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It could be the Moon.

It could be the Sun.

I think it is both a curse

and a blessing from heaven that

has me on the run.

A crazy change has come upon me.

Will I handle it well?

I often ask for help to see

a way a helping paw to lend,

and as the creature that I am

bless my fellow man.

I have paws,

I have fur,

I have claws,

of this I am sure.

I have pointed ears,

a bushy tail and powerful

nose that sometimes works too well!

I am a werewolf.



by Monkaya

SHIFTING- Shifting is short fo shapeshifting, although the terms transforming, morphing, changing, and turning into can also mean the same thing. There are many forms of shifting and, with it, many interpretations of what shifting is, exactly. To me, it's like the merging of the body and the soul, whether it's spiritual and/or physical.



PHENOTYPE- A person's phenotype is considered the animal form their body assumes when they shift. It can be any animal, atiger, fox, bear, dolphin, eagle, or whatever. It doesn't always pertain to wolves exclusively, wolves are just the most common (like with me). It's also not too uncommon for a person to have more than one phenotype.





SHIFTERS- A shifter, as you may have already gathered, is a person who can shapeshift. Calling a shifter a "were" also works because it can be short for werewolf or whatever phenptype it is that they have. It's that general and for that reason some shifters may prefer to be called weres. Like being called a shifter, it implies only that they have the ability to change their shape into an animal form.



There are three main types of shifters: lycanthropes, therianthropes, and polymorphs. Of course there are others, but to keep things simple I've narrowed it down to these main three...



LYCANTHROPES- also known as werewolves, are people who have the ability to shift into their wolf phenotype. They can become a full-fledged four-legged wolf, or a werewolf.



THERIANTHROPES- Therianthropy covers all animal forms, including wolves, so a lycanthrope can be considered a therianthrope. However, since lycanthropy specifically deals with wolves, therianthropes are generally thought of as people who transform themselves into other animal forms. Therianthropes include weretigers, werefoxes, werebears, etc.



POLYMORPHS- The difference between a polymorph and the other two types os shifters is that polymorphs not only have many phenotypes, but they can appear as a mixed hybrid of all their phenotypes combined into one. An example of a polymorph would be a person who could shift into a creature that is part human, tiger, and eagle, a weretiger with wings perhaps. Mmm, wouldn't that be something?...



TYPES OF SHIFTS- Okay, now what I'm going to do here is use my lycanthropy to help me explain the different forms of shifting. Just keep in mind that the following can apply to any one of the many phenotype, not just wolves.



SENSE SHIFTING- Sense Shifting can occur with any of the other shifts or it can happen all by itself. It's simply a heightening of the senses.



DREAM SHIFTING- A Dream Shift occurs when a lycanthrope becomes a wolf or werewolf in their dreams. The change is often involuntary, which means "it just happens". Lycanthropes usually have less control over what they do in this form of shifting because, unlike Lucid Dream Shifting, they are unaware that they are dreaming. A Dream Shift still happens in a normal dream, the only exception is that the dreamer can shapeshift.



LUCID DREAM SHIFTING- The difference between Lucid Dream Shifting and Dream Shifting is that with Lucid Dream Shifting the lycanthrope is aware that they are dreaming and therefor the change is usually voluntary. They know that they ae dreaming and shapeshift by true will and desire. As with regular lucid dreams, Lucid Dream Shifting experiences are just as vivid, sensual, and very realistic, the closest thing you can get to a Physical Shift.



PHYSICAL SHIFTING- Physical Shifting occurs when the lycanthrope's real and physical body actually undergoes the transformation from human to wolf, or werewolf, the state somewhere inbetween.



ASTRAL SHIFTING- An Astral Shift occurs when a lycanthrope enters a spiritual trance, travels out of body to the astral plane, and shifts there. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference between Lucid Dream Shifts and Astral Shifts, lucid dreams being just as real, but Astral Shifts are sometimes associated with "psychic" experinces as well, such as : dream sharing, telepathy, clairovoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis. Astral Shifts are also said to be more spiritual in nature.



MENTAL SHIFTING- Mental Shifting, as the name implies, deals with the mentality of a lycanthrope. This, of course, varies from person to person, but there seems to be a common thread. The most common is an ability that I too have experienced. It is the ability to shut out all human sapience, that constant dialogue playing in our heads, human thought. Then, our senses becomes acutely heightened. It's a lot like what the Army calls "Condition Orange", only our instincts and reactions are more lupine.



