So they
put two and two together and reported him to the police. The police
arrived, surrounded the house, and set fire to it; but Chu-Tu-shi rose
from his bed, turned into a tiger, charged right through the police, and
escaped, and to this day nobody ever knew where he went to.[762]
[Werewolves among the Toradjas of Central Celebes.]
The Toradjas of Central Celebes stand in very great fear of werewolves,
that is of men and women, who have the power of transforming their
spirits into animals such as cats, crocodiles, wild pigs, apes, deer,
and buffaloes, which roam about battening on human flesh, and especially
on human livers, while the men and women in their own proper human form
are sleeping quietly in their beds at home. Among them a man is either
born a were-wolf or becomes one by infection; for mere contact with a
were-wolf, or even with anything that has been touched by his spittle,
is quite enough to turn the most innocent person into a were-wolf; nay
even to lean your head against anything against which a were-wolf has
leaned his head suffices to do it. The penalty for being a were-wolf is
death; but the sentence is never passed until the accused has had a fair
trial and his guilt has been clearly demonstrated by an ordeal, which
consists in dipping the middle finger into boiling resin. If the finger
is not burnt, the man is no were-wolf; but if it is burnt, a werewolf he
most assuredly is, so they take him away to a quiet spot and hack him to
bits.
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