On this page you will find a collection of Wolf Stories.
The Wolf Dance
The Sun, The Turtle, And The Wolf
How Rabbit Fooled Wolf
Of Wolves and Men
Ankakumikaityn the Nomad Wolf - A Siberian Tale
Romulus and Remus
The Wolf Dance
by Chief Dan George (chief of the Salish Band in Burrard Inlet, B.C.)
I wanted to give something of my past to my grandson. So I took him into the woods, to a quiet spot. Seated at my feet he listened as I told him of the powers that were given to each creature. He moved not a muscle as I explained how the woods had always provided us with food, homes, comfort, and religion. He was awed when I related to him how the wolf became our guardian, and when I told him that I would sing the sacred wolf song over him, he was overjoyed. In my song, I appealed to the wolf to come and preside over us while I would perform the wolf ceremony so that the bondage between my grandson and the wolf would be lifelong. I sang. In my voice was the hope that clings to every heartbeat. I sang. In my words were the powers I inherited from my forefathers. I sang. In my cupped hands lay a spruce seed -- the link to creation. I sang. In my eyes sparkled love. I sang. And the song floated on the sun's rays from tree to tree. When I had ended, it was if the whole world listened with us to hear the wolf's reply. We waited a long time but none came. Again I sang, humbly but as invitingly as I could, until my throat ached and my voice gave out. All of a sudden I realized why no wolves had heard my sacred song. There were none left! My heart filled with tears. I could no longergive my grandson faith in the past, our past. At last I could whisper to him: "It is finished!" "Can I go home now?" He asked, checking his watch to see if he would still be in time to catch his favorite program on TV. I watched him disappear and wept in silence. All is finished!
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The Sun, The Turtle, And The Wolf
Once upon a time in a green valley next to a river and by a hill there lived a Sun, a Wolf, and a Turtle. Above them lived and watched over them their goddess, Zeuss. One day by the river, Sun was bragging about how fast he was. Wolf and Turtle overheard him and challenged him to a race. The race was whoever got the first cloud that they saw that morning would win the race. It was really rainy, so they agreed to do it the next morning. Sun was still thinking about how he was going to get the cloud first. Sun thought and thought and finally, he knew what he was going to do. He was going to go up right before the race.
That morning Sun was still bragging to himself while he was walking by the stream. Wolf was walking by and heard Sun bragging to himself and told him that he was going to win the race. Then Turtle walked by and said the same thing as Wolf. That morning they all met on top of the hill, but Sun wasn't there. Wolf and Turtle looked up to see if there was a cloud but instead, they saw Sun crying up in the sky. Turtle and Wolf understood. Zeus talked to Turtle and Wolf and explained everything.
And that is how the Sun got stuck in the sky.
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How Rabbit Fooled Wolf
Two pretty girls lived not far from Rabbit and Wolf. One day Rabbit called upon Wolf and said "Let's go and visit those pretty girls up the road." "All right," Wolf said, and they started off. When they got to the girls' house, they were invited in but both girls took a great liking to Wolf and paid all their attention to him while Rabbit had to sit by and look on. Rabbit of course was not pleased by this and he soon said, "We had better be going back." "Let's wait a while longer," Wolf replied and they remained until late in the day. Before they left, Rabbit found a chance to speak to one of the girls so that Wolf could not overhear and he said, "The one you've been having so much fun with is my old horse." "I think you are lying," the girl replied. "No, I am not. You shall see me ride him up here tomorrow." "If we see you ride him up here," the girl said with a laugh, "we'll believe he's only your old horse." When the two left the house, the girls said, "Well, call again." Next morning Wolf was up early, knocking on Rabbit's door. "It's time to visit those girls again," he announced. Rabbit groaned. "Oh, I was sick all night," he answered "and I hardly feel able to go." Wolf kept urging him, and finally Rabbit said: "If you will let me ride you, I might go along to keep you company."
Wolf agreed to carry him astride of his back. But then Rabbit said, "I would like to put a saddle on you so as to brace myself" When Wolf agreed to this, Rabbit added: "I believe it would be better if I should also bridle you." Although Wolf objected at first to being bridled he gave in when Rabbit said he did not think he could hold on and manage to get as far as the girls' house without a bridle. Finally Rabbit wanted to put on spurs.
"I am too ticklish," Wolf protested. "I will not spur you with them," Rabbit promised. "I will hold them away from you, but it would be nicer to have them on." At last Wolf agreed to this, but he repeated: "I am very ticklish. You must not spur me." "When we get near the girls' house," Rabbit said "we will take everything off you and walk the rest of the way." And so they started up the road, Rabbit proudly riding upon Wolf's back. When they were nearly in sight of the house Rabbit raked his spurs into Wolf's sides and Wolf galloped full speed right by the house. "Those girls have seen you now," Rabbit said. "I will tie you here and go up to see them and try to explain everything. I'll come back after a while and get you."
