Stories about wolf cubs for children. This is a sad story about the love of two wolves
A true story about a wolf living among people!
The other day I heard a call at home:
- We heard that in Pudvai a man keeps a wolf at home!
We are hand in hand - and off to the village. On the way, we wondered where he got this wolf from? Maybe he picked up a wounded man in the forest, or maybe the hunters shot the mother and brought the baby to the village. It turned out to be neither one nor the other.
Yuri Zolotarev is a hunter himself, and there is no way to hunt without a faithful friend. Again, the house needs a watchman.
“I had a good guard dog, a Caucasian,” says Yura, “but he was poisoned.” And last year a mobile zoo came to Glazov, where among the animals there was a Siberian wolf with tiny wolf cubs. They were only three days old. So I got excited - I want a wolf cub! For what? For mating, of course. I’ll find a good husky, and if everything works out, there will be puppies - there’s no better place to hunt! Strong, fearless, with a wolf's sense of smell, which is ten times sharper than a dog's.
True, Yura was not allowed to take the wolf cub home right away - he was too small. “We’re going to Kez with the zoo now, so come and see us in a week,” the owner ordered, “and we’ll agree on everything there.”
Exactly a week later the hunter was in Kezu. By that time the wolf cub had grown up and become stronger. Having bargained with the owner of the zoo for two thousand rubles, Yuri brought the baby to Pudvai. Called him Count. At first I fed him milk from a pacifier and baby formula, and later switched to dog food.
Every day a hound named Gerda is on duty near the Pudva stop. Affectionate, smart, she meets and sees off buses in any weather, fawns on passers-by, saying, pet me - I’m good. Gerda is also Yurina’s dog, so she wags her tail in a friendly manner and accompanies guests to the house. The Count is already rushing towards him, rattling his heavy chain. He impatiently moves his paws, presses his muzzle to the ground, spins like a top - he rejoices. It looks like an ordinary dog, he even wags his tail. My hand reaches out to stroke the thick black fur (the Count’s father is a Canadian wolf), but at the last moment something stops me. Eyes! Yellow, as if glassy. The black barrel of the pupil looks unblinkingly. And this steely gaze gives me chills. Go figure out what's on the predator's mind. Look how healthy he is, even though he’s only a year and a half old.
“Oh-oh-oh, I’m afraid,” laments the hunter’s mother Yulia Evgrafovna, squeezing sideways through the gate. The Count jumps around, gets underfoot, tries to grab a stick with his teeth.
- Ugh! It is forbidden! - the old woman fights back. - What the hell is this devil for! As much as I feed, I am afraid that it will bite.
“Don’t let him bite,” the son laughs, “you see, he’s just playing.” With these words, Yura tries to throw the Count on his back. The wolf cub desperately resists, growls, throws himself at the shoe and ruffles the sleeve of Yura’s jacket with feeling.
The hunter made a kennel in the yard especially for the Count. I scattered some pieces of wood and rubber tires nearby so that there would be something to chew on. They feed the wolf meat and potatoes, and slowly teach them to eat bread. Unfortunately, the Count does not yet recognize Yura as his master, so it is better to stay away from him while eating, but under no circumstances show that you are afraid.
What Yuri is proud of is that he managed to teach his charge some “dog” commands, for example, to give a paw. Sometimes the Count plays pranks. Once he grabbed a gaping chicken. Another time he got out of the collar and slipped into the neighboring yard. I ate chicken there too. I had to give the chickens to the neighbors so they wouldn’t fight.
- How do people in the village react to the fact that you keep a wolf?
- Yes, in different ways. Some, when cattle are slaughtered, carry bones and tripe for the Count. Others are afraid, they think that with his howling he will attract all the wolves in the area, they say, the gray ones will come running from the forest and chew us all up here.
- Does he howl at the moon at night?
- But of course! - Yura smiles. - He doesn’t know how to bark.
The hunter has not yet decided what he will do with the wolf when he grows up. He hopes that the temperament of a predator raised in captivity will not be as harsh as that of its forest counterparts, and that it will be possible to find a common language with it. If not, you will have to give it to the zoo or to the young naturalists station.
“It will be a pity to leave,” Yuri sighs. - I became attached to him with all my soul.
Natalia Khabibullina
For thousands of years, people lived side by side with wolves, however, to this day these predators remain a dangerous enemy for humans. They are cunning, they have a stable hierarchical system, they are much smarter than their closest relatives - dogs.
Tail pipe
Wolves use facial expressions and movements when communicating in a pack. The tail plays a big role. The leader has it raised high with a “pipe”. This is the first sign by which you can distinguish the leader. In the middle hierarchy, which usually includes wolves of the older generation, it is lowered, and in the lower level in the wolf pack it is tucked up to the belly.
The central life of the pack is concentrated around the leaders, who stand out not so much for their physical endurance as for their individuality. Leaders constantly have to confirm their position. In addition to the usual duties of searching for prey, choosing a path and protecting the pack, they, in particular, repeatedly show aggression towards members of the pack: growl, bite, chase them. Aggression is especially necessary during the mating period. It suppresses the hormone levels of other members of the pack, forcing them into submission and killing competition. Under normal conditions, only the alpha pair has the right to reproduce in a pack.
Smarter than dogs
You can sing odes for a long time about the physical superiority of a wolf over a dog. But the wolf is not only stronger, but also smarter than its closest relatives, who were tamed by humans 15-18 thousand years ago. This conclusion was reached by scientists from the Messerli Research Institute at the Vienna Veterinary University. They conducted an experiment involving 14 wolves and 15 mongrels, all approximately the same age, six months old.
Everyone was given the opportunity to watch once or twice how a trained dog, using its teeth and paws, opened a wooden box where food was stored, and thus received a tasty trophy. Later, each of the puppies was allowed to be near this box where the food was stored. To the surprise of the scientists, all the wolves exactly repeated what they saw and got to the food. But among the dogs, only four succeeded.
At the second stage of the experiment, the test was complicated. The wolves were left to solve a similar problem only without a preliminary demonstration, that is, the wolves found themselves in front of the box, without any hint on how to open it. In this case, they did not show a brilliant result - few figured out how to knock the lid off with their paws or teeth. According to the study authors, this proves that wolves are able to learn by observing the actions of other animals, copying their behavior if it provides them with a benefit.
Numerous observations of the behavior of wolves show that they are more capable of imitation and attentiveness than dogs. Their brains are 30% larger than those of dogs. This is an additional memory that the flock uses, including when going around their territories and routes. They never move at random, and follow the herds of large ungulates, which often constitute their main diet. Their memory is a kind of catalog that tells them, taking into account the familiar habits of the victim, where and with what probability they can meet this or that animal. Having chosen the right direction to the place where dinner will be served, they rush towards it along well-trodden paths to intercept.
Black Wolf
In general, black wolves should not exist in nature. Scientists from Stanford University proved in 2008 that the mutation responsible for the appearance of black fur occurs only in dogs, therefore, black wolves are the result of a long-standing crossbreeding of gray wolves with domesticated dogs. It is still unclear what advantage individuals born with black pelts gain - this does not make them better hunters, but it does show improvements in resistance to certain infections. Black wolves are most common in North America.