AURA SHIFTING- Aura shifting consists of shaping one's aura. It's mainly done by instinct, but it can be shaped by will. It often happens when the shifter finds themself in a dangerous environment. They'll shift, looking very much the same but their soul has changed shape, for added protection. Much like how auras have different colors, it can be shaped into an anthropomorphic shape as well.

A werewolf is one of the central figures of the oldest superstitions. This monster featured in numerous Hollywood blockbusters has been terrifying children and adults worldwide for thousands of years as well as vampires, witches, mermaids, ghosts and sorcerers. Werewolf is also known by the name ‘lycanthrope’ meaning“a wolf human” and originating from the Greek word Likantropia. Somedictionaries define the word as ‘turning a witch into a wolf”.

Thewerewolf theme was always popular in the folklore worldwide, and eachcountry has its name for the creature. Beginning from the epoch ofRomulus and Remus, stories about wolves and werewolves excited theimagination of such prominent figures as Jean-Jack Rousseau, CarolusLinnaeus and Jonathan Swift. The talented writers composed an entireseries of wonderful stories about werewolves.

However, the werewolf is little known as compared with his fellow, the vampire. The werewolf is more multiform and more mysterious than the vampire. The modern science may easily discredit all the mythicalcharacteristics given to the vampire. But it is known that in old timessome strange disease really affected entire settlements and turnedpeople living there into furious beasts. Those diseased revealed allthe classical symptoms of lycanthropy.

The interest to the werewolf issue seems to be inexhaustible. In the 20thcentury, filmmakers were inspired with the issue for making a greatnumber of films about werewolves. Today, fiction and journalism revealeven a deeper approach to the werewolf issue and consider it in a wideraspect.

December 17, 1976 London’s The Daily Mailpublished a story entitled ‘Werewolf Killer Caught, The Police Say’that told about the seizure of a criminal known as the Paris werewolffor committing numerous killings. At the end of WWII, Nazis founded aterrorist organization code named Werwolf (Werewolf). Criminals areoften described with the strong moral metaphor ‘werewolves’ when theycommit really wild series killings, violations that are beyond logic;when they practice cannibalism,tortures, sadomasochism and Satanism. The irony of the metaphor meansthat the wolf never attacks and kills itself unless it is hungry orwounded. According to recent researches, wolves in a pack maintainclose trusting relations where the entire pack is based upon mutualresponsibility. And in case some of the wolves in a pack reveals thekiller instinct they liquidate it for the welfare of the rest of thepack.

Genuinewerewolves in the contemporary society are those who come to mentalhospitals as patients and participate in ritual ceremonies of AmericanIndians. Doctors call people of both sexes who imagine or feel they arewerewolves ‘lycanthropes’. So, today the word ‘lycanthrope’ is aprofessional medical term indicating a pathological condition; and theword ‘werewolf’ is a word used in fiction, films and as acharacteristic of criminals.

Werewolvesand their terrible doings were known already in the time when Rome wasbeing founded. People in Ancient Greece also feared the scary creature.But werewolves as well as vampires were particularly scary for peoplein Eastern Europe where the only mentioning of a werewolf made peasantsturn white and look around numb with fear.

Unlike vampires that got out from their coffins to suck blood out of living people, werewolves do not belong to the other world. The werewolf is an absolutely earthly phenomenon.It is highly likely that the turning of humans into wolves wasconnected with some disease, and anyone could be affected with thedisease. It was for sure that a werewolf bite would make a victimdiseased. But nobody knew when and under what conditions the terriblewerewolf symptoms could reveal themselves. And this fact explained thewild fear and mass executions in the Middle Ages when people suspected of being werewolves were burntor executed with swords. When the mass fear sweepingly spread, peopleknown as batty or those having something wolfish in their featurescould be immediately prosecuted as werewolves.

Peoplesuspected of lycanthropy found themselves in a really terriblesituation. Such attacks as a rule entailed a huge range of moral and religious problems in the epoch when the church played a really important role in the everyday life of all people.

Thetradition of that time was to start open legal proceedings withtortures against those declared werewolves, and then the latter wereexecuted which was usually burning. It is not known exactly how manypeople were executed by hanging or burning on the charges oflycanthropy. However, ancient written evidence proves that the numberwas quite considerable indeed.

Peopleparticularly feared the full moon as it was believed that the diseaseaffected people particularly at this time. Those affected with thedisease found their bodies awfully changed, they looked and behavedvery much like wolves. After the terrible transformations, werewolvesset off for their night wandering to kill anyone they met. That was areal disaster indeed. A human can turn into a vampire only after anattack and bite of another vampire. But lycanthropy was the diseasethat could suddenly affect anyone, and there was no salvation from it.

