Irish Sheep Boy June 18, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Many years ago Beach ran a post on an Irish cow man, which seemed to have come out of a ‘Celtic’ wonder tale. What though about the Irish sheep boy, reported by the Dutch doctor Nicholas Tulp (pictured) (obit 1674)? The sheep boy had somehow ended up in Amsterdam. Note that in what follows Beach is relying on Blumenbach’s quotation of Tulp, not the original! Tulp was certainly reliable, is Blumenbach?
The most acute sense of hearing would have been deceived by that genuine bleating which was heard by many others as well as myself to proceed from that Irish youth, who was brought up from infancy among sheep, and whom therefore it will be here worthwhile to describe exactly as he was.
The next sentence has to mean that sheep boy had appeared in some form of curiosity show: of course, this doesn’t mean that the sheep boy was not genuine, only that there are good reasons for suspicion.
There was brought to Amsterdam, and exposed to the eyes of all, a youth of sixteen years, who, being lost perhaps by his parents and brought up from his cradle amongst the wild sheep in Ireland, had acquired a sort of ovine nature. He was rapid in body nimble of foot, of fierce countenance, firm flesh, scorched skin, rigid limbs, with retreating and depressed forehead, but convex and knotty occiput, rude, rash, ignorant of fear, and destitute of all softness. In other respects sound, and in good health. Being without human voice he bleated like a sheep, and being averse to the food and drink that we are accustomed to, he chewed grass and only had hay, and that with the same choice as the most particular sheep. Turning in the same way every mouthful round, and taking account of each blade separately, he made his selection, and tasted now only this, and now only that, as they seemed more grateful, and more agreeable to his sense of smell and taste.
Is it even possible for a human being to eat grass: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com Let alone survive on grass? And how did Tulp come to know about the details of sheep boy’s capture: from the showmen who kept sheep boy perhaps?
He had lived on rough mountains and in desert places himself equally fierce and untamed, delighting in caves and pathless and inaccessible dens. He was accustomed to spend all his time in the open air and to put up equally with winter and summer. He kept as far as he could away from the lures of huntermen, but at last fell into their nets, although he fled over uneven rocks, and precipitous cliffs, and threw himself most boldly into thorny brakes and sharp jungles [in Ireland!], in which being at last entangled he fell into the power of the huntsman. His appearance was more that of a wild beast than a man; and though kept in restraint, and compelled to live among men, most unwillingly, and only after a long time did he put off his wild character. His throat was large and broad, his tongue as if it were fastened to his palate.
Here is an online account. If the quotations above are reliable it seems that a lot of details have been added or distorted in the telling.
In 1672 a 16-year-old boy was found trapped in a hunter’s net in the hills of southern Ireland. Since running away from his parents’ home as a young child, the boy had lived with a herd of wild sheep. He was healthy and muscular even though he ate old grass and hay. After his capture he was taken to the Netherlands, where he was cared for in Amsterdam by Dr. Nicholas Tulp. The boy never learned human speech, but continued to bleat like a sheep throughout his life.
Four mistakes by Beach’s counting… It is lovely how facts spin out of control on the internet.
