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The Man Who Tamed a Wolf (Frag. 1)

Submitted by Ken Watts on Sat, 12/30/2006 - 21:38

In the days near the time that the trouble began, Woman and Man had wandered the earth for a long time.

A very long time.

But this did not make them weary. They never grew tired of talking or laughing, they never wearied of singing or dancing, they did not grow bored of making love or playing with their babies. And every day brought new adventures.

There were problems from time to time, I don't mean there weren't, but mostly life was very good.

They enjoyed their work, which was light, and which they did for their love of it. They enjoyed gathering food in the light of the morning. They enjoyed the thrill of stalking game. They enjoyed exercising their skill by making tools of stone or starting fires. They had fun creating pictures on rocks and carving stones into statues. They took great satisfaction from building a house, or cooking a meal.

They were happy.

But the time I am talking about was near to the time that the trouble began.

In those days, Man and Woman had tamed stones and had tamed fire. They had tamed the grain and had set it free again. But they had never tamed an animal.

They had made friends with squirrels before, and sometimes with birds, and they managed the herds they hunted, I don't mean that. But this time they did something new.

How it happened was this.

One day, when Man was out hunting, he found a wolf pup that had wandered from its pack. It was hungry and it was sad. Man's spirit went out to the cub, and he brought it home and gave it food. Woman and baby laughed when they saw the cub, and they took it into their house.

The pup became a part of their family, and at night it guarded the door to their house, and barked when a tiger, or lion, or other wolves were near.

But Woman was afraid, and came to Man and said, "I have a fear."

And Man said, "What do you fear?"

And Woman said, "This pup is little now, and pleasant to play with. But it will grow to be a wolf, with the word and spirit of a wolf, and with dangerous ways. I am afraid that one day it will attack Baby."

And Man said, "I, too, have this fear. But I also find this pup pleasant to play with, and I have noticed that it guards our doorway, and warns us of danger."

And Woman said, "If we keep this pup we must find a way to change its word and tame its spirit. We must learn how to control its dangerous ways."

And Man said, "I think you are wise. We will try to do this thing."