Goddess of Wolves

On Mount Olympus reside the gods and goddesses who rule over all the universe. Alas, I have no place there; for I am the goddess of wolves, and wolves belong in the forests of Earth. Ferniseus, the god of the forest, is my father, and Selene, goddess of the moon, is my mother. My father was deeply in love with Selene, but she did not believe it could work. She could reach the earth in the form of the moon's rays, but he could not touch the moon. Every night the moon shone, Ferniseus would change into a wolf and climb to the highest point in the forest to howl his love for Selene. One night, when the moon was full, Selene took pity on the love-sick god. She appeared to Ferniseus in a dream, for she alone of the goddess could not venture to Earth, and told him, "I will make us a daughter from the light of the moon and the spirit of the wolf. She will be our connection. During the full moon, when I am at my most powerful, go to the lake deep in the forest and howl for me. As long as she is with you, we can be together." She kept her word, and the people of Greece could hear my father's howls at every full moon.


My mother gave me life, while my father gave me a soul. They called me Lupina, and made me the goddess of the wolves. Man is the wolf's only predator, and so they are my enemy. They hunt my children for sport or revenge for killing livestock, blaming them for the deeds of common wolves. My wolves do not eat anything outside this sacred forest. Any man foolish enough to venture too close to the sanctuary of our lake soon meets his end at the fangs and claws of my children. Sometimes, I shift into that of a wolf with ivory fur and hunt beside them. Women need not fear me or mine, for I have not met a woman whose intention was to harm my wolves. Only one mortal has entered our sanctuary with my blessing. The crossing of our paths intertwined our fates, and this makes it a tale worth telling.


I reside on an island in the Aegean Sea. Zeus created it as a blessing for the love between my parents and named it after me. He called it Lunaria, and even went so far as creating a duplicate to my parents' lake at it's very center. It has a bounty of wild game, medicinal and edible plants, and clean water for my wolves and me. The thick forests that envelope the island protects them from prying eyes and threats, but there are always some men who are braver and more foolish than others. A young Trojan warrior named Inesius was one of them. He had heard about my island through tales of men that I had been merciful enough to let live. The men gave him a warning: Beware the white wolf that guards the lake at the island's heart.


Inesius, like many warriors his age, was full of pride. He took their warnings as a personal challenge and vowed that he would not leave until he bathed in the waters of this mystical lake. After gathering a crew of twenty men and a small ship, Inesius made his way to my island. I was beginning a hunt with my wolves near sunset when I caught the scent of fire and wine. Keeping to the forest’s shadow, I circled the island until I came upon their camp. All of Inesius’s men were sitting around a fire, toasting their safe journey. My sharp ears picked up their conversation: they were planning to set out for Lunaria’s lake at first light, hunting along the way.


Their casual talk of plundering my island angered me. I howled, calling my wolves to me and causing the men to stiffen. The air was suddenly ripe with the scent of fear, making my wolves restless and eager. We waited until dark, as is the way of our kind. One by one, the wolves woke the men with their howls while I reverted to my mortal form. By the time the sun awoke, only Inesius remained alive. I had no quarrel with the young Trojan, for he alone had not spoken of hunting my children or their prey. Rather, he claimed the provisions and water on their boat was sufficient for their stay. I left the rather handsome mortal when he awoke, disheveled from sleep and staring in disbelief at the bloody, yet empty, camp. As long as he stayed away from my wolves, their food, and our lake, he need not fear me. I remained distrustful, though, and decided to stay near until he made for home.


The disappearance of Inesius’s men did not keep him at the shore for long. He was not visibly shaken, but I could smell the uncertainty emanating off of him, and my keen eyes could see the tenseness of his body. Soon after midday, he had packed several days’ journey worth of food and water before striding with a false air of confidence into my forest. He was quite graceful for a mortal, having no trouble navigating the cluttered forest growth. The forest seemed to calm him, soothing away fear’s stench, and soon his confidence was genuine. I kept to the shadows as I followed, alternating between my mortal and wolf forms. The possibility of his noticing me never crossed my mind. One could say I was overconfident, as most of us gods and goddesses are when involved with mortals. If I had been more careful, less proud, these events would not have led to the breaking of my heart.


