Litchfield enquirer., 1875-09-09
WHOLE NO. 257o.

 of the soldier in Petronius ATbiseF. Nov, the belief in the LObis HOD9e11 is very pevar lent in parts of Northern Portugal. It 1s the legend of the Ioup gnrOu-the were won-and the periodical transformation of human beings into wolves, with all the savage instincts of that animal. It IS superstition whose existence Tn many countries has been too well investigated to need further description from me; sui flee it to say, that nowhere Is this belief invested with so many peculiar and gloomy circumstances as in Portugal
 began to sound the farmer on the sub ject of folklore and popular supersHtions rather cautiously, for people are apt to be reticent in talking to strangers, but the farmer was not shy at alL .r
 "Yes, he said; ''he had known some strange things to happen, and in that very neighborhood, tOO!'
 ''WouId he tell me what?'
 sFWell, he would" he said, "and with great pleasure; he would tell me one of the most singular things he evsr heard of; but"-looking at me doubtful ly-''you will hardly bring yourself to believe 1t; and, to tell the truth, no more should ], if it had not been related to me by one who saw it-no other than my own broth er's son.
 | uuSb A0OW, SsSlU bUc A0ku1C4s with grave air, ''that not many miles from this there is a river in which are vast quantities of fish. Now, every year there comes a stranger to this river; he stands upon the bank, and, holding in his hand a magical fly (ttn1a D1osc6 eIcantddG) tied to the end of very long thread, he blows the fly away from him as far as man can | throw stone; it falls upon the water, and | no sooner does 1t touch the surface than fish seizes it, and the stranger draws both fly and fish ashore by the thread which inc holds in his hands. Now, what do you think of that ?'
 My host had given me this fancy dc scnption of fly fishing with so serious Q face, that I was almost afraid to laugh, till I observed sympathetic twinkle in his own eyes; but he nodded toward the servants as if to hint that was not to be- tray the secret of the mysterious fisher man to them. -. -...-....--
 Then the farmer. perceiving that was attentive and by no means a captions lis tener, began another story. -fE
 ''We are all good Christians here, and ought not to fear the malice of the evil spirit; nevertheless, we know that power is given him sometimes to work mischief in some mysterious manner which all the priests put together do not understand, In proof of this will tell you of an event which happened not twenty years ago; snd, moreover, I was myself witness of what am going to relate, for then was young man living at farm near Calbra- sam, among the mountains of the Estrica, which Is, as you know, as wild country as any in Portugal. ..z7 ts s.rs The farmer filled up his own and my glass, and his wife and children and the Arr utrx | with solemn faces to listen to a tale which they had probably already heard more than once:- -....... .. ..- "The farmer with whom I served was q young man, and his wife yoang woman. He had just come to the farm. Two or three other men besides myself worked with him, but there was no other woman in the place than his wife. Now she, be- | ing about to give birth to a child, desired to get another woman into the house to do such work as she would shortly not be able to perform herself, So the master went about the country to engage, $ wo- | man. but, for some reason or other, he could not succeed. As time passed, he sent me to the nearest town, BOint de Li- ma, with directions to inquire along the way, and engage the very first IikcIy-Iook- | ing young woman I should meet with. ''1 started next morning before daylight and had not gone more than 9 mile on the road before l saw, sitting by the way side, one of the queerest looking girls my eyes ever fell on. She was wrapped up, head and all, in Q brown cloak, such as we never see in this part of the country. The sun had just risen, and the girl was stretching out her hands as if to warm them in it's rays. The oldest thing about her was that her hair was cut close to her head, like a mans. Now, this IS common enough with our women when they get old; and do not care to be trOu- bled with long hair: but for young and handsome girl like her to be 'chdmOTTG' | (crop- -haired) was a thing I have never seen before or since. So stood still and stared at her like fool, as l was
 Well, Santina,'* said the girl, 'yOu are wondering to sec me warm my hands | in the sunbeamsY
 "1 think you would get warm quicker l answered, If yOu went on your way, in- stead of sitting still in th1s cold wind "'And what if am tired as well as coldY she said. sharply.
 Have you been travelling all the night2
 Indeed haye,' said the girl, and many one before that
 Then you come from q long way ofy
 T come from Tarouca, in the noun tains of Beira, and that IS a long journey | from here
 And, If 1t is not secret, what have you come so far from home for2'
 No secret at all, she replied My name IS Joana, and am looking for a place as servant at a farm Do you know anyone who requires one?' Nov, it struck me heEe was she very thing l was looking fOr-a strong hearty looking girl who wished to be. a servant; so told her was out with the object of engaging such person as herself, and, If she would come with me to my masters, she might find the place she wanted. The girl expressed her readiness. and we start. ed homeward. a8s2
 'I left her outside of the house wlnlssI' went in. The farmer did not mach IiEs1 the idea of having so strange a being for a servant; but his wife, hearing that she was ch0DgOTTG, insisted upon engaging her; for we have saying that eHqznso0r- rGs make the best of workers. -.
 ''VerY soon after this the child was born, and the new girl took the mTstrezS's place cooked for us, and so forth. .e }.
 'sNow, the ne1Iy-born infant wassas fe- markedly fine and healthy one. Every body said so, except one old woman, a neighbOr, who was thought to be 'wise woman This person looked rather put out the moment she saw the child and said it vas beWitched. The faEher and mother laughed at this, seeing how we'll the eh1d looked Then the woman said she was mistaken if fhe eIiId. had nOt . tdeviIs mark somewhere On its skIn: and. | sure enough, so it bad-a mark on it's shoulder, exactly as if the pattern Of a small crescent or half moon had been pKieked upon the skin with a pin. Then we all began to get frightened, but the woman said there was no cause for alarm except during the time of the new moon, and then the child must be watched all the night through. -..
 "When the old woman Passed out of