Wolf Friendship
The Retirement Home
for Elderly Wolves was set in the farthest reaches of the wolf community, and
only the wolves that could either afford the long trek or were especially
dedicated pups would visit their parents and grandparents that were residents. Wolfe never had any visitors. He often felt that the entire wolfing
community had forgotten his existence, even though he was one of its most infamous
members; even more than that other wolf who happened to be full of hot air and
had a distinct taste for pork. No, Wolfe,
was not surprised that he had become an outcast. In fact, he could have predicted it, even
before the events of that fateful day, when all he wanted was some simple friendship
and maybe to ask a question of a little girl wearing a red hood.
Wolfe had always been
a lone wolf among his kind. Since his
youth he disdained wolf packs and their resultant pack mentality. He could never quite understand why wolves
felt the desire to belong in a group that was based on your ranking within the
pack and not based on mutual friendship and respect. Wolfe knew instinctively that if he joined a
pack he would rank as the Omega, the bottom most wolf, who would have to eke
out his survival on the scraps left behind by the other higher ranking wolves. He couldn’t have stood being ridiculed and
the butt of the jokes from his fellow pack members. So given Wolfe’s strong sense of
individuality, independence and dislike for wolf packs, Wolfe decided to go it
alone; which placed him on the fringe of wolf society. During his youth, Wolfe explored far and wide
in the forests and valleys that surrounded his home.
Wolfe was also
different from his brethren, in that he was of a philosophical nature. He always tried to learn the inner workings
of the forest and the lives of the creatures living there. Wolfe was full of questions and often spent days
trying to communicate with the woodland creatures. He wanted to know their thoughts on family, how
they survived in the woods, and most importantly what they believed friendship
meant; was true friendship based on mutual respect or simply your ranking in
the group. Yet, given that Wolfe was in
fact a wolf, many of the animals he tried to speak with ran from him in fear
before he could utter his first words to convey that he meant them no
harm. Wolfe spent many years in this
fashion and only a few of the bravest woodland creatures would deign to
converse with him, mainly bears, bobcats and panthers. Wolfe’s knowledge grew and he began to wonder
more about friendship; it was something he wanted to experience for
himself.
During his travels Wolfe
also had opportunities to observe and study humans from a distance. He watched them at work, at play and caring
for their families. He watched their
interactions with each other that were often based on the respect and love that
he envisioned as the true meaning of friendship. Humans were independent, yet they decided to
forge bonds with their families and friends by their own choice, which suited
Wolfe’s beliefs. He decided that he
would like to speak to a human and ask them how they achieve such a state and
what, their meaning of friendship was.
Yet, Wolfe knew that humans feared wolves, so he needed to devise a plan
in which he could approach one in a non-threatening way. Wolfe also believed that he could have a
human as a friend, and by having that, his desire for friendship would be
resolved, and he would have chosen it based on the respect and affection that
he felt for humans, and not on the pack mentality and ranking that were
practiced by his kind.
It just so happened
that one day Wolfe came across a cottage. He was quite surprised to see a human dwelling
this far out in the wilderness. He
stopped to observe the activities of the homestead for several days. Wolfe was able to determine that an elderly woman
lived alone in the cottage. He heard
her singing and talking to herself. He
learned that the woman had a young granddaughter that she loved beyond words,
and that her granddaughter would be coming to visit her in the next few days. Wolfe felt that this little girl was his best
opportunity to form a friendship with a human.
After all, he had come to understand that it was the youngest of the
species that were the most open to exploration and the impossible, and what was
more impossible than a wolf approaching a human in friendship. Wolfe
believed that it had something to do with the young’s’ endless curiosity and
sense of adventure; so he decided to use those traits to his advantage in
trying to make friends with this young girl.
No matter how much Wolfe despised doing it, and believe me he did, he
felt that he had to eat the elderly woman; dress in her night clothes and hide
in her bed to await the arrival of the girl.
His reasoning for doing this horrible act was that he thought that it
would be less traumatic and terrifying for the girl if he presented himself in
something familiar like wearing her grandmother’s clothing.
Well, as the story
goes, Wolfe’s intentions were not well received, and that little witch of a
girl, that Red Riding Hood as it were, raised such a ruckus over Wolfe that her
cries of alarm brought a nearby huntsman to the little whelp’s aide. The huntsman
and Wolfe fought relentlessly all while Wolfe tried to speak to the huntsman
and the wench to tell them of his peaceful intentions and that he meant no
harm. The huntsman would hear none of
it and after succeeding in knocking Wolfe unconscious; he pushed him down into
a well to drown him. Yet, another of
Wolfe’s great talents was his ability to hold his breath for a long period of
time. Wolfe was awoken as soon as he hit
the water. He knew that his only chance
of survival was to make the huntsman and girl think that he had drowned and
wait for them to leave, which they eventually did. As soon as the mean-spirited girl and murderous
huntsman left, Wolfe extracted himself from the icy water, shook his coat and
made for the woods where he licked his wounded pride and eventually returned
home. Wolfe, who had previously
respected humans so much, began to despise them as much as he did wolf packs.
That horrible child’s
tale of Wolfe spread like wildfire throughout the human settlements, and soon
the wolves in the community learned of Wolfe’s ultimate humiliation. Wolfe,
who refused to join a pack because of his fear of obtaining the lowliest rank
and disdain for the wolf ways, realized his worst fears when he found that he
had in fact obtained the lowest status possible due to his misadventures with
that girl. Wolfe became the laughing
stock of the community. No other wolf
would approach him without sneering at him and mocking him for preying elderly
humans who couldn’t defend themselves and denying his wolf nature by not
joining a pack and remaining with his own kind.
His fellow wolves believed that Wolfe thought he was better than them by
trying to seek friendship with humans. Wolfe was humiliated and became very
bitter. He moved out into the far
reaches of the wolf community and lived on his own; his dreams of true friendship
and understanding were forever dashed.
As Wolf reached his
elderly years he could no longer maintain his solitary life and he became a member
of the Retirement Community for Elderly Wolves.
By now enough time had passed that Wolfe was no longer mocked as
incessantly and he experienced a calm, almost happy existence. Wolfe passed away one night alone and friendless.
Yet, some remnant of Wolfe
survived when wolves recounted his story to their pups as a lesson to not mix
with humans because they will only try to hurt you. But mostly in retelling Wolfe’s tale they were
trying to teach a lesson that friendship is different among humans and
wolves. To a wolf being in a pack is a
high honor. Each pack member plays an
integral part in the friendship, bonding, and love that the wolf pack
maintains. Wolfe believed himself to be
a loner, when in fact, no wolf is an island, and being a member of a pack is
the best form of friendship that a wolf can ever have.
