The Power of Innocence

By: Valerie Janiga

Based off “Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter

This is a story of a young girl innocent as can be who stood up for a wolf.

                Her name was Ashley and lived with her family in a small town in Alaska. She was 9 years old and the baby of the family with two older brothers. She was loved by everyone, with her adorable smile, blonde curly hair, ice blue eyes and her pretty red lips. Everyone in town was very close and helped out with anything that needed to be done. You could walk down the street and would know everyone you passed.

                Ashley loved the snow. She would always go out into the woods and watch the snow fall on the trees and make snow angles on the ground. Ashley’s grandma lived across town. She goes to visit her every weekend. When she was younger her brothers showed her a path though the wood that was a short cut to her grandmother’s house and from then on that’s the way she took. Every time she would go out to play or to see her grandma, her mother would always say “don’t forget your jacket and mittens”.  Ashley’s grandma made her this beautiful red coat and mitten to match that she always wore.

                One day while she was at her grandma’s house, her and her brothers were sitting by the fireplace with some hot chocolate. As they were sitting in the living room they heard the wind and heard the branches whistling in it. Then Ashley oldest brother calls to their grandma “hey grandma can you tell us a story?”.  In excitement Ashley and her other brother jump up and starts asking too, they love listening to their grandma tell stories. Grandma came into the living room and sat down on the couch and said “alright I have a story for you”. They all sat quietly as their grandma started her story.

                She began “Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived in a small town like this one. His name was Ryan. Ryan loved going into the woods and playing in the trees and making forts. He was a good child like you three, always smiling and laughing. He lived with his dad. His dad loved to hunt, and he took Ryan out hunting with him every hunting season. As he got older he decided that he would go out hunting on his own. On one cold winter day he told his dad he was going hunting, he asked if he wanted to go but he was feeling under the weather and decided to stay in. so Ryan left and told him he would be back soon. Hours passed and he dad started to get worried. He called everyone in town and they went out looking for Ryan. It started getting dark out, everyone was worried something bad happened to him. A day passed and he still wasn’t home. His dad and the rest of the town sent out a search party. He was gone for 5 days before they found him. They found him deep into the woods with his arm tore off and wounds all over his body. When they got back to town everyone got together and made a pack to find the monster who did this and to get rid of him. Every night the children stayed in with their moms and the dads went out to try and find the beast. A few months pasted and nothing turned up. Then a year went by and one man was cutting down a tree for some fire wood and he heard something coming from the bushes. He went over to investigate. All of a sudden a big wolf jumped out of the bush.  He got so frightened and ran back into town. He ran and told everyone about it but they didn’t believe him. A week later at night fall a pack of wolves came into town and started attacking the people. Everyone was running and screaming trying to get away. The men came out with guns and killed a few of them and scared the rest away before anyone else could get hurt. The towns people signed an agreement that if any wolf comes into town they would kill it in memory of Ryan and of the wolf attack that night.” Ashley’s brother jumped up and started growling at her and pretending to be a wolf. She got scared and ran to her grandma. Her other brother than asked “Grandma is that why there is a list of names and a wolf head in the bar that dad goes to?” “Yes” she replied. After she finished the story she sent them off to bed.

                The next day they went home and told their mom the story they were told the night before. Their mom was not happy with it and told them to just go and play. A few days went by and one afternoon Ashley was playing in the woods after school while her brothers were helping their dad with something at the house. She started walking along a trail and noticed animal prints in the snow. She looked at them and didn’t recognize them. They looked like her cats but bigger, she heard something coming from behind her and she turned around slowly. She realized that they weren’t a cat paw but a wolf’s. She tried to scream but nothing came out. The wolf just stared in her eyes as she was looking at her.  Then the wolf turned around and went on her way. She ran back to her house as fast as she could. So frightened she went right to her room and went to bed. That night she remembered the story that her grandma had told her and her brother a little over a year ago. The next day she decided to go back to the woods and find out if it really was a wolf or not. She found the paw prints and followed them.  They led to a little bush hut inside were 3 wolf pups. She started walking closer to get a better look at them. She was so mesmerized by them that she didn’t realize their mom was behind her. She felt the momma wolf breathing on her neck, she turned around and fell on the ground. The mother wolf just walked over towards her staring Ashley down. She got over top of her and just looked at her. Ashley looked in her eyes and should could tell that she was just trying to protect her babies and would not hurt her. She got up and the wolf let her stand there and look at her pups. Ashley slowly started to walk away, and went home. She was so surprised that when she got back home she decided to tell her brother about what happened. Being the big brother he is he went and told their mom. Her mom was so worried and she told their dad. When he heard what happened he immediately went to the town bar and got together all the guys and decided to go on a wolf hunt. Ashley was having a fit and yelling and telling them not to go and to leave her alone but her dad was not having it. He made her stay home with her mom. Ashley was really upset and ran to her room and locked the door. After she knew her mom was in the living room watching TV she quietly snuck out her window and ran to where the wolf and her pups are. She sat there waiting for the guys to eventually find them. After a while she saw them walking through the woods towards her. She was very quiet, as they got closer her dad saw her and told her to come by him and get away from the wolf. She wouldn’t listen to him and stood in front of the wolfs den. As the guys started to come around she started to beg and plea that they would just go home and leave the wolf alone. She could tell that they were not happy and they wanted just to kill the wolf, but she kept trying to reason with them. After time and time again of Ashley talking to them and trying to get them to change their mind, eventually her dad walked over to her and looked at the guys and told them to go home. She was so proud that she could help save the mother wolf and her pups. Every day she decided to go and give the pups a little snack. The mother was so thankful she was treating Ashley as a friend and she knew that from now on that the wolf problem was over.

And that is how the power of an innocent little girl changed the town and their opinions and now the wolf is the towns legendary animal. Everyone now knows the story of Ashley and how she saved the wolf and her pups.