Storytelling Week 1: The Wolf and His Shadow Redone

The Wolf and His Shadow

Starvation was temporarily out of view as the wolf gulped down his most recent quarry. But as he looked over the snowy barrens of the mountain he solely ruled, he knew this would happen again. His eyes fell over his own shadow against the snow. He liked looking at himself as a shadow, always had. It always made him look so great and strong. Yet now, he lamented and grieved: at first, he just wanted to be the leader of a pack. Even when he did right by dethroning a previous alpha, he realized that he didn't know where enough food could be found for an entire pack, where the best caves were for them to stay during the winter. They didn't make it, none of them. They didn't make it because of him, and now his was alone. Except with his shadow. He picked up the stripped skull of his prey in his maw and turned towards the east of the darkening day.

He started toward his favorite resting spot on the mountain, the blue pond under the mountain’s overhang. But as he navigated that direction, he became more and more mesmerized by his shadow. Out of instinct, he started stalking it, like he used to with his own pups. But he wasn’t stalking for play: he was hungry again.  His shadow was long now, stretching from the hill he was atop of to the blue pond. He charged into the snow, barking and snarling, and dropping the skull. He soon grew tired, and found that he was bleeding. “Did I do that?” he thought, licking the blood from his own leg and lips. Retrieving the skull, he came to rest near the blue pond, now frozen, and put the skull in a hole he had dug under the great oak tree that stood nearby. Peering into the hole and settling for sleep, he thought to himself, glancing back at his shadow, “This is not so bad,” now looking at his raw limb madly, “I’ve gotten used to that taste anyway.” He stares into the hole, which reveals a collection of canine skulls like the one he just deposited.

Bibliography:
"The Wolf and His Shadow" by  ÆSOP from THE ÆSOP FOR CHILDREN (2006). Websource: The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Æsop for Children

Image by: abysswolf666 (2014)
From: their Deviant Art page

Author's note:
The original fable "The Wolf and His Shadow" is about how a wolf perceives his physical superiority based on the enlarged form his shadow, saying that not even a lion could be called king compared to him. Consequently, he is almost immediately waylaid by a lion and killed. The moral of this story is not to let fantasies about yourself fog your perception about reality.
       While I thought that was a good lesson to follow on, the message seemed a little too simply portrayed and ended too abruptly. I thought it would be more fascinating to explore the consequences of disillusionment, particularly that of people who want to be superior to others for the mere satisfaction of accomplishment. My wolf wanted to be the leader of a pack, so he started by driving out or killing the previous alpha member. But he was totally unprepared for leading the pack through winter. As a result of his frustration of not being able to lead properly, he turned his aggression towards the members of the pack he adopted. Ultimately, he becomes a cannibal wolf, and alone except for his shadow: his one and only friend.