History knows many cases when Mowgli children lived for a long time in the forest, far from people and civilization. One such case took place at the very end of the 18th century in France, when a savage child was discovered in the forest by local residents of the Aveyron department.
For the first time, peasants discovered a forest child in 1797. He looked about 9-10 years old, he was completely naked and did not understand human speech. The peasants put the child in a barn, but after a couple of days he fled back to the forest.
The next meeting of the Averon peasants with the Mowgli child took place 15 months later. This time, hunters found him in the forest, who brought the child to the village and placed him in one of the houses. However, after only a couple of weeks, the savage fled again, jumping out the window.
Finally, the third time he was caught in January 1800. Despite the fact that it was a harsh winter, the savage was still completely naked, apparently having adapted to the harsh climate, as prehistoric people did. This time, the Mowgli child, who was given the name Victor, was brought to Paris, where scientists began to study it.
Victor's behavior made it clear that he had never encountered human society in his life. He did not know how to speak, uttering only sounds similar to grunting, refused any food except berries and chestnuts, fell asleep at sunset and woke up at dawn. Victor did not react to other children, and when they brought him wooden toys, he tried to make a fire out of them.
Soon Victor began to live in the country house of Dr. Itard, who took the child into his care. First of all, Itar tried to teach Victor to speak, but all these attempts were unsuccessful. Until the end of his days, the savage will not master human speech. However, relatively quickly he learned to do physical work. So, Victor's favorite pastime was chopping wood, he could do this for an extremely long time, without feeling any fatigue.
Dr. Itar did not manage to bring up a full-fledged personality from Victor. After living with the doctor for six years, Victor was placed in the care of Madame Guerin, who lived in Paris. He died in her house in 1828.
Over the past two centuries, many scientific works have been devoted to Victor of Aveyron. However, much remains unclear. How, having got into the forest in early childhood, was the child able to survive? Who were his parents and why did they never look for him? How was a child able to endure severe frosts without clothes? And finally, why did he hardly give in to training? There are still no answers to all these questions.
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