SANGUINARY ONSLAUGHTS. 467 



the door ; but fortunately a number of people, who hap- 

 pened to be passing at the time, rescued the child. 



" From hence the wolf proceeded to the village of Vestan- 

 back, about two miles from Vadsbro, and attacked two boys 

 who were amusing themselves with a little hand-sledge. 

 They ran towards home, but were overtaken at the house of 

 the soldier Skaffare. The beast rushed past the one that 

 stopped at the gate, and seized the other, who had gained the 

 little enclosure, by the back. He was, nevertheless, rescued 

 by his parents, who fortunately at the time were near at 

 hand. 



" It is also related that a pregnant woman was attacked by 

 a wolf on the road between the villages of Hede and Norrby. 

 She ran to a Gardesgard, and climbed up it ; but the beast 

 pulled her down again, tore her clothes to pieces, and bit one 

 of her ears. The people from the village, hearing her cries, 

 came to her assistance. But the woman and the child that 

 she then bore in her bosom are still alive. 



" A wolf was afterwards heard of on the 1 8th of March 

 of the same year, in the village of Vatbo, distant four to five 

 miles from the church. Whilst several children were on their 

 way from hence to the neighbouring village of Andersbo, a 

 wolf rushed amongst the poor little things, and carried off a 

 boy named Anders, aged six years and a half. The wolf 

 and the corpse were discovered far from the spot. When 

 the melancholy catastrophe happened, which is inscribed in 

 the parish register, the child's mother was in church. 



" It is said that two wolves, a larger and a smaller, have 

 been seen in company ; but here, in the parish of By, during 

 all the above occurrences, not more than one large wolf was 

 visible." 



n H 2 



