The Tale of the Wolf

[Canary]

Excerpt from "A Child's Intermediate Reader," by Jiyo Yukihime, granddaughter of Jiyo Sora

"Once, long ago, there was a lean and mangy wolf. Hungry and distrustful, it would snap at any who came near. It trusted no one and nothing- not even other wolves. The other animals would gather together, but the wolf would never get closer than the edge of any gathering, and it would bolt if anyone approached it directly. And sometimes it would eat those that crossed its path."

"Now, the wolf was gifted with good nose, and it could smell not just where things had been- no, its nose was so good, it could smell where they were going. It could smell danger before it arrived. And that was part of why it trusted no one. It was always attuned to danger- and those who were not wolves also feared it, because they thought it might eat them."

"All of thing changed one day when the wolf, creeping around the edge of a large gathering, as usual, smelled something different about a splendidly plumed bird. Not danger, but... hope. It had never smelled it before, and didn't know what it was. It crept closer. The bird watched, all the while- not afraid, as so many were. It knew that it had nothing to fear from the wolf- it was a large bird, and powerful, and more to the point, it could fly."

"The wolf was still nervous- it had trusted only itself, and its fur bristled and its ears lay back as it crept toward the bird with the strange smell of hope on it. It wasn't sure what to do, but... the bird wasn't afraid. The wolf took a few more nervous sniffs... and then its tail gave a single wag. The first time in its life that it had done so. It stood near the bird for a long time, not sure what to do next. The bird extended its wing to shade the wolf as the sun grew hot. From that day on, the wolf knew only that it wanted to help the bird, in any way it could- not for the shade of its wing- such a minor thing, a thing it had gone without for its entire life- but for thinking to do anything for the mangy wolf in the first place."

"The bird helped others- many others. The wolf was never jealous. It was simply happy to belong. To have something other than itself to look out for. To protect. And it lived out its days doing precisely that. Not because the bird asked it to- but because the bird let it."