✖ Warou Tales: Part Two✖

[wolfishsurvivalist]

How the First Wolf Discovered the Dark

Long ago when Sun painted the sky with her brush every morning and every evening, and Earth sang songs to teach the meadowlarks their ways, the First Wolf was newly made and without a home. They were strong and fierce, and had learned what it was to hunger and be full, to meet Wind at his own game and race among the pines and oaks, to howl their greeting song to Moon in his throne high in his shimmering painted halls, but now the First Wolf had grown weary after much exploration and desired to rest.

The riverbank, while good for snapping at the passing fish and for gamboling in the water was a horrible place to sleep. Far too wet and muddy, Wolf wrinkled their nose and turned away, determined to find a better place. Grandfather Oak's branches were excellent sleeping places for friend Raven and Owl, yet Wolf could not easily climb with their paws, and the boughs were not so big as to hold Wolf safely, so Wolf huffed to themselves and padded away, determined to find a much better place.

Long and hard Wolf searched, but there were no suitable places for them. The briars and thistles had thorns that got stuck in Wolf's coat or pricked their paws, leaving Wolf chewing on them for quite a time to free them from their fur and between toes. The boles of trees were also no good, nor the small spaces beneath the roots. Finally, when Moon was walking amongst the hills and trees, his many-starred shroud whispering across the dales and glens, Wolf came across a wide hole in a wall of rock and slipped inside, thinking to make their bed there.

It was a strange place, the stars blotted out by the roof of stone and earth over Wolf's head. Wind's voice echoed in the place, as if coming from everywhere at once. Darkness blanketed all things, and for the longest time Wolf could only smell rich earth and cold stone, and Wolf was puzzled. Yet Wolf was not afraid for they had not learned what fear was.

"Welcome, friend." Came a small voice so high that Wolf's fur stood on end. "We do not often get visitors." It too echoed in the dark and made it difficult to tell where it came from, so Wolf turned their head to peer into the dark.

"Where are you that I may speak plainly with you? It is dark and I cannot see as well as I should, and I do not smell you." Wolf said, troubled at how their nose and ears both failed them.

"Above! For it is our way to find the high places." Came the tiny piping voice that almost pained Wolf's ears. Taking this to heart, Wolf looked up, and as it had been a while since they had stepped into the depths of the cave, for that is what it was, Wolf spied a multitude of tiny creatures clinging to the rock above them. They were covered in fur almost as wonderful as Wolf's own, save for their forelimbs which were strange and leathery. They were not unlike a bird's wings when the tiny creatures stretched them wide, but they would wrap them about themselves or use them to crawl about.

"I do not mean offense small friends, but in my few days I have never seen creatures such as you. Who are you?" Wolf wondered, puzzled at how they moved about.

"We are bats," came the tiny voices. "Feasters of insects and small crawling things, and tasters of fruits, for their skins are soft and their nectar is most pleasing to our tongues and insects do crunch most satisfactorily."

"Is this your home that I have come into, then?" Wolf asked, uncertain if they wished to share a home despite their new hosts being pleasant and amicable save for their shrill voices, which they could not help being so small themselves, and Wolf did not fault them for it.

"Ours and others as well!" They replied, jostling one another gently to find the most comfortable place. "We do sleep in the day for Sun is to brilliant for our weak eyes, and Moon's lovely light summons the most delectable of creatures for our eating, but we have spied friend Bear sleeping here as we fly out to dine some nights, and sometimes a few lizards as well. You are welcome to spend a while in this place, we shall have no need of it until the dawn."

"You have my thanks, small friends." Wolf huffed, and as one the bats took to the night in a flurry of leathery wings and screeched greetings and shrill, excited shouts, for as they said their eyes were poor, and their tiny voices echoed awfully about Wolf's head, but they bore it for the discomfort was but a passing thing and despite the great multitudes of beasts flapping about, not a one struck the great beast in their midst.

So it was that Wolf met Bat and all her brethren in their home, and did spend the night there, where moss and lichen grow, and in the deepest secret places many things make their home, for their eyes are weak and Sun's brilliance hurts them and cracks their skin, and many strange luminous things grow upon the rocks for the dark is where they flourish best. And Wolf slept soundly there for the night, unafraid for there was nothing in the dark as strong and fierce as the First Wolf was, and it was a place of peace among things strange to Wolf in all their newness.