Once upon a time, there lived a little boy with freckles and black hair called Patrick.
He wasn’t a prince, nor did he have rich relatives. In fact, his family was very poor.The family lived in a village surrounded by a beautiful green forest. Every parent in that town forbade children from going out there. There were mysterious stories about enormous, horrible creatures which even ate people! No one could really name anyone who had been eaten, but the stories lived lives of their own.
Patrick enjoyed playing in the field next to the forest with his friends. They could spend many hours in a row hiding in the tall grass from each other.
One sunny day, the children were playing and didn’t notice how close they were getting to the tall trees. They were still playing ‘hide and seek.’ No one really paid attention to where they were, or to the fact that it was no longer sunny, but rather cloudy and mizzling.
It was Patrick’s turn to find his friends. He was really quick and didn’t realize that he was going deeper and deeper into the forest. After some time, he stopped running and started listening. There was no sound, except for the plaintive whining of an animal. At first, he wanted to run away. But then he thought that an animal that was whining couldn't be truly dangerous. So, he went toward the sound.
There it was: a big grey animal lying helplessly. His first impulsive thought was to run away and find shelter at home with his parents. But then, a branch beneath the boy’s feet crunched, and the wolf opened his eyes.
They were yellow and full of fear. The wolf’s breath accelerated as it saw the boy. Now Patrick understood why it was lying here instead of running away: its paw was stuck between two branches.
“Please,” the animal said quietly. Patrick’s eyes widened. “You speak?” “Sure, why wouldn’t I?”
The boy thought for a second and then moved closer to the wolf. “You won’t hurt me?” “No, I won’t. I promise. But you should be quick; evening is approaching, and it’s dangerous out here.”
Patrick helped free the wolf. For a split second, the boy thought the animal might eventually eat him. Wasn’t this what his mother had told him? “Don’t go there, or it will eat you!” Oh, he felt so stupid for agreeing to help this wolf!
But when the wolf was finally free, he did something else. “Sit on my back; we don’t have time.”
At that very moment, they heard a terrible, inhuman scream. “Quickly, it is coming!” the wolf said. So Patrick did as he was told. He sat on the wolf’s back, and they ran to the village in minutes. Then Patrick stood up and said, “Thank you. Will I see you again?”
“I hope that one day you will. But remember: if you are in this forest again, call me anytime you are in danger. I will come to you. There are creatures there that you wouldn’t want to meet.”
Sometimes Patrick wondered if it had been a dream or his imagination. But then he recalled that after that encounter, his parents got a better job and they moved to a bigger house; his parents had more time to spend with him. Even though Patrick never had any evidence, he always thought that all the good things that happened afterward were because of his help to the wolf.
Sometimes, the boy would find grey fur on his doorstep, and he knew that his friend was still watching over him.
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