period the wolf-skin vanishes, and the human form reappears. This
superstition was expressly forbidden by the church. "Credidisti, quod
quidam credere solent, ut illæ quæ a vulgo Parcæ vocantur, ipsæ, vel
sint vel possint hoc facere quod creduntur, id est, dum aliquis homo
nascitur, et tunc valeant illum designare ad hoc quod velint, ut
quandocunque homo ille voluerit, in lupum transformari possit, quod
vulgaris stultitia, _werwolf_ vocat, aut in aliam aliquam
figuram?"--Ap. Burchard. (d. 1024). In like manner did S. Boniface
preach against those who believed superstitiously in it strigas et
fictos lupos." (_Serm_. apud Mart. et Durand. ix. 217.)

In a dissertation by Müller [1] we learn, on the authority of
Cluverius and Dannhaverus (_Acad. Homilet._ p. ii.), that a certain
Albertus Pericofcius in Muscovy was wont to tyrannize over and harass
his subjects in the most unscrupulous manner. One night when he was
absent from home, his whole herd of cattle, acquired by extortion,
perished. On his return he was informed of his loss, and the wicked
man broke out into the most horrible blasphemies, exclaiming, "Let him
who has slain, eat; if God chooses, let him devour me as well."

[1. De {Greek _Lukanðrwpía_}. Lipsiæ, 1736.]

As he spoke, drops of blood fell to earth, and the nobleman,
transformed into a wild dog, rushed upon his dead cattle, tore and
mangled the carcasses and began to devour them; possibly he may be
devouring them still (_ac forsan hodie que pascitur_). His wife, then
near her confinement, died of fear. Of these circumstances there were
not only ear but also eye witnesses. (_Non ab auritis tantum, sed et
ocidatis accepi, quod narro_). Similarly it is related of a nobleman
in the neighbourhood of Prague, that he robbed his subjects of their