In a deep, dark forest that had more than a million trees and animals, there lived a gigantic, black and intelligent wolf. No animal knew how he survived because at noon every day, he disappeared and returned to the forest in the middle of the night. No one ever saw him eating anything at all, but he still looked strong. Everyone thought that as he was very noble, so the gods of the jungle gave him food.

Every day he escaped from the shades of the dense jungle and arrived in the reserved area of the whispering woods, where woodcutters cut trees that were used for buildings and furniture. The tall evergreen green trees of mahogany were mostly used for furniture.

Tim was a 12-year-old wood cutter who worked hard. He arrived in the woods at noon and went home in the evening when he became very tired. After he had finished his work, he needed a good rest and a hearty meal. He kept his lunch in a safe place, but it wasn`t so safe as the wolf would sneak into his lunch and gobble up everything .

Tim was not only annoyed at this, but also became weaker and was able to cut less wood which made him poorer. So he thought of an amazing plan to capture the greedy wolf. He put a lot of meat into a hole in a tree and waited for the hungry wolf to come and eat it. The wolf came at noon and Tim’s plan worked!

The wolf ate the meat everyday and became fat. Now he was unable to get out of the tiny hole and got stuck in it, so Tim was able to catch the thief.

He stabbed his sharp, silver, heavy axe into the upper part of the tree and caught the frightened wolf by the neck. He was about to give him a good beating but almost fainted.

He then heard the wolf cry out, “Please don`t hurt me!’’ The wolf actually spoke to him!

“You…you can talk!” Tim exclaimed. The wolf told him that he used to be a wood cutter like Tim but an ugly-looking, horrid wizard had turned him into a wolf. That is the reason why he enjoyed eating Tim’s lunch so much. Tim felt sorry for him and they both became good friends. From that day, Tim brought extra lunch to share with the wolf and the wolf helped him with carry the heavy logs.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 18th, 2020

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