Werewolf Geneology or a New Look at the Three Little Pigs

"Hi everybody. My name's Mike Stump and I'm a werewolf."

[Group: Hi Mike!]

"Last time I was here, I told you about a long ago ancestor of mine who was the wolf in the real story of Little Red Riding Hood. Well, having tracked that story back to a werewolf, I began wondering what other fairy tales owed their origin to other were-creatures. Since I'm a werewolf, I researched wolves, first. And the one I managed to track down really surprised me. It was the tale of the three little pigs!

"Here's the thing that really surprised me; there really were three pigs. But they weren't little and weren't really pigs. They were boars. Were-boars, actually. Unfortunately, I never was able to find names for any of those involved.

"The werewolf involved was probably a hermit. He was definitely a loner, living out in the forest in territory he'd claimed as his own. As best I can tell, the werewolf had been a monk of some kind before he contracted ALPS. The monk believed that he had 'received Satan's curse.' The monk sort of communed with nature-"

[Person in the crowd: They had hippies back then?]

"No, they did not. The monk communed with nature to witness God's hand in creating everything around the monk. He wrote about everything he studied and was quite a good naturalist. He also wrote about the 'curse' that came upon him every full moon. Like last time, I'm going to tell the story the way the monk did in his writings.

"I have lived by myself for years, as Satan's curse demanded. Yesterday, while walking the forest, I happened upon a crudely built hut. Thinking a woodsman or huntsman had moved into the area, I feared what might happen to them when the full moon rose that night. I knocked on the door to the hut. The hut was so crudely built, the entire thing shook as my hand struck it.

"The door was opened by a very short, heavy-set man. His eyes were piggish, displaying little intelligence. The man's speech was almost bestial, so much so that I could barely understand him. 'What..want?' was all I could discern.

"Speaking carefully and slowly, I told him a cursed beast stalked the forest. The man either did not understand or did not care. 'Bah' was all he said as he closed his rickety door in the my face.

"I attempted to move as far from the hut as possible before my curse came upon me. I did not wish harm upon the short man. Satan felt otherwise, guiding me directly back to the hut. Approaching the crude hut, my nose detected the scent of wild boar rather than man. A normal wolf would not attack a boar alone. A creature cursed with the power of Satan would not hesitate. At least I would not be responsible for murder this night!

"I crashed through the fragile door and came face to a face with a very small boar. We fell to fighting, the boar attempting to impale me on its tusks while I move constantly, snapping at the boar's flanks and legs. I did not succeed in killing the boar. It ran off into the forest and I let it go.

"This morning I returned to the scene of the fight. The crude hut had been destroyed. I hope the small man has left. I could find no evidence of him. I believe the man witnessed the fight with the boar and has been frightened away. I hope so.

"I returned the next day and discovered a new hut had been built right where the old one had been. This hut was built more strongly than the first one but it, also, was crudely contructed. Hoping to convince the man to leave, I knocked on the door to the new hut. Once again, a short, heavy-set man with piggish eyes opened the door. It was not the same man, though it was almost certainly his brother.

"Once again I attempted to explain about the cursed creature who roamed the forest when the moon was full. As I spoke, the man from the other day appeared in the doorway as well. God knows I attmpted to make myself plain to the men but neither of them seemed to understand the danger. As his brother before him had done, the small man shut the door in my face.

"As before, Satan's curse returned as the sun's bright light as replaced by the moon's baleful illumination. As before, I found myself drawn to the crude hut. As before, the scent of man had been replaced by the scent of wild boar. As before, I broke through the door. I found myself facing two small boars. The boars and I fell to with avengeance. Doing battle with one boar had been difficult. Had these boars been larger, battling two would have been impossible. I know not how long we fought though the eventual result was the same. The two boars escaped into the forest together.

"I returned to the scene in the morning. As I anticipated, the hut had been destroyed. I returned to the scene each day for seven days. Neither then men nor the boars returned.

"Okay, I'm taking a break from the monk's point of view for a minute. He wrote a lot of stuff that isn't important to the story over the next four months. Content that the men had been scared off, the monk did not return to the scene of the two fights during all of that time. I'm returning to the monk's point of view four months after the second fight.

"Today, my studies of God's wonderous world brought me back to the part of the forest where the huts had been built. To my dismay, I discovered a cabin standing where the huts once stood. The cabin was of sturdy construction, built with large, strong logs. Though I doubted any good would come of it, I knocked on this new door. The door was answered by a third man, obviously the brother of the other two. As before, my warnings fell on deaf or uncomprehending ears. The man just laughed and closed the door in my face. With Satan's curse due to return this evening, I am certain I will return here.

"My expectations of that afternoon were correct. The curse came and I found myself drawn to the cabin. I was not surprised to discover the scent of man was once again replaced by the scent of boar. As Satan had cursed me with the form of a wolf, so he had cursed these men with the form of a boar. Arriving at the cabin, I immediately threw myself at the door to the cabin. The door did not give way. Again and again, I threw myself at the door only to be repulsed each time. Finally, even my bestial mind realized I could not break through the door. I searched for alternative entrances, even climbing to the roof on split logs stacked for fire wood. There was a chimney on the roof but it was quite narrow. I could not have descended through it even in the form God gave me. Eventually, my cursed form gave up and went elsewhere in search of accessible prey.

"That's really all the monk had to write about the confrontation, but you can see the main part of the entire story as we know it today. The monk soon left that part of the forest entirely, afraid he would eventually be forced to fight the boars for the territory. He knew he couldn't win such a fight, so he moved deeper into the vast forest."

[Person in the crowd: So you figure some storyteller ran across the monk's story and came up with the three little pigs story?]

"Certainly, though I doubt he came up with the story as we know it today. Oral stories tend to evolve from teller to teller, from year to year. But the important thing to me is that we're starting to see just how much truth lies behind these stories once thought fanciful.

"These are stories that have stood for centuries. I've already told you of two stories that were inspired by our ancestors. This is something astounding we can all hold onto, all appreciate. When this world starts to get you down, think of our contribution to world literature and take pride in who you are!"