by Bernard Connor
It was assured me often at court, and it is certainly believed all over the kingdom, that children have been frequently nurtured by bears, who are very numerous in these woods [of Lithuania].
There was one kept in a convent in my time who was taken among them, as I have described in my Latin Treatise [Evangel. Medici, Art 15, p. 181) Of the Suspensions of the Laws of Nature. He was about ten years of age (which might be guessed only by his stature and aspect) of a hideous countenance, and had neither the use of reason nor speech: he went about on all four, and had nothing in him like a man, except his human structure: but seeing he resembled a rational creature, he was admitted to the font, and christened; yet still he was restless and uneasy, and often inclined to fright. But at length, being taught to stand upright, by clapping up his body against a wall, and holding after the manner that dogs are taught to beg; and being by little and little accustomed to eat at table, he after some time became indifferently tame, and began to express his mind with a hoarse and unhuman tone; but being asked concerning his course of life in the woods, he could not give much better account of it, than we can do of our actions in the cradle.
Sir, I shall endeavour to satisfy your request and to give you an account of a boy that I saw at Warsaw in the year 1669, who had been brought up by bears. Coming to this city of Poland with design to be present at the election of a king after John Casimir, who had abdicated the crown, I enquired what was worth seeing in or about this place: whereupon I was informed, among other things, that there was in the suburbs of this city (which go towards King Casimir's palace) in a nunnery, a certain male child, who had been brought up among bears and who had been taken some time before at a bear-hunting.
Upon this information I went immediately to that place to satisfy my curiosity, where I found the aforesaid boy, playing under the pent-house before the nunnery gate. His age, as well as I remember, I guessed to be about twelve or thirteen. As soon as I came near him he leaped towards me as if surprised and pleased with my habit. First, he caught one of my silver buttons in hi hand with a great deal of eagerness, which he held up to his nose to smell; afterwards he leaped all of a sudden into a corner, where he made a strange sort of noise not unlike a howling. I went into the house, where a maidservant informed me more particularly of the manner of his being taken. But having not with me the book wherein I wrote my observations in my travels, I cannot possibly give you an exact account of it. This mad called the boy in, and showed him a good large piece of bread; which when he saw, he immediately leaped upon a bench that was joined to the wall of the room, where he walked about on all-four: after which, he raised himself upright with a great spring, and took the bread in his two hands, put it up to his nose, and afterwards leaped off from the bench upon the ground, making the same odd sort of noise as before. I was told that he was not yet brought to speak, but that hey hoped in a short time he would, having his hearing good. He had some scars on his face, which were commonly thought to be scratches of the bears.
Thus, Sir, you have all that I can remember of a curiosity, which I saw so long time since; the truth of which nobody ought to question, since there are several parallel examples in history…
Sir,
Your most affectionate servant,
J P Van den Brande de Cleverskerk.
For another confirmation of this matter of fact, I have the testimony of an authentic author, M. Christopher Hartnoch of Passenheim in ducal Prussia, who writ two books of the state of Poland. He says that during the reign of King John Casimir, in the year 1669, there happened an accident which perhaps might hardly be credited by posterity; which was that there were then two boys found by a company of soldiers among the bears in the woods near Grodna; one of which, as soon as he saw the bears assaulted, fled into the neighbouring morass, while the other endeavouring likewise to escape, was taken by the soldiers and brought to Warsaw, where he was afterwards christened by the name of Joseph.
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