Storytelling for Week 4: The Story of the Wolf-Bride

There was once a man who had a son. His son was the greatest gift he had ever received, and the man cherished his son beyond measure. He never wanted to let anybody or anything harm his son. He wanted to protect his son forever.

One day, the man went to the akhund to get the boy’s horoscope. The man was excited to hear the horoscope. He felt confident that the akhund would tell him that his son would grow up to be a great man with countless riches and immeasurable success. However, this was not the case. Grimly, the akhund told the man what he had seen in the stars for the boy. According to him, the boy was fated to be torn to pieces by a wolf.

The father, visibly upset, ran home to take all the precautions imaginable. He worked for months on an underground chamber to keep his son safe. The chamber was airtight and impenetrable with multiple security features designed to keep the outside out. The setup was not fancy but it was also not uncomfortable; the man loved his son very much and he understood that his son shouldn’t be punished for something he couldn’t control.

Still, the man went to great lengths in an attempt to ensure he’d never see the day where his son’s predicted fate came true. His son was never allowed to go outside after dark and was very rarely allowed to go outside in the daytime. On the rare occasions when the boy was allowed to come up for some fresh air, the father and several other men from the village stood watch and kept him in sight.

The boy didn’t go to school. His father convinced an akhund to teach his son from the safety of the shelter. The boy enjoyed his lessons because they brought some interaction into his life. Over the years, the boy learned to read and write and developed more or less normally. The father’s paranoia began to fade, and he decided that it was time for his son to marry.

The father found a girl and arranged the wedding. The boy was very excited. Finally, he would have someone to keep him company every day! The wedding celebrations lasted seven days and seven nights, and at the end of the week they brought the bride to the underground chamber to her husband and left the two alone together. Both father and son seemed happy and at ease.

But a happy ending was not in store for the boy after all. As soon as the boy put his arm around his new wife’s waist, the girl turned into a wolf and tore the boy to pieces. As soon as the deed was done, the girl returned to her normal self. She was overcome with shock and guilt. She could not comprehend what had happened or how it came to be. She sat on the floor, as if paralyzed by emotion, for the entire day.

The next morning, some women came to check on the bride. When they saw the scene in front of them, they all gasped. "Girl," they asked, "how has this come about?"

"I don't know," said she, "but I know this much, that I turned into a wolf and tore him, and then again I turned back into myself."

The women raised shrieks and lamentations, and they carried off the youth's body and buried it, and men said: "Whatever is willed by fate, that verily comes to pass."

(A gray wolf, Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography:

Book: Persian Tales

Author: Translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer, illustrated by Hilda Roberts

Year Published: 1919

Web Source: Persian Fairy Tales

Author's Note: This week, I chose to base my retelling on The Story of the Wolf Bride. The original story is very short, so I dramatized and extended some parts for my retelling. I kept the core idea the same: the son was fated at birth to be torn to pieces by a wolf, and nothing that happens in his life can change this. I kept the ending the exact same because I felt the wording and the sentiment in the ending was especially powerful.