454 COWARDICE. 



poltroon. " Fierce as this beast is," says Pontoppidan, " he is 

 daunted when he meets with the least resistance, and only 

 bold and daring against those that he puts to flight: to 

 those that are afraid of him he is merciless; but as long 

 as even the deer is upon the defence he does not attack 

 him. And it has been often seen, that not only a cow, 

 but even a goat, when it has turned against him, and 

 butted at him, or pushed at him with his horns, has main- 

 tained its ground against him, and put him to flight. In 

 this case the wolf is not unlike the evil spirit, whom the 

 Word of God represents to us to be a coward, and only 

 to appear bold against the unbeliever's fear; as we read 

 in Scripture : ' Stand up against him, and he shall fly from 

 you ; resist the devil, and he shall flee from you.' " 



But whether the wolf be innately a poltroon or not, certain 

 it is that when hungry he is a daring and formidable 

 beast. 



" During severe weather, especially in the month of 

 January," says Olaus Magnus, "" wolves collect in large 

 droves, and are in the highest degree destructive ; and when 

 people at such times journey in sledges, they come rushing 

 down upon them in numbers from all quarters; so that 

 clergymen, when visiting their distant congregations, and 

 indeed travellers in general, are obliged to be provided with 

 guns, and bows and arrows, to protect themselves and horses. 

 What with cold and hunger," this author goes on to say, 

 " wolves are frequently so frantically savage, that they enter 

 out-buildings, and either devour the cattle therein, or drag 

 them away mangled to the forest." 



Pontoppidan tells us something to the same effect. 

 "Hunger, sharp as a sword," says the worthy prelate, 