Cannibalism
Despite the warm relations in the pack, wolves do not hesitate to feast on their closest relatives, if fate provides such an opportunity. Of course, no one will get into a fight for food. Usually fatal clashes occur during mating games between young rivals. Therefore, if someone in the pack is seriously injured or killed, his brothers and sisters will not refuse such food. In the end, nature did not grant these predators a simple life. Sometimes you have to go without food for up to two weeks. Frequent victims during war between packs are the alpha pair - in wolves, as in humans, they killed the leaders and defeated the enemy.
You can't tame, you can't have mercy
People often put a comma in this sentence incorrectly, believing that miracles happen, and even a wild animal, if treated well, can be tamed. In the end, the behavior of wolf cubs is no different from ordinary puppies - they are always ready to play, enjoy communication, love their owner, except that they ask for more food. And yet the wild beast remains wild, nature takes its toll. And the point is not so much in the amount of food, due to the lack of which a wolf can become brutal, but in the peculiarities of the social behavior of adult wolves.
There are many stories in which a wolf lived for a long time in a person’s house like an ordinary dog, except that it only demanded more food, but everything changed with the onset of puberty. An adult wolf must take its place in the pack. Therefore, the matured animal always had to show that in the “human pack” the masters of the house are the main ones. Moreover, this must be done constantly, otherwise the “pet” would simply take the vacant place. In the end, the struggle for social hierarchy led either to severe injuries to family members or to the euthanization of the beast. The domesticated wolf is barred from entering the forests - there are two ways for him, either to the zoo or to the veterinarian's office.
The wolves kept us warm
Mary Kranik was eight months pregnant when, returning home, she was caught in a terrible snowstorm. The car drove off the highway and got stuck in a snowdrift. Mary got out of the car, hoping that a hitchhiker would pick her up. But the snowstorm kept getting worse. The desperate woman decided to walk to the city. She barely covered about 800 meters when labor pains suddenly began. Noticing a place nearby where there was less snow, Mary found it difficult to get there and, due to pain and fear, lost consciousness.
“I came to my senses a few minutes later,” recalls Mary. “My head was lying on the back of a huge wolf, probably the leader of the pack. The rest of the wolves, and there were about nine of them, surrounded me in a tight ring, shielding me from the blizzard. I didn't even have time to get scared. About 20 minutes later I gave birth to the baby.” One she-wolf carefully gnawed the umbilical cord, and then, together with her friend, licked the child. The rest of the wolves clung to Mary, warming her. Mary tried to pick up the baby, but did not have enough strength. The same she-wolf, who had gnawed the umbilical cord, pushed the child towards it with her nose. The baby was crying, and this meant that he was alive. Mary gave him the breast. “The wolves were near me all the time, protecting me from the snowstorm with a thick wall - I was like a member of their pack in need of help. The leader of the pack licked the snow and tears from my cheeks.”
Mary Kranik's acquaintances discovered the abandoned car and immediately began a search. Seeing a pack of wolves on a hill, they decided that something terrible had happened. They started shooting. The wolves fled. And then a woman with a newborn child was found leaning against a tree. The wolves did not run away, they watched from afar as people carried their ward into the car.
“They won’t forget me,” Mary Kranik told reporters. “I’ll get out to that place someday with my little Bill.” I'm sure they will come."
If it weren't for the witnesses who discovered Mary surrounded by wolves, no one would have believed this story.
Foresters and hunters refuse to comment on this case - they have never heard of something like this. They discourage the woman from dating “bloodthirsty” saviors. But Mary Kranik does not listen to persuasion and waits for the meeting. Trapped in a snow trap, American Mary Kranik gave birth to a healthy baby weighing 3.4 kilograms. “They considered me part of their pack,” recalls the 25-year-old secretary from Talkeetna, Alaska. “If it weren’t for their care, my baby would not have survived. The wolves warmed us, licked the newborn, Helped me take the baby to feed. They guarded us until help arrived.”
A moneybag moved to our village, restored the collective farm, bought tractors, small and large cattle, and a moderate life began. Many went to work for him, a small but stable income. We were all happy, despite the fact that this rich man felt like our god and master of everyone and everything. It was harmful until we were blue in the face, but we endured it and had nowhere to go.
So he generally went mad when his cattle began to disappear, and they blamed it on the wolves. Well, indeed, most likely they are, since the remains of livestock were often found gnawed in the forest. He appointed a reward for each head of a killed wolf. Well, there was a real gold rush for the total extermination of wolves in our taiga. It got to the point that the men and I split into two teams and started competing to see who could bring the most goals by the end of the evening. We bet on three bottles of vodka for the evening feast. On the first day, our team lost, and the men and I agreed to get up early and go deep into the forest to shoot more. We got up at dawn, got ready and hit the road.
The day started well. Already in the morning we managed to shoot three, and then there was silence, for several hours now there was not a single wolf. We decided to rest a little and have a snack. And not far away, under a large stone, there was a cave, and from there a wolf came out and growled at us, which seemed very strange, since they usually run away at the sight of people. Well, without thinking twice, I shot him with a well-aimed shot in the head with the words: “The fourth is ready.” We ate and left the carcass lying there (we then collected them on the way back, making coverings from brushwood).
They shot two more and decided to go home, collecting a bloody harvest along the way. When we reached our resting place, I stood rooted to the spot. Three wolf cubs clung to the chest of a dead mother wolf and drank milk. Tears flowed like a river on their own until I was struck like thunder by another shotgun blast and the words of one of the men: “With one shot I killed three people, small heads too.” I rushed to the wolf cubs, picked up one still alive in my arms and, imagine, a small ball of fur, bleeding, dying in my arms. He looked into my eyes with his little button eyes, after which he licked my hand, closed his eyes, from which two drops of tears appeared, and his heart stopped beating (I’m writing, but he’s in tears).
I started yelling: “This is a child, you killed a child, you killed innocent children. They are children, they are not guilty of anything. What difference does it make between a person and a wolf, children are all the same.” After which I jumped up and started hitting everyone with anything I could find, I went crazy until they grabbed me and I calmed down a little. And what do you think, they are going to throw them into the heap too. I again broke loose with the words: “Don’t touch them, otherwise I’ll shoot them all.” The men left me with the words: “Well, stay with them, we’re going.”
I dug a grave and buried them together, mother and her children. I sat at the grave for a long time and asked them for forgiveness, like a madman. It started to get dark and I headed home. Gradually I began to forget about this incident, but I never went on a wolf hunt again.
