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The Werewolf of Hüsby

Karl Müllenhoff

In Hüsby near Schleswig there lived an old, stingy woman. She offered her farm hands but little to eat, although there was fresh meat every Sunday. The household wondered about this, because the old woman never bought any meat.

A young farm hand wanted to discover the woman's trick, so one day he hid himself in the hayloft instead of going to church with the rest of the household. Suddenly he noticed how the woman pulled out a wolf strap and put it around herself. She immediately became a wolf, ran out into the field, and soon came back with a sheep.

"If she can get meat that easily," thought the boy, "then she can be more generous with us. As the woman put meat into the pot, she sighed and said, as was her custom, "Oh, dear God, if only I were with you!"

The boy, pretending to be God, answered, "You'll not come to me for all eternity."

"Why not, dear God?"

"Because you put too little into the pot for your people."

"Then I'll do better."

"Yes, that's my advice to you."

From now on she put a much larger piece of meat into the pot. But the boy could not remain silent, and in the village he talked about what had happened. When on a Sunday morning the woman again turned herself into a wolf, the people were on guard. However, no bullet could harm her until they finally loaded a flintlock with a silver bullet. From that time to the end of her life the woman had an open wound that no doctor could heal. She never again showed herself as a werewolf.

Source: Karl Müllenhoff, Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der Herzogtümer Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg, neue Ausgabe von Otto Mensing (Schleswig, 1921), no. 370.
For a German-language text of this legend, click here: Der Werwolf von Hüsby.
This legend was also published under the title "Die Frau mit dem Wolfsriemen" in Gundula Hubrich-Messow, Sagen und Märchen aus Schleswig (Husum: Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994), no. 14, p. 15.