Werewolves of Ossory

 

Welsh cleric, Chaplain to Henry II. He wrote voluminously, filling his histories and travel writing with legends, natural history, and lively anecdotes.

In this story, a monk was going through some woods with a group of fellow travelers. Suddenly, a large wolf appeared and beseeched the monk for help. He spoke well, was humble, and displayed excellent manners.

The monk was, of course, very freaked out, but the wolf asked him to help his companion. The monk follows him back to said companion, who turns out to be a wolf who is sick and, according to many versions, on the verge of death.

The second wolf removes her wolf form (”using his claw as a hand”), and reveals she is an old lady.

The monk is even more freaked out, but the werewolves explain that they are from Ossory, a place where they were turned into wolves as – essentially – a trial, much like in Arcadia. A man and a woman from their land takes the form of a wolf once every seven years. This was supposedly because they were descendants of an Irish warrior, Laignech Fáelad, ancestor of the kings of Ossory. He was the first of his kind to assume the shape of a wolf and go “wolfing,” and his people followed after him. So there are lots of Irish werewolves out there, and the people of Ossory are just one example – and this is only one of their stories.

Anyway, after the monk provides the old lady her last rites, the werewolves thank him, she returns to werewolf form, and the first werewolf says he will watch over the monk and his friends for the duration of the night (again: werewolves as protectors).

In the morning, they are perfectly safe, and the werewolf is still there. He tells them where to go, takes them to the road, and sends them on their way. Giraldus ends the story with a contemplation on, essentially, if people turned into animals and animal-people are intelligent and civilized, does that make them beasts or monsters? His answer is no, it does not, and to kill one would be the same as killing any other person – and that, of course, would be wrong.

This story comes from Topographia Hibernica, written by Giraldus Cambrensis (c. 1146-1223), also called Gerald of Wales. To pull his little bio from page ix of Charlotte F. Otten’s A Lycanthropy Reader…