SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &c. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS.
(_For the Mirror_.)
A superstition prevails both in England and Scotland (Qu. Are Wales and
Ireland excepted?) that _Goats_ are never to be seen for twenty-four hours
together, owing to their paying Satan a visit once during that period, to
have their beards combed; indeed, since the classical representations of
Pan and the satyrs, from whose semi-brutal figures we derive our own
superstitious idea of the form of the evil one, goats, rams, and pongos
have shared with serpents and cats the obloquy of being in a manner his
animal symbols. The offensive smell of this animal is thus accounted for
by the natives of South Guinea:--
Having requested a female deity to allow them to use an aromatic ointment
which she used, the enraged goddess rubbed them with one of a very
different description, and the smell of this has been ever since retained
by the descendants of the presumptuous offenders.
We may here remark, that of late years some doubts have arisen, and not
without foundation, respecting the wholesomeness of goats' milk, hitherto
believed to be, in many respects, superior even to that of the cow. The
goat was much venerated by the ancient Egyptians, and never sacrificed,
because Pan was represented with the legs and feet of that animal, but the
Greeks destroyed it on account of its cropping the vines.
Few animals have been the cause, perhaps, of so many superstitions as the
common domestic _Cat_; most of them are too well known here to require
repetition, but the still prevalent, popular prejudice that this creature
sucks the breath of sleepers, especially children, and thereby kills them,
has been signally refuted by modern naturalists, who observe, that even if
it were capable of drawing a person's breath thus, the construction of its
mouth renders it impossible to impede the respiration of the slumberer
through mouth and nostrils at the same time; this vulgar superstition
probably arose from cats liking to lie warm, and nestling consequently in
beds, cribs, and cradles. To dream of cats is considered unlucky, denoting
treachery and quarrels on the part of friends. Cats, from no apparent
cause, seeming shy, agitated, and traversing the house uttering cries, as
if alarmed, is believed to forbode sudden and causeless strife between the
members of the families with whom they reside. That the breath of these
animals is poisonous, that they can play with serpents and remain
uninjured, whilst their fur communicates the infection of the venom of
those reptiles, that they lend themselves readily to infernal agents and
purposes, that certain portions of their bodies possess magical properties
and were efficacious in the preparation of charmed potions, and that they
are partly supernatural creatures, endowed with a power of bringing good
or evil fortune upon their possessors, with other facts just as credible,
was once devoutly believed by the illiterate, as it is partially at this
very day.[1]
_Dogs_ are generally supposed to possess the faculty of beholding spirits
when they are invisible to mortals, and of foretelling death by lamentable
howls. It is lucky to be followed by a strange dog. The Welch believe in
the apparition of certain spirits under the form of hunting dogs, which
they call dogs of the sky (cwn wybir, or cwn aunwy:) they indicate the
death of a relation or friend of the person to whom they appear, but
though generally accompanied by fire, are innocuous. The tradition of the
Spectre Hound of Peel Castle (Isle of Man) or _Manthe Doog_, is well
known. The religious superstition of Mahommedans lead them to consider the
dog as an unclean animal; but the dog of the Seven Sleepers, according to
a tale in the Koran, is, say the faithful, the only animal admitted into
heaven. A more sweet and soothing creed is held by "the untutored Indian,"
who believes that the faithful companion of his laborious mortal career
will accompany him into the everlasting regions; and, indeed, the idea
that animals possess actually an inferior soul, and that, maltreated as
they are on earth, they too have their appropriate heaven, has by many
been considered a speculation less superstitious than truly philosophical.
The miraculous circumstance of Balaam's _Ass_ being empowered to behold
that startling apparition which his rider's eyes were holden so that he
could not see, may have originated the superstition that animals behold
spirits when they are invisible to man. _Horses_, from frequently starting
at no apparent cause, have thus been placed amongst the seers. In the
Highlands it is deemed lucky to meet a horse; but, according to Virgil,
the sight of one of these animals was ominous of war, the reason for which
may be found in a horse being as a martial animal dedicated to the god of
war. The Persians, Armenians, and other ancient nations sacrificed horses
to the sun. Tacitus says the Suevi maintained white horses in the several
woods at the public charge, to draw omens from them; and there are to this
day vestiges in England of some superstition relative to white horses, and
of supposed Danish origin.
The _Hyaena_ has been the subject of strange fables: its neck was supposed
to be jointless, consisting but of one bone, and considered of great
efficacy in magical preparations; and the Arabs to this day, when they
kill this fierce animal, bury its head, lest it should be made the element
of some charm against them. It was believed to possess the power of
changing its sex annually; to be able to fascinate shepherds by its eyes
and render them motionless, and its cognomen, "_Laughing_" is, of course,
derived from the idea of its being able to imitate the human voice.
The ancients believed that if a man encountered a _Wolf_, and the animal
first fixed its eyes upon him, he was deprived for ever of the power of
speech: connected with these ferocious brutes is the fearful superstition
of the _Lycanthropos_, _Were-wulf, _Loup-garou,_ or _Man-wolf_. "These
_were-wolves_," says Verstegan, "are certain sorcerers, who having
anointed their bodies with an ointment they make by the instinct of the
devil, and putting on a certain enchanted girdle, do not only unto the
view of others seem as wolves, but to their own thinking have both the
shape and nature of wolves so long as they wear the said girdle; and they
do dispose themselves as very wolves, in worrying, and killing, and waste
of human creatures." The Germans had a similar superstition regarding
wolves, and the same respecting the wild boar; and with these let us
compare the British belief, that warlocks and weird women possess the
power of transforming themselves into hares, cats, &c.
_Swine_, which are strangely uneasy in or against tempestuous weather, are
believed to see the wind. In some parts of Great Britain it is a popular
belief that, on commencing a journey, if a sow and pigs be met it will
prove successful, but if a sow only crosses the road, the traveller, if he
cannot pass, must ride round about it, otherwise ill luck will attend him.
(_To be continued_.)
[1] Much of the ill-treatment of the Cat has arisen from its being
invariably the attendant of reputed Witches. (_See page 174, of the
present Sheet_.) In later times the practice of such cruelties may be
referred to the vituperations of naturalists: surely Buffon is among
them. We are happy to see that our Correspondent, M.L.B. writes in the
kindlier spirit towards the poor, persecuted Cat.--ED.M.
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