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