Therewas little chance that patients suffering from lycanthropy could becured. As a rule, werewolves were doomed to their every night wanderinguntil some other stronger creature killed them or they were not shotwith a silver bullet. Unlike vampires, werewolves could be killed invery traditional ways, but it was believed that especially cast silverbullets were particularly effective against werewolves. It was untilthe 18th century that people in some parts of Europe believed that werewolves had their haired wolf tails hidden under clotheseven when they turned into humans again. People thought that thephysical peculiarity was always typical of lycanthropy patients, anddoctors stated they actually saw patients having tails. That was truethat doctors could offer no medicine to cure the disease.

Ancienttreatises say that true lycanthropes not only physically turned intowolves, their mind and behavior also changed at that. Such peoplesensed they were absolute beasts. Those documents stated that meeting alycanthrope was also risky on a sunny day, but moonlit nights of thefull moon were particularly dangerous. It took just a very short periodof time for lycanthropy patients to begin to transform into wolves.They felt fever and thirst, then their hands and legs turned into legsresembling those of a wolf. People threw off their shoes as their feetturned into wolf’s paws. The mind of a lycanthropy patient alsoabsolutely changed, and it could no longer stay indoors. Then nauseaand spasms entailed madness when the transformation became perfectlyevident: a patient threw his clothes off, his body began to cover withhair and the feet grew coarse. Soon, all of the head was covered withthick hair and it seemed a human was wearing an animal mask. Then alycanthrope was gripped with the blood lust and it ran away in searchof a victim. Like many beasts of prey, lycanthropes killed theirvictims by biting their cervical arteries. When the blood lust wassatisfied, a lycanthrope fell asleep right in the forest where hekilled his victim. At daybreak, a lycanthrope turned into a human again.

Lycanthropealways felt when the terrible transformations began, but they usuallyoccurred within a very short period of time. So, people suffering fromthe awful disease had to take special measures not to be exposed.Lycanthropes having big houses had special secret rooms where they hiduntil they turned into humans again. Others preferred to escape toforests where they were growling and rolling about the surface.

Philosophersand scholars in all epochs disputed whether werewolves actually existedor were just a fiction. Many of outstanding scholars supposed that incase of some mental diseases patients could feel they are beasts, butthey emphasized that real lycanthropes could not exist at all.

In125 B.C., Roman poet Marcell Sidet wrote that people affected withlycanthropy revealed mania, frightful appetites and wolf ferocity.According to the poet, people were particularly subject to the diseaseat the beginning of a year, in February, when the disease waswidespread and revealed in acute forms.

Translated by Maria Gousseva

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The Beginning



Three pups were born on different days, of different years, at different times, with goals so very similar, yet so very divers. The only thing these three had in common was that their destinies were entwined. It was only a matter of time before Fate bared her fangs.



The First Meeting



"Oh, um… sorry about that..." The white pup of said as he stood. Looking up he immediately noticed that it was a she-wolf. She smiled at him, responding gently. "It's quite alright. These things happen. I'm Naomi, by the way." The little fem introduced herself. The young brute smiled back. She was stunning. "I am Cavaliere. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." He replied. A loud howl captured the white pup's attention. "Umm… I sorry, I gotta go. See you around, Naomi!" He called and raced off through the crowd.



The Second Meeting



Young yearling femme pranced happily through the meadow with her friends. She closed her eyes and let the wind blow through her fur until, "Whoa!" She yelled before her body hit the ground with a thud. She looking up she came face to face with an unhappy looking brute. "Watch where you're going." He hissed coldly. "Oh… sorry… I didn't mean to." The fem said, scrambling to her feet. "I'm Naomi." She stated with a bow. "Tch. Did I ask for your name?" He replied icily. Naomi smiled and tilted her head as if she didn't hear his last statement. "Well, aren't you gonna give me your name?" She asked. "Acrebus." He stated. "Come on, Naomi, we were in the middle of a game!" One of her friends called. Naomi smiled to the young stud. "I'll see you around then, ne?" It was more of a statement as she bounded off to rejoin her friends. The ebony lobo stood where he was, thunderstruck. Naomi. She was beautiful...



The Problem



The young wolves had fallen deep into the most difficult thing in world to get out of. Love was never known to be kind and to this these three, she snarled down upon with fangs of rage and betrayal.