Several years have passed. It’s winter, there’s no work, but the family needs to be fed. I went hunting to shoot a bunny, and if I was lucky, a deer. I wandered around all day, but there was not a single living creature in the area... I was just getting ready to go home when a snow storm broke out, so strong that I couldn’t see anything further than my nose. The icy wind penetrated to the bones, I felt that I was starting to freeze, and if I wasn’t home soon, I would die from hypothermia... There was nothing left to do but go home at random. So I wandered in an unknown direction for several hours until I realized that I was completely lost. The strength left me, I fell into the snow, feeling neither my arms nor my legs. He could not move, only occasionally raising his eyelids with the thought of looking at the world one more time before death. The storm stopped, the full moon came out, but there was no more strength, all that was left was to lie down and humbly wait for death. When I opened my eyes again, the same she-wolf stood in front of me with her cubs, they just stood and looked at me... I remember the thought that ran through my head: “I deserve this, you can take me.”
Some time later, they turned around and climbed the hill, but what is most interesting is that in complete silence I did not hear any of their steps, there were no traces left after them. The passage of time seemed to slow down, I felt every second of my life, when suddenly the deathly silence was interrupted by the howl of wolves, not just one, but a whole pack. I look at the hill where my ghostly guests have disappeared, and a whole pack of wolves descends from there. “Well, that’s it,” I thought, “this is death, to be eaten alive.” There was no thought of reaching for the gun, since my hands had not obeyed me for a long time, I could only watch as death came closer and closer.
One was already at my feet, followed by ten more wolves. I mutter: “Well, come on, what are you waiting for, eat it while it’s warm.” And they stand and watch. The one that stood at my feet climbed on top of me and lay on my stomach, followed by the second, the third... They surrounded me from all sides, I didn’t believe it, I thought I was sleeping. From head to toe I found myself in a living fur coat of wolves; their warmth over time caused unbearable pain throughout my body, but I was happy. I felt myself, they warmed me, they saved me. "For what???" - I asked myself a question. I heard them seem to be communicating, they were muttering something to each other. “They are intelligent,” I thought, and they are saving the killer of their relatives... I fell asleep with this thought...
I woke up in the morning to the screams of men from the village who had come out to look for me. All the snow around me was in wolf tracks. I got up and moved somehow towards them, cloudless sky and bright sun. I'm alive, it's a miracle!!!
That's when I lost two fingers from frostbite. I think this is the only thing that my saviors did not cover up. As you can see, they will never fire a gun and kill anyone again.
Website "Our Planet".
WOLVES
Throughout human history, wolves and people have always lived side by side. These predators have always posed a danger to humans. They attacked livestock and sometimes humans. Therefore, people have always sought to destroy these predators by all means and means. Wolves were poisoned, killed with guns, caught in traps and nooses, etc. In recent years, airplanes and helicopters, snowmobiles, etc. have been used against wolves. Despite all these measures, wolves continue to live. True, in many countries of Western Europe there are no wolves for a long time, but there are few conditions for their life there. Wolves are very flexible and live in a wide variety of climatic conditions. They live in the taiga and tundra, in the steppes and deserts, in cities and swamps.
There is a known case when a pair of wolves lived in the center of Moscow for almost two years. Of course, they ended up there due to human fault, but, having been thrown out onto the street as puppies, they were able to adapt to life in the city. They caught rats and later stray dogs and cats. People did not even suspect that these dangerous predators lived next to them.
Wolves are adapted to hunting large ungulates, but they feed not only on the meat of these animals. They catch mice and rats, hares and squirrels, frogs and lizards. During the years of peak numbers of mouse-like rodents, wolves largely feed on them, which brings certain benefits to forestry. Scientists, studying the life of these predators, have long come to the conclusion that wolves devour, first of all, sick and weak animals. Wolves have historically been regulators of the numbers of many game animals. The role of wolves as population regulators and breeders in biocenoses is undeniable.
However, due to the fact that humans have invaded the network of relationships between predators and prey, the need arose to regulate the number of wolves themselves. This means that the number of wolves in hunting and commercial enterprises must be constantly monitored. There can be no talk of complete elimination of the wolf in our country.
People often ask: is a wolf dangerous for humans? During the Great Patriotic War, when the persecution of wolves almost completely stopped, their numbers increased greatly. The wolves began to lack food. Hunger and lack of fear of humans contributed to wolf attacks on humans, mainly children. In the Kirov, Kostroma and Volgograd regions, more than two dozen cases of children dying from wolves were officially registered. Of course, only individual individuals specialized in this fishery. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, when the persecution of wolves began again, cases of wolf attacks on humans became very rare.
It should be noted that the wolf, of which man has always felt fear, was surrounded by the halo of a fairy-tale character, where the wolf always played the role of the bearer of evil. And this is not only in fairy tales. You can often hear terrible stories about attacks by packs of wolves on people. The media, which are in great need of sensations, also contribute to this. In fact, when checked, all these rumors are not confirmed by anything.
And yet the wolf poses a danger to humans. Animals with rabies are especially dangerous because they lose their fear of humans. First of all, those animals that hunt dogs and enter populated areas must be destroyed.
I must say that even as a child, I often heard scary stories from adults related to these predators. Naturally, I was very afraid of meeting wolves. Later I had several encounters with these predators.
One day my mother and I were walking along a path crossing a wide snow-covered field. An unfamiliar woman coming towards us ran up to us and repeated in fear: “Wolves! Wolves!”, pointing towards the edge of the forest. There, at a distance of about three hundred meters from us, four wolves trotted across the field in a chain. Two wolves ran ahead, and the rest ran behind at some distance. The animals did not pay any attention to us. Despite this, we were very scared. After waiting until the wolves disappeared into the forest, we continued our journey. All my life I will remember this snow-covered field along which a pack of wolves is running. It was the time of wolf weddings.
My second encounter with a wolf occurred in the summer, when I was fishing with a fishing rod in one of the backwaters of the Shuralka River. Hiding in the bushes, I carefully watched the float. My attention was attracted by the splash of water on the opposite bank of the river, where I saw an animal drinking water. Fear paralyzed me. But then the wolf turned around and disappeared into the bushes! After waiting, I grabbed the fishing rod and quickly retreated. All the following days I literally lived only with this vision, telling about this meeting to everyone I met.
Sometimes wolves slaughtered our neighbors' sheep, dragged dogs, and once our neighbor shot a seasoned wolf that had climbed into his yard. This was a big event in our village! We came running several times to look at this terrible predator.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the wife of the famous test pilot Kokkinaki, evacuated from Moscow, lived in our village. Considering the importance of this person, the plant management gave her coupons to receive a couple of liters of milk in the plant's subsidiary farm. This lady, exotic for us at that time, accompanied by an equally exotic lap dog, went to the farm every day to buy milk. One day, when Kokkinaki’s wife was returning home from the farm, a wolf jumped out of the bushes and, grabbing the lapdog clinging to the owner’s feet, quickly disappeared. The hunters immediately followed the wolf's trail, but found nothing except a few tufts of dog hair.
