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.)