The old woman wiped the sweat from her brow as she gazed at her husbands motionless body, lying upon the cart. For years now, he had been unable to rise from his simple straw bed, unable to eat without help, unable to speakonly breathing heavily with clouded eyes fixed on the ceiling.
To her, the man had long been a burden. Once, he had been strong, a provider, a protector. But time had taken everything from him. Now, he only consumed their last scraps of food without giving anything in return.
One day, after chopping firewood and enduring sleepless nights filled with his groans, she decided she could bear no more. She heaved him onto the cart and drove him deep into the woods, where wolves were said to roam, and left him beneath an ancient, withered oak.
“Forgive me, old man,” she murmured without tears, “I can endure no more Survive if you can.”
And she walked away.
As the last creak of the cart wheels faded into the distance, the old man knew he was alone. Utterly alone. Surrounded by the dark forest and its hungry wolves.
The cold seeped into his bones. The earth beneath him was damp and frigid, the night air biting his skin.
A lump rose in his throat. He could no longer cry outhis voice had long abandoned him. He lay there, staring up at the black sky through the branches, his stomach empty, his lips parched.
Then, suddenly, he heard something terrifying.
At first, faintlike a twig snapping, paws padding softly. Then closer. One, then another, and another. Heavy steps. The wind howledor was it a wolf?
Fear seized him. His heart pounded as if it might burst. Wolves. She had left him here to be torn apart.
Out of the darkness emerged a figure. Grey, large, with gleaming eyes that held a cold fire. A wolf.
It stopped and stared at him. But then, something unexpected happened.
The old man wished to shut his eyes, to spare himself the sight of the beast, but he could not. This is the end, he thought. The wolf will devour me alive.
Yet the wolf did not lunge for his throat, did not bare its teeth. Instead, it stepped closer, then lay down beside himso near that the old man felt the warmth of its thick fur.
The creature drew a deep breath, closed its eyes, and did not move again, save for the occasional twitch of its ears.
At first, he could not believe it. But then, he felt the heat, strong and alive, radiating from the wolfs side.
Half-dead and stiff with cold, he pressed closer.
The wolf did not leave. The wolf kept him warm.
And so they remained through the nighttwo old souls, forgotten by the world, yet found in the depths of the dark forest.