And so Rabbit went back to the house and said to the girls: "You both saw me riding my old horse, did you not?" "Yes," they answered, and he sat down and had a good time with them. After a while Rabbit thought he ought to untie Wolf and he started back to the place where he was fastened. He knew that Wolf must be very angry with him by this time and he thought up a way to untie him and get rid of him without any danger to himself. He moved around a thin hollow log fan beating upon it as if it were a drum. Then he ran up to Wolf as fast as he could go, crying out: "The soldiers are hunting for you! You heard their drum. The soldiers are after you."
The Wolf was very much frightened of soldiers."Let me go, let me go!" he shouted. Rabbit was purposely slow in untying him and had barely freed him when Wolf broke away and ran as fast as he could into the woods. Then Rabbit returned home, laughing to himself over how he had fooled Wolf and feeling satisfied that he could have the girls to himself for a while. Near the girls' house was a large peach orchard and one day they asked Rabbit to shake the peaches off the tree for them. They went to the orchard together and he climbed up into a tree to shake the peaches off. While he was there Wolf suddenly appeared and called out: "Rabbit, old fellow, I'm going to even the score with you. I'm not going to leave you alone until I do." Rabbit raised his head and pretended to be looking at some people off in the distance. Then he shouted from the treetop: "Here is that fellow, Wolf, you've been hunting for!" At this, Wolf took fright and ran away again.
Some time after this, Rabbit was resting against a tree-trunk that leaned toward the ground. When he saw Wolf coming along toward him, he stood up so that the bent tree-trunk pressed against his shoulder. "I have you now," said Wolf, but Rabbit quickly replied: "Some people told me that if I would hold this tree up with the great power I have they would bring me four hogs in payment. Now, I don't like hog meat as well as you do so if you take my place they'll give the hogs to you." Wolf's greed was excited by this, and he said he was willing to hold up the tree. He squeezed in beside Rabbit, who said, "You must hold it tight or it will fall down." Rabbit then ran off, and Wolf stood with his back pressed hard against the bent tree- trunk until he finally decided he could stand it no longer. He jumped away quickly so the tree would not fall upon him. Then he saw that it was only a leaning tree rooted in the earth. "That Rabbit is the biggest liar," he cried. "If I can catch him I'll certainly fix him."
After that, Wolf hunted for Rabbit every day until he found him lying in a nice grassy place. He was about to spring upon him when Rabbit said "My friend, I've been waiting to see you again. I have something good for you to eat. Somebody killed a pony out there in the road. If you wish I'll help you drag it out of the road to a place where you can make a feast off it." "All right," Wolf said, and he followed Rabbit out to the road where a pony was lying asleep. "I'm not strong enough to move the pony by myself," said Rabbit "so I'll tie its tail to yours and help you by pushing." Rabbit tied their tails together carefully so as not to awaken the pony. Then he grabbed the pony by the ears as if he were going to lift it up. The pony woke up, jumped to its feet, and ran away, dragging Wolf behind. Wolf struggled frantically to free his tail but all he could do was scratch on the ground with his claws. "Pull with all your might," Rabbit shouted after him. "How can I pull with all my might," Wolf cried, "when I'm not standing on the ground?" By and by, however, Wolf got loose and then Rabbit had to go into hiding for a very long, long time.
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Of Wolves and Men
by Barry Holstun Lopez
It is told in the creation legend of the Pawnee that a great council was held to which all the animals were invited. For a reason no one remembers, the brightest star in the southern sky, the Wolf Star, was not invited. He watched from a distance, silent and angry, while everyone else decided how to make the earth. In the time after the great council the Wolf Star directed his resentment over this bad treatment at The Storm that Comes out of the West, who had been charged by the others with going around the earth, seeing to it that things went well. Storm carried a whirlwind bag with him as he travelled, inside of which were the first people.When he stopped to rest in the evening he would let the people out and they would set up camp and hunt buffalo.One time the Wolf Star sent a gray wolf down to follow Storm around. Storm fell asleep and the wolf stole his whirlwind bag, thinking there might be something good to eat inside. He ran far away with it. When he opened it, all the people ran out. They set up camp but, suddenly, looking around, they saw there were no buffalo to hunt. When they realized it was a wolf and not Storm that had let them out of the bag they were very angry. They ran the wolf down and killed him. When The Storm that Comes out of the West located the first people and saw what they had done he was very sad. He told them that by killing the wolf they had brought death into the world. That had not been the plan, but now it was this way. The Storm that Comes out of the West told them to skin the wolf and make a sacred bundle with the pelt enclosing in it the things that would always bring back the memory of what had happened. Thereafter, he told them, they would be known as the wolf people, the Skidi Pawnee. The Wolf Star watched all this from the southern sky.
