Wolf Tracker:

inscription: I WOLF TRACK STORY
August 7, 1989—Northwest Coast of Vancouver Island. At first light a solitary male wolf was making tracks in the packed sand below the high tide line:
Yes, this is good here. I’m glad I came down to the beach at last and left those fools up there in the hills. I heard them again last night after they’d run down that doe. The howling would lead you to believe they’d taken a bear; and then the tiresome ritual of who gets the first bite, who gets the tripes, the liver, the lights. All that scuffling, fawning, licking—that despicable sociability.
The mice in the driftwood and the crabs in the tide pools suit me very well. Little snacks all day long. Then there’s the pleasure of watching the people come in from the water to make their shelters and light their bonfires. Yes, the summer here is pleasant. But give me February and a wild southeaster and that’s the best of all. I take my place, there, just at the edge of the woods. I sit up straight and smile as the roaring waves rush in, until they see that it’s me, looking at them. Then they fall on their faces in terror and rush forward to kiss my feet.
II INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
With the Wolf Cane you can write stories right on the earth. The basic narrative consists of wolf tracks ad libitum with human tracks beside them (you walking while you punch the cane into dirt, sand, snow, fresh concrete—whatever surface will take an impression). Already you have three stories: 1) Person walking being tracked by a wolf; 2) Wolf walking being tracked by a person; 3) Person and wolf walking along together. Turn the tracker around and you can produce three more: 4) Wolf backtracking person; 5) Person backtracking wolf; 6) Wolf and person meeting and passing on. The terrain will help you flesh out these versions; every stone, fallen tree, beach, stream-bank, or bush will offer an occasion for a digression or an anecdote.
The wolf tracks alone tell the best story of all. If you can erase your own footprints you will have left a tale of the wolf only, producing the animal where it had not been before, and discovering that self-effacement is the first step toward extinction.
Mowry Baden
Steven Young
1992

cataloguer: Robbyn Lanning