I also had encounters with wolves in adulthood. This happened in a vast snow-covered clearing near the village of Chorkiny Borki, Tambov region, where I was hunting hares. Being on a hill devoid of vegetation, I saw a herd of four moose running through a clearing, pursued by two wolves. Drowning in deep snow, the wolves tried to catch up with the moose. Fleeing from the wolves, the moose made a semicircle and I saw how two more wolves rushed across them, who managed to approach the moose at a distance of 40 meters. By this time, the moose ran not far from me and disappeared into the forest. The wolves, noticing me, stopped in the distance. Despite the great distance, I fired a couple of shots at them and they ran away. This is how I first witnessed wolves hunting moose.
In 1983, after leaving the police for a well-deserved rest, the director of the Visimsky State Nature Reserve D.S. visited me. Mishin, who offered me a job at the reserve. The forest has always attracted me. Sometimes I even dreamed of living in the forest, where I could privately observe the life of the forest inhabitants. This opportunity presented itself and I agreed.
My friends and work colleagues were perplexed. How could a person with the rank of lieutenant colonel and a law degree, fame and respect in society, agree to work as a forester? Therefore, I spent most of my time here in the forest. Communication with naturalists, studying the wildlife of the reserve, observing the behavior of animals in natural conditions helped my formation as a naturalist.
Now my meetings with wolves have become regular. I gradually exchanged with my workmates about the encounter with wolves and their behavior. They kept a record of these predators based on their tracks and a record of the moose killed by them. The primary scientific data I collected on the flora and fauna of the reserve always received the highest assessment from the scientific staff of the reserve.
ON THE WOLF TRAIL
On a cold November day, when approaching my winter hut, I discovered a wolf trail running from the depths of the forest towards the clearing, which is on the southern border of the reserve. It was clear that many animals had passed along the path. The path passed ten meters from the winter hut and again went deeper into the forest. Taking off my heavy backpack, I, with a gun in my hands, followed the wolves along their path to find out the purpose of their visit to my detour.
Closer to the edge, the wolves dispersed and fanned out in different directions. The search began for moose that often rested here. Soon they managed to find a moose cow and a young-of-the-year calf lying on the bed, and the flock began the rut. Fleeing from the wolves, the moose ran out into a vast clearing. Following the trail of the pack, I discovered shreds of moose hair and splashes of blood in the snow. Continuing my trail, I came across the corpse of a calf killed by wolves.
The snow around him was compacted by wolf paws and stained with blood; to the side, about fifty meters from the scene of the incident, stood a moose cow, who was carefully looking in my direction. Apparently the mother of the elk calf witnessed the terrible massacre of her offspring. At that moment, just ten meters from me, a wolf jumped out of the thickets of grass and began to quickly run away. At the moment when the predator jumped over a thick dead tree, I shot at it with small shot. Grabbing his butt with his teeth, the wolf ran headlong. On the second shot I had to miss, as the tall and dense clumps of reed grass got in the way. At that moment I saw wolves jumping out of the thickets of grass and quickly running away.
I especially remember a very large wolf, which seemed huge to me. Apparently this was the leader of the pack. In total there were about seven animals in the pack. The shots also forced the moose to run away. Having examined the trail of the wolf I had wounded, I was convinced that the small shot could not cause him much harm. He ran away as quickly as other predators, although droplets of blood were visible in the snow where he ran.
Following the racing trail, I could not imagine that I would be able to see wolves, since I knew their caution well, and therefore I loaded the gun with small shot. After examining the calf, I came to the conclusion that the wolves first of all tore its stomach and began to devour its entrails! There were huge wounds on the thigh and in the throat area. Having satisfied their hunger, the wolves settled down here to lie down.
Turning the calf over on its other side, I was convinced that there were almost no traces of wolf teeth. Knowing that the wolves would not return to their trophy, I took out a knife and cut more than twenty kg of pure meat, which was in great short supply at that time. While busy with this work, I heard a short but deep howl sound from the side. The seasoned one announced the gathering of the pack. To better protect it from mice, I placed the elk meat in a closed metal container and used it in the winter. The wolves never approached their trophy.
In the morning I again discovered fresh traces of this flock, on the very path along which they passed near the winter hut. The remains of the elk calf went to the ubiquitous crows, who in the evening fed in large numbers on the wolf's trophy.
Of this whole story, what struck me most was that the wolves were so careless in letting me get close to them, although in the future I will encounter such behavior from wolves. Another interesting fact is that, having lost the calf, the moose returned to the place where her son died and, exposing herself to danger, apparently still waited for the calf to return. However, having enough food, the wolves did not pay any attention to it.
AT THE WOLF CONCERT
On a warm August evening, together with reserve employee A. Galkin, we went to the reserve zone of the reserve to listen to the wolves, who at that time often broke the silence with their howls. And here we are in a huge overgrown clearing adjacent to the reserve, where we have heard the howl of a wolf pack more than once. Having taken places convenient for observation, approximately a hundred meters from each other, we began to wait.
The approach of autumn was felt everywhere. The thickets of reed grass and fireweed covering the clearing have already withered, and the first yellow strands of autumn have appeared in the crowns of the birches. In the rays of the setting sun, the blood-red rose hips glowed invitingly.
The silence of the evening was broken by the loud crack of breaking branches. It was a hundred meters away from me that a bear approached and began to break the thick branches of a bird cherry tree to get to its berries. The presence of a bear was not part of the repertoire of the wolf concert, and I felt afraid that the clubfoot could ruin our evening. I couldn’t see the bear itself, although a head and paw flashed several times against the background of a bird cherry bush. But you could clearly see how the branches of the bush shook when the bear tilted and broke them.
At this very time, a prolonged howl was heard, which echoed from the further wall of the forest. Anatoly did this using glass for a kerosene lamp, imitating a wolf howl.
After that, the bear disappeared without a trace, and a few minutes later a response howl was heard from the far corner of the clearing. It was the she-wolf who answered. The next sound, similar to the howl of a wolf, was made by me. And again we heard the answering howl of the she-wolf. The she-wolf was approaching. The sun set below the horizon and the valley of Skalia, from where the she-wolf gave the signal, was covered with fog. Having made sure that we were not in a hurry to meet her, the she-wolf again approached. Unfortunately, it began to get dark and it became clear that we would not have to wait for visual contact with this predator.
Soon behind me, where a path runs along the edge of the forest, I heard the stomping of wolf cubs running here. And a few minutes later the silence was broken by the overflowing voices of a wolf brood. “To attend such a concert in Canada, for example, tourists pay a lot of money, but here you can listen as much as you want for free,” I thought. When, not far away, several young wolves began to howl at the same time, I felt a chill run down my spine.
The howl of a wolf involuntarily causes an unpleasant feeling in a person. It is not difficult to imagine how our distant ancestors perceived this howl. I had a loaded gun in my hands, but I couldn’t see the wolves, and I didn’t shoot at the sounds and rustles. Wanting to lure the wolves to him, Anatoly made an attempt to shout, but his voice broke and instead of a mournful howl, a major grunt was heard. A she-wolf who was nearby Anatoly ran away, whining in fear. I could clearly hear her whining and the rustling of dry grass two or three dozen meters away from me. The wolf youth also escaped.
