Wolf
Song
Liz
Amini-Holmes
1149
Words
Once
there was a red wolf that lived alone. All of the
other red wolves had been killed or driven off. But this last wolf, he stayed.
He did all of the usual wolfish things; he lived in a cave high up in the
mountain, he hunted the occasional flock for a stray sheep and he roaming the
valley surrounding his den.
The wolf would appear from time to time late in
the evening on the mountain trail, because his eyes glowing in the night they
frightened herds boy or milkmaid coming home late from the fields. Stories rose
up of great bloody teeth and long, lolling tongue and fiery red, hungry eyes.
But the most terrifying thing of all was the
noise heard at night. High on the stark peak of the stony mountain the lone
wolf howled. “Ahhh-ahh-oooooh!Ah-oooooh!” This was a howl that echoed of a
thousand lonely midnights.
His wolf song froze men in their tracks and made
women clutch their babies tight. It chilled to the marrow everyone who heard
it... everyone, that is, except one person.
In the mountain village was a girl who had lived
there all of her life, but no one really knew this girl. She spoke to folks,
and they spoke to her yet no one really understood her. They puzzled over her
wildish ways; the way she moved like a creature through the forest, slipping
though the trees unnoticed and conent alone with the forest animals.
The girl would lie awake in her bed at night
wondering why she felt so lost among the villagers. When she heard the call of
the wolf on the mountain, right away she knew this was a voice that spoke to
her of feelings she understood.
She realized she had to seek out this wolf and
know why it cried in the night. Although she’d heard the horrible stories of
fierce teeth, lashing tongue, and burning red eyes, she was not afraid.
One day, before the sun rose, she set out on the
road to the mountain where the wolf made his den. It was a dangerous journey,
the road was long and a steep, but the girl did not bring a walking stick or
food or water.
She had never been this way before and the only
map she had to guide her was her heart and memory of the wolf’s song. Towards
the end of first day's travel she grew thirsty and hungry.
When darkness overcame her, she was forced to
stop for the night in some trees near the trail. As she sat starving in the
growing darkness, she thought for a moment about turning back and rushing
blindly down the pat, back to the village. But she knew that was not the way
for her. Shivering in the night she finally lay down to sleep.
As she slept she had a dream; the moon shone
silver on the frosty mountain, the air was clear and crisp then the voice of
the wolf rang out from the top of one of the peaks, calling out the way ahead “Ahhh-ahh-oooooh!Ah-oooooh!”
She woke up with a start wondering
if the dream had been real, if the wolf had actually called out to her in the
night.
It was now dawn; she rose, even more hungry and
thirsty. The path grew steeper and rockier.
As the sun moved high in the sky the girl noticed
ahead of her a flock of birds swooping and playing in a small pool beside the
road.
The girl rushed to the water, fell on her belly
and drank. She walked on, thoughts came to her of quitting, but she reasoned if
she did not continue she would never know what was at the end of the path or
why the wolf cried so in the night.
After a long time she saw beside the path a clump
of bushes she heard a noise. Looking up, she came face to face with a huge
bear. The bear was only a few feet away in the bushes eating berries. The girl
did not move. But the bear only stared and waited too... for a moment. And with
one massive set of claws he began to pick and eat more of the ripe berries. The
girl, realized that the bear was only hungry for berries. She began to breathe
again and carefully picked and ate the delicious berries.
The path was becoming steeper and so much harder
to travel. She was beginning to wonder when or how or if she would ever see her
wolf.
Suddenly a stone tumbled; and the clatter froze
the girl on the trail. When something large moved and leaped into the path her
heart stopped, then began to beat again as she saw the visitor clearly. It
wasn't the wolf but a small deer, a yearling. The two of them stared at one another for a moment, both
curious, fearless, silent. The girl walked slowly toward the deer that started
then scampered away up the mountain path.
The girl noticed the darkening sky and the cold
chill of the deepening night air gathering about her. She continued along the
steep path trying to keep her footing. Again she was wondering if she had been
wise in coming here, if she had been right in seeking the wolf in such a lonely
and desolate place. She was growing unsure of each step as she moved carefully
and slowly up the path.
When suddenly... she saw something, felt
something ahead. Was it a shadow crossing the moon? Her heart beat faster. Her
head grew light, but her eyes stayed sharp as she stared ahead up the trail.
She waited quietly for another sign, and soon came her reward. There on four
paws, eyes’ reflecting her own bright gaze, head still as stone was the wolf.
She could not move. The red eyes, the great
tongue, the huge claws flashed in her memory. But as she stared, she saw none
of this. All she could see was the wolf whose song had drawn her here, now only
yards from him, breathing in the cold night.
As she stood, peering into the wild eyes before
her, remembering that sad, sweet song, she felt her heart soften and her fear
evaporate. Her eyes filled with tears, she knew why she had come here. She knew
that the song had been she heard laying wake in her bed was a cry for to banish
aloneness. It had reached across the miles and it had guided her here.
As the girl faced the wolf, the wolf spoke
back... with his howl. “Ahhh-ahh-oooooh!Ah-oooooh!” In that instant, the two,
girl and wolf, were one heart.
It is said the girl never returned to the
village. But as the clouds pass the moon one more wolf song can be heard in
beautiful harmony echoing throughout the valley.
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