I had taken my preferred form when I ventured too close to where Inesius sat eating his lunch. A twig snapped under my paw, causing Inesius to look up and see me for the first time. I had expected to see his eyes widen in surprise, and smell the sudden fear of existence. Instead, he startled me by saying, “I was wondering who had been following me.”


His words stung my pride, but I was fascinated despite myself. It was not often a mortal surprised one of us, and I was intrigued. No mere man had ever detected the presence of any of my wolves until it was too late. On a whim, I decided to reveal myself to this strange man. I stepped into the shadows once more, emerging in mortal form, for all knew that no man or woman could look upon a god as they are and live. What he saw was almost a mirror image of my true self: a slender yet strong woman, with amber eyes burning with the spirit of the wolf, and long, silver hair. I walked fluidly over to him and sat down, taking pleasure in the way he stared. I told him I was the guardian of the forest and goddess of the wolves. Inesius surprised me again by blushing, embarrassed. He explained that he had planned to bathe in Lunaria’s lake, wanting to defy the white wolf. I grew angry again. I warned him away from the lake and immediately changed back into a wolf. Growling, I ran back into the woods. I kept far enough away that he wouldn’t know I was still watching. Despite my anger at his words, I could not bring myself to harm the warrior. I decided to keep following him, leaving him alone unless he actually found my lake.


Though I actually tried to be silent instead of relying on the wolf’s natural silence, Inesius still knew I was there. He talked to me during his journey, even though he couldn’t see me. He told me about his family in Troy, and how he joined the army to help feed his siblings. Normally, the life of a mortal man would not interest me. For reasons I could not explain, though, I cared about this man. The more I watched him, the more he reminded me of one of my own wolves. One day, I instinctively growled at one of my own children for taking an offensive stance towards Inesius. It was then that I realized I had fallen in love with this warrior. I had heard of such phenomenon occurring between mortals and gods, so I didn’t give it much thought.


On the fifth night after he arrived, Inesius stepped through a thick mass of trees and entered a lit clearing. I watched his eyes open wide in wonder at the sight of my family’s lake. I followed him, taking my mortal form for the first time since he angered me. I wondered aloud how he had found my lake and why he reminded me so much of a wolf. Inesius turned, smiling sheepishly when he saw me, and said he followed the scent of the water. He admitted to me that he was not originally from Troy. He was found as a babe, wrapped in a wolf’s pelt. Later, he discovered he and his birth parents hailed from a village descended from wolves. They were like me, he said, but instead of a goddess who could shift into a wolf, they were wolves who could shift into mortals. Inesius said I was sensing his ancestors’ wolf spirit, as he had been sensing mine while I was following him. Startling me once again, he said he knew I had fallen in love with him, easily sensing my emotions while I was in my wolf form.


I smiled, feeling happier than I could ever imagine being, for I had never found another, mortal or god, to capture my heart. I took a step forward to embrace him when I heard a howl by the lakeside. I looked around, noticing for the first time the clearing was not lit by the sun, but by the moon. I had been too preoccupied to notice the moon’s changing phase. Turning rapidly towards the lake, I saw my father howling his love at the full moon. The moon’s reflection began to shimmer, and I quickly tried to pull Inesius away. Unfortunately, he was still young enough to be curious instead of cautious. He turned to uncover the source of the strange howl, just as my mother appeared in all her fierce, godly beauty. I watched my first and only love fall down dead, just as I knew he would.


My mother, hearing the thud of the body, grew angry. She turned to me, forcing me into my wolf form. She had arrived early to tell us Zeus had at last agreed to let her stay on Earth. Instead, as a punishment for my bringing a mortal to such a sacred place, my mother put a curse on me, never allowing me to leave my wolf form again. She and my father left me for Mount Olympus, a place I, never able to return to my true, goddess self, was forever banished from. My parents never visited me again, forever leaving me on my island. From that moment on, I spent every full moon by the lake, howling my grief for all I had lost in just one night. I had heard from Poseidon that my howls could be heard across the sea; that the wolves on land howl in response to my pain. Though I could never leave, I was comforted by their sympathy. So great was my grief that wolves around the world still howl for me to this day.