In the silence that followed, one could hear the deep howl of the seasoned man far away near the Shaitan road. So that evening the wolf concert ended in the protected zone of the Visimsky Nature Reserve.
WOLF IDYLL
On a sunny March morning, I was skiing through the southeastern sector of the reserve’s protective zone. For several days now the weather had been clear but frosty, which contributed to the formation of a strong crust on the surface of the snow, which covered a small layer of freshly fallen snow. This made it possible to move easily and silently.
Attention was drawn to the guttural cries of ravens circling to the side above the trees. These black messengers of death behave this way when they discover someone's corpse. Changing the direction of movement, I hurriedly went to the place where these birds gathered.
Having crossed a large forest clearing, I approached a clump of fir trees, behind which I could see another, smaller clearing. At that moment, to my left, about two dozen of these black birds rose into the air screaming. Looking in that direction, I saw something else dark in the snow, which I took to be a calf killed by wolves, which I decided to examine. To my great surprise, I realized that I was not seeing a calf, but a wolf lying in the snow.
The wolf lay with his back to me, lazily gnawing on a moose shoulder blade. He was only ten to fifteen meters away from me, and I mentally cursed myself for not taking a gun with me. For several minutes I carefully examined the predator lying in front of me. But then the wolf jumped up and, turning, stared in my direction. For several seconds we looked into each other's eyes. I saw the hair rise on the back of the beast's neck. An instant and the wolf spread out in a fast, sweeping run. He was wonderful. And this picture with an animal running in the snow will forever remain in my memory.
Having examined the area around the dead elk, I was convinced that the pack consisted of three adult wolves. When I arrived, one of the wolves was resting on a pile of hay pressed down by snow, overlooking the steep slope of Mount Raspberry. Apparently, he was the first to detect my approach and, leaving a heavy piece of meat on the bed, ran away unnoticed. Another wolf was resting under a Christmas tree, not far from their trophy. Apparently his duties included protecting the meat from annoying birds. Seeing me still on the way, he also ran away, which allowed the crows to immediately go down to the meat.
Thanks to the strong crust, which was able to hold wolves well, it was not very difficult for the wolves to catch an elk that had fallen through in the deep snow. Having caught the elk, the wolves indulged in a serene rest for several days, until my appearance interrupted this idyll.
It is interesting that this very cautious and sensitive animal allowed me to approach it at such a close distance. Of course, this was facilitated by the constant cries of ravens. While still at the scene of the event, I heard a short calling howl in the direction where the wolf who made the mistake had fled. It was the leader of the pack who gave the gathering signal.
After I left, the wolves returned to their trophy a few days later, passing here I did not find any ravens or wolves. And where the elk carcass lay, several tufts of elk hair darkened on the powdered surface.
ON THE WOLF HUNT
Actually, this cannot even be called a hunt, since the meeting with wolves, where I used a weapon, was purely accidental. The reserve staff more than once organized round-ups of wolves, but I always avoided this on a variety of pretexts. This same time I walked from the city of V. Tagil to my winter quarters, located in the quarter. 84 reserves.
It was a rainy October evening. Approximately only a thirty-minute walk to the winter hut, I decided to rest under the thick crown of a fir tree near a clearing adjacent to the forest. Next I had to follow a path covered with tall and wet grass. Therefore, I collected all the rifle cartridges in my pockets and, putting them in a plastic bag, hid them in my backpack. There was about an hour left before dark. Having rested, I had nothing to do, cupped my hands like a mouthpiece, and let out a long, wolf-like howl.
When I was about to leave, a loud cry of a nutcracker was heard not far from me. The nutcracker, like the magpie, seeing a large predator or person in the forest, strives to inform others about it with its cries. The scream repeated and I decided to postpone leaving. Not even five minutes had passed, in the direction where the nutcracker screamed, I noticed the head of a wolf leisurely walking towards me. Lowering its head, the animal carefully studied the smells of the path, apparently looking for traces of the one who issued the calling howl here. Following the leader, the backs of two or three more predators could be seen from the grass. The hunter's excitement made me feel very excited, because I was sure that the hunt would be successful.
I noticed that against the background of withered grass, the wolves were hardly noticeable. The color of their fur was surprisingly similar to the light of yellowed grass. When the wolf walking in front approached 25-30 meters, I raised my gun and fired a shot. Grabbing the buckshot-damaged side with its teeth and growling ferociously, the beast began to quickly spin around. For this reason, I missed with another barrel. Instead of reloading the gun, I jumped out of cover and ran close to the wounded wolf, hastily searching my pockets for cartridges.
Realizing that the cartridges were in the backpack I had left in the shelter, I decided to finish off the beast with the butt of my gun. The beast dodged the blow and darted into the bushes, where it continued to whine and growl. Quickly returning to the shelter and taking out the cartridges, he again ran to where he had left the wolf. However, now everything was quiet. Deciding that the wolf might have died, I began searching. Soon it got dark and it began to rain. This made me rush to the winter quarters. I scolded myself for the mistakes I made, but hoped that in the morning I would be able to find my trophy.
However, the searches in the morning were unsuccessful. I decided that the wolf either died from his wounds or recovered and would continue to live, which is what I hoped for more. And yet this wolf died. As I learned, he was noticed by a hunter driving a car not far from this place on the road. The wolf was greatly weakened and was unable to escape. Thus my wolf hunt ended in failure, where I, as a hunter, did not show myself at my best.
AT THE WOLF'S LAIR
Back in early June, while in a clearing adjacent to the reserve from the south, near Sakalya, I discovered a clearly visible wolf path in the grass. Here the path ran into a small stream flowing into the Sakalya, on the bank of which there were many wolf tracks. This means that wolves often came here to drink. To find out where they were coming from, I decided to check the trail in the opposite direction. I had not walked fifty meters when the path led me to a warehouse, “forgotten” by lumberjacks, of logs, under which a hole was clearly visible leading under a pile of rotten wood.
Attention was drawn to the area in front of the hole, about four meters in diameter, thoroughly trampled by wolf paws, on which not even grass grew. Apparently, the wolf cubs played here in the absence of their parents. There was no way to inspect the lair hidden under a thick layer of logs, since this would have required scattering heavy logs. Not far from the den, I found a lot of wolf excrement containing moose hair, but there were no bone remains here.
Satisfied that I had managed to find the wolf's den, I left. A few days later I came to the den again, hoping to see the wolves. However, there were not even fresh traces of these predators here. Apparently the wolves, knowing that their lair had been discovered, took their already grown wolf cubs from here to another place.
A couple of weeks after this visit to the wolf's den, I was walking along the Shaitan road, approximately 1.5 km from the wolf's den. Transport no longer traveled along this road, since during the spring flood it was washed away in many places by melt waters. When approaching the Berezovyi stream, which also flows into the Sakalya, I noticed the abundance of wolf tracks and excrement here.
