The Wolf's Tale ~3 Little Pigs

Hello, my name is Mr.Elliot C. Lupus, but you can just call me the Big Bad Wolf if you like. It seems that I'm known by that name to nearly everybody else in this part of the woods. To tell you a bit about myself, I live in a cozy den with my wife and our three pups in the midst of a shady glen by a crystal clear pond. The setting couldn't be more perfect, except for one little thing; a wolf can't live on only the tiny fish that come from the pond, so to keep my family and myself alive and healthy, I have to hunt.

Recently, my reputation seems to have been ruined. After hearing about the whole Little Red Riding Hood incident, all of the other animals in the woods keep an eye out for me to warn each other when they spot me on the prowl. Nearly every time that I go out to hunt, I am suddenly startled by the screams and shouts of, "Run! Run! Here comes the big bad wolf!!! He's going to eat us!!!" Although this is quite true, what am I supposed to do? I have to provide food for my family, and all of the shouting causes quite an inconvenience for me.

On my last hunt, I decided that perhaps it would be wise to travel out of the woods and into the meadows to see if I might manage to have better luck out there. Well, that day seemed to be my lucky day. As I cautiously crept through the grass, my nose picked up the scent of something absolutely delicious. It was hard to keep my mind focused on the hunt because whatever this heaven sent smell was, it was amazing. It didn't really help matters that my family and I hadn't eaten anything but the bony little fish from the pond for the past week. As I slinked through the grass, carefully placing the pads of my paws down on the ground, I eyed what the delicious smell was. Just a short distance off, skipping down the road, were three pink, giddy little pigs. Mmm, my mouth was already beginning to water at the sight of their pudgy bellies, rolls of fat, and just the savory smell of them alone. I couldn't help but begin to drool. I quickly licked my lips, shook my head, and tried to get my thoughts back together.Oh, how I wished that I could have planned on there being more than one, just so that I would have an idea of how to catch them all and bring them back to my family.Suddenly, my instinct took over and ignorance and impatience overtook me. I sprang out of my hiding place and raced towards them, teeth bared, claws protruding, as my paws pounded the ground. You probably guessed how that turned out. Yep, they saw me and scattered in every direction. With my own excitement, my legs seemed to do the same, and suddenly, there I lay, a big clumsy looking heap in the middle of the road. I got up quite slowly and let out a snarl to try to regain my dignity just in case anything may have seen this incredibly stupid lack of self discipline.

As I reached the woods again, I began slowly trudging home, tail between my legs. Great, why did I have to be so stupid anyways? How was I ever going to gain trust from the pigs and be able to catch them now? Oh well, my family and I would have  to go to bed hungry one more night. At least tomorrow was another day for me to go out and try my luck once again.

The sun set and the moon came up. I was exhausted. The moment my paws reached the soft dirt floor of the den, I collapsed and fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, I awoke with a new vigor. I was refreshed and had a clear mind. As I walked back to the meadows, I contemplated all the different plans that I thought may work. Finally, as I drew near to where the pigs had been the previous day, a wonderful plan popped into my head. I would pretend to be their friend and gain their trust that way. Yes, it would be difficult, and I would have to be extremely cunning, but it just might work.

Today, just like yesterday, I caught a whiff of their scent and looked up just in time to see them coming down the road as they had before. This time, rather than letting hunger get the better of me; I casually strolled out onto the road. The pigs, although frankly I don't blame them, spun around and began to head in the opposite direction the moment they saw me. "Wait, wait," I called out to them, "I'm not going to hurt you, it was all just a big misunderstanding yesterday." Slowly, they turned around and cautiously eyed me as I strolled over. "I only had a question to ask you yesterday, I didn't mean to frighten you so badly."

"Y-yes?" stammered the fattest pig.
"Okay," I replied, somewhat nervous since I hadn't quite planned out what I was going to say just yet."Well..." I said a little shakily, since I still wasn't quite sure what to say. I decided to just wing it. "I was just wondering where you three are coming from on such a beautiful day. If you are returning home, is there a chance that I could join you, get a bite to eat? You know, that sort of thing. I am quite hungry because I have traveled quite a distance and have no food."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized that probably wasn't the brightest thing to say. To bring up hunger in front of the pigs that I had just attacked the previous day was probably about as bad as just saying right then and there that my family and I were going to eat them. As I saw a suspicious look cross their faces and saw how they nervously looked at one another and then their surroundings, I began getting quite nervous myself. Suddenly, they took off in a flash as they caught on to my plans.It startled me as they took off, because, for being as pudgy as they were, they had pretty good speed. "Oh no," I moaned, as I realized once again that I was losing my family's dinner for tonight. Trying to think of any logical thing that I could do, I figured that the easiest thing would be to chase them down again and see if I could catch at least one. Even if that would ruin my plan even worse than before, it would still be more likely to catch one of the pigs this way than to try to regain their trust for a second time. Off like a bolt of lightning, I was after them. The little pig in the back of the group I could see was tiring quickly and having difficulty keeping up with the other two. I gave every bit of energy that I had to speed up just a little bit more. My heart was racing. I could feel it pounding so hard in my chest that I thought it was going to burst. I began panting so hard, my lungs felt like they could give out on me any second. Without warning, I stumbled on a rock and suddenly, everything went black.

As I began to come to once again, it suddenly hit me that I had missed the pigs and was probably still laying in the middle of the road. I slowly tried to roll over, but ouch! My head was throbbing and my entire body ached from trying to catch up with those stupid pigs. I slowly opened my eyes to see how dark it was outside, but nearly passed out again from sheer shock. Looking curiously down at me were three pink pudgy little faces. Quickly, they all jumped back and gasped because I had startled them. When they did this, I was was surprised to see that I was no longer lying in the road, but that I was instead lying on a rather comfortable little bed in an old cottage. "Shh," I heard one little pig whisper to the others. "We don't want to scare him or he might try to attack us again."

