Tradition: Belgian Mythology
Alternative Names: Een heer in een dier veranderd
Category: Forest dweller
The Myth
A mysterious gentleman with the power to transform into an animal once encountered a woman from Oelter who was returning from Ninove, where she had gone to buy three loaves of bread. Just outside the Geeraardsbergsestraat, she met the gentleman, who explained that he was also travelling to Oelter and asked whether he could accompany her. Glad of the company, the woman agreed and continued along the road with him.
As the gentleman approached her, he began to grow smaller and smaller. Suddenly, he transformed completely into a beast and began biting at the bread she was carrying. Terrified by the strange transformation, the woman fled as fast as she could, running until she reached the inn called Den Os. There, she recounted her frightening encounter. She had barely finished speaking when the door opened and the gentleman appeared inside the inn.
The innkeeper ordered the mysterious visitor to leave, but he refused to go. Finally, someone took a special nail from an Easter candle and placed it beneath the door. The moment the nail was laid there, the gentleman vanished. The strange encounter ended as suddenly as it had begun, leaving the woman and the inn’s occupants to wonder at the supernatural power of the mysterious shapeshifter.
Sources
De Cock, Alfons. Vlaamsche sagen uit den volksmond. Amsterdam: Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur, 1921.