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008 - The Gray Wolf · Six Stories

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  Speaker 1: Section eight of six stories by George MacDonald. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Bruce Peirey. Six stories by George MacDonald, Section eight.
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  Speaker 1: The Gray Wolf. One evening twilight in spring, a young
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  Speaker 1: English student who had wandered northwards as far as the
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  Speaker 1: outlying fragments of Scotland called the Orkney and Shetland Islands,
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  Speaker 1: found himself on a small island of the latter group,
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  Speaker 1: caught in a storm of wind and hail which had
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  Speaker 1: come on suddenly. It was in vain to look about
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  Speaker 1: for any shelter, for not only did the storm entirely
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  Speaker 1: obscure the landscape, but there was nothing around him save
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  Speaker 1: a desert moss. At length. However, as he walked on
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  Speaker 1: for mere walking's sake, he found himself on the verge
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  Speaker 1: of a cliff, and saw over the brow of it,
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  Speaker 1: a few feet below him a ledge of rock, where
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  Speaker 1: he might find some shelter from the blast which blew
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  Speaker 1: from behind. Letting himself down by his hands, he alighted
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  Speaker 1: upon something that crunched beneath his tread, and found the
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  Speaker 1: bones of many small animals scattered about in front of
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  Speaker 1: a little cave in the rock, Offering the refuge he sought.
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  Speaker 1: He went in and sat upon a stone. The storm
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  Speaker 1: increased in violence, and as the darkness grew he became uneasy,
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  Speaker 1: for he did not relish the thought of spending the
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  Speaker 1: night in the cave. He had parted from his companions
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  Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the island, and it added
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  Speaker 1: to his uneasiness that they must be full of apprehension
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  Speaker 1: about him. At last, there came a lull in the storm,
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  Speaker 1: and the same instant he heard a footfall, stealthy and
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  Speaker 1: light as that of a wild beast, upon the bones
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  Speaker 1: at the mouth of the cave. He started up in
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  Speaker 1: some fear, though the least thought might have satisfied him
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  Speaker 1: that there could be no very dangerous animals upon the island.
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  Speaker 1: Before he had time to think, however, the face of
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  Speaker 1: a woman appeared in the opening. Eagerly the wanderer spoke.
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  Speaker 1: She started at the sound of his voice. He could
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  Speaker 1: not see her well because she was turned towards the
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  Speaker 1: darkness of the cave. Will you tell me how to
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  Speaker 1: find my way? Across the moor to shield ness. He asked,
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  Speaker 1: you cannot find it to night? She answered, in a
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  Speaker 1: sweet tone and with a smile that bewitched him, revealing
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  Speaker 1: the whitest of teeth. What am I to do? Then?
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  Speaker 1: My mother will give you shelter. But that is all
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  Speaker 1: she has to offer, and that is far more than
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  Speaker 1: I expected a minute ago, he replied, I shall be
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  Speaker 1: most grateful. She turned in silence and left the cave.
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  Speaker 1: The youth followed. She was barefooted, and her pretty brown
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  Speaker 1: feet went catlike over the sharp stones as she led
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  Speaker 1: the way down a rocky path to the shore. Her
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  Speaker 1: garments were scanty and torn, and her hair blue tangled
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  Speaker 1: in the wind. She seemed about five and twenty, lithe
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  Speaker 1: and small. Her long fingers kept clutching and pulling nervously
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  Speaker 1: at her skirts as she went. Her face was very
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  Speaker 1: gray in complexion and very worn, but delicately formed and
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  Speaker 1: smooth skinned. Her thin nostrils were tremulous as eyelids, and
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  Speaker 1: her lips, whose curves were faultless, had no color to
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  Speaker 1: give sign of indwelling blood. What her eyes were like,
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  Speaker 1: he could not see, for she had never lifted the
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  Speaker 1: delicate films of her eyelids. At the foot of the cliff,
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  Speaker 1: they came upon a little hut leaning against it, and
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  Speaker 1: having for its inner apartment a natural hollow within. Smoke
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  Speaker 1: was spreading over the face of the rock, and the
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  Speaker 1: grateful odor of food gave hope to the hungry student.
