THE WOLF AND HIS NATURE 55 



in some countries when any woman doth amiss, 

 that she is like to the wolf bitch for she taketh 

 to her the worst and the foulest and the most 

 wretched and it is truth that the bitch of the 

 wolf taketh to her the foulest and most wretched, 

 for he hath most laboured and fasted 1 for her 

 and is most poor, most lean and most wretched. 

 And this is the cause why men say that the wolf 

 saw never his father and it is truth sometimes 

 but not always, for it happeneth that when she 

 has brought the wolf that she loveth most as I 

 have said, and when the other wolves awaken 

 they follow anon in her track, and if they can 

 find the wolf and the bitch holding together then 

 will all the other wolves run upon him and slay 

 him, and all this is truth in this case. But when 

 in all the country there is but one wolf and one 

 bitch of his kind then this rule cannot be truth. 



And sometimes peradventure the other wolves 

 may be awake so late that if the wolf is not fast 

 with the bitch or peradventure he hath left her 

 then he fleeth away from the other wolves, so 

 they slay him not so in this case the first opinion 

 is not true. 



They may get young whelps at the year's end, 

 and then they leave their father and their mother. 

 And sometimes before they are twelve months 



1 G. de F., p. 63, has : " Pource qu'il a plus travaillé et plus 

 jeune que n'ont les autres." 



