A Northern Indigenous Wolf Tale

One day a girl’s father saw a wolf near the village and tried to kill it. His daughter saw it’s eyes and felt it had a soul like people. So, she ran and stopped her father’s arm from harm. He told her she was a foolish one and went off to bed early.

Later that evening the girl was walking, looking after the traps for rabbits. A strong blizzard came quickly upon the land and she got lost.

She became confused in the white, and became cold and tired. She saw a pine tree through the blur, thinking of it as her only refuge, she laid near the tree. She shivered and cried out for her father. But nothing was seen or heard. She started freezing.

Her parents were looking for her, calling her name. But the blizzard’s wind was too loud and their voices were too weak. They looked but couldn’t find her in the snow. They went home fearing the worst.

As the girl shivered by the tree, she thought she would die. But something came up to her. She was too cold to fight and too cold to speak. But it was a wolf.

She feared for her life but accepted it. She will be consumed in the cold blizzard by a wolf.

She faded….

But something wrapped around her. And she felt warmth. She felt comfort and then fell asleep….

She awoke and the blizzard was gone. She wondered… was it a dream? How did I live? She looked and saw tracks of a four-legged going away from her into the deep forest…. She knew….

In the distance she heard her father calling her name. She ran to him. He was amazed she lived. He asked how.

She said, the wolf came and kept me warm.

The father laughed. But then saw the tracks from where she was.

He said to her with tears in his eyes, “You saved that wolf. And it came back to save you. I will forever honor the wolf.”

From that day on, they never would kill a wolf.

-Written by Tom Larson; inspired by Native Peoples of Canada