nose. These incidents seem inexplicable at the time, but suspicions are aroused when it is pointed out that the woman was...