©Copyright 2001 by Douglas Christian Larsen -- all rights reserved. Please feel free to use these stories in storytelling to children, or for bedtime reading, or for use in church or Vacation Bible School, or for simple entertainment purposes, but please do not rewrite, repackage or include for sale or resale in any form without express permission of the author (and he's pretty easy-going).
The Baby Wolf wasn't treated too nicely by all the older wolves, most of the time. They thought he was too little to pay attention to, too weak to wrestle, and not bright enough for all the wolf games they played.
But the Baby Wolf would not give up. He was always there, ready to learn, ready to play, ready to ask questions, and ready to follow after all the older wolves, especially if it meant bumping into them when they stopped, or accidentally stepping on the backs of their paws.
He went to Wolf School every day and he tried hard. The older wolves pinned him to the grass and laughed. In Howling Class he could only make a silly squawk, not the big full-throated songs the older wolves made when they threw back their heads and puffed out their chests. The older wolves sounded like: Aaaaaaahhhh-ooooooooooo-OOOOOO- oooohhhhh!
But when the poor little Baby Wolf tried to howl he sounded more like: Ahhh-oo-yuke! (cough, cough!)
How the older wolves laughed at poor little Baby Wolf.
When it was time to hunt they would not let Baby Wolf come along with them, because his legs were too short and he was too slow and would soon become lost, they told him. So he had to stay back in the lair with old white-haired Grandpapa Wolf, who was too old to go out on hunts anymore. But Baby Wolf liked spending time with Grandpapa Wolf, because Grandpapa Wolf never laughed at him, and Grandpapa Wolf told him wonderful stories. Baby Wolf would snuggle in deep between Grandpapa Wolf's paws and the old wolf would scratch him behind the ears with his long, old teeth.
"Someday," Baby Wolf said, "I'm going to go on that hunt, and I'll be the fastest wolf ever, and I'll make the biggest howl, too!"
"Yes," said Grandpapa Wolf, "that will happen someday, yes it will."
"How come we have to eat all the other little animals?" Baby Wolf asked.
Grandpapa Wolf thought about that question, licking his grandson's fur.
"That's the way it has to work in this world, because this old world is broken," Grandpapa Wolf told him as the night air grew colder and they snuggled together to keep warm. "But there is an old legend our people tell. About the Good Shepherd, Who is a kind man, the one man we will not have to fear, Who will one day fix this old world. Then, my grandson, things will be better. Then we will no longer eat the other little animals. We will be friends, and we will lie side by side in the tall grasses, enjoying the sunlight."
The Baby Wolf lifted his head. His eyes sparkled. "Really, Grandpapa? I can't wait for that day! I wish I could meet the Good Shepherd!"
Grandpapa Wolf laughed. "I think you will, Grandson. And on that day you will put back your head, and you will howl, and all the wolves will hear you. Yes, on that day, when you howl, you will become a grown-up wolf."
Baby Wolf smiled and snuggled against his warm grandfather. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, dreaming about the day he would howl, and when he would meet the Good Shepherd, and when the world would be fixed.
The next day Baby Wolf couldn't stop thinking about the fixed world, and the Good Shepherd, and living with little animals and not having to eat them. He couldn't concentrate in Wolf School, and like usual, all the wolves laughed at him when he tried to make a grown-up howl, again he could only squawk: Ahhh-oo-yuke! (cough, cough!) And again when he tried to wrestle the older wolves they pinned him to the ground in a second. How the older wolves laughed. But all their laughter did not bother Baby Wolf, not like it usually did. He didn't mind at all, because he was thinking about more important things.
But as evening approached, Baby Wolf had an idea. He wanted to go out into the world with the other wolves on the hunt. He wanted to go out into the world because he hoped he would meet the Good Shepherd and watch as the world was fixed. He didn't care if he was not fast enough to keep up with the older wolves. He did not care if he could not throw back his head and howl like all his older brothers and sisters, cousins and aunts and uncles. And Baby Wolf decided to go, even though, as usual, his Mama told him to stay in the lair with Grandpapa Wolf.
As the wolves started upon their long loping hunt, Baby Wolf scrabbled along behind them, keeping just out of sight of the last wolf in the pack. But, just as Mama and Papa told him, his legs were too short, he was not fast enough to keep up, and soon all the wolves were gone and Baby Wolf was alone in the deep forest.
Baby Wolf was not afraid. I am a wolf, he thought, and wolves are the biggest and strongest animals in the forest. That's what he told himself. But loping through the dark woods, dodging between tall trees, he remembered that there were bears in the forest too, and mountain lions, and they were animals much bigger than wolves, especially if you were only a baby wolf!
