907. Fur et Caupo. Fur quidam in diversoria taberna moratus est. Videns cauponem nova pulchraque veste indutum, solum ante ianuam diversorii sedentem, ad eum accessit. Fur coepit primum hiare, postea in lupi morem fremere. Quapropter caupo, “Quid hoc,” inquit, “rei est?” Cui fur, “Tibi mox indicabo, sed primum, ut meas vestes serves peto, eas enim hic relinquam. Nescio undenam mihi huiusmodi hiatus oriatur sed si tertia vice hiaverim, repente lupus fio hominesque devoro.” Vix ea fatus erat cum iterum os aperire ac fremere coepit. His caupo auditis, furem pertimuit, surgensque fugam arripere volebat. Sed fur tunica eum detinens, os aperire coepit, ac tertium hiare. Tum caupo timens ne ab eo devoraretur, relicta penula, in abditissimum diversorii locum fugit. At, penula eius rapta, fur discessit.
M0907 = Perry419. Source: De Furia 423 (shortened). This is Perry 419. There were legends of the werewolf in both ancient Greece and Rome, the most famous being the story told in Petronius’s Satyricon. In the legend recounted by Petronius, the man takes off his clothes before his transformation into a wolf, hence the thief’s request here that the innkeeper take charge of his clothes, since he feels the transformation coming on - or claims to, at least!