Having reached a stream crossing the road, I sat comfortably on a log lying on the side of the road and began to rest. Tall grass covered me on all sides, and the trees nearby created good shade. Soon some splashing was heard. Someone large was approaching me along the stream, loudly splashing its paws on the water. I was worried about the possibility of a mother bear and a bear cub appearing, the traces of which I saw there.
Raising my head above the grass, to my greater surprise I saw three wolf cubs lying next to me on the roadway. Their fur was wet. One of the puppies stood up and tried to grab the gadfly circling above him with his teeth. After a few minutes, the wolf cubs got up and slowly walked along the road. These were teenage wolves: large-headed and long-horned, as it seemed to me, with exorbitantly long ears and thin tails, which gave them a funny look. About forty meters from me, the wolf cubs lay down on the road again. After waiting, I stood up and began to examine them through the eyepieces of my binoculars. Seeing me, the wolf cubs rose to their feet and stared at me with their muzzles. The tips of their raised ears still drooped. I slowly walked towards them, but the cubs continued to stand. It was clear that when they first saw a person, they did not feel any fear towards him. It was difficult to see only curiosity in their behavior. I had not walked even ten meters when a menacing roar was heard from the left of the road, after which the wolf cubs seemed to be blown off the road by the wind.
In August, in the direction where this meeting took place, I often heard their “songs” after dark. Once, when the first snow cover fell on the ground, this trio, having lost or fallen behind their parents, encountered a path, ran at night straight to the winter quarters in the quarter. 84 reserves, in which one of the researchers was sleeping soundly at that time. Running up to the winter hut and seeing an unfamiliar structure, the wolves were confused and howled in unison. Hearing a heartbreaking wolf howl under the windows, the frightened employee grabbed a stick and began hitting the bucket with it, which in turn scared the wolves. The behavior of the wolves was easy to recognize from the tracks they left in the fresh powder.
MEETING IN THE NIGHT
One sunny May morning, walking along the road going along the slope of Makarova Mountain, I remembered the person after whom this mountain is named. About forty years ago, on the top of this not very high mountain there was a base of the Kosulinsky timber industry enterprise, where Makar worked as a watchman. When the timber industry enterprise used up all the resources of the nearby forests, it moved to another area. Makar was left without work, but did not leave his favorite place. He lived in a hut left to him as an inheritance from the forestry department. He beat a cedar cone, picked raspberries and mushrooms, selling his spoils in V. Tagil. Then he began to graze calves here, which were brought to him by the residents of V. Tagil. After fattening, the owners took their bulls and heifers, and Makar received a reward.
This is how this man, who had strayed from society, lived. In his old age, Makar moved to live with relatives in the city, where he soon died. I knew this gloomy but quiet man well. In the history of geography there are many names of mountains, rivers and lakes that were named after ordinary people.
On the day I passed along this road, the bird cherry tree was blooming profusely, filling the air with the aroma of its flowers. The song thrush clearly beat out the roulades, inviting the inhabitants of the forest to “drink tea,” and the finches whistled loudly. But then a hare jumped out onto the road and quickly hobbled towards me. I froze, afraid to move. When the hare approached at a distance of several meters, he stopped and, rising on his hind legs, began to carefully examine me. He wiggled his ears amusingly, but could not understand what kind of scarecrow was standing in front of him on the road. I moved, and the hare darted into the bushes like an arrow.
Before I had time to move, a wolf jumped out onto the road, in the very place where the hare had appeared. At first he wanted to run along the hare's trail, but, noticing me, he hid behind a bush, from where he began to watch me. I didn’t move, looking at the animal through binoculars. It was a large wolf, with lighter rags of winter wool hanging on its dark skin. This gave the animal a not very neat appearance. The wolf also could not understand what had appeared there on the road. He came out from behind the bush and began to look carefully in my direction. At that moment I suddenly raised my hand and the wolf disappeared.
It was not difficult to understand that the seasoned man was scouring his lands to get food for the wolf cubs. Later I had the opportunity to meet his offspring.
This was already at the end of August. When I was walking along this road, a pair of wolf cubs ran out towards me from around a bend. Frightened, they whined and rushed into the bushes. It turned out that the wolf cubs came running to quench their thirst in one of the puddles, where their traces and cloudiness of the water remained.
My next meeting with the family of this seasoned man took place in late autumn. Circumstances forced me to follow this road on a dark night. The night was very quiet, and there was no sign of anything unusual. But then I heard a loud cracking of branches and the clatter of hooves of a running elk on the side of the road. The moose rutting period had not yet ended and I thought that the elk was rushing in my direction, having heard the rustling of my steps. I froze, trying not to make any sounds. I saw the dark carcass of an animal flash across the road not far from me. And almost immediately after him across the road, the figures of wolves chasing the elk flashed like gray shadows. Hoarsely growling and squealing, the wolf pack followed the trail of the elk fleeing from the wolves. After waiting until the sounds of pursuit died down, I continued on my way.
I must say that this meeting in the night gave me an unpleasant feeling of danger, because I did not have any weapons with me. Of course, even the flock, enraged by the persecution, could not attack me. During my time working in the reserve, I had many other visual contacts with wolves, but all of them were less impressionable than the ones I described.
AT THE WOLF WEDDING
AT THE WOLF WEDDING
On a sunny February day, while on the territory of the Visimsky Nature Reserve, I discovered a fresh wolf trail, laid by a pack of wolves in my rounds. And since February is the time for wolf weddings, I had no doubt that the trail was paved by a wedding procession. The rut is a special period in the life of animals when their behavior changes dramatically. I had to watch the “fight” at hare weddings, see the mating tournaments of black grouse, listen to the “whisper” of love of wood grouse, witness moose fights, but I have never been to a wolf wedding. Therefore, forgetting about all my affairs, I immediately followed the wolf path, although I did not have any weapons with me.
Following the tracks of animals gives the naturalist the opportunity to better understand the behavior of the animal. And now, moving along the wolf path, I carefully examine the tracks of animals left in the snow quite recently. Judging by the tracks, the pack consisted of two seasoned wolves and a she-wolf, two young ones and three young ones, as hunters call young wolves that are not yet a year old. Pereyarks are wolves that are more than a year old, but have not yet reached sexual maturity. Seven wolves are already quite a large pack.
Packs with a large number of wolves are very rare. Therefore, talk about wolf packs, in which there were dozens of wolves, is nothing more than stories. Wolves live in families, and therefore they are very jealous of the appearance of strangers in their hunting grounds. In addition, during the rutting period, the leader of the pack does not allow anyone near the she-wolf, not even his grown-up children.
And now, young people trail behind their parents at a considerable distance. You can't get close to parents who are in love. Here is the area where the parents were engaged in love games, and the rest of the family closely watched them from a distance of about 50 meters. Soon the wolf and she-wolf laid down in the snow, and the others also lay down to rest, at a distance from them. Moreover, the three young ones all lay down side by side, and the older ones were a little away from them.
My appearance did not really frighten the wolves. Rising from their beds, they slowly moved on. Having become a considerable distance away from me, the flock came across a resting moose. The elk had not even managed to run two dozen meters when one of the pereyarks caught up with him and snatched a large tuft of wool from the elk’s skin. But the initiative of this wolf was not supported by other members of the family and he was forced to return and take his place on the path.
