Curious Wolf. Source: Kiza
Suddenly, I caught a whiff of something disgusting. Humans. Nasty, filthy, horrible beasts. I slunk through the bushes towards the smell,
hoping for an easy meal, but I didn’t see any of the beasts around. However, I did hear some whimpering coming
from one of the bushes to my left.
When I eased toward the sound, I found one of their repulsive
offspring. I crept forward, preparing to
pounce and end its life. It would make a
decent meal for my four young sons, but then I had a thought: If I save
this human, it may one day repay the favor.
So I raised it alongside my true sons, hoping that my
decision would one day pay off. It was
quite the burden, no hair to keep it warm, no strong teeth to kill pray. While it ran on four legs like us, it was
much slower than we were. It was a
struggle to keep it alive in those early years.
Eventually, the human was taken by a hunter, a prince
nonetheless. I was glad that my family
and I would finally be free from its stench.
I ran after the human with my sons, making it seem like I wanted it back
in case it one day returned.
------------------------------------------------------
Years later, the royal family held a hunt in my woods. I was an old she-wolf by then, not as fast as
I had once been. My sons were able to run
from the hunters while I tried to hide in the bush. The hunter’s hounds, however, sniffed me out.
They bayed to the hunters and gave chase.
I ran, but the hunting party was right on my tail. I knew the royal’s home was not far and the
human had to be there. I decided that it
was time for the human to repay my former kindness. I ran for the palace, with the hounds nipping
at my heels and the horses thundering behind them. I howled and yelped as I ran, hoping that the
beast would hear my approach.
As I burst through the trees, I could smell my two-legged “child”. I bolted straight for its scent, hoping that it
would recognize me. Thankfully, it
opened its robes and embraced me. The
beast declared that I, and my true children, were under its protection and were
welcome at its table. Praise the Moon! The stupid beast had fallen
for my false love.
Now if only we could figure out how to kill the beast and keep the food...
Bountiful Table. Source: Wikipedia
"The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe" from the Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts, by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900). Web Source: Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook
Author's Note:
I based my story off of the tale The Wolf-Mother of Saint
Ailbe in the Saints and Animals unit. The
original story is of a kindly wolf mother who comes across an abandoned child
in her territory. She takes the child
and raises his as her own until he is taken by a hunter, the prince. The child grew up to become a much loved
Bishop. However, he never forgot the
wolf who raised him. When she came to
him with the hunting party on her tail, his love returned and he saved her
life.
This story made me think of all the tales where the wolf is
the villain. Usually the wolves are just
brutes that attack in a more or less straight forward manner. They do not think long term or consider how
they may be affected in the future.
Because of this, I wanted to write about a wolf that was thinking about
her future. In fact, she’s thinking of
saving an infant so that it will help her much later in life. It gave the story a darker twist and showed that
the wolf was not a simple animal. They
are intelligent as well as strong and crafty.
They kill when it benefits them, such as food or protection, so why
wouldn’t a smart wolf prolong a life if it benefited them farther down the
line?
"The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe" from the Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts, by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900). Web Source: Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook
This definitely was an interesting twist on the story! I think you did a good job of making it your own. It is more relatable this way because unfortunately in todays society people are generally only motivated by what they will get out of a situation. You always love seeing those heart felt stories of people going out of their way to help others but most people aren't so generous.
ReplyDeleteWow! What a creative twist to the story. I liked that you chose to tell the story from the mother wolf’s point of view. I like the blue layout, but with the white marks on the layout and the white font it makes it difficult to read a story. I would recommend changing your font color if you really like that layout. I also had a hard time reading the author’s note, which I would recommend making that font a little larger along with the color change. I liked the photo of the wolf and thought it added a nice image for the reader to have of what the mother wolf looked like. The picture of the feast was a nice touch as well! When I tried to access the story from the Un-Textbook it did not take me to the page of the story. I believe you can go to the story page and use that URL instead of just the general textbook URL. I think there are just a few minor things to be fixed with formatting. I enjoyed the story and think you have produced a great version of The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe.
ReplyDeleteYour story was very interesting, and very different from a lot of the things that I have been reading, which is always nice. It was a little difficult to read your story at some points, however, with the unfixed background and the black text. It might be a little easier if you just made the area with the text a little less completely see through. I look forward to reading your other stories!
ReplyDeleteI firstly liked reading this story and how different you made it but still kept the sameness to it. I also liked the more elaborate words you used like thundering and bolted, this gave a more adult sense to it. The way you wrote the second part really kept me reading more because I wanted to not because I had to. The ending made me laugh a little bit.
ReplyDelete