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First part: The Motives of the Wolf

First part:

The Motives of the Wolf
Ruben Dario
Nicaragua

The man with heart of lis,
cherub’s, celestial tongue,
the minimal and sweet Francis of Assisi,
finds himself with a rude and grim animal,
fearful beast, of blood and theft,
furious jaws, evil eyes:
the wolf of Gubbio, the terrible wolf,
rabid, has devastated the land;
has cruelly destroyed all the flocks;
has devoured the lamb, has devoured the shepherds,
deaths and damages he has caused are countless.

Strong hunters armed with irons,
were destroyed. The hard fangs
accounted for the toughest dogs
as if they were goatlings and baa-lambs.

Francis went out:
and searched for the wolf
at his burrow.
Near the cave, he found the enormous beast,
who, upon seeing him, ferociously jumped
at him. Francis, with his sweet voice,
and raising his hand,
told the furious wolf: – Peace, brother
wolf! – The animal
gazed at the man with the rough sackcloth;
let down his surly air,
closed the aggressive open jaws,
and said: –Alright, brother Francis! –
What is this! –exclaimed the saint—. Is it the law that you live
by horror and death?
The blood spilt
by your diabolical snout, the grief and terror
that you spread, the crying
of peasants, the screams, the pain
of so many creatures of Our Lord,
should they not contain your diabolical bitterness?
Do you come from hell?
Have, perhaps, Luzbel or Belial,
instilled you with their eternal resentment?
And the great wolf, humbly: Winter is hard,
and hunger is horrible! In the frozen forest
I found nothing to eat; so, I searched for cattle,
and sometimes ate cattle and shepherd.
The blood? I saw more than one hunter
on his horse, carrying a goshawk
on his fist; or running behind the wild boar,
the bear or the deer; and I saw more than one
get stained in blood, hurt, torture,
from the hoarse trunks to the deaf clamor,
the animals of Our Lord.
And it was not due to hunger that they were hunting.

Francis answers: There is bad yeast in man.
When he is born, he comes with sin. It is sad.
But the simple soul of the beast is pure.
You will have,
from this day onward, something to eat.
You will leave in peace
herds and people in this country.
May God mellow your wild being!
Alright, brother Francis.

Before the Lord, who binds all and unties all,
in faith of promise, give me your paw.

The wolf gave his paw to the brother
of Assisi, who in return gave his hand.
They walked to the village. People saw,
and what they saw, they almost could not believe.
Behind the religious man went the fierce wolf,
and, with a low head and still, it followed him,
as a house dog, or a lamb.

Francis called the people to the square,
and there he preached.
And said: Here is an amiable hunt.
Brother wolf comes with me;
he swore to me not to be your foe,
and not to repeat its bloody attack.
You, in exchange, will feed
this poor creature of God. Amen!
Answered the people form the whole village.
And then, as a sign
of contentment,
the good animal moved head and tail,
and entered the convent with Francis of Assisi.

For some time, the wolf remained quiet
in the holy asylum.
His large ears listened to the psalms
and his light eyes became moist.
It learned a thousand talents and played a thousand games
When he went to the kitchen with the laymen.
And when Francis prayed,
the wolf, the poor sandals, caressed.
He went out to the street,
he went to the hill, came down to the valley,
came into the houses, and was given
some food. They saw him as a gentle greyhound.
One day, Francis went away. And the sweet wolf,
the meek and good wolf, the honest wolf,
disappeared, went back to the mountain,
and his howling and fury began again.
Again, there was fear, there was alarm,
among neighbors and shepherds;
filled the surroundings with fear,
courage and arms were no good,
for the fierce beast,
never gave truce to his fury,
as if he had
the fires of Moloch and Satan.

When the divine saint came back to the village,
all came to him with complaints and tears,
and with a thousand wails they gave testimony,
of what they suffered and lost
by that infamous demon wolf.

Francis of Assisi went grave.
He went to the mountain
To look for the false butcher wolf.
And found the vermin by his cave.
In the name of the father of the holy universe,
I conjure you – he said –, Oh wicked wolf!,
to answer to me: why have you gone back to evil?
Answer. I hear you.
As in a deaf struggle the animal spoke,
the foaming mouth and the fatal eye:
– Brother Francis, do not come too near…
I was quiet there in the convent;
I visited the village,
and if they gave me something, I was happy,
and ate meekly.
But I started to see that in all of the houses
there was envy, anger and rage,
and in every face burnt fathoms
of hatred, lust, infamy and lies.
Brothers made war to brothers,
the weak lost, the evil won,
female and male were like dogs and bitches,
and then came the day when they all hit me with sticks.
They saw me humble, I licked their hands
and feet. I followed your sacred laws,
all creatures were my siblings:
brother men, brother oxen,
sister stars and brother worms.
And thus, they hit me and threw me out.
And their laughter was like boiling water,
and the beast revived within my gut,
and I suddenly felt a bad wolf again;
but always better than those bad people.
And restarted to fight here,
to defend myself and to feed myself.
As the bear does, as the wild boar does,
that in order to live they have to kill.
Leave me in the mountain, leave me in the crag,
let me be at my liberty,
go back to your convent, brother Francis,
go back to your way and sanctity.

The holy man from Assisi said nothing.
Looked at the wolf with a profound gaze,
and parted with tears and heartbroken,
and spoke to the eternal God with his heart.
The wind from the forest carried his prayer,
which said: Our father who art in Heaven…

December 1913

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