The Wolf of Saint Francis
Saint Francis was a devout follower of the Lord, and was greatly kind to all of those he came across, be they a mere insect or a powerful king. And in turn, all of those he came across were kind to him as well, regardless of their typical temperament.
One day, Saint Francis arrived in the town of Gubbio, and upon talking to some of the townsfolk, he came to learn of a massive and terrifying wolf that had escalated from not only dragging off livestock, but even men were dragged off in the dead of night and feasted upon by the horrible creature. Thus, the townsfolk all barricaded themselves inside at night, for fear of being caught by the beast in the darkness.
Saint Francis was not one to allow people to suffer, and so he told the townsfolk that he would deal with the wolf that had been plaguing their town. They pleaded and begged him not to go, for they cared much for him, and knew that if he were to seek out the beast, he would never return to them. Yet, Saint Francis set out anyway in search of the great wolf.
Saint Francis drew close to the woods beyond the town, yet before he could even enter the forest, the massive wolf came charging out from between the trees, his mouth wide open so as to swallow Saint Francis whole.
Yet, Saint Francis was not afraid. He did not flee, instead standing where he was, and he he made the sign of the cross and called out to the wolf "Stop".
And stop it did. The wolf halted its charge and stared down at him.
"Brother Wolf," Saint Francis said. "I bid you to cease hostilities against myself or any other people of this town, and so too their livestock."
The wolf laid down upon the ground and cast its eyes to the ground.
"Ordinarily, you would be put to death for your vile acts of murder and thievery," Saint Francis said. "But, that is not to be your fate. Instead, you will come with me to the town, and you will work to repent for your sins for the rest of your life."
The wolf raised its head and began to wag its tail.
Saint Francis turned his back on the wolf and walked back toward the town, and the wolf dutifully followed behind him.
The townsfolk were struck with awe and fear when Saint Francis brought the wolf into the town.
However, Saint Francis quickly worked to assuage their fears. "Fear not this wolf," he said. "He will harm you no longer, and will instead spend the rest of his life among you in peace, in order to show his repentance for his sins."
The people took Saint Francis at his word, and allowed the great wolf to live among them. The wolf played with the children and assisted the townspeople with moving things when it could. And whenever unsavory bandits and brigands attempted to accost the people of the town the great wolf was there to scare them off.
When the wolf eventually passed on from the world, the people were sorrowful, since aside from their personal sorrow over the passing of the great wolf who had once plagued them, they knew that Saint Francis would be afflicted with greater sorrow over the loss of one he had made his friend.
Author's Note
So the story I adapted was the story of Saint Francis of Assisi. The original story chronicled many things that Saint Francis did, but I particularly enjoyed the story of him taming the fearsome wolf, and so I decided to adapt that particular story instead of adapting the entire thing.
I kept largely true to the original in terms of overall plot points, but I obviously made my own minor changes as well as telling the story in my own words.
Bibliography
Story Source: Saint Francis of Assisi by Abbie Farwell Brown (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)
Image Source: Image of a wolf by skeeze, sourced from Pixabay
