 Words:Thoughts
and Reflections on Wolves and their Kin
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or paintings pertaining to Wolves.
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I am
Wolf.
It is my
cry you hear in the night,
My eyes
that gaze at you from the shadows.
It is my
heart that beats in your Soul,
My strength
that makes you whole.
I am Wolf.
I am in you.
You are
in Me. We Are Wolf.
-WolfDreamer
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"Of all creatures, perhaps the wolf holds for us most closely the
quality of 'wildness' and wilderness. In our own wolf dance we recall the
fact that we are not after all domesticated or tamed, that we are free,
by divine decree able to determine our own direction and our own fate."
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Track Through Time
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Manitou
After rubbing tummies, ruffling ears, doling out food and
refilling water buckets, I sat upon a rock in the wolf enclosure. Manitou,
the big alpha male, came to sit beside me, my companion, as always. He
leaned into me, and I into him, and we sat for a time and contemplated
all that was around us. Manitou warned away anyone, any of the other wolves
that is, who tried to interfere in our communion - I was "with puppies"
in his mind, and no one was to bother me. I reflected on how I had come
to know I was pregnant, how suspicion turned to certainty when his behavior
with me changed. He knew, even before the test confirmed it. Long
my partner, now he was determined to protect me from any disturbance.
Sitting there with him, he treated me as his mate: moving
behind me, Manitou placed one big paw on my shoulder, and proceeded
to groom me in wolf fashion. His teeth, that could crush a bone with ease,
sorted through my hair, looking for fleas, I assume. He licked my neck
gently, affectionately, then collapsed at my side, leaning hard against
me. I ruffled his fur in return, feeling a great silence fill my
soul.
I've always rather thought that the wolves had been
given the better life - they do not feel the kind of restless discontent
humans feel. They are content to sit or lay in silence for hours, just
"being", that most marvelous of states that so many seek through
meditation, prayer, or spiritual practice. Sitting there with Manitou,
sharing his silence and peace with the world, I would gladly have changed
my human skin for wolf fur.
Later, leaving the enclosure, I found it hard to think
in words, hard to lose the silence I'd found in my soul. The man who had
watched from a distance stopped me to say he had never understood before:
why I had them, what they were to me. "But I see now," he said. "You are
really one of them."
It was the greatest compliment I ever received.
Manitou passed into the Spirit World on August 28, 2002.
Manitou as a cub.
Manitou slightly older.
Our last shots of him.
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Rules of the Pack...
"Take care of the young for they are our future. Never question
your existence. Keep your wild spirit. Be sociable. Live life like play.
Live for the hunt, hunt to live. Love your freedom. Those who hunt in numbers...accomplish
larger tasks. Move swiftly...leave only tracks." |
Now this is the Law of the Jungle
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
Wash daily from nose-tip to tail-tip
drink deeply, but never too deep
And remember the night is for hunting
and forget not the day is for sleep.
The Jackal may follow the Tiger,
but, Cub, when thy whiskers are grown,
Remember the Wolf is a Hunter
go forth and get food of thine own.
Keep peace with the Lords of the Jungle
the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear.
And trouble not Hathi the Silent
and mock not the Boar in his lair.
When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle
and neither will go from the trail,
Lie down till the leaders have spoken
it may be fair words shall prevail. |
When ye fight with a Wolf of the Pack
ye must fight him alone and afar,
Lest others take part in the quarrel
and the Pack be diminished by war.
The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge
and where he has made him his home,
Not even the Head Wolf may enter
not even the Council may come.
The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge
but where he has digged it too plain
The Council shall send him a message
and so he shall change it again.
If ye kill before midnight, be silent
and wake not the woods with your bay,
Lest ye frighten the deer from the crop
and your brothers go empty away.
Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates
and your cubs as they need, and ye can;
But kill not for pleasure of killing
and seven times never kill Man!
If ye plunder his Kill from a weaker
devour not all in thy pride;
Pack-Right is the right of the meanest
so leave him the head and the hide. |
The Kill of the Pack is the meat of the Pack.
Ye must eat it where it lies;
And no one may carry away of that meat
to his lair, or else he dies.
The Kill of the Wolf is the meat of the Wolf.
He may do with it what he will;
But, till he has given permission,
the Pack may not eat of that Kill.
Cub-Right is the right of the Yearling.
From all of his Pack he may claim
Full-gorge when the killer has eaten;
and none may refuse him the same.
Lair-Right is the right of the Mother.
From all of her years she may claim
One haunch of each kill for her litter,
and none may deny her the same.
Cave-Right is the right of the Father
to hunt by himself for his own:
He is freed of all calls to the Pack;
he is judged by the Council alone.
Because of his age and his cunning,
because of his grip and his paw,
In all that the Law leaveth open,
the word of your Head Wolf is Law.
- excerpt from The Law
of the Jungle
~ The Jungle Book by Rudyard
Kipling ~ |
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