Enter the Wolf

Chief Moonbeam, the head of the local wolf clan, streaked across the countryside looking like liquid silver flung flowing through the air. His shiny grey fur covered an elegantly powerful body whose muscles rippled with every bound. Chief Moonbeam had wandered far from home and was now quite hungry.

Wolves are noble creatures. They live in supportive family groups and mate for life. Normally they hunt whatever small game is nearby, such as field mice, rabbits or lemmings. Upon occasion the pack will hunt down very old, very young, or very ill caribou or deer.

Of course we have just anthropomorphised a number of different creatures from a complex ecosytem. We then face the ethical dilemma of dealing with self-aware, even sapient, beings eating one another (a form of cannibalism for the purposes of moralising upon human behaviour) and the wolf in the position of being judged according to inconsistent human standards for behaving appropriately for its environmental niche. Anyway...

Upon reaching the top of a hill Chief Moonbeam could see in the distance three houses, one of straw, one of sticks and one of bricks, scattered across the valley. "Ah," thought the wolf, "That straw house marks the edge of a large field. I should be able to find some mice or a nice fat rabbit there for my supper." So he headed off toward Joey's house.

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Copyright May 1996 Katherine Phelps
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