Have you heard the tale of the lone wolf?
He was kind and wise
He loved all and gave everything to everyone
He took pity on a lost girl in the wood, who was dressed in a red cloak
He guided her to her grandmother's hut, which was in the heart of the forest
When she was done, he guided her back to the forest edge, where her village lay
On the way, they were confronted by three wolves
"Give us the girl," they growled, "So we may eat her."
"No," growled the wolf, placing himself between the girl and his kind
"This girl is under my protection."
He let loose a snarl, showing his white teeth.
The three wolves became afraid and they fled with their tails between their legs.
The wolf and the girl in the red cloak reached the village, to find its people waiting for them
They called the wolf kidnapper, killer of children, and thief of cattle
Ignoring the girl in the red cloak's cries, they threw rocks and spears at the wolf, driving him from the village and into the forest
As the first snow fell, the girl in red fell to her knees and wept
The wolf walked alone...
...bleeding and bruised...
...until he lay down, tired....
The snow had fallen greatly, the forest was covered in a sheet of white
The wolf, closed his eyes for the final rest
He dreams of the forest ...
He dreams of its inhabitants...
He dreams of the village and its people...
He dreams of the girl in the red cloak...
The snow falls upon the sleeping wolf
Covering him in a blanket of white
The End
Note from the Author
For the longest time since I was a child, I have read many stories which the wolf is the bad guy.
There was no reason or logic why the wolf is bad.
He just was.
When I was a child, I accepted this and feared the shadows and the forest—thinking the wolf would come out and eat me alive.
As absurd as this may be, it’s the story that is easily accepted
As a result, the wolf is one of the most feared and hated, even in some places where the wolf no longer exists.
It was the movie Balto that opened my eyes to the beauty of wolves, that the stories I was told was not true. This was of course when I was a child as well.
With my new found love for wolves, I began wandering into the forest, looking and calling out to the wolves—to the wolves whom were never there.
That was when I found out the reason why they did not exist: they had been hunted to the brink of extinction, even to the point the government placed bounty on every head killed.
I asked why.
Why?
Was it fear of loss of cattle? No. It couldn’t be that. Cattle outnumbered the wolves almost 20 to 1. Surely us humans wouldn’t be so upset with the loss of one cattle to practically exterminate an entire species for loss of gold.
Many arguments were put to me and in the end I realized the true cause: fear.
It is something we were taught as children by reading stories like “The Three Little Pigs”, “The Boy who Cried Wolf”, and “Little Red Riding Hood.”
We are taught that all wolves are dark, evil, and hungry creatures of the night; who only attack, attack, attack, eat, eat, eat.
It is plain fear of these creatures that continually drives the want to have them wiped out, exterminated.
I wish to change that.
I want to bring out the beauty of the wolf, to show they are no different than other creatures of the world—that they have a place and role in what we know as the “Circle of Life.”
For without the wolves, we would not have the creatures known as “Man’s Best Friend”
For the kindness and company they have given to Mankind, I will help change the next generations; so they will be able to love and enjoy the beauty which makes the wolf the very symbol of the untamed wild.
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