WOLVES AND THE EVOLUTION OF CIVILIZATION

Once upon a time a spirited pack of wolves ranged freely through the forests and valleys of a beautiful land. They were beautiful animals, strong and fleet, but proud. They lived in harmony with the land, eating moose, deer, bison, whatever the land provided. They spent their days sniffling and snuffling, wrestling, running, romping and rutting. Life was good.

Occasionally, less occasionally for some, never, almost never, or "not anymore" for many, wolves would roll in loco weed, for no good reason, but just to "get a buzz."

There were different clans among the pack, and, although their motto was, "We Are Wolves," because they were proud there was rivalry both within and among the clans. Then, of course, there were the lone wolves, always on the fringe of the pack, snapping, snarling and rolling in loco weed more often than decent wolves thought proper. The loners were neither fully acceptant of, nor accepted by the pack, but tolerated under the "We Are Wolves" theory of tolerance.

One day men came into the land of the wolves, and the men had flintlock rifles, and they shot a few wolves. The men built houses, raised cattle and sheep. Not particularly anxious to be around the men, the wolf pack moved deeper into the forest. The, men prospered, their cattle and sheep herds grew.

From time to time a loner or two or three might get together and snatch a cow or ewe. Usually the culprits were shot, poisoned or captured by the men.

More men came to occupy more land, and the wolves moved deeper into their beloved forest.

The men started shooting moose, deer and bison, in ever greater numbers -- to eat, or just for fun -- making life a little more difficult for the wolves.

That's Karma for you," many wolves resolutely agreed, and moved a little deeper into the forest.

As moose, deer and bison became less and less plentiful, lone wolves snatched a few more cattle and sheep, but seldom managed to escape the wrath of man.

After some years the pack found itself pushed almost entirely out of their land.

As life became more and more difficult, it came to pass that the pack received word that the men had decided to eliminate all wolves from the land. The clans gathered to council on the situation.

"We are part of this land, and this land is part of us," Sagewolf, a respected elder of the pack, began the council, speaking with the authority of the moose antler.

"This land brought forth our ancestors, their ancestors, and the ancestors of our ancestor's ancestors back to the beginning. And to this land our ancestors have always returned. Forever we have roamed our land with the blessing of the great Spirit.

"Our Clan has counciled on the threat of man, and devised a plan. We agree this plan is our best hope, I will share it with you.

"We are closer to the Creator than are the men. Our bond to the land is closer than that of the men. The men can learn much from our understanding. We can teach them respect for the land and lead them in the way of the Creator.

"Our clan proposes that the pack send a delegation to the men. Our delegation will explain to the men how our traditions and spiritual suggest the men declare our land a sacred site."

"I get it." Lobowolf interjected. "The men will laugh themselves to death, right?"

"Respect the antler! Respect the antler!" Several wolves howled at Lobowolf's interjection.

Sagewolf continued his presentation -- which amounted to a history of the pack, and the strength of their spiritual beliefs -- to the council.

Sagewolf finished, and passed the moose antler to Skywolf.

"She-wolves aren't given proper respect," she began. "If the pack would learn greater respect for she-wolf energy we would be more in harmony with the Spirit."

"Ho." "Ho, sister." Several wolves howled agreement, encouraging Skywolf to continue her long heartsong.

"Are we here to talk about the problem with men, or to bay at the moon?" Lobowolf asked.

"Will you never learn our process, Lobowolf?" Dreamweaverwolf sighed, and Skywolf passed her the moose antler. "We have been on this land forever. The men have always tried to alter our way of life, but they cannot. The Spirit guides us. We have endured, and we will always endure, for we are strong."

"Ho." "Ho!" "Ho!!!!"" Many wolves howled. And Dreamweaverwolf was encouraged to continue to sing the pack's praises.

The moose antler next passed to Dogoodwolf. "Our problem has come from Loner-clan. Those lone wolves, stealing cattle and sheep, snapping and snarling, have given our pack a bad image. We must stop the loners from rolling in loco weed."

"Ho!" "Ho!!!!"" Some wolves howled.

"Give me a break, the men are trying to eliminate us, and you want to stop the loners from rolling in loco weed?" Lobowolf, couldn't help himself.

"Respect for the antler! Respect for the antler!" Several wolves chorused, and Dogoodwolf continued explaining the need to reform the loners.

The antler was passed, different wolves added comments about the sacred nature of their bound to the land, the traditions of their ancestors, the heroic feats of their pack, and personal experiences with the behavior of lone wolves, and the need to respect she wolf energy.

"We have a problem here," Lobowolf said, after the antler had been passed to him. "The men are going to eliminate us, we need a practical plan to meet the threat. Unless we can act in unison our way of life will end."

"Sagewolf has given us a plan. We will ask the men to declare our land sacred," Shantawolf reminded.

"We're counciling about fantasy. We need a practical plan."

"What? What can we do?"

"We must put our minds together, and we must learn to act together. I'm not sure if there's anything we can do that will be successful, but we must try. Right now, the men are on our borders, they are planning to shoot us, we need to _do_ something to deter them.

"Do you know of the green pieces of paper which the men love so much? Well, I have found a sack of those green papers. I can take a mouthful of those papers, run down among the men and scatter the papers about. While the men are running about, trying to grab the pieces of paper, in the confusion the pack can sneak in and piss on their gunpowder. This probably won't solve our problem, but at least will delay their plans, giving us time to come up with more ideas."

"We have no leaders, Lobowolf," Generalwolf growled. "You speak as if you were in league with the men. You would put the pack in a situation where the safety of the pack would be greatly threatened.

"We have nothing to fear. We are absolutely protected by Natural Law. We were here before the men, we will be here after the men. Our power and our confidence is in the power of Natural Law."

"Ho!" howled Littlewhitewolf. "You sound like an agent of the men, Lobowolf."

The council continued, consensing to declare that Lobowolf did not speak for the pack, and agreeing that each would work or pray in each individual's way to keep the men at bay.

Several days later groups of men invaded, killing most of the pack, trapping others. The survivors were shipped to zoos in San Francisco, San Diego, New York and Atlanta, or sent to obedience schools where they learned to be sheepdogs. A couple of loners were lucky enough to find work as junkyard dogs.

END OF FAIRY TALE