The Pawnee call this star Fools the Wolves, because it rises just before the morning star
and tricks the wolves into howling before the first light. In this way the Wolf Star continues to remind people that when it came time to build the earth,he was forgotten.
Russian Wolf Fable
One summer the fox heard that Ankakumikaityn the nomad wolf was courting his neighbor, the elder she-dog. So the wily fox made himself an outfit of wolf's clothing: a grey fur cloak, boots and cap. Then, when the she-dog's brothers were away and she was at home with her younger sister, he called upon her.
"I have two herds of fat reindeer," said the fox to the elder sister, as he sipped the bilberry tea she offered him. "I have come to seek your hand."
Thinking that this was, indeed, Ankakumikaityn the nomad wolf, the she-dog treated him to reindeer meat, hot mare's-blood sausages, raw walrus liver and pickled fish, the very choicest pieces. All the while, the fox sat in his cap, unwilling to take it off lest he be recognized.
"Being a wealthy person," he explained, "I keep my cap on that people might respect me."All of a sudden, the sound of dogs barking could be heard from afar."It is my brothers returning from hunting," the she-dog said."Oh dear," exclaimed the fox, "they will likely scare my herds. I must run to caution them."
Once away from the tent, the fox quickly dashed up the nearby hill and loosened some rocks. When the dog brothers came in sight, he pushed the boulders down the hillside and crushed them all. Thereupon, he returned to the tent and finished his tea, charming the sisters with his oily-tongued tales. As dusk fell and the sisters were busy about their housework, he made off with all their food supplies.
Early next morning, the sisters became most alarmed on discovering their supplies gone and their brothers still absent. As they searched the valley and found their poor brothers dead, they wept in despair.
"Who could have done us such harm?" they wailed. In their sorrow, they decided to go to Ankakumikaityn to seek his counsel. The nomad wolf was puzzled. "But I never came to you yesterday!" he exclaimed.
It was not long before the sisters realized they had been tricked by the fox. With the wolf's help, they worked out a plan to get their revenge.
Next day, the fox, unaware that he had been discovered called on the sisters again dressed as Ankakumikaityn. But this time they were expecting him. While the fox drank bilberry tea and exchanged pleasantries, the nomad wolf stealthily entered the tent, grabbed the treacherous fox and tied him up.
"What shall we do with the scoundrel?"asked the wolf. "Let's put him in a sack and leave him in the tundra," suggested the two sisters. That they did. The poor fox almost fainted from fright, wondering what his fate would be. At last, he was set down with a bump; the younger sister collected a heap of dry grass and brushwood for a fire, piled it round the sack, surrounded the tinder with stones and then lit the fire. Poor fox. He at last burst out of the burning sack, his wolf's clothing aflame, and rushed headlong over the tundra like a burning torch. Satisfied at their revenge, the dog sisters and the wolf returned to the tent.
Ankakumikaityn wed the elder sister, and the younger dog looked after their children. Some time later, she found herself a husband too. Since that time red foxes began to appear in the tundra. So it seems that wily old fox, scorched and fiery red, managed to survive his roasting after all.
Romulus and Remus
The story of the twins, sons of the god of War, Mars. In the legend Romulus and Remus are orphaned when their mother, Silvia is imprisoned and the infants are cast into the Tiber River. They are set ashore under a fig tree and found by a she wolf and a woodpecker, animals that are sacred to Mars. The twins are fed and nursed by the animals, until Faustulus, the king's herdsman finds them and raises them with his wife. They left home to found their new kingdom on the shores of that same river where they had many years before begun their legendary lives.
As children will often do, Romulus and Remus could agree upon neither the location of the new city nor a name for it. It was during this strife that Romulus killed his twin, and thereupon built the new settlement.
Lacking for inhabitants, the new king called upon outcasts from outlying communities to come to his new homeland and to settle upon the Capitoline Hill where Romulus built a sanctuary for misfits of other communities.
But, alas, Romulus soon discovered that his city was lacking for women, and he announced that games were to be celebrated in honor of the god, Consus, and he thereby invited the Latins and the Sabines to his celebration. It was during this event that the Romans lashed out upon the virgins of the community and carried them away.
Romulus' reign was tainted with this story of the rape of the Sabine women, whose tribe, under the leadership of Titus Tatius, allegedly infiltrated the new Latin lands and battled with the inhabitants of Latium, thus forming a union of the two tribes early in the history of ancient Rome.
During the ensuing war, the Sabine women prayed for peace, and they begged that the two tribes unite and form one people, one nation. Unfortunately, the peace was short-lived, and Titus Tatius, who was at this time co-reigning with Romulus, was killed in a confrontation. Thus, Romulus continued his reign alone not only over the Latins but also over the Sabines.
His 37-year reign as the first king of Rome ended when his father, Mars, carried him away to heaven in a chariot of fire. Henceforth, Romulus demanded to be known as " Quirinus," the guardian god to the Romans.