As the boys became closer to Naomi, their friendship began to disappear. They were blinded by the lustful appeal of love and could not see what was oh so silently sneaking up on them. Cavaliere and Acrebus began to clash and fight. Acrebus, being the bigger of the two, normally won. That was causing trouble in the pack hierarchy, with Cavaliere being the alpha male's heir. Blood became and everyday fact for them. Naomi tried to stop the two, but nothing she did seemed to work. To Acrebus, he was fighting desperately to win over the one he loves, but to the pack he was loosing his mind. There were those who followed him, but not many in this pack. Eventually the alpha began to fear for his son's life and Acrebus was exiled from the pack, but with his final word to his ex-pack, Acrebus swore that he would take control of all the land one day and win the young Naomi's heart. Cavaliere vowed in return to follow him throughout time and keep him from the goal. Both boys set out in separate directions but always they met along the road and always the fought. Soon after, Naomi left, gathering with her a small group who wanted to stop the fighting. The fighting didn't stop after that though, even after the death of the originals, they had taught their children well and the war continues to this day, almost 13 generations later, being fought by the descendants of Naomi, Cavaliere, and Acrebus.



The darks will not stop until they rule everything, the lights will not stop until the darks are put in their place, and the neutral will not stop until the fighting does.



Who will you choose to follow in this battle where the looser pays with their life?





Ending Credits



Copy Rights



• Outline for Plot © Leader of Lost Souls

• Story © Nightchild

• Idea © Storm_Fury, Shi, Nightchild

Much to the degradation of us all, Hollywood has very much distorted the creatures of myth and folklore. To my mind, not only do Werewolves exist, but each and everyone of us contains the seed of the wolf within his/her psyche. Unfortunately throughout history the majority of myth and folklore have linked werewolves with witchcraft (as it was defined in the Middle Ages) by the "learned" church fathers and sadistic Inquisitors. Being a student of the strange, the unusual, and the unknown, I have always held a particular fascination for the folklore and legends related to werewolves, vampyres, and the other children of the night. Who are these shape shifting beings of the night? Do they really exist? How does one become a werewolf? Is there any way of "curing" a werewolf? What relationship, if any, is there between werewolves and witchcraft? What of the Shaman and the spiritual traditions of other cultures? Who are these shape shifting beings of the night? The first written account of a werewolf appears in the Scriptures in the Book of Daniel (4:15-33) where King Nebuchadnezzar exhibited symptoms of were-wolfism for nearly four years. The Greek legend of King Lycaon of Arcadia being transformed into a wolf by Zeus after offending the god by serving him a meal of human flesh gave birth to the scientific term for werewolf, "lycanthrope". Later in the 5th century BC the celebrated Greek historian Herodotus reported on the Neuri, a strange people who became wolves for a brief time once a year. Then in the first century AD, noted Roman poet Virgil described a sorcerer who could transform himself into a wolf through the use of secret herbs. In that same century, renowned Roman author Gaius Petronius Arbiter wrote of such shapeshifters in his compilation of short stories call "Satyricon". Do they really exist? Absolutely! They exist in each and everyone of us. Most humans are able to control their lycanthropic tendencies - domesticated one might say. But though the majority of us tend to hearken to the inner voice of conscience that has been strengthened by moral and spiritual values over the centuries, there are those individuals who have succumbed to the darkside of the wolf to walk among us as those sadistic criminals who slash, tear, rip, rape, mutilate, and cannibalize their victims. It should be noted however, that "the werewolf of tradition is the deliberate creation of a human who, motivated by a desire for power or revenge, has sought to release the beast within and accomplish the transformation of human into wolf. Therefore, one becomes a werewolf through a self-willed and carefully structured magical quest to achieve a metamorphosis into wolf." (Brad Steiger - The Werewolf Book). How does one become a werewolf? Legend tells us that an individual may become a werewolf through several diverse means. Foremost is that of being bitten by a werewolf (aptly demonstrated on the silver screen in The Werewolf of London - 1935 starring Henry Hull; and in The Wolf Man (1941) featuring Lon Chaney Jr as the infamous Lawrence Talbot). Curses can also lead to the transformation - an idea that was intriguingly presented on the gothic TV series Dark Shadows with David Selby as the unwilling changeling Quentin Collins (one of my favourite shows of all time!). Of course there are other circumstances that can lead to lycanthropy: being conceived at the time of the full moon, sleeping outdoors on a Friday beneath a full moon, wearing a wolfskin belt or garment, being subjected to demonic possession, consuming the raw flesh of a rabid wolf -- just to name a few. Is there any way of "curing" a werewolf? According to popular lore, it is possible to "cure" a werewolf. One way is to call him/her by his/her human name while in the animal state. Another requires the highly dangerous trick of extracting 3 drops of blood while in the wolf state. A third technique demands that the lycanthrope restrain him/herself from attacking humans for a full 9-years. Of course, Hollywood has to get involved with new and inventive means of tackling this problem of a "cure". In The Werewolf of London devouring a special flower that blooms only during moonlight prevented the dreaded transformation for one night only. In Dark Shadows, consumption of a moon poppy while in the werewolf state would end the affliction forever. Another Dark Shadows lycanthrope, the malevolent Count Petofi (Thayer David) was cured by a gypsy spell, but only upon payment of his right hand, which he then spent the next 100 years searching for. What relationship, if any, is there between werewolves and witchcraft? Due to a centuries old association of witchcraft with the forces of evil and the belief (wrong though it was) that its practitioners were all agents of Satan, many creatures of forest and farmyard seen in the company of alleged witches and sorcerers were also judged to be masquerading demons. Millions of cats were identified as companions of witches and were given summary trials like their human counterparts and then burned -- gotta love those christians and others who must torture and destroy that which they do not understand! What wolfman and the spiritual traditions of other cultures? In the spiritual traditions of other cultures, Shamans are expected to seek the assistance of their spirit helpers, who appear most often in the form of their totem animals. In certain instances, to explore more effectively the spiritual dimensions, shamans may even assume the persona of their totem animal and become that animal for a time, be it a wolf, a raven, an, or whatever creature has granted its power to their quest. However, in the Europe of the Middle Ages, those who employed any kind of shamanic practices were in grave danger of being tortured and dragged to the stake to be burned to death.