"Oh relax boys," I heard a soothing motherly voice reply. "He's had a rough day, and he's tired now. There's no way that he'll go after you or me."

Slowly, a kind looking older pig walked over to my bed. "How are you feeling dear?" she asked me. Before I answered, I saw her had a bottle of smelling salts over to one of the younger pigs to put away. She then quickly picked up a towel from a bucket of cool water and put it on my forehead. "You must have had a pretty nasty fall back on the road judging by the size of the lump on your forehead. Now, not to be mean, but I am rather angry at you at the moment. What did my precious boys do to you to make you chase after them?" She asked me as she bustled around her house and brought me a bowl of steaming hot vegetable stew.

"Umm," I replied stupidly, still in shock from my new surroundings. I tried to take my focus off of the cottage, the stew, the pigs, and my throbbing head so that I could just give her an answer. "I'm sorry ma'am." I replied slowly. I lay quiet for a moment as I tried to pick my brain for a good excuse, but gave up quickly as my throbbing head turned to spinning nearly causing me to become sick. I closed my eyes for a moment, which helped, and figured that I may as well just give her the truth.

"Well?" she asked a bit impatiently.
"Um, okay," I started again. "As I said before, I am sorry for chasing your boys, but you must understand that I have a wife and three young pups at home that I must feed. Lately, I have had a very difficult time time catching food other than fish, and we have lived on nothing but fish for over a week and a half now. I guess this is really awkward  and, being hurt and not able to move very well, quite scary to say, but when I saw three pigs walking down the road, they looked like a pretty good meal for me and my family." Having not made eye contact with her this entire awkward conversation, I now sheepishly looked up and gave a nervous laugh.

"Well," the mama pig said angrily, "That's a horrible thing to do! To try to turn my baby boys into wolf food, that's just awful!" Her voice cracked at that and she turned away and hugged her boys for a moment. She then turned back to me and quietly said, half to herself, half to me, "I guess I see your point. If vegetables were alive with feelings, I guess I'd kill them anyways to feed my boys because it would be awful to see them starve, but still..." She trailed off for a moment to try to collect her thoughts. "VEGETABLES DON'T HAVE FEELINGS!!!" She yelled at me.

Great, now she was turning crazy and yelling at me about vegetables. Why did I have to get myself into this situation anyway?

"I'm sorry," I said once again. "I didn't mean to do anything other than what instinct was telling me to do."

"I know, I know," She said embarrassed, " I just lost my head. I'm sorry and I know you're hungry, so why don't I go to work in my garden while you eat your stew."

She walked out the door. I continued to lay in the bed looking around for a couple minutes. I listened to her boys playing in the distance.It was now peaceful. I decided to be brave and try the stew, mind you, I've never eaten anything other than meat and fish, which, I guess are meat, but according to me, they shouldn't be. I slowly took the bowl and put my mouth down to it and began lapping it up. To my astonishment, I found it to be absolutely delicious and satisfying. I finished the bowl, down to the very last drop, and then, feeling full and happy, I fell asleep.

I had probably been asleep for a little over an hour when I felt the towel on my forehead being taken off and replaced with a fresh cool one. I opened my eyes to see the mother pig standing over me again, and this time, she appeared to have calmed down.

"Thank you for the stew." I said gratefully. "I never realized how great tasting as well as filling, vegetables could be."

"Oh, you're welcome honey." She said with a gentle smile. "Well, I think that you are looking much better than you did earlier, so I think, if you feel ready, that you can go home."

"I am feeling much better, and thank you for the wonderful stew and the excellent care that you gave me." With that, I slowly got up out of bed, shook myself off to fix my messy fur, and began walking down the road.

"Wait, wait!" Came the calls of the three little pigs. "Stop! Mama told us to give this to you." They ran up to me with a bundle. "It's stew for your family." They said.

"Well thank you lads." I said with a smile.

They all cringed at the sight of my teeth again, but then realized it was okay. They all gave me a hug and a pat on the shoulder before strapping the pack onto my back so that I could leave.

"Goodbye." I called over my shoulder.

"Bye," they replied in unison before excitedly running back to their home.

Feeling pleased with how the day had turned out, I had a bit of bounce in my step as I returned home to my family. When I finally arrived at my cozy little den, it was just in time for supper. My three little pups excitedly bounded out to meet me. They were yipping and playfully nipping at my legs, tails wagging frantically. I bent my head down to give them all a gentle lick on the forehead. Gracefully walking, nearly gliding out of the den, followed my beautiful wife. She slowly walked up to me and lovingly licked my cheek and nipped at my ear.

"Mmm, something smells delicious." She said to me. "What on earth did you catch for us for dinner tonight?"
"Well..." I began, and told her the entire story. After telling her the story, I explained to her that this was the delicious vegetable stew that the mother pig had made for me. "You see," I said, "I no longer need to worry about hunting. We now have something other than meat to eat."

"I'm so proud of you." She whispered in my ear. "Okay everyone, daddy brought us something new to try. Let's dig in."

From that day on, my family and I have never gone hungry again. We eat fish, vegetable stew, and the occasional annoying woodland creature. Also, my family and I now have new friends. My wife and I have the mother pig to talk to, and our pups chase after the little pigs, but not to eat of course. The pigs chase back as they play the entertaining game of tag.