the wolf clan, and the spirit within the wolf might belong to an ancestor. He called it Grandmother and told it to go and leave him in peace. But the wolf revived, renewed the attack, and bit Punyuk on the thigh, laying bare the bone. It knocked him down again and bit into his shoulder. Punyuk passed out. When he awoke, the wolf was gone.
Punyuk managed to harness his dogs and sled his way to medical care. His wounds, though serious, did not seem to be mortal. Meanwhile, the wolf entered a village and killed some dogs, and was shot. Glaser was able to get the wolf’s head, and sent it to a laboratory to be tested for rabies. The test came back positive, but it took the laboratory a month to report its findings. In the meantime, Punyuk, apparently healed from his wounds, went back out to camp, where he collapsed and died of rabies.
Wolves were sometimes invested with special powers by whole societies. A Kwakiutl creation myth tells how the antediluvian ancestors of the people took off their wolf masks and became humans. The Mongols viewed themselves as “sons of the blue wolf,” descended through Genghis Khan from a mythical wolf that came down from heaven. Men dressed in wolf skins and ran through the streets beating people with leather thongs to purify Sabine cities. Roman soldiers wore wolf helmets to honor a wolf-god.
Even among people who respected and admired wolves, wolf tales tend to reflect and focus on the conflicts between our humane and destructive impulses. A Sioux woman named Brings the Buffalo Girl told the story of The Woman who Lived with Wolves to Royal B. Hassrick, who recounted it in
The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society.
A young woman fought with her husband and ran away into the winter plains. She walked for days without eating, determined that her people not find her and return her to her husband. She climbed a hill and found a cave, crawled into its darkness, and went to sleep. When she awoke, in the dim light of morning, she could see she was in a den full of wolves. They spoke to her in human voices and told her not to be afraid. They brought her fresh deer meat and she ate. She stayed with them. The wolves hunted for her, and she cooked and dried the meat and made pemmican with meat and berries. She tanned hides and made dresses. But after two years, the wolves told her she must return to her people. The great wolf told her to walk to a herd of wild horses near the cave, and they would lead her back. He warned her that the stallions would try to force her to stay with them, however, and that she must not let that happen, for her people would get her back anyway. The woman left the wolves and found the horses. The stallions courted her, and she succumbed to them and refused to go back to her people. She ran with the herd. Her clothes turned to tatters, and she was covered with dirt and unrecognizable as a human. One day, hunters from her people came upon the herd and captured horses. They found her among them, roped her, tied her up, and dragged her back to camp. When they cleaned her up, they recognized her, but though they combed her hair and dressed her in clean clothes, she would never tame down. She lived with her people, yet apart, as a creature half wild.
The story trained the listener’s attention on the line between sociability and individuality—between the need to cooperate and the urge to vent one’s passions—that divides our lives. Many cultures made similar uses of wolves. Among the Nootka, boys were initiated into adulthood by being ceremonially killed and carried off by men dressed in wolf skins. The ritual represented, said a nineteenth-century observer, “the killing of the lad in order that he might be born anew as a wolf.” It reenacted a tribal myth in which wolvestaught a chief’s son their rites and carried him back to the village, to teach humans how to live. The ceremony implied that to be an adult was to have lethal powers that one must learn to live
Punyuk managed to harness his dogs and sled his way to medical care. His wounds, though serious, did not seem to be mortal. Meanwhile, the wolf entered a village and killed some dogs, and was shot. Glaser was able to get the wolf’s head, and sent it to a laboratory to be tested for rabies. The test came back positive, but it took the laboratory a month to report its findings. In the meantime, Punyuk, apparently healed from his wounds, went back out to camp, where he collapsed and died of rabies.
Wolves were sometimes invested with special powers by whole societies. A Kwakiutl creation myth tells how the antediluvian ancestors of the people took off their wolf masks and became humans. The Mongols viewed themselves as “sons of the blue wolf,” descended through Genghis Khan from a mythical wolf that came down from heaven. Men dressed in wolf skins and ran through the streets beating people with leather thongs to purify Sabine cities. Roman soldiers wore wolf helmets to honor a wolf-god.
Even among people who respected and admired wolves, wolf tales tend to reflect and focus on the conflicts between our humane and destructive impulses. A Sioux woman named Brings the Buffalo Girl told the story of The Woman who Lived with Wolves to Royal B. Hassrick, who recounted it in
The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society.
A young woman fought with her husband and ran away into the winter plains. She walked for days without eating, determined that her people not find her and return her to her husband. She climbed a hill and found a cave, crawled into its darkness, and went to sleep. When she awoke, in the dim light of morning, she could see she was in a den full of wolves. They spoke to her in human voices and told her not to be afraid. They brought her fresh deer meat and she ate. She stayed with them. The wolves hunted for her, and she cooked and dried the meat and made pemmican with meat and berries. She tanned hides and made dresses. But after two years, the wolves told her she must return to her people. The great wolf told her to walk to a herd of wild horses near the cave, and they would lead her back. He warned her that the stallions would try to force her to stay with them, however, and that she must not let that happen, for her people would get her back anyway. The woman left the wolves and found the horses. The stallions courted her, and she succumbed to them and refused to go back to her people. She ran with the herd. Her clothes turned to tatters, and she was covered with dirt and unrecognizable as a human. One day, hunters from her people came upon the herd and captured horses. They found her among them, roped her, tied her up, and dragged her back to camp. When they cleaned her up, they recognized her, but though they combed her hair and dressed her in clean clothes, she would never tame down. She lived with her people, yet apart, as a creature half wild.
The story trained the listener’s attention on the line between sociability and individuality—between the need to cooperate and the urge to vent one’s passions—that divides our lives. Many cultures made similar uses of wolves. Among the Nootka, boys were initiated into adulthood by being ceremonially killed and carried off by men dressed in wolf skins. The ritual represented, said a nineteenth-century observer, “the killing of the lad in order that he might be born anew as a wolf.” It reenacted a tribal myth in which wolvestaught a chief’s son their rites and carried him back to the village, to teach humans how to live. The ceremony implied that to be an adult was to have lethal powers that one must learn to live
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