“The She-Wolf” is a short story by Barbara Walker. It can be read in the preview of Feminist Fairy Tales. It’s about a poor father and daughter trying to survive. A good deed by the daughter after an unusual encounter has unintended consequences. Here’s a summary of “She-Wolf”.
“The She-Wolf” Summary
A poor widower lives with his daughter, Lupa, in a miserable hut on a small, unproductive farm. Lupa is clever and kind and is her father’s pride. They have one cow which nourishes them with milk, butter and cheese. When the cow dies, they’re left with nothing but the meat, which sustains them for a while.
The father gives Lupa the beautiful tapestries his late wife made. He wanted to keep them, but she must go to the market and sell them while he starts the spring planting.
Lupa leaves early the next morning, walking miles to town in a thunderstorm. She and the tapestries are soaked. The colors run together and are ruined; her mother couldn’t afford color-fast dyes. Lupa cries on the roadside. She soon decides to continue to the market to sell the canvas or beg something.
In the forest, she hears a dismal howling. Following it, she comes upon a she-wolf with yellow eyes caught in a trap. It has babies in her den who need her. Lupa frees it with a strong branch and bandages the wounded leg with a piece of her petticoat. The wolf offers to repay her. Lupa says that’s not possible and explains her desperate situation. The wolf tells her to go directly home and not to worry.
Reasoning that a magical talking wolf should be listened to, Lupa obeys. She buries the tapestries and tells her father she sold them, but was robbed on the way home. They go to bed hungry. Their sleep is interrupted by the howling of wolves.
Her father’s excited cries wake her in the morning. There’s a haunch of venison on their doorstep. It looks as if it’s been chewed rather than cut. They roast some slices for breakfast.
The next day, a company of king’s guardsman accuse them of poaching. They followed the trail of blood to their home. Lupa and her father are arrested despite their explanation.
In the morning after a night in the dungeon, they’re brought before the king and queen and other notables. The father pleads his case, even realizing himself how unconvincing it sounds. The king looks bored but the queen looks at them intently. Lupa notices her yellowish eyes.
The queen stays their execution. She will have them as servants instead. The king objects but she orders them to her quarters.
In the queen’s drawing room, Lupa and her father thank her for her mercy. She says she’s merely being conscientious. They’re in trouble because of her. She rolls up her sleeve, revealing a bandage made from Lupa’s petticoat. Lupa will be her handmaid; her father a royal gardener. They’ll both be well fed. They weep joyfully and kiss the queen’s hand.
Lupa serves as handmaid for many years. Her father eventually becomes head groundskeeper.
Lupa dug up the tapestries and had them copied by the royal needlewomen. They were widely admired and eventually went into the national museum.
There are stories that on some moonless nights, Lupa and her father were transformed and ran in the forest with a wolf pack led by a large gray female with yellow eyes and a scarred leg.
I hope this summary of “The She-Wolf” by Barbara Walker was helpful.