With the vague hope that it might somehow explain his dream, he took one of his old textbooks from the shelves and tried to read the chapter on lycanthropy. The book cataloged the queerly universal primitive beliefs that human beings could change into dangerous carnivorous animals. He skimmed the list of human wolves and bears and jaguars, human tigers and alligators and sharks, human cats and human leopards and human hyenas. The were-tigers of Malaysia, he read, were believed invulnerable in the transformed
In a pursuit to understand the meaning behind his dream, the character turns to an old textbook to read about lycanthropy, the myth of humans transforming into predatory animals. The book presents a fascinating range of cultural beliefs regarding this phenomenon, illustrating how various cultures perceive humans as possible incarnations of fierce creatures like wolves, tigers, and even sharks.
The character discovers a variety of mythical beings, such as the were-tigers from Malaysia, noted for their supposed invincibility once transformed. This exploration of ancient and universal beliefs reflects not only on the significance of mythical transformations but also on the human fascination with the primal instincts associated with these fearsome animals.
