A strange story!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

By the end of the 19th century and a fine day of the biginning winter, one of my ancestors, Antoine Caminade, had been sent by his father to get the farm rent of his tenant farmer Jules Levesque from "Baylet" on the high plateau.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It was a 2 hours walk to climb and half and 1 to go back but Antoine, a 20 years old young man, was rather happy to avoid the boring farm work by this sunny day..


[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

.. More than one hour later, arrived on the plateau, he didn't believe what his eyes were seeing!..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

.. Ahead.. twoo wolves were walking on his way!..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

.. and twoo others on his back!..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Antoine knew that wolves did'nt attack healthy adult men and decided to hide his fears.. making the way stones to sing with its solid stick..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

.. So he continued his way with his strange companions who walked keeping always the same distances..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Halth an hour later, he arrived at Baylet. The wolves stopped and leaved him to go quietly..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

There, he told his strange adventure to Jules.

" Be quiet now, I'll give you Borruch to go back, he doesn't fear wolves and already killed one!" said this latter. As I keep the sheep inside or just around, I don't need him by now"

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

And after a good meal and some fulled Casic wine glasses, Antoine decided to go back to arrive a long time before night.

The wolves had disapeared.

" I'll come down next month to get Borruch back, it will be the occasion to drink some glasses with your father and grand!.. and don't worry now, no wolf would dare to bite Borruch at its Studded collar!" said Jules.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

 And reassured by the good wine and the presence of the molosse on his side, Antoine leaved..

.. but at the entrance of the woods, just at the top of the plateau, Borruch growled:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The wolves were there, waiting for him!.. Ahead..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

..and back..

 Antoine hardly retained borruch to attack them because he knew well it had no chance against 4 wolves!..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

 and the walk went on, like during the morning, the wolves keeping the distance but walking with him..

"If they didn't attack when I was alone, why would they do it now I am with this hugue dog"  tried he to reassure himself..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

To be faster in the valley, he decided to fall down by the cliffs..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

At a moment, to encourage himself, he began to sing loud:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

" Trois jeunes tambouours s'en revenant de gueerre, trois jeunes tambouours s'en revenant de guerre et ri et ran! ran pa ta plan! s'en revenant de gueerre!.."

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The alpha couple ahead stopped immediatly and began to howl!.. we forgot how frightening could be the howl of the wolves..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

the wolves behind, had stopped too but they didn't sing..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Antoine decided to go on.. the wolves walked again..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

.. opening the way..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

.. and closing it too!..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

 One hour later, Antoine and Borruch arrived at the bridge upon Dourbie river which marked the entrance of the village..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

.. Here again, the wolves parted and stopped, leaving them to go..

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

During all his life, Antoine thought that wolves had waited him to fall down to devorate him and that's what believed my grand father who told me this strange story..  but there are other stories in the country sides about wolves walking with people during a long time without any attack and I don't know well what to think about!

the end

(Antoine and Borruch from Papo, Jules from Schleich, waiting wolves from Schleich, following walking wolves from Bullyland, walking alpha wolves ahead from Schleich and Papo, howling wolves from Schleich and Bullyland, none has been injuried or lost!   )

Amazing story, so realistic and I love the wolves!

A strange and beautyful story

And lovely pictures

I wonder why the wolves did that ,  - were they making sure he did not approach their puppies, or ...or...?

Thanks to you both Bonnie and Susanne! :)

Susanne, unlike in my little story, it was a very cold and snowy winter and these wolves were probably halth dead of hungry!..

European wolves lived during many thousand of years with hunting men before neolithic epoch and they maybe used to cooperate when the times were very hard to get preys. Hunting with men could increase their chance to survive. Maybe, wolves kept in their instinct of self preservation the use to reach men in desesperate situations.. it's just an hypothesis of course!..

Fantastic story Alain, breathtaking

It is an interesting story, with nice pictures.

An amazing story, Alain. The photos really helped, thank you.

And it's also good because my home is covered in snow and these photos of France really warm me up

Advicot wrote:

An amazing story, Alain. The photos really helped, thank you.

And it's also good because my home is covered in snow and these photos of France really warm me up

Well it is south of France My home (in the north) is covered with... Winter is coming ?? No way, only rain and rain and more rain

Same her : Rain, rain, rain !

Very fortunate that the houses have roofs

These pictures have been shot last winter, Baylet is under snow for 2 days like the major part of Aveyron department!

 It's an old story I didn't dare to post because of my poor English and I spent 2 hours with the dictionnary on my knees! :)

Thanks to you all Christophe, Fernando and Adam! :)

Caracal wrote:

 These pictures have been shot last winter, Baylet is under snow for 2 days like the major part of Aveyron department!

 It's an old story I didn't dare to post because of my poor English! :)

What poor English ? Your English is very, very good !
I wonder how many of us could write like that in French

Back to the story...it might be that way the first ancestors of the dogs joined people.
Hungry, they learned that humans are good hunters and may leave food in their wake

Yes Susanne, this behaviour could explain the domestication of some wolves..

Caracal, you should become a novelist! You're soo talented for making illustrated tales!

Thank you Pardo! :)

What a story! Caracal, thank you for sharing it, you did an excellent job.

Thank you Pipsxich! :)

I wonder how long you took to take and set these perfect pictures and I also your adventure with your dictionary to write something such complex and well written. It is a fact that the result is quite impressive and this is surely a fabulous topic. It is a joy to see that STS receives these demonstrations of dedication.
I enjoy that you demystify the bad reputation these wonderful animals gained among humans and I believe you are right and perhaps it also represents a little part of the domestication of human’s best friend. I am incredibly impressed with this topic and I think it is a very glorious way to receive the turn of the year.

A very interesting story and very nice pictures Thank you very much

Wow, what a cool story! And so interesting, so many questions! I love that it's based on a family story. Some great photos too. Thank you for sharing

I remember years ago making photo stories was quite popular (I think it was on the first toy animal forum, back in 2007/2008). It's so great to see this fun form is making a come back!

Oh how wonderful- now there is a Papo Newfoundland!!
And another group of excelllent photos, showing an excellent story- your scenes look alive! And I love how you brought a dog into it too!
And I also think that your English is amazing! I'm doing French GCSE, but I definitely couldn't write a story like you can in English- maybe one day I should try for fun to do one in French!

Great story!

 many thanks to you all for your warm words Rogério, Ivar, Ana, Bonnie and  Shanti! :)

Beautifull and fantasyfull story!
And then all the affords you had to make with shooting all of these pictures...
Very nicely done!

Thank you Willybacoman! :)