 | Later Poems |  |
16
A Wolf Story
Instinct or reason, which, good sirs? Oh, instinct in brutes, you say!
And reason only in lordly man! Well, think of it as you may,
I'll tell you of something not unlike to reason I saw one day.
Is it only men that are makers of law? Perhaps! Yet hearken a bit;
I'll tell you a tale; say you if e'er you have heard a stranger than it.
And reason only in lordly man! Well, think of it as you may,
I'll tell you of something not unlike to reason I saw one day.
Is it only men that are makers of law? Perhaps! Yet hearken a bit;
I'll tell you a tale; say you if e'er you have heard a stranger than it.
It was many and many a league away from the place where now we are;
And many a year ago it happed, in the land of the Great White Czar.
It was morn; I remember how cold it felt, out under a low pale sky,
When we moored our boat on the river-bank, my comrade Leigh and I;
And the plunge in the water unwarmed of the sun was less for desire than pluck,
And we hurried on our clothes again, and longed for our breakfast luck;
When, all of a sudden, he clutched my arm, and pointed across. And there
We stood up side by side and watched, and as mute as the dead we were.
And many a year ago it happed, in the land of the Great White Czar.
It was morn; I remember how cold it felt, out under a low pale sky,
When we moored our boat on the river-bank, my comrade Leigh and I;
And the plunge in the water unwarmed of the sun was less for desire than pluck,
And we hurried on our clothes again, and longed for our breakfast luck;
When, all of a sudden, he clutched my arm, and pointed across. And there
We stood up side by side and watched, and as mute as the dead we were.
17
We saw the grey wolf's fateful spring, and we saw the death of the deer;
And the grey wolf left the body alone, and swift as the feet of fear
His feet sped over the brow of the hill, and we lost the sight of him,
Who had left the dead deer there on the ground, uneaten body or limb.
So, when he vanished out of our sight, we rowed our boat across,
And lifted the carcass, and rowed again to the other side. “The loss
For you, good Master Wolf, much more than the gain for us will be!
'Twere half a pity to spoil your sport except that we fain would see
The reason why, with hunger unstaunched, you have left your quarry behind;
Red-toothed, red-mawed, forgone your meal! Sir Wolf, we'll know your mind!”
And the grey wolf left the body alone, and swift as the feet of fear
His feet sped over the brow of the hill, and we lost the sight of him,
Who had left the dead deer there on the ground, uneaten body or limb.
So, when he vanished out of our sight, we rowed our boat across,
And lifted the carcass, and rowed again to the other side. “The loss
For you, good Master Wolf, much more than the gain for us will be!
'Twere half a pity to spoil your sport except that we fain would see
The reason why, with hunger unstaunched, you have left your quarry behind;
Red-toothed, red-mawed, forgone your meal! Sir Wolf, we'll know your mind!”
Hungry and cold we watched and watched to see him return on his track.
At last we spied him a-top of the hill, the same grey wolf come back,
No more alone, but a leader of wolves, the head of a gruesome pack.
He came right up to the very place where the dead deer's body had lain,
And he sniffed and looked for the prey of his claws, the beast that himself had slain;
The beast at our feet, and the river between, and the searching all in vain!
At last we spied him a-top of the hill, the same grey wolf come back,
No more alone, but a leader of wolves, the head of a gruesome pack.
He came right up to the very place where the dead deer's body had lain,
And he sniffed and looked for the prey of his claws, the beast that himself had slain;
The beast at our feet, and the river between, and the searching all in vain!
He threw up his muzzle and slunk his tail, and whined so pitifully,
And the whole pack howled and fell on him,—we hardly could bear to see.
Breaker of civic law or pact, or however they deemed of him,
He knew his fate, and he met his fate, for they tore him limb from limb.
18
Breaker of civic law or pact, or however they deemed of him,
He knew his fate, and he met his fate, for they tore him limb from limb.
I tell you, we felt as we ne'er had felt since ever our days began;
Less like men that had cozened a brute than men that had murdered a man.
Less like men that had cozened a brute than men that had murdered a man.
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