The Wolf and the Dog

The Wolf and the Dog

         “Oh, Moon. Make me beautiful,” Layla prayed as she looked up through a hole in the barn's roof. She prayed to the moon every night, and every night she asked for the same thing: to be beautiful.

         “Layla!” a voice snapped. “Would you quit dawdling and help me?”

         “I'm coming, Nina,” Layla sighed. She reluctantly turned away from the moon and headed towards Nina's voice. When Layla found her, Nina was moving her head side to side, trying to reach a spot on the back of her neck. She  couldn't quite reach.

         “Layla!” she whined. “I can't...reach!” Nina looked so funny, Layla had to laugh. Her response was a growl. “What's so funny?”

         Layla immediately went quiet. “nothing. Here, let me help.” She walked over to Nina and saw what was wrong. “There's a bur in your fur.”

         “I know that, you twit!” Layla winced, but didn't retort. “I'm asking you to get it out for me!”

         “All right, but hold still.” Layla swiftly removed the bur with her teeth, careful to not pull out any more fur than what was already stuck on it. She grimaced but didn't complain and spit the bur on the ground.

         “Ah, that feels so much better.” Nina gave a shake that started at her head and ran down to her tail. “i don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had you to get it out.” Her tone had gome from loathing to gratitude. Layla didn't buy it.

         “You're welcome, Nina.” She knew not to trust Nina's occasional kind words. She was like a rose: beautiful and hurtful at the same time.

         “Are you going to sleep tonight?” Nina asked her the same question every night, and the answer was always the same.

         “No, Nina. I'm going out.”

         “Again? Oh, that's right. Unlike normal dogs, you only go out at night. Like...some kind of wolf. I guess I would, too, if I looked like you.” Nina shook out her lovely fur. “Well, we can't all be as beautiful as I, can we? Except,” Nina laughed, “everyone in the family besides you is as beautiful as I. Too bad for you.” She laughed again, walking off towards her bed on the other side of the barn.

         Layla watched her go. She'd grown used to her family's comments about her looks. Her parents were both lovely Huskies, as were all of their children. Unfortunately, out of all four of them, she was the only pup that didn't inherit her parents' looks. Nina had been right. Layla resembled a wolf in more ways than her actions.

         She looked away from Nina's soft fur, strong build, and noble posture. Instead, she walked over to her bed of straw with her tail between her legs. Layla wished with all her heart that she could be beautiful like her sisters. She stared at her reflection in her water bowl. Wiry, gray fur; muscled legs; dull, yellow eyes—all so different from her family's lovely gray and white fur, graceful legs, and gorgeous blue eyes. Layla sighed. She knew she was the fastest and best hunter of all her siblings, for they were more concerned about keeping themselves well-groomed than developing their natural instincts. Layla had never meant to develop them, either. The forest was her only safe-haven when she wanted to escape all the whispered comments and snide remarks.

         “I wouldn't have to run anymore,” Layla whispered to herself, “if only I were beautiful.” She curled up on her bed and fell into a fitful, dreamless slumber.

         Layla awoke to her mother calling her name from somewhere outside the barn. She stood up and stretched her legs, noticing that the sun was shining brightly through the roof's hole. She trudged outside, wondering what Eve, he usually indifferent mother, could possibly want.

         “There you are,” Eve sighed. She had apparently been calling her daughter for some time. “I was beginning to think you'd gone back to the forest today.”

         “No, Mother. I was only sleeping.” Layla did not get along with her mom, nor did she want to. It was hard for her to address the dog that thought she was a failure as a daughter as her mother. Layla tried to keep the resentment out of her voice when she asked, “Did you want something?”

         “No, I didn't. This pup did.” Eve moved to let a very large dog approach Layla. Layla wondered why she hadn't noticed him earlier. He was only slightly bigger than her father.

         “I may be young, but I'm no pup,” he quietly growled. He turned to Layla before continuing. “My name is Zane, and I am the leader of the wolf pack that rules over this area.”

