Читать книгу The Rise of Wolf 8 - Rick McIntyre - Страница 10

PROLOGUE

THE STORY TOLD in this book is an epic one, filled with heroes and heroines who struggle to survive and defend their families. A story that includes all the elements of a great tale: warfare, betrayal, murder, bravery, compassion, empathy, loyalty—and an unexpected hero. It is a story that deserves to be told by a literary genius such as Shakespeare, Homer, or Dickens. None of those writers was available.

If Shakespeare had written a play about these characters and their lives, he might have invented a prologue set at a wolf den, deep within a forest. The scene might have looked something like this. Three male pups, all jet black, run out of the den and begin playing in a meadow. Each of the black pups looks robust and strong. Then a fourth pup tumbles out, the smallest of the litter. This pup looks totally different from his brothers for he is a dull gray color, more like a coyote than a wolf.

Then a huge black wolf strides onto the scene. This is the pack’s alpha male, the father of the four pups. The black coats of the three larger brothers indicate that they are going to look just like their father, and their stoutness implies they will someday equal or even surpass him in size and strength. The gray pup, it is clear, will never look anything like his father and will never be as impressive.

Shakespeare might then have had a narrator voice a prophecy:

Three of these young sons will become mighty alpha males, control vast territories, and have many sons and daughters.

Looking at the three husky black pups, it is easy to imagine which of the four sons will become successful alpha males. Then the narrator adds:

But one son will die young and in great disgrace.

At that point the undersized gray pup trips over his own legs and falls on his face in the dust.

Finally, the narrator makes one final, cryptic pronouncement:

One of these sons is destined to be considered greater than the greatest wolf who ever lived.

This book will tell the story of two wolves: the greatest wolf who ever lived and the one that was greater than him.