The child told her parents, on the occasion of her return home in a
fit of terror, that she had been guiding her sheep as usual, but
Grenier had not been present. Hearing a rustle in the bushes she had
looked round, and a wild beast bad leaped upon her, and torn her
clothes on her left side with its sharp fangs. She added that she had
defended herself lustily with her shepherd's staff, and had beaten the
creature off. It had then retreated a few paces, had seated itself on
its hind legs like a dog when it is begging, and had regarded her with
such a look of rage, that she had fled in terror. She described the
animal as resembling a wolf, but as being shorter and stouter; its
hair was red, its tail stumpy, and the head smaller than that of a
genuine wolf.

The statement of the child produced general consternation in the
parish. It was well known that several little girls had vanished in a
most mysterious way of late, and the parents of these little ones were
thrown into an agony of terror lest their children had become the prey
of the wretched boy accused by Marguerite Poirier. The case was now
taken up by the authorities and brought before the parliament of
Bordeaux.

The investigation which followed was as complete as could be desired.

Jean Grenier was the son of a poor labourer in the village of S.
Antoine do Pizon, and not the son of a priest, as he had asserted.
Three months before his seizure he had left home, and had been with
several masters doing odd work, or wandering about the country
begging. He had been engaged several times to take charge of the
flocks belonging to farmers, and had as often been discharged for