         Layla was thrown by his soft voice. She had been expecting it to be rough. Her voice shook a little as she asked, “You did want to talk to me, didn't you?”

         Zane nodded, “I wish to speak with you and with your sisters.”

         At that moment, Layla's sisters walked up to sit next to her. They barely acknowledged their youngest sister. Layla hadn't expected them to.

         “All my daughters are present, sir.” Eve left Zane to talk to her children.

         “very good.” The wolf leader began to pace in front of them, meeting all of their gazes except Layla's. She instinctively dropped her gaze, sensing this was the right thing to do in his presence. “I have paid you this visit for a very important reason.” Zane paused before adding, “I am looking for a mate.”

         All four of the dog sisters gasped. Surely a fine alpha male in a wolf pack would want his mate to be a strong wolf, not a dog. Layla's sister Rose voiced this to Zane, who merely laughed.

         “That is true. Unfortunately, all of the females in my pack are either too old or too young. I understand your family is the closest relative to us. As a matter of fact,” he added, meeting everyone's gaze except Layla, who again dropped her eyes, “you parents told me that you are direct descendants of the alpha male and female who ruled my pack generations ago.”

         Layla's three sisters puffed themselves up proudly. “That's right,” Nina said.

         “So, how are you going to choose which one of us is your mate?” Macie, the oldest, asked. Macie was was very impatient and very blunt.

         Zane laughed again and then stopped. His mood changed so suddenly that Macie, Rose, and Nina whimpered. He took an offensive stance and let out a menacing growl, baring his teeth. The dogs rolled over and exposed their bellies in submission; all but Layla.

         Layla surprised her sisters by immediately matching Zane's stance. Her growl was almost as menacing as Zane's. Her instincts told her not to submit, though her mind was sure she was about to be attacked. Amazingly, she felt no fear. When Zane moved, she moved with him.

         As suddenly as before, Zane's mood shifted again. He dropped his stance, but kept his teeth bared in a wolfish grin. “I've already chosen.”

         “What?” the four sisters yelped at the same time. They quickly righted themselves and shook out their fur, checking each other for dirt.

         “Whom did you choose?” Nina asked in a tone that suggested she already knew it was she.

         Zane gazed at each of them in turn once more, and again Layla avoided his gaze. Before he spoke, he stepped closer to them, sitting down in front of Layla. She finally met his gaze to see he was smiling. “I choose you,” he said to her.

         Layla's sisters were outraged. “Why her?” Nina cried. “She's ugly!”

         Zane growled in earnest this time, silencing the complaints. “None of you would survive in my pack. Your too-long fur would only get tangled in the forest plants. It offers no camouflage from prey. You have no hunting experience at all. You would not care for our family or pack. You would cower and run in fear.” Zane shook his head. “That is not beauty.”

         Macie, Nina, and Rose were astonished. No one had ever called them anything but beautiful.

         “Layla, on the other hand,” Zane continued as he gave her a loving look, “is more than I could have hoped for. I've heard about her outings from my subjects. She has hunting experience. I must admit that she has better instincts than even my finest hunters. Her fur is the perfect shade of gray to blend into the forest shadows.” He turned back to the other three and added. “Layla showed me no fear, as you did. She stood her ground and showed the bravery of a true wolf. She is perfect to be my mate and help govern my pack.”

         Layla couldn't stop smiling. She had always known she was different. Now she knew why: she was a wolf. Her instincts had told her all along; her heart just hadn't known it yet.

         Zane nuzzled her muzzle. “You are truly beautiful. Now, let us depart. It is time to take you home.”

         With that, Zane and Layla left her sisters staring, open-mouthed. To think a noble wolf had chosen an ugly pup like Layla over them. They walked with their tales between their legs back into the barn, never even turning to watch their sister leave.

         Zane had taught them a very important lesson: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.