The excitement that the younger family members experienced at the sight of their parents' love games was higher than hunting. The young wolves could not understand why their parents were driving them away. They could not know that from now on they would have to live independently, that the seasoned ones would soon retire and lead a secretive lifestyle. The young people have already grown up and can already stand up for themselves. Now the leader of the pack will be one of the Pereyarks.
Throughout the day, until late evening, I followed the trail of the pack; I had to raise the wolves from their beds three times, but I was not able to see them. The wolves managed to detect my approach and leave in a timely manner. Tracking helped me better understand the family relationships of the wolf pack.
http://www.ecosystema.ru/01welcome/articles/piskunov/index.htm
I am a purely urban person, as they say, a child of asphalt and concrete. But the husband, being an avid fisherman, also had the gift of persuasion.
Tanya, how long can you breathe dust and communicate with glamorous girlfriends on the Internet? Let’s go to nature, there’s a forest, a river, non-GMO products and meeting local residents,” he whined day after day.
But Andryusha, this is not how I imagined our wedding vacation,” I was angry. “I thought we’d go to Venice or, at worst, to Turkey, and you’re offering me some kind of Skolovka!” Is there even running water there? And then, I work at a bank, remember? What can I have in common with local milkmaids?
What are you talking about, Tanya! Venice and Turkey will not escape us! And the residents of Skolovka are incredibly nice people; their village is three hundred years old. One might say, an ancient cultural center. Besides, they know a lot of fairy tales and legends, can you imagine? - Andrey said enthusiastically, looking longingly at his brand new fishing hooks.
Yeah, these natives probably still believe in some kind of kikimora and worship the merman! - I snapped.
But I thought about it. The village, which the groom enthusiastically praised, began to seem to me a rather exotic place...
Our arguments about the trip continued for three days, and, as in the case of water that wears away stones, I soon gave in to persuasion. Of course, I couldn’t even imagine then that while I was in a godforsaken village, I was a modern businesswoman! - I will encounter a terrible mystical phenomenon that will radically change my life.
Our misfortunes began on the day of the accursed training camp: while Andrei, observing the sacred ritual of a fisherman, was packing his fishing rods, I tried to put myself in order with the help of light makeup. Suddenly, my grandmother’s old mirror, which had faithfully served our family for thirty years, cracked without any reason.
Andrey, we are not going anywhere! - I squealed. - Look, the mirror broke! This is a bad omen. Something bad will happen to us...
May you calm down, Lord! It just cracked from time to time! Read your dream books less and you won’t believe in any nonsense. And then, if you didn’t cut yourself with its fragments, then everything is fine. “Luck is on our side,” Andrey answered, looking forward to a successful trip to the river.
Well, yes, when a man thinks about fishing, he becomes a terrible egoist,” I reproached my husband.
At that moment a taxi honked at us.
Well, let's go, let's go! Stop worrying about nonsense! - Andrey hurried, grabbing his travel bag and backpack. However, when we left the entrance, an impudent black cat crossed our path. I was dumbfounded.
Andryusha, I'm scared! Maybe we'd rather stay at home? - I begged.
Now why? You know, it’s our crazy neighbor from the first floor who feeds them! A whole herd of cats of all stripes wanders around the yard. If we stayed at home every time on this occasion, we would already die of hunger! - Andrei got angry. And I was forced to admit that he was right.
We drove to the station in silence, sulking at each other. Then, looking at my husband, I tried to understand why I chose him, a poor, awkward historian who was fond of fishing and was happy with his books. After all, at work, rich and successful men were after me, and I could make a pretty decent match for myself. “Love is the biggest mystery in the world...” I thought when the taxi driver unloaded our belongings in front of the station.
While my husband was running for tickets, I, bored, chewed ice cream. And then, out of nowhere, an old gypsy woman appeared in front of me.
Beware of the fog on Wolf Island! You will lose your loved one, you will find wealth, you will free forgotten souls... - she muttered with a toothless mouth.
I reluctantly handed the abnormal witch a small bill, but the gypsy disappeared without taking the money, as unexpectedly as she had appeared. When Andrei brought the tickets, I did not tell him about the third warning. He wouldn't listen anyway.
When we arrived in the village, I changed my mind about it, and my fears dissipated.
Tanya, look how beautiful it is all around! - Andrey said cheerfully, kissing me. - I spent my childhood here.
The village of Skolovka was one of those beautiful places where time seemed to stand still. A series of neat houses, surrounded by apple and cherry orchards, lined up on a beautiful green hill, behind which lies a field lined with even squares of vegetable gardens. A winding river flowed at the foot of the hill, then lost itself in a dense forest with ancient oak trees. In my opinion, the picture was slightly spoiled by the ruins of the church, surrounded by old rickety grave crosses, but someone would probably consider this a romantic highlight of the landscape. To me, its broken windows seemed like empty eye sockets of a skull, and the red bricks of the walls, peeking out from behind the collapsed plaster, resembled bleeding wounds.
The terrible sight of the destroyed church awakened a disgusting feeling of melancholy in the depths of my soul. This sometimes happens: nothing bad has happened yet, but the subconscious is already preparing to survive the catastrophe.
Cheer up, Tanyusha, I’ll show you my grandfather’s house,” Andrei said, pressing me to his chest, and I smiled bravely. The house turned out to be simply wonderful: two-story, it was built in the form of an ancient mansion and resembled a gingerbread house from a fairy tale. I walked along its creaky stairs, and it seemed to me that a brownie was hiding somewhere in a dark corner. Then I discovered my husband’s grandfather’s gorgeous library and became so engrossed in reading that I completely forgot about dinner.
Andryushka! He came himself and brought his beautiful wife! - the voice of the fat neighbor, Aunt Nyura, was heard on the porch, who looked “over the light” with a plate of pies. - Well done! What about your good-for-nothing brother? Any news?
A dark cloud passed over Andrei’s face, and he did not answer. And Aunt Nyura, nodding, turned the conversation to another topic. We sat, drank tea and chatted - well, about nothing.
“I didn’t know that you had a brother,” I immediately approached Andrey with questions when the guest went home. - Why didn’t you ever tell me about him?
“There’s nothing special to tell,” the husband replied, sighing heavily. - Our grandfather was a mathematics teacher. He raised us after our parents died. Only now I went to college, and Igor got involved with bad company. And he got into a bad situation. When he was sentenced, my grandfather died of a heart attack... Since then, I have not communicated with my brother.
He nervously lit a cigarette.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said, kissing my husband. - Whose portrait is this? - I asked, pointing to a yellowed photograph hanging on the wall in a wooden frame.
This is my grandfather's older sister. “She died during the war,” the husband responded.
What a beautiful face. Nowadays, she could become a model,” I suggested, looking at the photo.
Well, that's all for today, enough memories! - Andrei shook his head. - Tomorrow we get up early, we'll go fishing.
