A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Second Kingdom, during the reign of Red Riding Hood VII

Nigel Wolf, age twelve, leaned against the bars of his cage and scratched under his collar as the woman in the red cloak droned on. “A wolf shall always carry papers of identification. These papers will be presented upon demand, no matter who is asking. A wolf without these papers will be imprisoned. A wolf shall always wear a silver collar. This collar is not to be removed upon pain of death. A wolf will be silent and respectful, always abasing itself before humans...”

The annual reading of the Wolf Code took the better part of a day, and was the most boring thing imaginable. Still, there were punishments for those who tried to pass the time with other distractions, like talking or playing games scratched into the floor of the cage. To add to the torture, the air was filled with tantalizing smells from the feast that the humans were setting up at the far end of the arena, away from where all the cages were clustered.

All the wolves in the village were in the arena, although a lucky few were free of the cages. Mama was helping set the feast tables, although she was occasionally released from her duties to come nurse the cub. Sometimes, if the humans weren’t too worried about the work falling behind, she could stay for a few extra moments and let little Lizzy play with the silver chains connecting her wrists.

A particularly tantalizing scent of roasting meat made his stomach growl loud enough to interrupt the reading. The cloaked woman glared at him, then pointed meaningfully at his untouched bowl of kibble. Too intimidated to refuse, Nigel picked the bowl up and started to gag the dry, nasty stuff down. He almost envied his sister, who was too young to be weaned yet and thus was spared this, this-dog food!

The woman in the cloak droned on. “These are the crimes which are punished with instant death. Removing a collar. Removing a tail. Trying to pass as a human. Luring girls off the path....”

“Stop!” A man dressed in white had come up behind the cloaked woman leaning over her to close the book. “My name is Wendell, and my life and my kingdom have been saved by a wolf. I pardon them all in my hero’s name.” He went to the first cage in the line, smashing off the lock and opening the door. “I have come to set you free.”

The wolves within howled with joy as they flooded out, turning as a mob to attack their confinement. The cage had been well built this year; it had held up all day, but now fell at a kick, easily breaking apart until everyone had a spar in their hands. Thus liberated, they lined up before the woman in red, who waited for them.

“Without my wolves, my kingdom will wither and die. No more are you animals. I make you my citizens.” She reached out and ripped off Nigel’s father’s paper collar.

Papa tucked his spar under one arm, turning to the next in line. “No more are we animals. We are free,” he said, ripping off that collar.

And so down the line it went, rip and response, until each freed wolf was unencumbered, and Wendell-or, more accurately, the Great Wolf in human form and a white costume, opened the next cage.

The first half of the annual Day of Remembrance and Liberation was always boring (unless one of the cages fell apart before its time. Last year had been quite exciting when three of the cages collapsed before the reading of the Wolf Code even started.) The feast almost-almost-made the boredom worthwhile.

Unfortunately, they still didn’t get to eat yet. Not until the rest of the ritual release was played out.

The human woman who’d won the lottery to play Queen Riding Hood stood up on her chair. “This day you have lived as your ancestors lived. This day you have been reminded what generations of them went through. You have relived the joy they felt at their freedom. Now, burn away the rank reminders of their slavery and think upon the story of how that freedom was won.”

Mama brought a candle from the feast table, stripping off her paper chains as she did. She was about to drop candle and paper into the fire laid at her feet, but Lizzy shrieked, reaching for the shiny chains. Blushing, Mama set tradition aside and gave them to the cub, who gummed them happily-and more importantly, silently.

“Red” was smiling. “You know how the story goes,” she reminded them. Wendell came to stand beside her as they started the ritual chant. “Five great women ruled the land”

“And a wolf’s life was full of woe,” the people responded. Papa dropped his collar and piece of cage into the fire.

“Their Happily Ever After came to an end,” Red and Wendell continued.

Nigel joined the others calling the response as he shuffled toward the fire to add his own offerings. “Once Upon a Time, three hundred years ago.”
“One queen rose where five had been”
“And a wolf’s life was full of woe.” Nigel stretched out. Those cages were so cramped!

“She was the most evil the kingdoms had ever seen.”
“Once upon a time, three hundred years ago.” Nigel replied, wondering how evil was judged. Was this queen worse than any number of other stepmothers from the stories?