COMMENTS

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LadyAuroraHellstormm
02:02 Sep 25 2010

The word werewolf means "man-wolf" and is most commonly used to describe a person who can change himself/herself into a wolf or some other animal.



Human characteristics of wolves and possibly werewolves:



1. They can be gentle.



2. They are loyal among themselves for they often mate for life and stay in family groups.



3. They can be both good and bad, gentle and fierce, kind and cruel.



The belief that man came from animals contributed to the werewolf legend. The practice of wearing animal skins for ceremonial dances or hunting contributed to the legend because some people did not understand and would easily think that these dancers and hunters had turned into the animals they were impersonating.



Shapeshifting is a complicated act, accompanied by carefully performed rituals:



1. The werewolf has to strip off his clothes before he can change. It is important, in most werewolf stories, that the werewolf's clothes be nearby when he wants to change back into human shape. If they are not, he has to stay a werewolf.



2. In many parts of the world, it is believed that the werewolf must smear himself with a special ointment after he had taken off his clothes. The ingredients of the ointmnet vary, although most come from plants. After rubbing the ointment on, the werewolf puts on a wolf skin or a belt made of wolf or human skin. There were exact dimensions for making these intricately designed belts. For example, if human skin was used, it usually had to be that of a murderer, and as wide as three fingers held together.



3. After putting on his skin or belt, the werewolf had to chant a spell in order to make his transformation complete. While reciting his spell, the werewolf had to stand in the middle of a magic circle. This was the most risky form of changing for a werewolf to do since it was harder to say the spell when in wolf form in order to change back.



According to other beliefs, it was even easier to become a werewolf. All you had to do was eat roast wolf; or eat or smell certain powerful herbs; or drink water out of a wolf's footprint. Putting on a shirt made of wolf skin could automatically turn one into a wolf from nine days. Rolling around in the dirt naked under a full moon was also a favorite technique.



To change back to human shape, a werewolf usually had to reverse whatever he had done to become a wolf. Some werewolves changed back into humans automatically at sunrise.



Non-werewolves could change werwolves back into human shape, too. When most werewolves are wounded, they turn back into human shape with the same wound pattern. Making the sign of a cross near a werewolf or calling him by his human name was supposed to work, if the name used was the one the werewolf was baptized with, and if it was repeated three times. You could also take three drops of blood or hit his forehead three times with a knife. Most werewolves had to have someone change them back and that was not always possible.



Especially in the Middle Ages, shapeshifting was considered a very real and very serious problem. Some Church authorities said the Devil was responsible for shifting people into animal shapes.