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  Speaker 1: His guide opened the door of the cottage. He followed
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  Speaker 1: her in and saw a woman bending over a fire
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of the floor. On the fire lay
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  Speaker 1: a large fish broiling. The daughter spoke a few words,
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  Speaker 1: and the mother turned and welcomed the stranger. She had
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  Speaker 1: an old and very wrinkled, but honest face, and looked troubled.
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  Speaker 1: She dusted the only chair in the cottage and placed
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  Speaker 1: it for him by the side of the fire, opposite
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  Speaker 1: the one window. Whence he saw a little patch of
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  Speaker 1: yellow sand over which the spent waves spread themselves out listlessly.
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  Speaker 1: Under this window there was a bench upon which the
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  Speaker 1: daughter threw herself in an unusual posture, resting her chin
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  Speaker 1: upon her hand. A moment after the youth caught the
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  Speaker 1: first glimpse of her blue eyes. They were fixed upon
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  Speaker 1: him with a strange look of greed amounting to craving,
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  Speaker 1: but as if aware that they belied or betrayed her.
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  Speaker 1: She dropped them instantly. The moment she veiled them, her face,
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  Speaker 1: notwithstanding its colorless complexion, was almost beautiful. When the fish
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  Speaker 1: was ready, the old woman wiped the deal table, steadied
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  Speaker 1: it upon the uneven floor, and covered it with a
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  Speaker 1: piece of fine table linen. She then laid the fish
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  Speaker 1: on a wooden platter and invited the guest to help himself.
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  Speaker 1: Seeing no other provision, he pulled from his pocket a
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  Speaker 1: hunting knife and divided a portion from the fish, offering
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  Speaker 1: it to the mother. First come, my lamb, said the
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  Speaker 1: old woman, and the daughter approached the table, but her
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  Speaker 1: nostrils and mouth quivered with disgust. The next moment she
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  Speaker 1: turned and hurried from the hut. She doesn't like fish,
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  Speaker 1: said the old woman, and I haven't anything else to
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  Speaker 1: give her. She does not seem in good health, he rejoined.
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  Speaker 1: The woman answered only with a sigh, and they ate
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  Speaker 1: their fish with the help of a little rye bread.
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  Speaker 1: As they finished their supper, the youth heard the sound
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  Speaker 1: as of the pattering of a dog's feet upon the
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  Speaker 1: sand close to the door, but ere he had time
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  Speaker 1: to look out of the window. The door opened, and
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  Speaker 1: the young woman entered. She looked better, perhaps from having
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  Speaker 1: just washed her face. She drew a stool to the
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  Speaker 1: corner of the fire opposite him. But as she sat down,
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  Speaker 1: to his bewilderment and even horror, the student spied a
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  Speaker 1: single drop of blood on her white skin within her
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  Speaker 1: torn dress. The woman brought out a jar of whisky,
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  Speaker 1: put a rusty old kettle on the fire, and took
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  Speaker 1: her place in front of it. As soon as the
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  Speaker 1: water boiled, she proceeded to make some toddy in a
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  Speaker 1: wooden bowl. Meantime, the youth could not take his eyes
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  Speaker 1: off the young woman, so that at length he found
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  Speaker 1: himself fascinated, or rather bewitched. She kept her eyes, for
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  Speaker 1: the most part, veiled with the loveliest eyelids fringed with
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  Speaker 1: darkest lashes, and he gazed entranced, for the red glow
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  Speaker 1: of the little oil lamp covered all the strangeness of
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  Speaker 1: her complexion. But as soon as he met a stolen
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  Speaker 1: glance out of those eyes unveiled, his soul shuddered within him.
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  Speaker 1: Lovely face and craving eyes alternated fascination and repulsion. The
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  Speaker 1: mother placed the bowl in his hands. He drank sparingly
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  Speaker 1: and passed it to the girl. She lifted it to
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  Speaker 1: her lips, and as she tasted, only tasted, it, looked
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  Speaker 1: at him. He thought the drink must have been drugged
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  Speaker 1: and have affected his brain. Her hair smoothed itself back
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  Speaker 1: and drew her forehead backwards with it, while the lower
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  Speaker 1: part of her face projected towards the bowl, revealing ere
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  Speaker 1: She sipped her dazzling teeth in strange prominence, but the
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  Speaker 1: same moment the vision vanished. She returned the vessel to
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  Speaker 1: her mother, and rising, hurried out of the cottage. Then
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  Speaker 1: the old woman pointed to a bed of heather in
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  Speaker 1: one corner with a murmured apology, and the student, wearied
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  Speaker 1: both with the fatigues of the day and the strangeness
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  Speaker 1: of the night, threw himself upon it, wrapped in his cloak.
