[415] As in the case of Glam, the terrible spectre which Grettir had so much difficulty in overcoming. To all who appreciate a shudder may be recommended chap. xxxv. of “The Story of Grettir the Strong,” translated from the Icelandic by E. Magnússon and W. Morris, 1869.
[416] The ordinary Modern-Greek word for a vampire, βουρκόλακας, he says, “is undoubtedly of Slavonic origin, being identical with the Slavonic name of the werwolf, which is called in Bohemian vlkodlak, in Bulgarian and Slovak, vrkolak, &c.,” the vampire and the werwolf having many points in common. Moreover, the Regular name for a vampire in Servian, he remarks, is vukodlak. This proves the Slavonian nature (die Slavicität) of the name beyond all doubt.—“Volksleben der Neugriechen,” 1871, p. 159.
[417] In Crete and Rhodes, καταχανᾶς; in Cyprus, σαρκωμένος; in Tenos, ἀναικαθούμενος. The Turks, according to Mr. Tozer, give the name of vurkolak, and some of the Albanians, says Hahn, give that of βουρβολάκ-ου to the restless dead. Ibid, p. 160.
[418] Russian vampir, South-Russian upuir, anciently upir; Polish upior, Polish and Bohemian upir. Supposed by some philologists to be from pit’ = drink, whence the Croatian name for a vampire pijawica. See “Songs of the Russian People,” p. 410.
[419] Afanasief, P.V.S. iii. 558. The story is translated in full in “Songs of the Russian People,” pp. 411, 412
[420] In a most valuable article on “Vampirism” in the “Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde,” Bd. iv. 1859, pp. 259-82.
[421] How superior our intelligence is to that of Slavonian peasants is proved by the fact that they still drive stakes through supposed vampires, whereas our law no longer demands that a suicide shall have a stake driven through his corpse. That rite was abolished by 4 Geo. iv. c. 52.
[422] Compare with this belief the Scotch superstition mentioned by Pennant, that if a dog or cat pass over a corpse the animal must be killed at once. As illustrative of this idea, Mr. Henderson states, on the authority of “an old Northumbrian hind,” that “in one case, just as a funeral was about to leave the house, the cat jumped over the coffin, and no one would move till the cat was destroyed.” In another, a colly dog jumped over a coffin which a funeral party had set on the ground while they rested. “It was felt by all that the dog must be killed, without hesitation, before they proceeded farther, and killed it was.” With us the custom survives; its explanation has been forgotten. See Henderson’s “Notes on the Folk Lore of the Northern Counties of England,” 1866, p. 43.
[423] A great deal of information about vampires, and also about turnskins, wizards and witches, will be found in Afanasief, P.V.S. iii. chap. xxvi., on which I have freely drawn. The subject has been treated with his usual judgment and learning by Mr. Tylor in his “Primitive Culture,” ii. 175, 176. For several ghastly stories about the longing of Rákshasas and Vetálas for human flesh, some of which bear a strong resemblance to Slavonic vampire tales, see Brockhaus’s translation of the first five books of the “Kathásaritságara,” vol. i. p. 94; vol. ii. pp. 13, 142, 147.