When the devil saw that the wolf was running him close he pulled out three hairs from his body and threw them behind him on to the wolf. The wolf, who up to that time was hairless and smooth, was suddenly covered with thick bristles, which, in one way or another, were to prevent him from running so fast after the devil. It is for that reason that the wolf has such thick bristles, and his eyes glisten in the dark. They are the hair of the devil and the sparks which have got into him through the devil’s hair. And since that time when he hears the wolves howling the devil takes to his heels, lest they catch him as God commanded them to do.
Polish, Lettish and other Slavonic variations of the legend concerning the creation of the wolf by the devil are given by Dähnhardt (l.c. pp. 147 ff.), yet none so full as the Rumanian version. According to one, the devil had made the wolf so as to have a creature of his own. But he endeavoured in vain to call his creature to life, for he would persistently say to it, “Arise, for I have made thee.” Only, however, when he whispered into his ear, “Arise, God has made thee,” did the wolf spring to his feet. Then he attacked the devil, who ran away and escaped with difficulty.
IX.
WHY DOES THE WOLF RUN AFTER THE DEVIL?
The Story of God, the Devil and the Stone.
According to a curious Rumanian version from Transylvania (in Archiv. f. Siebenburg Landeskunde, 23, pp. 4–8, abbreviated by Dähnhardt, pp. 152–3), the devil went to God and said to him, “O Lord, thou hast created man and so many other creatures, but thou hast not yet created the wolf.” And God replied, “Very well,” and, showing him a huge boulder near a forest, told him to go and say to the stone, “Devil, eat the stone.” The devil went and said, “Stone, eat the wolf.” The boulder did not move. The devil went to God and said, “The stone does not move.” “What didst thou say?” “Stone, eat the wolf.” “But thou must say, ‘Devil, eat the stone.’” The devil went again to the stone and said, “Stone, eat the devil.” Whereupon the stone moved and ate the devil, and in its place there stood a wolf with the face of the devil. Since then there are no more devils in the world, but wolves too many.
This story, as here abbreviated, is undoubtedly corrupted. The real form must have been at the beginning, “Stone, eat the devil,” but the devil changed it into, “Devil, eat the stone,” until he spoke exactly as he was told, and the stone turned into a wolf.
The wolf is dreaded as the most savage beast, and could therefore only be conceived by the popular imagination as the creation of the devil.