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  Speaker 1: The moment he lay down, the storm began afresh, and
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  Speaker 1: the wind blew so keenly through the crannies of the
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  Speaker 1: hut that it was only by drawing his cloak over
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  Speaker 1: his head that he could protect himself from its currents.
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  Speaker 1: Unable to sleep, he lay listening to the uproar, which
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  Speaker 1: grew in violence till the spray was dashing against the window.
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  Speaker 1: At length, the door opened, and the young woman came in,
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  Speaker 1: made up the fire, drew the bench before it, and
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  Speaker 1: lay down in the same strange posture, with her chin
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  Speaker 1: propped on her hand and elbow, and her face turned
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  Speaker 1: towards the youth. He moved a little. She dropped her
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  Speaker 1: head and lay on her face, with her arms crossed
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  Speaker 1: beneath her forehead. The mud had disappeared. Drowsiness crept over him.
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  Speaker 1: A movement of the bench roused him, and he fancied
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  Speaker 1: he saw some four footed creature as tall as a
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  Speaker 1: large dog, trot quietly out of the door. He was
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  Speaker 1: sure he felt a rush of cold wind. Gazing fixedly
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  Speaker 1: through the darkness, he thought he saw the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: the damsel encountering his, but a glow from the falling
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  Speaker 1: together of the remnants of the fire revealed clearly enough
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  Speaker 1: that the bench was vacant. Wondering what could have made
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  Speaker 1: her go out in such a storm, he fell fast asleep.
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  Speaker 1: In the middle of the night. He felt a pain
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  Speaker 1: in his shoulder, came broad awake, and saw the gleaming
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  Speaker 1: eyes and grinning teeth of some animal close to his face.
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  Speaker 1: Its claws were in his shoulder, and its mouth in
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  Speaker 1: the act of seeking his throat before it had fixed
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  Speaker 1: its fangs. However, he had its throat in one hand
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  Speaker 1: and sought his knife with the other. A terrible struggle followed,
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  Speaker 1: but regardless of the tearing claws, he found and opened
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  Speaker 1: his knife. He had made one futile stab and was
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  Speaker 1: drawing it for a surer, when, with the spring of
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  Speaker 1: the whole body and one wildly contorted effort, the creature
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  Speaker 1: twisted its neck from his hold, and with something betwixt
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  Speaker 1: a scream and a howl, darted from him. Again. He
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  Speaker 1: heard the door open again. The wind blew in upon him,
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  Speaker 1: and it continued blowing. A sheet of spray dashed across
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  Speaker 1: the floor and over his face. He sprung from his
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  Speaker 1: couch and bounded to the door. It was a wild night,
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  Speaker 1: dark but for the flash of whiteness from the waves
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  Speaker 1: as they broke within a few yards of the cottage.
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  Speaker 1: The wind was raving and the rain pouring down the air.
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  Speaker 1: A gruesome sound, as of mingled, weeping and howling, came
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  Speaker 1: from somewhere in the dark. He turned again into the
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  Speaker 1: hut and closed the door, but could find no way
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  Speaker 1: of securing it. The lad camp was nearly out, and
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  Speaker 1: he could not be certain whether the form of the
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  Speaker 1: young woman was upon the bench or not. Overcoming a
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  Speaker 1: strong repugnance, he approached it and put out his hands.
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  Speaker 1: There was nothing there. He sat down and waited for
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  Speaker 1: the daylight. He dared not sleep any more. When the
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  Speaker 1: day dawned at length, he went out yet again and
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  Speaker 1: looked around. The morning was dim and gusty and gray.
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  Speaker 1: The wind had fallen, but the waves were tossing wildly.
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  Speaker 1: He wandered up and down the little strand, longing for
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  Speaker 1: more light. At length he heard a movement in the
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  Speaker 1: cottage by and by the voice of the old woman
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  Speaker 1: called to him from the door. You're up early, sir.