CHARACTERISTICS OF WEREWOLVES



1. Once in wolf form, the werewolf can terrorize and murder people and farm animals.



2. Werewolves simply run through moonlit fields and forests, no longer burdened by human worries.



3. Wolf form enable them to do good deeds.



Good werewolves were far fewer in numbers than evil ones. Most ordinary werewolves were changed against their will. They became wolves by accident or because the Devil or someone else had forced them into it. These wolves were often very religious.



Some werewolves knew they would be wolves for certain periods of time (e.g. seven years); others did not know. In Ireland, "The Wolf Land," most werewolves were victims of hereditary curses.



To recognize a werewolf, you looked at: the shape of the eyes, the eyebrows, fingernails, length of the index or third fingers, a half-moon shape or pentagram (five pointed star) mark on the body; in short, anything that was different from most of the people in the area.



Word of mouth had a great deal to do with werewolf stories having a lot of characteristics in common. Although most of the werewolf stories we know today are of European or near European orgins, China and other Asian countries also have werewolf and other shape-shifting stories, some which were similar to the European ones. Marriage between a human being and a were-creature is a frequent theme in both African and Asian folklore. In most of these marriage stories it is an animal who changes into a person frequently so he can eat his spouse once the marriage ceremony is over. In China and Japan there are similar but less sinister marriage stories. Here the were-animal is usually a female fox.



Historians believe the Vikings of Scandinavia crossed over to North America first and possibly communicated their werewolf superstitions to many Indian tribes. However, it is more likely that North American werewolf stories developed independently, with their roots in hunting rituals, ancestor worship, or the closeness early man felt to his animal neighbors.



Some of the most detailed North American werewolf stories come from the Navajo Indians of the southwestern United States. Navajo werewolves preyed on animals and humans, robbed graves, caused sickness such as tuberculosis, revealed themselves to their victims with agonizing slowness, and were said to have powers connected to witchcraft. One sure way to tell if a fellow tribesman was a werewolf was to look inside his hogan for a wolf skin.



Canada had werewolves, too. They seem related to both Navajo and French ones. Canadian werewolves were called the same thing they were in France --loups garous.



During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, France could almost be called the werewolf capital of the world. It was as if all the werewolf legends and fears came together in that one European country, and caused a kind of long-term hysteria. Records of the 16th century show that there were almost 30,000 cases of werewolfery between the years 1520 and 1630, many in France.



It is partly due to the judge who passed severe sentences on many supposed witches and werewolves in 16th century France, Henri Bouget's, record-keeping that so many werewolf stories have survived to present day.



Toward the end of the 16th century people's ideas about werewolves were changing and they thought mental illness (lycanthropy) was a cause or even a major explanation for werewolfery. It is possible that werewolfery, or lycanthropy as the mental disorder is technically called, was at least partially caused by drugs, e.g. belladonna, henbane, hemlock, aconite, and opium.



Lycanthropy--the disease in which people think they are real wolves--may have physical as well as psychological causes, e.g. nutritional imbalances which could lead to cannibalism. Other logical explanations for lycanthropy are dreams; rabies since it causes extreme thirst which is considered a symptom of werewolfery; a rare little-known disease like the inherited disease, porphyria, which causes discolored teeth and sensitivity to light; or the inherited disease, hypertrichosis, which causes hair to grow all over the body.



In the 19th and early 20th centuries, werewolves or lycanthropy were said to be astral projections.



Werewolf superstitions still exist today in some areas of the world.

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POST COMMENT

The History:



To start with the classical references: Apart from the famous legend of Romulus and Remus, saved and fed by a friendly she-wolf, there are many other mythological and religious tales from this area of Europe: Apollo, the famous Greek God of Light, Medicine and Music, was born, together with his twin Arthemis, from Zeus and Latona, a woman turned into a she-wolf to be disguised and so protected from the wrath of Era, Zeus’ official wife (and sister). For this reason Apollo was always looked upon as a protector, both from and of the wolves: they were not to be killed if not absolutely necessary.



Then there is the legend of Licao (Greek and almost Italian for hunting dog), the very first renowned werewolf : this man was the king of Arcadia and he knew that, disguised among the wanderers he hosted, Zeus himself was hiding. So he decided to discover which one was Zeus: he killed his youngest son, Arcade, and prepared a meal with his flesh: only a God would know the taste of human flesh and from this he could tell who the unfortunate meal was. The hungry wanderers wolfed down their meal, but Zeus was so angry for the useless murder that he instantly turned the king himself into a wolf.

