Amorak
(based on the legend)
by
Amethyst

There is a tale told in the far north, a story that runs deeper than the pack ice,
the story of how Manitou sent the great herds of caribou to sustain the people. The caribou covered the tundra and they and the people prospered. But after a time the herds began to decline. There was disease among the animals and many did not survive the harsh northern winters.

Manitou looked and saw that the people were taking the biggest and the best animals and leaving the weak and the sick to multiply. The herds continued their decline and soon the people were starving because without enough caribou to provide food and clothing, they too found it hard to endure the northern winter.

Then Manitou called on Amorak, the wolf spirit, and sent him into the world. And Amorak and his kind followed the herds, preying on the sick and weak animals, leaving the fastest and the best to survive and breed. The caribou became strong again and began to flourish and therefore, so did the people.

And the people saw the wolf's loyalty and devotion to his pack, saw the wisdom in the wolf's way of living. The people learned from the wolf and admired him, and called him brother. And the caribou and the wolves and the people all prospered in the way Manitou had intended.