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  Speaker 1: I doubt you didn't sleep well, Not very well, he answered.
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  Speaker 1: But where is your daughter. She's not awake yet, said
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  Speaker 1: the mother. I'm afraid I have but a poor breakfast
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  Speaker 1: for you. But you'll take a draw and a bit
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  Speaker 1: of fish is all I've got. Unwilling to hurt her,
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  Speaker 1: though hardly in good appetite, he sat down at the table.
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  Speaker 1: While they were eating. The daughter came in, but turned
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  Speaker 1: her face away and went to the farther end of
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  Speaker 1: the hut. When she came forward after a minute or two,
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  Speaker 1: the youth saw that her hair was drenched and her
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  Speaker 1: face whiter than before. She looked ill and faint, and
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  Speaker 1: when she raised her eyes, all their fierceness had vanished,
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  Speaker 1: and sadness had taken its place. Her neck was now
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  Speaker 1: covered with a cotton handkerchief. She was modestly attentive to him,
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  Speaker 1: and no longer shunned his gaze. He was gradually yielding
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  Speaker 1: to the temptation of braving another night in the hut
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  Speaker 1: and seeing what would follow. When the old woman spoke,
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  Speaker 1: the weather will be broken all day, sir, she said,
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  Speaker 1: you had better be going, or your friends will leave
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  Speaker 1: without you. Ere he could answer, he saw such a
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  Speaker 1: beseeching glance on the face of the girl that he hesitated. Confused.
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  Speaker 1: Glancing at the mother, he saw the flash of wrath
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  Speaker 1: in her face. She rose and approached her daughter, with
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  Speaker 1: her hand lifted to strike her. The young woman stooped
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  Speaker 1: her head with a cry. He darted round the table
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  Speaker 1: to interpose between them, but the mother had caught hold
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  Speaker 1: of her. The handkerchief had fallen from her neck, and
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  Speaker 1: the youth saw five blue bruises on her lovely throat,
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  Speaker 1: the marks of the fore fingers, and the thumb of
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  Speaker 1: a left hand. With a cry of horror, he darted
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  Speaker 1: from the house. But as he reached the door he
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  Speaker 1: turned his hostess was lying motionless on the floor, and
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  Speaker 1: a huge gray wolf came bounding after him. There was
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  Speaker 1: no weapon at hand, and if there had been, his
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  Speaker 1: inborn chivalry would never have allowed him to harm a woman,
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  Speaker 1: even under the guise of a wolf. Instinctively, he set
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  Speaker 1: himself firm, leaning a little forward with half outstretched arms
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  Speaker 1: and hands curved, ready to clutch again at the throat
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  Speaker 1: upon which he had left those pitiful marks. But the creature,
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  Speaker 1: as she sprung, eluded his grasp, and just as he
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  Speaker 1: expected to feel her fangs, he found a woman weeping
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  Speaker 1: on his bosom, with her arms around his neck. The
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  Speaker 1: next instant, the gray wolf broke from him and bounded
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  Speaker 1: howling up the cliff. Recovering himself as he best might,
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  Speaker 1: The youth followed, for it was the only way to
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  Speaker 1: the moor above, across which he must now make his
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  Speaker 1: way to find his companions. All at once he heard
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  Speaker 1: the sound of a crunching of bones, not as if
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  Speaker 1: the creature was eating them, but as if they were
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  Speaker 1: ground by the teeth of rage and disappointment. Looking up,
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  Speaker 1: he saw close above him the mouth of the little
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  Speaker 1: cavern in which he had taken refuge the day before.
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  Speaker 1: Summoning all his resolution, he passed it slowly and softly.
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  Speaker 1: From within came the sounds of a mingled moaning and growling.
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  Speaker 1: Having reached the top, he ran at full speed for
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  Speaker 1: some distance across the moor, before venturing to look behind him.
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  Speaker 1: When at length he did so, he saw against the
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  Speaker 1: sky the girl standing on the edge of the cliff,
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  Speaker 1: wringing her hands. One solitary wail crossed the space between.
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  Speaker 1: She made no attempt to follow him, and he reached
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  Speaker 1: the opposite shore in safety. End of Section eight.