THE HYENA. 
367 
listen about th3 shepherds’ huts till it knew 
their names, and then, going in the night 
to their doors, it would call them out and 
devour them. They were reported to have 
but one bone in the neck, and to have their 
jaws filled with one continued tooth. A 
certain race of African smiths and iron¬ 
workers are still believed to have the power 
of changing themselves into hyenas at plea¬ 
sure, and of performing in that shape all 
the wonders attributed in Europe to the 
wehr-wolf!” 
“How curious such superstitions are!” 
remarked Antoinette. “I love to hear 
about them.” 
“Yes: they are indeed very singular and 
interesting; and you will find, upon exami¬ 
nation, that there is almost always some¬ 
thing to make them of. Thus the stories 
about the hyena may be accounted for,— 
the imitation of the human voice by the 
strange and unearthly sounds it produces, 
which would sometimes make one think it 
was trying to speak; the one immense tooth 
seemed to account for its enormous power 
of breaking and crushing the largest and 
hardest bones; and, as in these violent efforts 
