And who are you o'lord, that I must bow so low?..
Once upon a time there was a wolf and a man. The man was a great hunter and used many tools to tame the plains and forests of the world. He carried a great stone, which, when thrown would strike down the mightiest ox. With the stone, he carried a long knife that he would use to cut the animal open, and with the knife, he would carry a great stick, to strike at the animals from many distances away.
The animals of the forest grew angry and came to many creatures one after the other to challenge man and his attempts to dominate all of them. Wolf kept out of this quarrel, preferring his quiet roads and valleys to the squabbles of lesser creatures until one day a man strayed into his territory and wolf-driven by both anger and curiousity followed him.
The sky grew dark and it began to snow. Wolf, safe in his warm skin, watched as the man threw his stone at the sky in anger-but the sky could not die as the other animals had. Then he watched as the man drew out his knife, and cut into the snow, but it was only snow and could not be harmed. At last, he watched as the man threw his stick and while the stick hit a tree, it was only a tree and he could do no more. Laying down, the man prepared to die and the wolf approached him.
"I have heard much of you." Wolf said, "You have made many people angry. They would say that this is for your benefit and ours."
"I am dying." The man said, "I am dying alone and far away from my tribe. I am cold. Help me."
"The fish of the river cried out for help." Wolf said, "The deer of the forest, the cats of the mountains, my brothers. All have called you cruel and a monster."
"I am doing only as I must to keep myself warm at night. To keep my mate and my children fed. Would the fish in the river begrudge you food for your pups? Would the deer in the woods run from you if you said you could not feed your mate? I am alone and young in this world. You are old and wise. Help me."
Wolf thought about what he had said and padded to him, lying his great bulk across the man in the snow, "I shall stay with you until the storm passes."
"Such a warm coat you have!" The man cried, "With it, I would surely never be cold again."
"To each creature the sky mother and earth father have given gifts of great power. To me they gave my speed and my cunning and my fur. To you they have given something as well."
"To me." The man said, "To me they gave starvation, darkness, fear. We traded our claws for strange hands and our speed for our minds. We traded our fur for fire. None of which would help me now!"
"It is not for you to question the great will of sky mother and earth father." Wolf said, "You must be content."
But man could not be content. With each trade he had become jealous and watched, as only the young watch the old, what gifts they had gained and talents they had learned. As the snow lifted, the man grabbed his stone and killed the wolf with a single blow. He used to knife to strip the creature's skin and his stick to roast him over a fire.
He had not finished the last bite of his food before Mother Sky and Father Earth appeared to him and he was sore afraid. Falling to his knees, he begged their pardon.
"You have killed your benefactor." Father sky said, "Your brother wolf is dead at your hands."
"Mercy." The man said, "I was cold and I was hungry."
"We gave you tools to keep yourself warm. We gave you fire. We gave you tools to hunt. Wolf was your brother and you have slain him. He kept you warm in the darkness and saved you from the cold of death where no one has yet returned."
And the man looked at the wolf's skin and was afraid and sorrowful all at once.
"If you will not have mercy on me then have mercy on my kin." The man cried, "We are cold and there are others perhaps who are wiser then me."
"Let us hope there are." Father sky said, "But for your transgressions, you will go to the land of the dead ad you will bring brother wolf back to us. For he has saved you, and you owe him your life."
The man agreed to this and set out upon the journey to the underworld. He traveled many days and nights before finding the entrance and crossing over, he found brother wolf among the spirits of the dead.
"How am I to go back?" Wolf asked, "My body is gone save for my skin. I have no means to travel or to continue living."
The man, as penitence, lowered his head, "Brother, in my hour of need you saved me. You must use my body for this journey-and if you must then you shall use my body forever."
Wolf, touched by man's kindness, entered him and crossed back to the land of the living. Wrapping himself in the wolf's skin, the man went to find Mother Earth and Father Sky.
"Go gently." Wolf said, "For mother sky and father earth have a plan for each creature. THey will have expected you to loose your life in this endeavor."
Wolf was welcomed to the forest and came to a pact with the man. By day the man would hunt with his tribe, but by night, he would put on wolf's skin and wolf would walk his old paths and thus both their sins, the sin of trust and the sin of murder, would be forgiven.
And that is how the werewolf came into the world.