I was swimming in the Caribbean, animals were hiding behind the rocks, except the little fish. No, wait, that's a song by the Pixies. In fact, I was in the south of france, where I was staying with a Grecian bust, a stuffed monkey and a stuffed monkey's girlfriend (who hasn't got a blog). And to think that a few years ago, that sentence wouldn't have made any sense at all.
French fun fairs are the most depressing in the world. A French man sat huddled in the too-small seat of one dodgem car, eyes glazed with intensity, mouth emitting a thin stream of gallic drool as his hands wrenched the steering wheel from side to side in a desperate attempt to avoid the other cars. Except all the other cars were empty. And no-one had turned the thing on yet.
The rest of my time there was very pleasant though, the vineyards of the Languedoc looking particularly lovely in the autumn mornings, the only sound the clattering of Sunday Times journalists' laptops and the random screams as pissed-up hunters shot each other while wild boars let down their tyres, giggling.
But I'm back now, tired and unshaven, and in need a list of fictional wolves, for a thing. Preferably from classic children's books, but others will be considered. Not counting werewolves either. So far:
Romulus and Remus
Peter and the Wolf
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Maugrim (from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe)
Diefenbaker from Due South
White Fang (Jack London)
Fairytale Wolves (red riding hood, that one with the pigs and the blowing down of houses)
And then of course it occurred to me to look at Wikipedia, which has more, (Akela! D'oh!) but it's a bit anime-heavy, so are there obvious ones missing?
31 comments:
Thinks Hard.
*Neil Gaimain's Wolves in the Walls. Sca-reee.
*Two Socks from Dances with Wolves...
*Gavin from Terry Pratchett's The Fifth Elephant.
*Mr Bitey, who you can be forgiven for not having heard of since I made him up to frighten my little brother.
Not exactly classics, I'll grant you.
It has occurred to me that the only person I have helped with the previous post is myself, in my quest to Do No Work Ever. PLease duly ignore me.
Wolfie from Citizen Smith?
The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
Wolf, the gladiator
Gmork was the only one that sprang to mind due to the deep paralyzing fear he still inspires in me.
And wargs are pretty wolvey.
Don't the Vikings have a mythical wolf?
They have a few - Loki's son is a huge wolf called Fenris, who is bound in chains and will eventually consume the world - there's others too.
This is all useful by the way (I liked Mr Bitey), so thanks..
the wolves from the Ghostbusters movie.
*shudder*
The wolves from Angela Carter's books and her film 'Company of Wolves' (which were all clearly Alsations).
Wolf from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
The wolf policeman in 80's cartoon '80 days around the world' (the one where Phileas Fogg was a lion and inexplicably called 'Willy')
The wolves from The Box of Delights ("the wolves are running").
I think that in RH:PoT the boy might have been Wulf, as in "quick, we need a medieval-sounding name"
There is another fairytale wolf, the one who swallowed six of the seven little (goat) kids whole, then the littlest one cut them out of his stomach, filled it back up with rocks and he drowned while trying to cross a river. (Ladybird books were great.)
There's Bran's dog Cafall from The Grey King, who is supposed to be a normal dog, but is actually a wolf, I think, unless I'm remembering it wrong.
Entropy got there first with the wolves from the Box of Delights, who are magnificently creepy, but there's also a character in there called Mr Bitem, who is a fox. Wonder if Mr Bitey is a relation?
That was Gmork, as mentioned by Rose.
I have no wolves to add, but was rather delighted to find this book How to Cook a Wolf :-)
Ah, now a wolverine is actually a part of the mustelid family, making it basically a big stoat (not, as one recent observer put it 'ooh look a big monkey bear!').
Good thinking though - and double points for anyone who mentioned the wolves from the Box of Delights - that's the sort of thing I'm after.
I'm getting really tempted to update that Wikipedia page now, although there's probably better things I could be doing....
The wolves from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" - can only remember Akela.
There are a lot of wolves in Tamora Pierce's books, particularly Wolf Speaker, where there's a whole pack of them.
Wolves appear in The Hobbit, of course, when Bilbo and the dwarves are stuck up trees after having escaped the goblins.
British or European writers tended to always write wolves as evil, or in league with the forces of evil, whereas America writers have been concerned to portray them in a better light. I think that this is possibly because the American timber wolf is much less savage and scary than the European kind.
And the wolves/pets/familiars from George Martin's "Game of Thrones".
European wolves aren't savage or scary. They're misunderstood.
In the recent film Brothers Grimm they had a character of a woodsman who transformed from a wolf which I think is based on a real fairy tale. Also isn't there one about a wolf skin that talks to its wearer and makes him a better hunter but eventually takes them over? That would be more useful if I had a name rather than a vague description wouldn't it?
Cripes! Those brothers WERE grim.
Aren't there wolves in every Neil Gaiman book? Well, Stardust and The Anansi Boys have them I'm sure...
*wonders*
There's another Jen in here.
Beowolf, I think, was a bloke or a giant or something but he has wolf in his name
Torak's wolf cub companion in Wolf Brother (by Michelle Paver).
Re. Mr Bitey's lineage: a friend of mine at school claimed her dog was part fox and we fell out over my arguing that this was not possible, so to keep my opinions on inter-species doings consistent (despite my utter lack of any evidence to support them) I think I have to conclude that Mr Bitey is not a relation of Mr Bitem. Though he was incredibly cunning so maybe he'd hung out with some no-good neighborhood foxes and it rubbed off on him.
Mind you I did find some mad stuff about lion-tiger crosses (ligers and tigons, apprently, and fertile and everything) on the net the other day so maybe I'm wrong. Gosh, this de-lurking is making me talk a right load of tosh.
Finns have plenty of folk stories & fairytales about wolves, a very interesting one about the birth of a wolf too, but wolves appear in those without any specific names, so I'm really not any help here.
Has 'Dancing with Wolves' any wolves in it?
Oh, I'm with rose on this one - Gmork is definitely the first one I thought of. I remember watching most of The Neverending Story from behind a cushion thanks to him....
The wolves that attack Peter are the Secret Police. I think they're all wolves.
I'm familiar with the dapper wolf story. More recently I discovered "The Big Bad Pig" in which three adorable wolvey cubs equipped with an alarming amount of bricks and reinforced steel are plagued by a pig armed with a pneumatic drill and high explosives.
Aesop had wolves in several of his fables, the most well-known probably being the one in sheep's clothing.
The only other wolves I can think of offhand are the wolf daemons of the Tartar guards at Bolvanger in _The Golden Compass._
Lupus Yonderboy, from Neuromancer? Not actually a wolf, but named after one obviously. Wolfie, the non-existent dog from Terminator 2? Also, coyotes are known as "Praire wolves" so technically you could have Wil E. Coyote. I think you should.
i'm a bit late to the party, but do have a look at the iron wolf of Vilnius. I walk past a satue of the founder of the city and his howling friend most days. And the Iron Wolf has its own brigade!
Cor, what a brilliant wolf statue! That's my christmas present sorted out please thank you hint hint gf.
There's a wolf in The Silmarillion who bites off the hand of one of the heroes (Beren) while it has a Silmaril in it.
wolfowitz
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