Before people began to settle the world, we wandered, following the wild animals we hunted into warmer places in the winter. Some of the animals we hunted were dangerous and would defend themselves. A pack of Brudvir hunters managed to corner a herd of Dryas Elk. A buck stepped to the front and managed to gore several hunters, one of them died of her wounds. Back then, parents would keep their small babies with them, strapped to their backs, or with another adult back at their camp. This time, she had the baby with her and not a single person noticed, being high from the adrenaline of the hunt. They did not take her body, finding it proper to leave her for the wolves.
Of course, the resourceful wolves found the freshly dead body, having smelled the blood and come running as soon as the hunters were gone. They began to take part of the meal and heard a crying. Beside the Brudvir womann was a mann pup. The wolves took pity on the orphaned pup and one of their mothers who recently gave birth took him in, raising her beside her own pup. Even though he learned slow and aged even slower, the mann pup fit in well with the pack.
Many years after he had been adopted by the pack, the mann pup began hunting with the pack. On one hunt, they ran into traps set by mann. The Mann of the wolves watched as his brothers and cousins began to fall into pits, get their legs caught in snares, or be tangled in nets. Angry that the forest was attacking his family, he saved them from the traps, breaking all of the traps he could find. As they hunted, they continued to find traps and he continued to disable the traps until they had hunted enough food for everyone.
The next day they returned to hunt again and all of the traps were reset. Someone had to be doing this, some other creature. He decided to stay behind and get to the bottom of it. He hid in the brush while the pack went back to their den. It wasn’t long before a mann came to check his traps and angerly found they were empty. Now that the mann of wolves realized who his opponent was, he could attack. He jumped from the bushes, lunging at the nearest hunter. The two of them fought hard but in the end the hunter retreated.
The hunter returned to his people and told stories of a wild Brudvir living in the forest attacking people and disabling his traps. Many people laughed at him, but the stories spread. Hunters who would later go into those same woods would also be attacked and return with their own stories and warnings about the wolf mann, some of those stories more outrageous their the original. Some of them claimed he was part wolf or must have been turned into a wolf by a bite from the wolves. In truth it was that Brudvir pup whose mother was killed on a hunt. The kind wolves raised him as one of their own and now he was returning the favor by protecting the pack. So next time you hear a story about a wolf mann, remember the lad from this tale and consider for a moment if the stories might be about him or maybe another person with a very similar story.
