His own children abandoned the old man in the forest without food or water for the inheritance, hoping that wild animals would devour him – but what the wolf did shocked everyone
The forest sank into deep darkness. On the damp ground, at the foot of an old oak tree, sat an elderly man. His breathing was heavy, his hands trembled from the cold, and his eyes were full of despair. His own children had brought him here and left him like a useless object.
The children had long been waiting for his death. The inheritance – the large house, the land, the money – was supposed to go to them. But the old man did not die. So the children decided to hasten the end: they left him in a remote forest without food or water, hoping that wild animals would quickly do their work, and that the police would consider it an accident.
The poor old man sat leaning against a tree, frightened by every sound. In the distance, the wind howled, but through it came another sound – the howl of wolves. He understood that the end was near.
— Lord… could it really be…? — he whispered, folding his hands in prayer.
At that moment, a branch snapped. Then another. Rustling sounds were approaching. The old man tried to get up, but his body would not obey. His eyes searched the darkness until a wolf suddenly appeared from the bushes.
The animal stepped slowly onto the path. Its fur glimmered in the moonlight, its eyes shone. The wolf bared its teeth and moved closer.
“This is it,” thought the old man.
He closed his eyes and began to pray aloud, expecting the terrible pain of the sharp teeth. But suddenly something happened that he could never have expected.
The wolf did not attack. It came almost all the way, stopped, and then… lowered its head and howled softly, as if speaking to the old man.
The man, not understanding what was happening, reached out his hand – and the creature did not flinch. On the contrary, it allowed him to touch its thick fur.
And then the old man remembered. Many years ago, when he was still full of strength, he had found a young wolf in the forest caught in a poacher’s trap.
At that time, he was not afraid and, risking his own life, had opened the terrible iron jaws, freeing the animal. The wolf had run away without even looking back… But apparently, it remembered.
Now this solitary forest predator bowed before the man, as if before his savior. The wolf lowered itself even more, signaling: sit.
With difficulty, almost without strength, the old man grabbed the animal’s powerful neck. The wolf rose and carried him through the dark forest. The old man heard branches crack under its paws, shadows of other animals flitting nearby, but no one dared approach the pair.
After a few kilometers, a light appeared ahead – the village. People, hearing the barking of dogs, ran outside and saw the incredible: a huge wolf carefully laid the elderly man, exhausted but alive, at their gate.
When the old man was finally safe, under the roof of kind people, he wept. Not from fear, but from realizing that the beast had been more human than his own children.