It has been elsewhere shown that the howling dog, or
wish-hound of Hermes, whose appearance under the windows of a
sick person is such an alarming portent, is merely the tempest
personified. Throughout all Aryan mythology the souls of the
dead are supposed to ride on the night-wind, with their
howling dogs, gathering into their throng the souls of those
just dying as they pass by their houses.[73] Sometimes the
whole complex conception is wrapped up in the notion of a
single dog, the messenger of the god of shades, who comes to
summon the departing soul. Sometimes, instead of a dog, we
have a great ravening wolf who comes to devour its victim and
extinguish the sunlight of life, as that old wolf of the tribe
of Fenrir devoured little Red Riding-Hood with her robe of
scarlet twilight.[74] Thus we arrive at a true werewolf myth.
The storm-wind, or howling Rakshasa of Hindu folk-lore, is "a
great misshapen giant with red beard and red hair, with
pointed protruding teeth, ready to lacerate and devour human
flesh; his body is covered with coarse, bristling hair, his
huge mouth is open, he looks from side to side as he walks,
lusting after the flesh and blood of men, to satisfy his
raging hunger and quench his consuming thirst. Towards
nightfall his strength increases manifold; he can change his
shape at will; he haunts the woods, and roams howling through
the jungle.
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