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An old man belonging to the Nunamiut, a semi nomadic hunting society on the question:
"Who knows more about the land - an old man or an old wolf?" "Amaguk is like Nunamiut. He doesn't hunt when the weather is bad. He likes to play. He works hard to get food for his family. His hair starts to get white when he is old. Young wolves, just like Nunamiut, run around in shallow melt ponds scaring the ducks. And Amaguk is tough, living at fifty below zero, through blizzards, for months without caribou. Like Nunamiut. Maybe tougher... ...Amaguk and Nunamiut like caribou meat, know the good places for caribou hunting. Where gound squirrels are good. Where to get raspberries. A good place for getting away from mosquitoes. Where lupine blooms first in May. Where that big rock is that looks like achlack, the grizzly bear. Where the creeks are still running in August... The same." Quote from "Of Wolves and Men" by Barry Lopez. |
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All over the world myths has been woven around the Wolf. Their eerie howls shattered the
night and stirred the imagination of those who heard it. In cultures who lived closely
to their animal neighbours wolves were also respected and honoured as skilled hunters
and for their great ability to survive. Their knowledge of the land was seen as equal to
that of men, as the above words of the old man illustrates. In the beginning the ways of
wolf and man had great similarities, we both hunted animals larger than ourselves, we were
dependent on cooperation and a deep knowledge of our surroundings to survive. All this
was something that these early hunting cultures understood and this is also reflected in
their legends of wolves. In the mind of most Europeans the wolf was seen in a completely different way. It represented the wild and untamed nature as opposed to the ordered and controlled world which the civilized man tried to create for herself. Everything low and despiseful within the human nature were attributed to wolves and the myths that were created had very little to do with reality. I've tried to gather as many stories as I've been able to find regarding wolves. The first section, Brother Wolf is dedicated to stories from cultures who respected and understood the wolf, who studied them and had a deep knowledge about their ways. The second section, Aesop, Werewolves and Little Red Ridinghood contains European myths and legends concerning wolves, which reflect the idea of wolves as dangerous. A Wolf Shall Devour the Sun contains a few legends from the pre-christian Scandinavia and belongs to the myths of the Vikings. The only reason for putting them in their own section, in case you didn't guess that already, is because I'm Swedish :) A little innocent ego trip of mine I suppose... If you have a wolf story that you feel I should add then feel free to contact me. If you are interested in myths in general or want to know the source of the stories I've collected Mythical resources |
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