[Gravdigr]

The main character, Preacher, a mountain man, is talking to Eddie, a little boy, about wolves...

"Naw. Them's old wives-tales from scary people. There ain't never been no healthy, full-growed wolf ever attacked no human person that I ever heard tell of. Hell, I've had 'em for pets. A body just has to remember the ways of the wolf and respect 'em, that's all. But they's do's and don'ts when it comes to wolves. Don't ever corner one. You do, you got big trouble on your hands. Don't never get between a he-wolf and his mate. They don't like that. A wolf pack is a real complicated type of society, Eddie. They have leaders and co-leaders. They real protective of their young. The male and the female take turns carin' for their pups." He smiled at the boy and lifted his reins. "Now you see why some Injuns call me White Wolf. I'm a brother to the wolf. I had one big ol' buffalo wolf stayed with me for weeks one time. He must have weighed 150 pounds. I'd toss him scraps of food and at night he'd sleep so close to me I could feel his breath. But, I never touched him and he never touched me. But we were brothers. I knew it and he knew it."

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know. One day he just veered off and was gone. He sat on a rise and watched me ride off. He threw back his head and talked to me until I couldn't hear him no more."

"That's sad."

"Yeah it was. And I ain't never forgot it neither."

~ William W. Johnstone, from "Forty Guns West"