Then another Greek peculiarity was the great number of white and albino wolves : they were found especially around Hermes’ temples, so they were considered sacred to this God, protector of the wandering shepherds and of the cattle, and should never be harmed. Greeks had an excellent relation with wolves, since the population was very scarce and mainly concentrated around the coasts and did not often interfered with wolfish affairs.



In the Roman world the wolf was extremely important especially in the beginning, since the early Romans were shepherds and cattle thieves, so they considered the wolf one of the family: the early warriors moved to war under a flag with a wolf and until the Empire era the Colors Bearers of the Roman Army were dressed in amours covered with wolf skins. Later, as more Asiatic and African mercenaries, as well as officers, flocked in the ranks, these were substituted with more exotic stuff: leopard, lion and even some tiger skins.

I so love this one

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Once upon a time there was a wolf. He was unlike all the other wolves because of one thing; he had eight heads–I

mean, wings. They were glorious (usually), beautiful (almost always),

luxuriant (often enough) wings, but there was a problem with them. It

was a singular, frightening, and utterly incomprehensible problem. It

was the strangest problem any one wolf had ever encountered. It was a

problem so annoying and irksome that none of the other wolves (who did

not have any wings at all and should therefore not have the right to

complain anyway) could stand to live with. It was a problem, a great

problem and an amazing one, and the winged wolf felt that he must

overcome it as soon as he could, in the quickest way possible.



However, it would not be overcome with the snap of the fingers. It

might not even be overcome by the snap of the ribs, or the shoulder

blades, or even the skull. And marrow was only a slight reprieve from

the problem at hand.



You see, this problem was a very complicated problem.



Have you ever had one of those days, where it just seems you’ve

gotten up on the wrong side of the wolf-pile, and nothing at all will

ever go right? Well. This wolf was cursed with one of those lives.



The greatest contributor to this curse was the fact that he had wings, and the fact that these wings had a problem.



The problem was that the wings would not remain wings

consistently–or, rather, that they would remain wings, but not the same

type of wings. Day by day they varied, and sometimes they were falcon

wings (those were very good days), or parrot wings (good for parties,

even though they never appeared when it would be useful), and sometimes

they were hummingbird wings (those days always left him with a very

un-wolfly lust for sweets). The winged wolf felt that this arrangement

of fate was just a little unfair, because it meant that he could hardly

ever fly–learning to use a different set of wings usually took him more

than a day, and by then the wings he’d become accustomed to would

disappear and become another set of wings, and the cycle of education

would start all over again–and it seemed to him (and all the other

wolves as well) that flying was the very greatest thing about having

wings, indeed the only reason to bother with them at all, and that if

one could not fly with one’s wings than they were very pointless things

to have.



So one day, when the winged wolf was sporting hawk-ish wings and

feeling rather adventurous and deadly, he decided it was time for him

to leave the other wolves and embark upon a journey. He would have

taken some of his friends along, but MacDougal, the king of the wolves,

was having a bad day and kept turning into a human, and most of his

loyal subjects (except for the one with wings) were busy attending to

him, or, rather, threatening to eat him. So the winged wolf set out

alone to seek his fortune and a cure for the terrible, avian ailment

that had plagued him since birth and possibly before (wolves, it is

known, are firm believers in reincarnation and past lives).



The winged wolf padded quietly away from the valley of the wolves, their haven, and no one saw him leave.



He padded on, over the mountains, across streams and fern-lined

gullies, through forest thick and thin and weather hot and cold. When

he came to the bottom of the mountains he stopped, and looked back over

his shoulder at the great height of the valley’s surrounding alps. He

imagined that everyone was probably missing him, and wondered whether

their king was still standing on two legs, and if not, who had gotten

to hamstring him. For a moment the winged wolf thought about going

back; but when one cannot fly with one’s wings, and there is a very

large mountain that one has just finished climbing over, one feels that

going back and doing it again so very soon would be a very large waste

of time, especially when one has not accomplished what one left to do

in the first place. The wolf turned head to front and padded on.



