Wolves.+Il+lupo


 * =**WOLVES IN CULTURE** =

The legend of der Ronker
====Once upon a time, there were many wolves in Aosta Valley. They lived in packs, in forests and they wandered alone around cattle stables and sheep folds, waiting, lying in ambush for their prey, ready to tear it apart. Sometimes, all that remained of an innocent passer-by was his blood-stained clothes.This story takes place in the Lys Valley where a man named der Ronker lived in a house on the edge of the forest. To tell the truth, he didn't live in that house very often because in winter, he used to leave the valley to travel from town to town selling his wares. However, every summer, he would take a small herd of cattle, together with his daughter and dog, and climb up to Skerpie, where they would stay until the following autumn.One year, an uncommonly large wolf began to circle their mountain hut. He would appear unexpectedly, at any time of day. During the night, his howl could be heard throughout the valley. Der Ronker's dog was brave and faithful and fought the wolf on many occasions without succeeding in defeating it, despite the help of his owner and his shot gun. "If I don't kill the beast, one of these days he'll devour one of my calves! "But the wolf wasn't interested in der Ronker's herd. On the contrary, it attacked his daughter, tearing her to pieces and devouring one of her breasts, leaving her in a pool of blood. She died some days later. After that atrocity, the wolf was never seen again. Broken-hearted, der Ronker continued selling his wares in winter and going to his mountain hut in summer.Some years later, while he was in Germany with his faithful dog, he stopped at an inn. Quite unexpectedly, his dog began attacking the inn keeper, snarling furiously. The man grew pale with fear."Sit down. I have something to tell you. We have already met, in Aosta valley. I was young, immature and unexperienced then. I had been rude to two withches, who took revenge by transforming me into a wolf. They told me that I would remain a wolf until I devoured a young girl's breast.I roamed fields and forests for years, suffering cold and hunger. That summer, I saw you and your daughter taking your cows up to the summer pastures. I was horrified at the thought of what I was about to do. But I had no choice. I had to free myself of the wolf's skin!. And now your faithful dog has recognized me! Now I am free from my horrible secret."==== || || Everybody in Aosta Valley used to go home and stay indoors early in the evening for fear of wolves. Once a man from Torgnon (in the Valtournenche valley) was coming home with a load of mine when it became suddenly dark. Unlike him, he had forgotten to bring his long sharp knife. Nobody travelled alone without some sort of weapon. Just as he was about to reach home, a wolf jumped out of the forest and blocked his way. Terrified and not knowing what to do, the poor man started talking to the beast, imploring it to let him pass, "Let's make a deal. If you let me pass, I'll give you a sheep as soon as I get home. You have nothing to lose. I give you my word!" Surprisingly, as if it had understood, the wolf moved aside and the man continued along the path. When the man told the story to his wife, she accused him of being stupid if he gave their sheep to a wolf. "You've always been an idiot and you always will be!!" she yelled. "I gave my word and I must keep my promise", he replied. And he watched as the wolf took the sheep away. Some days later, as the man from Torgnon was on the road towards the city of Aosta for some business, he met a stranger who was holding a calf on a rope. "You are just the man I was looking for! I have a debt with you and I want to pay it now!" said the stranger."Here is a calf to repay you for the sheep you gave me the other day", he added. Once again a witch's spell was the cause of the transformation of the man into a wolf. The man had been condemned by a witch to remain a wolf until someone treated the beast like a human being. So the man from Torgnon had saved him from the curse. However, in spite of the happy ending, the man from Torgnon made sure he was never on the road by himself at night || || Due to the fact that he owned a lot of land, the priest from Ayas would ask seven or eight young men from his town to help with the haymaking, paying them for their work. Not being a very generous type, he made clear, "You'll have your money on condition that you work until the sun sets. Otherwise, I won't pay you anything! Do you all agree?" The men nodded and started cutting hay. When the sun was about to set, a threatening wolf suddenly appeared, forcing the farm workers to run away. When they were finally safe, they went to the priest to tell him what had happened. "Today, things have gone well for me, because I don't have to pay you as you didn't work until after sunset .Perhaps tomorrow things will improve for you." "But it wasn't our fault!" the men implored. "A deal is a deal", replied the priest. The following day the men cut hay until just before sunset when the wolf appeared again to terrify them. Once again they ran away, and once again the priest refused to pay them. The next day, they agreed to take turns to climb a tree and act as a look-out so they could see the wolf approaching and take measures. An hour before sunset, the man in the tree saw the priest leave the vicarage and cautiously come towards the creek.There, he took off his robes, traced a circle in the earth with a stick, rolled three times in the sand and....... turned into a wolf!! The young man jumped down from the tree in order to warn his friends. "It's coming! The priest is the wolf; he's a magician!" This time the men were ready for the arrival of the wolf. With sickles in hand, the angry farm workers attacked the wolf, almost cutting off one of its paws. The wolf fled, the farm hands continued working until after sunset and then went to the vicarage for their payment, finding the priest sick in bed.. When the priest revealed his hand in a bandage, the young men asked for more money saying that they had almost cut of the wolf's right front paw. What a coincidence. Needless to say, the priest paid all three days without saying a word. || ||
 * ==The good man from Torgnon==
 * ==The priest from Ayas==
 * =**WOLVES IN NATURE**= ||  ||
 * [[image:the wolf.JPG width="800" height="600" caption="research by Margherita Maquignaz & Gaia Salluard"]] ||  ||