Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
1 Werewolf Legends: False, Fabricated or Altogether Absent—Fragments of a Nineteenth-Century Historiography
The Brothers Grimm
Wilhelm Hertz
Sabine Baring-Gould
Absence
Historical Contexts
2 “You Are a Werewolf!” Swedish Werewolf Legends from an International Perspective
The Werewolf Husband
International Distribution
Naming the Werewolf
Some Closing Remarks
3 Of Wolf-Belts, Hungry Servants and Tattered Skirts: The Werewolf in North German Legends
Werewolf: Self and Other-Directed Transformation into the Wolf Form by Magical Means
The Hungry Werewolf Is Overeating
The Werewolf Attacks a Woman
The Female Werewolf
Reverse Transformation of the Werewolf and Its Death
Special Forms of the Werewolf and Transformation into a Dog, Cat or Bear
Conclusion: The Belief in Werewolves in North German Legends
4 Wolf-Shaped Otherness: Finnish Werewolf Legends Reflecting Suspension from Human Community
Geographical Remarks
The Legacy of Sorcerers
Common Finnish Werewolf Legend Types
The Theft Legend
The Wedding Guests Legend
Life in a Wolf Shape
Turning Back into a Human and Life Thereafter
Voluntary Metamorphosis
Conclusions
5 Werewolves in Lithuanian Folklore Sources of the End of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Records About Werewolves in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Folklorists’ Approach Towards Legends About Werewolves
Attitude Towards Werewolves in Lithuanian Belief Legends: From Fear to Pity
The Attitude of the Narrator Towards the Reality of Belief Legends About Werewolves
Conclusion
6 Legends and Beliefs About Werewolves Among the Eastern Slavs: Areal Characteristics of Motifs
Polesian Legends About Werewolves
Field Records in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century
Some Legends from Podlasie
Belarussian Stories About Werewolves Outside the Polesye Zone
Ukrainian Legends About Werewolves Outside the Polesye Zone
Carpathian-Ukrainian Stories About Werewolves
Werewolves in Russian Stories and Beliefs
Legends of the Russian North
Conclusion: Centre for the Formation of the Mythological Image
7 The Werewolf as the Slavic and Germanic “Other”: Czech Werewolf Legends Between Oral and Popular Culture
The Czech Werewolf: Invented or Borrowed Tradition?
The Werewolf in Neighbouring Poland and Slovakia
The Werewolf in Czech Oral Legends
The Werewolf as a Symbol of the Mythical Slavic Past
The Werewolf as the German Other
Conclusion: Czech Werewolf Legends Today
8 Werewolves as Social Others: Contemporary Oral Narratives in Rural Bosnia and Herzegovina
Terminology and Notions About Werewolves
Werewolves as Social Others
Strategic Uses of Narratives About Werewolves
Conclusion
9 When the Other Is One of Us: Narrative Construction of Werewolf Identity in the Romanian Western Carpathians at the End of the Twentieth Century
Romanian Werewolves
Terminology
Deeds and Behavior
What Are They? What Is Their Nature?
Why and How Can a Human Be, or Become, a pricolici?
Knowledge
Initiation
Journeys
Disorder of Mind
In Conclusion
Postscript
10 A Strange Kind of Man Among Us: Beliefs and Narratives About Werewolves in Southern Italy
Vanishing Narratives
The Werewolf in the Folklore of Southern Italy
Some Stories About Werewolves Collected in Apulia
Conclusion
11 Werewolves in the Western Alps
A Misrecognized Geographical Representation of Lycanthropic Folklore in the French Western Alps
A Disguise or a Genuine Werewolf?
‘We Have to Make Him Bleed!’ A Revelatory Injury
The Gift to the Wolf: A Specific Alpine Tale Type
The Primarette Complex: The Anti-seigniorial and Anticlerical Connotations of Lycanthropic Motifs
An Inter Montes Observatory for Alpine Werewolves: Aosta Valley and the Waldensian Communities of Piedmont
A Lycanthropic Liminality: From Culture to Nature… and Return
Cyclopean Lycanthropes in Prealpine and Alpine Wilderness
New Lycanthropic Perspectives: From Feminine Werewolves to Nightmarish Siblings
12 Running the Fate: Portuguese Belief Narratives About Werewolves
The Werewolf in the Iberian Peninsula
Contemporary Collections of Werewolf Stories in Portugal
Diversity and Social Functions of the Werewolf Figure in Portugal
Werewolf Legends in Memorate Form
Some Specific Memorates
The Three White Caps
Werewolf Legends in Fabulate Form
Final Remarks
13 From Type to Cluster: Werewolf Legends in the Netherlands
Dutch Legend Research
Werewolves in the Northern Provinces
Questionnaires
Oral Interviews
The Werewolf Cluster
The Werewolf Lover
Protestants and Catholics
14 The Werewolf of Hull
Black-Eyed Children, and Haunted Hull
The ‘Beast’ Sightings
Categories
Investigations at Barmston Drain
The Beast in Context
Graves, Grims and Gallows
Sane People and Mad Visions
Summary
Correction to: Werewolf Legends
Correction to: W. de Blécourt and M. Mencej (eds.), Werewolf Legends, Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06082-3
Index