Three days passed, and three sets of wings, before the wolf came to

the great tree that shed shining golden light down upon him from its

highest branches. He looked up at the tree and wondered. What he

wondered is of no consequence to the story, but it was a picturesque

moment and a moment of great understanding for the wolf, when, for the

first time, he saw a little green hummingbird with a tiny set of wings,

buzzing all around to suck the honey out of flowers, and noticed how

the wings moved; and then he realized how it was that the hummingbird

was able to fly, and trying it with his own minute hummingbird wings

(which were the avian gift of that morning), he found that he was able

to buzz all around just like the real bird that was up in the tree. He

felt ridiculous, his body hanging down all droopy from the little

pin-prick supports of his feathers, but gleeful that he should finally

find a way to use the wings so irksome and incomprehensible to him

before; and that was when he began to think that maybe it would be a

good idea to travel for study and wisdom, to learn the ways of all the

birds that flew over the land, so he could be like them and fly, rather

than to travel to find a way to get rid of the wings; and then he

dismissed this idea out of hand when his shoulder muscles cramped and

he dropped ten feet onto the ground.



After that he picked himself up and padded on three more days,

through three more sets of wings, until he came to another tree, a

silver tree that had tinkling shiny leaves and emerald branches. He

gazed up at the tree and wondered, and what he wondered is of no

consequence to the story; but, again, he saw something of great

interest to him up there in the tree, and by shaking the trunk was able

to knock it down. It tinkled merrily as he caught it, and he saw that

what he had at first taken for a fruit was, in fact, a roundish golden

bell, and it was laced upon a chain so it could be worn around one’s

neck in vanity. He did not wear it, but held it in his mouth and shook

his head to ring it; and when his neck tired of shaking, he slung the

bell over his shoulder and padded on to the next station of his

journey.



Three days and three more sets of wings took him to one last and

final tree, and this tree was a great big pine made all of wood and

chlorophyll. The winged wolf looked up into it, up to the very highest

peak, and above the peak he saw the moon. It shone yellow and full, and

about it all the stars of the sky twinkled and winked and danced their

nightly dance. The winged wolf sat back on his haunches and, raising

his head, shook the golden bell at the sky. It tinkled, rang, sang its

metallic song, and after his neck had tired once more the wolf set the

bell down on the fallen needles below the tree and howled. He howled

for a great while.



In his howl the wolf asked the moon to end his winged suffering,

begging that he either gain the right to fly or lose the burden of

wings. He asked that the wings remain one sort of wings instead of

changing every night. He then thanked the moon for listening, and fell

silent, and settled down in the fallen pine needles to curl his tail

across his nose and go to sleep.



The moon, up in the great big sky, looked down upon the poor winged

wolf and smiled at him. She granted him peace, and took away his curse.





When the wolf awoke to the sun’s gaudy rays and happy shining, he

did not open his eyes until he had stretched and teased away all the

stiffness of sleep; and then he licked his paws and shook his coat and

looked over his shoulder to see what wings he had today, as he had done

every morning since he had been a little wolf pup; and when he did not

see anything at all over his shoulder he blinked, sniffed, and craned

his neck further to see.



There was nothing there but a great dark merl of fur over his

shoulders, and it rippled and flowed across his back in such a pretty

pattern that the wolf thought first, ‘That mark is very handsome,’ and

then, ‘My wings are gone!’ He was so startled that he sat right down on

his hind quarters and twisted all around in disbelief, trying to see

the wings he knew must be there, somewhere, even if they were very

tiny. But there was nothing, and soon he came to accept that there was

nothing, and cried out in joy. He ran around the forest on happy feet,

and thought, ‘I run so much faster without the extra weight!’ And then

he left the forest and made his way home, running all the way, until he

got tired, and took a rest, but as he was accustomed to running with

gawky awkward wings across his back he did not tire so easily as he

might have otherwise, and could run straight for a very long time.



The bell he left beneath the pine tree as a gift to moon, although

the moon did not want it and soon called a little hummingbird to take

it back to the tree of silver and emerald, where the wolf had found it.

And the moon smiled and shone every night, and laughed at how the

once-winged wolf always twirled around before going to bed as he tried

to make sure his wings were not coming back, and she also granted the

wolf king, MacDougal, the right to become a wolf once more and not a

human, and told him that if he ever changed form again she would see to

a fitting punishment, one much worse than being eaten by his loyal

subjects.





The end.

It is told that a group of young girls had to be left behind in hiding as the tribe had to pack up and move quickly due to imminent danger. When the girls came out of hiding and went in search of the tribe, they came upon an injured wolf. After nursing the wolf back to health, they became adopted by the entire pack of wolves, who saved them from danger many times as the girls continued their search for the rest of their tribe. The warrior fathers, upon returning to find the girls, saw the wolves surrounding their daughters from a distance. Not understanding that the wolves were actually protecting their daughters, they slew them one and all. After being told of their grave mistake, they vowed to honor the wolf as protector throughout time. This became tradition and continues today.