Monday, December 8, 2014

An Allusion to Erzebet in The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

In some versions of Erzebet's legends, she has a great white wolf for a pet.  Wolves are linked to vampires, and Dracula, whom Stoker allegedly based on our girl, often shape shifted into a wolf.  Of course, The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer and other literature often has vampires at odds with werewolves.

17th C. Neopolitan Krippen or Creche figure; Erzebet would have
been familiar with these.


In a retelling of Red Riding Hood, or maybe another version, Connolly portrays RRH as a young woman in love with a wolf, and who mothers a werewolf.  She roams the forest to entice young girls as lovers or sacrifices to the wolf:

"She would wander the forest paths enticing those who passed her way with promises of ripe, juicy berries and spring water so pure that it could make skin look young again.  Sometimes, she traveled to the edge of a town or village, and here she would wait until a girl walked by and she would draw her into the woods with false cries for help.

But some went willingly, for there are women who dream of lying with solves.

None was ever seen again, for in time the Loups turned on those who had created them and they fed upon them in the moonlight " (88).

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