I touched a wolf today.
A young female, about 6 months old, similar in markings to the one in the photo above, but smaller, leaner, coat not as full; on two leashes, leading a man down the sidewalk. I noticed her far down the street because she was loping along in a most un-dog-like fashion, almost sideways, nose to the ground, scanning side-to-side, as if tracking something. As she (and he, on the other end of the leashes) came closer, I then noticed how large her ears were ("the better to hear you with, my dear") relative to her head, and her sharply pointed muzzle. She was so unusual I stopped and waited for them to reach me.
Then I noticed the man. About six feet tall, dressed in jeans, a blue cotton ikat-dyed shirt opened halfway down his chest, moccasins; two strings of large beads (18-24mm beads) around his neck (one looked like Arizona turquoise; the other, obsidian); long black hair, center parted, which fell down his back well past his ribs. Beautiful brown eyes, equally beautiful smile. I recognized him. I had seen him at a convenience store in downtown a couple of days before. His appearance and bearing are striking, in part because of his stride and his deep red-brown skin; in part because he doesn't look like any other person in this town of homogeneous men.
He looked as if he had stepped out of an old John-Wayne-western movie, or might have been a stand-in for
I asked him about his companion, guessing that it might be a coy-dog, or a German Shepard mix.
"No." (That's all he said, just the one word.)
Well, what is it?
"She's a wolf. Pure wolf. Almost six months old, still a pup."
Wolf? Really?
"I wouldn't lie to you."
He clicked his tongue and the wolf-pup loped back to him, standing between us, not looking at either of us, but scanning the road, the traffic, ears turning this way and that as she listened intently to all the sounds around her. I put my hand near her nose, not certain if she would merely sniff it (as domesticated dogs like to do) or have it for a snack. She gave it a cursory sniff, then looked up at me.
Grey eyes looked deep into my faded blue ones. An intense gaze that began to make me uneasy. She blinked and looked away, resuming her hyper-vigilant scanning of the world around her. I had been dismissed as not important, no threat, put in my place.
I looked back at the man she was taking along on her hunt.
Are you Native American, I asked?
"Yes." Laconic, monosyllabic, yet friendly in tone.
What tribe?
"Apache and..."
My brain ran through all the names I knew for the different groups of Apache peoples - Kiowa, Mescalero, Chiricahua, Jicarilla, in preparation for asking my next question. Bad habit of mine, jumping ahead like that, not listening carefully.
"...Inuit. I'm from Alaska."
While my mind tried to figure out the logistics of that pairing of DNA donors, I asked the wolf's name.
"Easy."
Easy?
"Ee-see," he said, slowly. She-wolf came back to his side.
Ee-see then stepped in front of me and leaned against my legs. A wolf...leaning into my body. My heart beat faster, really thumping against my chest.
I reached down and petted her back. Ee-see leaned even harder against me. I rubbed her coat from her neck down to her rump, over and over again, lost in the moment. Her fur was so different from anything I've ever felt before, dog-like yet not, soft but not - if that makes any sense.
I rubbed my hands along her sides, patting her chest and belly. Then I touched her ears. A soft growling noise rumbled up from deep in her chest. No touching the ears, evidently. Since ears are just a side-long snap from all those teeth ("the better to eat you with, my dear"), I moved my hands out of harm's way and stood still. The wolf continued to lean into me, and I against her.
I extended my hand to the man, introducing myself.
What's your name? (The man doesn't offer much chatter.)
"Chief."
(Nah, he didn't just say that to me...did he?!)
Is that your name or your title?
"I am Chief Golden Wing. Please call me Chief."
(You just don't get smart-alecky with someone whose wolf is leaning against your legs, you know? Chief, he says, so Chief it will be.)
What brought you to Hanover?
"I moved here."
(Okay, then.)
Well, thank you, Chief, for letting me pet your wolf. I'm glad to have met you both.
"I didn't let you pet my wolf. Ee-see did."
I know.
I touched a wolf today. And...and, she touched me.
(Mike: that's 1 wolf-coup. I'll celebrate next full moon.)
20 comments:
Oh. My.
No better character reference.
The wolf sounds genuine, he less so. Or if he was I'm not ordering my life as well as I might. "Please call me..." - just exactly what? A different name for a different country. In the US, though not in Hanover, I'd say, "Please call me Gore Vidal." If they knew I was dead I'd shift my ground: clear my throat and mumble "the illegitimate son of..."
In Hanover I'd say "Head librarian." and immediately quote from a book I'd read. Not about wolves, though. I'd be prepared for the follow-up question, made famous by James Thurber: "If you're a librarian where's your date stamp?" To which I'd look up in the sky and say that it was all done electronically these days.
You're clearly a different person following this mutual wolf touching. Braver? Gentler? More in tune with nature? I think the wolf's a good writer and passed on a whole heap of skills making you an even better writer. More pared-down, more pregnant (metaphorically speaking of course). This fits the situation. Wolves do their best work (tearing elks to pieces) as part of a team; this wolf was adjusting to being a loner in urban surroundings. Later she'll run for mayor, lose, and say the experience taught her a lot. After that she'll ease her way into the book world, lie quietly on the head librarian's floor, cause him/her to suffer a nervous breakdown, and then take over. She'll be less compliant when do-gooders turn up at the library wanting to ban this or that book; eventually the do-gooders - those with any fingers left - will come to regard book-banning as a fool's errand.
Other wolves will turn away from elk destruction and enter public service.
Chief? Already economical with words, he'll eventually give up speech altogether. There'll be more money in renting himself out as a cigar-store i.. whoops! That's native American.
You may delete this if you wish.
A beautiful story, and beatuifully written! Both man and wolf are incedible characters.
Ach, so many typos! Should not comment without coffee.
