[95] See note 11, also Ethn. Rep. 1897-98, I. 263: “The deer, which is still common in the mountains, was the principal dependence of the Cherokee hunter, and is consequently prominent in myth, folklore, and ceremonial.” see note 42. Page 264: “The largest gens (clan) in the tribe bears the name of ‘wolf people.’” Page 420: The Cherokee have always been an agricultural people, and their old country has a luxuriant flora, therefore the vegetable kingdom holds a far more important place in the mythology and ceremonial of the tribe than it does among the Indians of the treeless plains and arid sage deserts of the West.
[96] The St. Louis “Westliche Post” for January 9, 1908, furnishes another example: A tame wolf which for the past two years has been a pet in a farmer’s family at Marshfield, Wisconsin, escaped and attacked a chicken. The farmer’s daughter called to the wolf, but it had become wild from the taste of blood, attacked her, and bit her on both arms and one leg. It held so fast that the young lady could not be released until she had nearly choked the wolf with its collar.
Also the following clipping from the same paper, January 13, 1908, shows the prevalence of wolves to-day in even quite populous districts: “Wolf-Plage. Aus dem nördlichen Wisconsin wird gemeldet, dass Wölfe in diesem Jahre zahlreicher sind denn je, und dass sie, durch Hunger getrieben, sich nahe an die Ortschaften wagen, und Hausthiere und auch Menschen angreifen. Zwei grosse Wölfe griffen in dieser Woche das Pferd der Frau Branchard an; das Pferd scheute und jagte in den Wald, wo es durch Arbeiter angehalten wurde, welche die Bestien verscheuchten.”
Up to this point the illustrations have shown that the werewolf superstition went through various stages of development. The motives for assuming wolf’s dress (or animal skins or robes), at first were purely peaceful, for protection against cold, and to secure food by acting as decoys; then it was used for personal advantage or gain by foragers (or robbers) and spies; then for purposes of vengeance;[101] later from a desire for power over others; and finally men (the professional and the superstitious) began to concoct fabulous stories which were handed down as tradition or myth, according to the psychic level of the narrator and hearer.[102]