Finding himself in bed and closing his eyes, my husband instantly plunged into the kingdom of sweet dreams, and for a long time I tossed and turned from side to side. It seemed that the old house lived its own life, breathed and, in spite of me, creaked its floorboards. The robber nightingale performed at the same time with him outside the window. Then it seemed to me that I had lost myself in a heavy sleep and in this half-sleep I saw the girl from the yellowed photograph.
Don’t be afraid of the horrors of Wolf Island, I will save you,” she said with a quiet smile. “Just find the gold, free us...” and she touched my forehead with an icy hand.
What about my husband? - I asked in horror, looking back at the sleeping Andrei.
You can't escape fate! - quiet words reached me, and I fell into the silent darkness of an anxious sleep.
Well, my dear, you’re much better off sleeping. Get up, otherwise we won’t have time to go fishing.
Andryusha, look! - I exclaimed in fear, pointing to a huge wet spot on the edge of the bed. It was there that the ghost sat in my dream.
Oh, it's probably the roof leaking. It rained at night,” Andrey waved his hand.
But when we left the house, the ground turned out to be dry. However, the strange dream quickly flew out of my head when Andrey and I found ourselves in the forest. After walking about a kilometer among ancient oak trees, we stopped on the river bank. There, my husband expertly set up a tent, set up fishing rods and stared at the water, and I, like all women fishing, dutifully began to get bored.
After wandering along the river bank for a while, I felt that I could no longer stand this boredom. And suddenly I saw an island in the middle of the river covered with young trees and reeds... Immediately I remembered the night vision. The strangest thing was that in the center of the island there was a tall old oak tree.
Andryusha, what is the name of this island? - I asked my native. - Wolf - yes?
In surprise, he dropped his fishing rod:
How do you know? - Andrey asked, turning sharply.
I heard it somewhere... Maybe you said it,” I answered indifferently.
Well, I don’t know... In our village, old women scare children with the legend of this island. Let's go have some tea and I'll tell you everything. Still no bite. Apparently I’m losing my qualifications,” my beloved grinned.
We sat down by the fire, Andrey poured me hot tea from a thermos and began his amazing story.
My grandfather’s older sister, Nina, whose photograph you saw, worked as an accountant in a bank in the regional center in 1941. When the Germans began to advance, bank employees burned the money according to instructions, and hid three boxes of gold bars on this island. Then it seemed to them a safe refuge. Then all the bank employees died, and someone handed poor Nina over to the Germans. The invaders tortured the girl for a long time and then took her to this island. The gallows were built on that oak tree over there,” Andrey pointed to the huge tree in the center of the island.
Nothing good. The Germans threw a noose around Nina’s neck, and the fellow villager who betrayed her, on his knees, begged: “Nina, Ninochka, tell them everything, because this is your last chance.” But the girl was silent, and the Gauleiter knocked the log out from under her feet. A minute later it was all over, but... To the surprise and horror of the executioners, the dead girl opened her eyes. “Now you will wander forever on this island in the form of wolves, until a good soul finds the cursed gold and sends your souls to hell!” - said the hanged woman. That's all. Since then, no one has seen the Germans or that traitor again, only at night people heard a wolf howl coming from the island.
It seemed to me that an icy wind blew from the river.
What a terrible fate... So, your unfortunate grandmother, like me, worked in a bank? - I noticed after listening to the story. - No, well, about her resurrection and curse, this is, of course, fiction, but the rest may well be true.
Then we walked through the magical forest, fed each other ripe berries, made love on the river bank - so passionately and for a long time that we did not notice how night had fallen.
Andrei fell fast asleep in the tent, and I, lying in his arms, listened in horror to the wolf howl coming from the island. Only in the morning I managed to fall asleep. When I opened my eyes, breakfast was ready, and Andrei proudly showed me an old motor boat.
Here, the forester lent it. Today we will sail to Wolf Island. The bite there is excellent,” said Andrey.
But, honey, I heard a wolf howl at night,” I said, pointing towards the island.
Come on, you coward! It’s just that after my terrible story you had a nightmare. Well, what kind of wolves can there be in the center of the river? - he laughed.
His confidence and cheerful mood dispelled my fears, and I thoughtlessly got into the boat. But the closer we got to the island, the more nervous I became. Finally, the boat crashed into the shore with a nasty creak. Having settled comfortably with fishing rods in a new place, my husband went about his fishing, and I went to the center of the island to look at the oak tree where the life of the beautiful Nina was cut short.
When I touched the oak bark with my hand, a thick fog descended on the island in the middle of a beautiful summer day.
Tanya, run! - I heard Andrey’s voice. I wanted to run to his shore, but in the fog I lost my way. Losing the remnants of my sanity, I rushed among the trees. Suddenly, two wild red eyes lit up in the fog in front of me, then another pair, and four huge black wolves blocked my path. They stood there, silently baring their teeth, but after a minute they retreated and disappeared into the thickets.
The fog cleared, and I finally found myself on the shore. Andrei sat in the boat, trembling, his jacket smeared with mud.
Andryusha, let's get off this damned island quickly! Well, to hell with this fishing, let's go home! - I begged, throwing myself into his arms.
Yes, let’s go,” he nodded. When we sailed to the middle of the river, I noticed that my husband had changed: he was slouching all the time, and his voice became different - dull and unpleasant, besides, his left cheek was twitching all the time.
Where did you stain your clothes? - I asked suspiciously.
“I was looking for you in this damned fog,” my husband muttered through his teeth, and then I noticed a strange tattoo on his wrist,
You are not Andrey! - I shouted in fear.
Ah, I guessed it, damn chicken! I’m his brother, Igor...” he laughed evilly. - Escaped from the colony, hid on this island. Here I found gold, it is hidden under a large oak tree. Luckily for me, you ended up here. “I decided to use my brother’s documents... Now I’ll throw you into the water, and then I’ll play the grief-stricken widower,” the scoundrel said calmly.
Fear gave me strength. "Murderer!" - I shouted, pushing the scoundrel in the chest with all my strength. He fell over the side of the boat, surfaced, and then, screaming, went to the bottom, as if someone had pulled him out of the depths.
Returning to the island with the police, I found Andrey. He was wounded but alive. But the divers never found the body of his murderer brother, so he was put on the wanted list. While my husband was recovering and gaining strength, I visited the island with the locals. We found rotten boxes with gold bars, and when we loaded them into the boat, five skulls floated up from the bottom of the river. Experts determined that one of them was female, and the rest belonged to men. Being an experienced accountant, I registered the treasure as a donation for the restoration of the church in the village of Skolovka. Now renovation work is underway there, and a priest has already appeared. This is how the secret of Wolf Island was revealed.
- Taiga tea: composition, indications and storage conditions for the collection Taiga tea
- What meat is the healthiest for humans?
- Signs for the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as rituals and prohibitions Annunciation customs and signs what you can do
- Mushroom picking: general rules and advice for a novice mushroom picker Dream of picking mushrooms in the forest