“She planned to be an empress grand.”
“And a wolf’s life was full of woe.” The line moved so slowly! When do we get to eat?

“She planned to rule over all the land.”
“Once upon a time, three hundred years ago.”

The fires grew higher as they were fed, illuminating the portraits painted on the arena’s walls, the flickering light granting an illusion of life. Nigel loved the paintings, and it had been a huge frustration that from his cage he could only see the knees and feet of General Addie leading the wolf/human army to victory against the Trolls.

“To stop her plans came heroes four.”
“And a wolf’s life was full of woe.”
“Two came from here through a magical door.”
“Once upon a time, three hundred years ago.”

Now, as more and more collars and sticks were fed to the flames, Lord Anthony the Valiant and Sebastian the Smart appeared, their inventions spreading around them. The Five Great Ladies who Changed History clustered together as if for a class picture. King Wendell the Wise emerged, his Mirror of Truth behind him, one hand holding a scroll labeled “Pardon,” the other shaking the paw of a wolf in fur form, standing on his hind legs. After another cage’s worth of wood, the gathering darkness was pushed back to reveal Queen Riding Hood the Third, one hand holding a broken silver collar, the other holding open the door to a cage. Her greatest friends were painted with her-two women, one of whom held a newspaper, and three wolves. For centuries scholars had argued about the meaning of the cryptic pendants on the wolves, stamped “N,” “T,” and “LL.” Nobody knew what the letters stood for, but Papa said the pendants were real and could still be seen decorating three of the tombs around the great lady’s.

“One was a prince who now had a tail.”
“And a wolf’s life was full of woe.”
“And one was a wolf locked up in jail.”
“Once upon a time, three hundred years ago.”

As Nigel shuffled closer to the fire, he could finally see past the smoke and flames to the painting it illuminated. The portrait of Wolf of Wolves and The Lady Virginia, Fairest of Them All surrounded by their children took up almost an entire wall, easily the largest picture there.

It was a ripoff that Lady Virginia had had never been a queen. Even after Snow White herself crowned the heroine, Lady Virginia refused to tie herself to any one kingdom. Instead, she had been advisor to the most powerful people in all the Nine Kingdoms. Kings, Queens, Lead Wolves, even commoners-all who went to her for council came away touched with her magic.

Lost in his musings, Nigel had forgotten to move with the line. His best friend Rupert, anxious to get through the ritual and get on with the eating, shoved him. As he finally got to the bonfire, the long Poem of the Pardon coming to an end. Nigel loved the stories of the heroes of old, but he preferred them as stories around the campfire, not poetry.

“He switched the poison in the wine.”
“And a wolf’s life was full of woe.”
“That’s how a wolf saved Kingdoms nine.”
“Once upon a time, three hundred years ago.”

“To thank one wolf Wendell changed the law.”
“No longer was a wolf’s life full of woe!” the crowd howled happily, joining in for the last three lines.
“He made proud citizens of us all,
Once upon a time, three hundred years ago!”

Nobody knew why this golden age of Happily Ever After had lasted so long when the first one had ended so quickly. Someday, maybe he’d be one of the scholars who pawed through old records and argued about things like that. Or maybe he’d be a soldier, or an inventor, or go to a trade school like Mama had, although not the same one ‘cause he didn’t want to learn how to sew.

But those were concerns for another night. Tempting smells came from the now-loaded tables. It was time to wash the taste of kibble out of his mouth and really eat! Afterwards, when they had all feasted to a stupor, everyone would argue about what had happened to the famous couple. The only thing anyone knew for sure was that the last record of them was a scrawled, badly spelled diary entry: “Today Great-Grandma went into the woods while Great Grandpa covered his eyes and counted. He cheats! He skipped lots of numbers!”

Some people believed they went back through the magic mirror to her land, where they lived still. Some said that the dwarves, who had worshipped Virginia with a reverence they had only given Snow White before, had buried their heroines together in a secret shrine. Others thought that they were still in the woods, where Wolf would lead those who had lost their path and Virginia would help girls who had lost their way.

Nigel grabbed his plate, mouth watering as he put the first big slice of meat on it. It didn’t matter what the theories were. He already knew how the story of Wolf and Virginia really ended. They had lived happily ever after... once upon a time, three hundred years ago.