That was some meeting! It is something that I suspect will stay with you for the rest of your life, as the memory of Gwynt the Harris falcon will stay with me, and the swan that tapped me on the shoulder.
There is a sense of being honoured, of being in touch with something 'beyond' and indescribable when the kind of contact you have experienced is made.
Martha, I am so happy for you. Maybe you will get to do it again. Some time soon I hope.
Great experience, and a rare one. I'm perhaps the only one here who lives within potential sight of wolves, and I've seen few.
Oh, and I'm not sure who counted coup on whom.
All: Chief said Ee-see is just ten generations from the wild, and that she still has the hunting and killing instincts of her wild ancestors. There was a healing wound on her nose that she got from tangling with a cat. I think Ee-see lost the fight, judging from the scratches. She also goes through stuffed toys faster than a 3-year-old kid, especially the furry ones.
Zhoen: Perhaps I should take her along on my next job interview! I could use a good reference.
Robbie: I had my doubts about Chief's authenticity, too, but I have no contact with native peoples' cultures for comparison. He came across as a very nice guy...and the wolf seems to like him, so I'm going to wait and see.
I don't know about being braver or gentler, but I am happier for the experience, I can say that.
Hope your family has a great time on holiday!
Marja-Leena: What typos? Typos don't matter, but you do, and I'm glad you dropped by. Thank you .
Tom: In fact, I was thinking of you and Gwynt and your swan while I was stroking Ee-see's coat yesterday. I was so caught up in the wonder of touching a full-blood wolf that for a few seconds, I felt alone in the universe with Ee-see; so this is what happened to Tom, I thought.
Mike: I'm not sure, either, about which of us took coup, but I think it meant more to me than to the wolf.
Now, it's your turn: time to take that bear-coup! Thank you for stopping by; very glad to hear from you.
The closest encounters I have with wildlife are based on my habit of carrying shelled peanuts and sunflower seeds to the park. The crows, bluejays and squirrels who live there don't really need them as they did in the winter but they still welcome us now the warm weather is here. There is a wonderful feeling of belonging when a crow walks along a fence beside me. He might just be looking for more food but I enjoy a feeling of mutual care.
Your story this time took my breath away.
I've read that crows and ravens are inveterate people-watchers, though most of the time we aren't aware of their watching. How cool to have a crow walk beside you, no matter what the reason.
It was Ee-see who took my breath away, Susan. I hope to run into them again.
Please call me Chief. snort
I find the owning of essentially wild creatures like wolves worrisome. Dogs have been domesticated for a long, long time. Wolves have not. Seems like asking for trouble to me.
I'm sort of incredulous that you walked up to this guy and talked to him. Now I'm wondering about all the experiences I've missed by being either too shy or too suspicious (or both) to interact with a strange stranger.
I get the feeling you would like to get to know both him and his wolf better. Hope you the best in that regard.
SAW/C -
I thought him pretentious, as well, but maybe in his community they name their children according to their hopes for their child.
My real name is Ruler of the Universe. Please call me RuUni.
David:
Hello; nice to see you here. I noticed you at Should Fish More/Mike's blog.
Incredulous, as in you don't believe a word of what I wrote? Or, as in Holy cow, didn't her mother teach her to be wary of strange men with wolves?
I didn't tell everything that happened during our encounter, in order not to write a three-page essay, but everything I wrote happened; the conversations, though shortened, took place; and I still have wolf fur on the legs of my jeans. (Not washing those ever again!)
My Mama told be to beware of all men, because she believed all you guys are strange. Doubt it ever entered her mind to caution against wolves, believing we possessed good common sense. Mama wasn't wrong about many things, but on those two points, she was.
I spent too many of my 66 years being afraid of life. Now that I don't have a lot of it left, I'm going to take my chances.
I'd like to see the wolf again, see if she'd let me touch her once more. He hides too much of who he is, and I'm not inclined to spend the time investigating him.
Nice of you to visit here. I'll drop by your blog later this evening.
The Holy Cow one. :)
Thanks in advance for checking out my blog(s).
I got a little crazy and created several because, well, there's several sides to my personality. Thankfully, they are all non-violent. Not sure which one you will like best, if any of them, but they are all different!
Martha, that was a marvellous story, marvellously written. I am a great fan of wolves. Shaun Ellis wrote about his life with them in "The Man who lives with Wolves". He runs a wolf sanctuary in this country which is open to the public. Special contacts are arranged with special wolves and apparently "damaged" children and wolves have a vast rapport and get a good deal from the encounters.
Avus:
My encounter with the wolf, Ee-see, was more than a week ago, and I am still feeling the effect of touching her, having her lean against me as if we knew each other well. Nor can I forget her intense gaze - still gives me shivers.
I don't know what it is that draws me to wolves, but I'm glad to know I am not alone in the attraction. I hope you will have an opportunity to interact with a wolf, if you haven't already.
I'm hopeful my grandson will get to touch her, too. He seems to connect with animals better than those of us who aren't autistic.
Thank you for visiting - very nice to hear from you.
What a lovely story, I wanted to read a couple more chapters, but I do have a feeling there will be more to this story in the coming seasons. It's hard for a man named Chief with a full-blooded wolf at his side to fade away once you've made his acquaintance.
Hello, Tom:
Glad your bees have a new hive and are returned to their home. Still thinking about your video and photos - amazing.
Contrary to earlier assertions in my replies to other comments here, I find that I am hoping to run into Chief and Ee-see again. I'm telling myself it's because of the wolf, but...
I came by again and found the new and very beautiful portrait of you on the side bar. I'm delighted.
You are very kind, Susan; thank you.
I've been ill and have lost a lot of weight in the last year. I was trying to find a photo I could live with that looks the way I do now. I'm going to change it to one without glasses - I like my Crow's feet to show; to show my age.
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