These are familiar lines from the story of the young woman who sets off through a forest to meet her grandmother. "All the better to eat you with," said the wolf and pounced upon her. "Grandmother, what big teeth you've got," said Little Red Riding Hood. Efforts to reintroduce the animals are in progress. Unfortunately, the modernization of Japan in the early 20th century, known as the Meiji Restoration, wiped out much of these traditions and also caused the extinction of wolves in the region. There are also stories about a wolf saving an elderly Ainu woman from an evil wild bear and of wolves descending from the heavens to inhabit sacred mountains and forests. The Ainu were known to raise wolf cubs as hunting companions and even let their dogs mate with wolves. In Japan, wolves are considered important by the Ainu, Indigenous people who live on Hokkaido Island and revere the animals as the god Horkew Kamuy, which means "howling god" in Japanese. Hence the popular sayings, "wolf in sheep's clothing" and "crying wolf." Japan's wolf gods In a number of tales, the wolf often appears as an evil, scheming animal, disguised for instance as a sheep or luring young boys as prey. Regardless, his fables - stories with animal protagonists that highlight human follies - are read to this day. No one is really certain whether the fabulist of ancient Greece actually existed. Fenrir managed to escape eventually, killing the Norse god of war and death, Odin. Fenrir was the son of the mischievous god Loki and a giantess, Angrboda.įenrir had an enormous appetite, and the gods, fearing his strength and size, captured and tied him to a tree. Not to be confused with Fenrir Greyback from Harry Potter (we'll come to that later), the giant wolf Fenrir symbolizes "Ragnarok," or the destruction of the gods and giants in Norse mythology. The boys survived and were found by Lupa and a woodpecker, who tended to them until they were found by a herdsman. King Amulius was afraid that Rhea's twins conceived with Mars, the god of war, would pose a threat to his throne, so he ordered to drown them in the Tiber. The twins were sons of Rhea Silvia, daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa (an ancient Latin city close to present-day Rome), who had been deposed by his brother Amulius. Lupa, the benevolent she-wolfĪlmost everyone is familiar with the myth of the founders of Rome, Remus and Romulus, who suckled on Lupa, the she-wolf. Our centuries-old fascination for the animal has manifested itself in stories, myths and cultural figures, as the following list demonstrates. It seems, the reemergence of the wolf as a dominant creature in Germany's forests has evoked humankind's primeval sense of fear and at the same time, respect for the animal. (Also read: "Wolf Magic Begin Now": SwitchWords and positive affirmation) Mowgli and his wolf mother, Raksha, share an intimate moment (Disney Enterprises/dpa/picture alliance) While many reports laud the success of conservation efforts, other stories focus on attacks affecting livestock or hikers. Over 1,200 wolves are estimated to be roaming in Germany's forests today, and every now and then, some of them make headlines.
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