And then Baby Wolf realized he was lost in the deep forest and only once in a while did he hear one of his family singing the family song, howling into the sky. Several times he threw back his head, swelled out his chest, and howled -- only it was not a howl that came out of his mouth, but only a sad little squawk: Ahhh-oo-yuke! (cough, cough!) And the poor Baby Wolf was sorry he had disobeyed his Mama and Papa, he really should have stayed back in the warm cave with Grandpapa Wolf, he knew, because the big dark forest was not a good place for a Baby Wolf all alone.
The Baby Wolf saw something in the middle of the huge forest, lying by a huge tree. It was a little something. A little white something. What could it be?
Baby Wolf had never seen anything like this little white thing before. It was an animal, he could see, but some strange animal with curly white hair. And it was just about his size, too! Baby Wolf sensed that he could make a friend out here in the dark forest!
But then he heard the growls all about him. The family! The whole pack was closing in upon the little white animal! The Baby Wolf's little friend was about to become the tasty meal for tonight!
Baby Wolf ran forward to throw his body over the little white animal but before he came close he heard a noise that stopped him. All his relatives ceased their growling and backed away at the loud noise.
CRUNCH!
What could make a noise so loud? Maybe it was a bear coming out from between the trees to eat the little white animal!
Baby Wolf took a few more steps closer. He wanted to protect the little animal, but how could he, if it was a bear making that terrible noise?
CRUNCH, CRUNCH -- CRUUUU-NNN-CH!
Baby Wolf's eyes opened wide, because out of the forest he saw a tall shape come forward. And it was not a bear. It was not a mountain lion.
The tall shape stepped forward and seized the little white animal from the ground and swung it up into the air, and then the tall shape said something in a wonderful voice, and Baby Wolf heard the little white animal say: "Baaaaaaaaaa!"
It was a sheep, a tiny baby sheep out here alone in the forest. And the Baby Wolf knew Who it was that picked up the little lost lamb.
The Good Shepherd!
Baby Wolf smiled. He had found the Good Shepherd, just like he knew he would!
He ran forward without any fear and approached the Good Shepherd.
The tall man turned and smiled at Baby Wolf.
Baby Wolf jumped up and put his paws upon the Good Shepherd's leg. He panted and smiled up into the Good Shepherd's face.
"Why hello, Baby Wolf," the Good Shepherd said in the most wonderful voice Baby Wolf had ever heard. "You shouldn't be out here alone in the big woods. You should be safe at home with Grandpapa Wolf."
"I wanted to come see you," Baby Wolf said. "I wanted to watch you fix the world."
The Good Shepherd reached down and scratched between Baby Wolf's ears. It felt wonderful, just like when Grandpapa Wolf scratched between his ears!
"That day is coming soon," the Good Shepherd told Baby Wolf. "Very soon. You be a good wolf, the best that you can be, and one day soon this little lamb will be your very best friend! You'll play in the tall grasses with the lions, and the snakes, and the deer and the dogs, the people and the horses!"
"Oh boy!" said Baby Wolf.
"It's coming soon," said the Good Shepherd, "and whenever you need me, you just call. I'll always be with you, Baby Wolf."
And the Good Shepherd patted him and walked away into the deep forest.
Baby Wolf felt twice his own height. His chest swelled out and his heart sang many songs, and Baby Wolf threw back his head and howled: "Ahhhh-ooooooo-oooh-aaaah!" A perfect, long, soaring song.
"Listen," said Papa Wolf, deep in the forest, far away. "That is Baby Wolf's song! He is grown up, our baby is a baby no longer!"
"Yes," said Mama Wolf, "that is our son."
As they turned for home Mama Wolf decided she would not nip Baby Wolf with her long teeth, because she knew her Baby Wolf had met the Good Shepherd, as each of the wolves had at some time in their life, and she knew her Baby Wolf had chosen to follow the kind Good Shepherd, and her heart was full of beautiful music.
Mama Wolf threw back her head and howled, singing the Wolf Family song, and Papa Wolf threw back his head and joined her. And from far away, far away, they heard Baby Wolf answer them in his beautiful and powerful voice.
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze; their young will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox. And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:6-9 (NAS)
And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 65:24-25 (KJV)
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Art et Amour Toujours
These stories were created for children and are best acted out, with drama, passion and a sense of fun & mystery. These are parables that teach deeper truths, but first and foremost they should entertain and keep the child's attention. At the end of each story are scriptures which support the story, enabling the parent to open scripture to young children.
