One fine day, a young girl was walking down the road to her house after going to buy some bread and butter for her family's dinner. She was not paying very much attention to her surroundings. She skipped and sang songs she learned from her mother and her friends in the little town, and noticed not the landscape on the sides of the road nor the people who walked by her. She was quite content.
Then the sun began to go down.
And the sky began to grow red.
And the road was empty of other travelers when she saw the wolf.
He was big and shiny and fat, with dark gray hair over all his hide. He was also smiling and his long, white teeth were winking in the last reaches of sunlight. He smiled even wider when he noticed the girl. He said to her, "Good evening, young miss. It is a fine evening now, is it not?"
The girl did not know what to do. She had been taught not to speak to strangers, especially when they were so different from her, but she had also been taught to be polite when spoken to. She hesitated a moment and then replied, "Yes, it is a fine evening, good sir. And I must hurry home where my family is expecting their bread and butter." The wolf let his tongue fall lazily out of his mouth, on one side where the girl could easily see it, and laughed without making a sound. They were almost abreast on the road. The girl was feeling uneasy. The sun was sinking fast. When they were face to face on the road, she saw the wolf's eyes were red and his tongue was red and his nostrils were quivering as if he smelled some delicious prey in the distance. He addressed her again, "Must you hurry so, darling child, for the night has not yet fallen and there is still much to see in the light of the sleepy sun." The girl was not sure what to say. She had never considered a twilight adventure before, as she was still very young. The wolf tossed his head impatiently after a scant second of her hesitation and said petulantly, "Well, young miss, since you are not of a mind to join an old world-wanderer, I shall continue on my way all by my lonesome." The girl was ashamed at having insulted a stranger without any desire to do so, and she said to the wolf, "I did not wish to be rude, but you see, I have never spoken to a wolf before and I was not sure how to respond to your kind request."
The wolf smiled wide and long.
His teeth sparkled like the stream under the noonday sun.
His eyes glowed like the bonfires that consume all in their hearth.
He said, "I should have known better than to speak to you before making your acquaintance, dear child. I do not wish to confuse you or cause you fear. You may call me Uncle Vulk. I spend all my time outside and I never sleep, so I know all the sights at all times and I only wanted to share the enchantment with one so lovely as you." The girl was not convinced; in fact, she was was more uneasy after this short speech than before it, when the wolf was but a passing and talkative stranger on the darkening road. She said uncertainly, "I should be getting home. My mother will be waiting and she will be angry if I am late and the butter is turned when I arrive." The wolf sat down on his haunches and said, "My dear, you should not make your mother wait for you and your goods. You must hurry home. Do not worry, though, we will meet again, and maybe then we shall see wonders together and experience joys unimagined by your youthful mind." The girl felt it was an opportunity to leave and she turned quickly and walked down the road with firm steps. She had gone only ten paces or so when she realized she taken her leave from the wolf rudely, without saying goodbye.
She turned to do so.
There was only a large stump by the side of the road.
It was black in the dimness of twilight.
As she turned to run the rest of the way to her family's little house, she heard a wolf howl that turned to a stiffled chuckle, oozing over the fresh night breeze.
