THE SECOND VISIT 
I2 5 
of a string of his fiddle. The sound of the breaking 
string frightened the wolves for the moment, and 
afterwards, the legend adds, he kept them from 
pulling him from the roof of the hut on which he had 
taken refuge by playing continuously. The story of 
the breaking string frightening the wolves, so far 
agreed with our experience of the effect of sudden and 
sharp discords on various animals, that it was decided 
to make the experiment upon the wolves. The result 
went far to show that the old legend of their fear of 
music is based on fact. The common European wolf 
set up its back, and drew back its lips into a fixed 
and hideous sneer, showing all its teeth to the gums, 
with its tail between its legs. The Indian wolf 
showed signs of extreme and abject fear. It trem- 
bled violently, its fur was erected, and cowering down 
till its body almost touched the ground, it retreated to 
the furthest corner of the cage. When the music 
was played at the back of the cage, where the 
musician was invisible, its alarm was in no degree 
abated. It crept to the door to listen, and then 
sprang back and cowered against the bars in front of 
the cage, and so continued in alternate spasms of 
curiosity and fear. The jackals and some of the 
wilder foxes were only less alarmed than the wolves. 
The female jackals ran back to their inner den and 
hid themselves. The male erected its fur until it 
appeared as rough as an Esquimaux dog, and crept 
backwards and forwards, with its lips curled back, 
opening and shutting its mouth, growling whenever a 
