Old French Tales from Brittany
Marie de France: The Story of Bisclavret
12th century, Old French: British Library, Bibliothèque Nationale Paris.
Bisclavret's clothes have been taken. And whilst he is in the forest he is not half a man and half a wolf. His is all wolf. He is now trapped as a wolf...
Bisclavret, a Breton nobleman, hides a dark secret. Whenever he goes away from home for a few days at a time he takes off all his clothes, leaves them in an old chapel and goes to live in the forest surrounding the chapel as a wolf. He is a werewolf. And whilst he is in the forest he is not half a man and half a wolf. His is all wolf. A wolf with a man’s mind.
When he returns to his clothes, his human form comes upon him again and he can return to his wife; but her suspicions begin to grow.
Prising his secret out of him, the next time he disappears for a few days, she arranges for the chapel to be visited and his clothes to be taken. He is now trapped as a wolf...
