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Children of the Wolf

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I once asked a children's literature listserv to name the best children's books that they felt had gone unappreciated by the public at large. A wonderful range of different names and titles were spouted and amongst them was the book, "Children of the Wolf". After reading through it, I'm happy (and sad, I suppose) to say that the person suggesting it was correct in their assessment of the novella. It is both really quite good and really quite forgotten. For all you Jane Yolen fans out there, I highly recommend you give a glance to "Children of the Wolf". For all you fans of well-written children's literature, ditto.

We find ourselves in India in the early 20th century. Our hero, Mohandas, is a child of an orphanage run by kindly British missionaries. After the Rev. Welles is asked by a superstitious member of a nearby village to rid the land of an evil ghost, Mohandas takes a trip with some men to find out what all the fuss is about. The group discovers that rather than spirits of the dead, two feral girls raised by wolves have been roaming the land. In an act of supposed Christian charity, Mr. Welles takes the girls back to his orphanage and places Mohandas in charge of their education and upbringing. What Mohandas and his friends are soon to find is that while it may be easy to take the girls out of the forest, it is far less easy to take the forest out of the girls.

The story is somewhat like "The Jungle Book" rendered slightly more realistic. There are no talking animals here and unlike Mowgli these girls are thoroughly wild. Their very bodies have adapted to their environments and they seem incapable of undergoing "civilizing" influences. Basing her story on a "true" discovery of two such girls in October of 1920, Yolen points out that this is not meant to be a factual tale necessarily. Rather, she prefers (quoting Emily Dickinson) to, "dwell in possibility". It does not matter if the reported "facts" of the case are true or not. What matters is the story Yolen is able to weave out of such a tale.

And weave she does. It is unfortunate that the book is as sparse as it is. Written at a scant 136 pages, you get a very clear idea of the girls and the narrator but not much of a fleshing out of anyone else. I would have liked to have known more about the other children in the orphanage, kids prone to cruelty at a drop of the hat. I would have liked to have learned about the missionaries that ran the orphanage and what their story was. But the author has focused her attention very narrrowly on the here and the now. The story is not necessarily a happy one, but it is an interesting one and it is written well. For those readers that enjoyed, "The Jungle Book", (and I know they exist), further tales of children unbound by rules or "civilized" society can be very intriguing indeed. It's a rousing good story. I recommend you take a gander if you think it might be your cup of tea.

A Savior

Having a family in the 1920's was a struggle. The economy was down and there was war and diseases. Society had to struggle to find work to keep their family surviving. Throughout history parents have abandoned their children. Children have been left behind in streets, hospitals and others homes. When the child is recovered, they are usually released to the relatives or placed in foster care. The residence of the child reflects on his or her behavior. When children are not raised with the biological parents, the child may seem unhappy or violent.
Deep within the Sal jungle, children were left behind. The dark jungle grew cold at night with many predators searching for food. Wolves have a great sense for survival. As wolves approached the two young infants, they sensed that the children were in danger, and that they needed to be saved and raised like their own cubs. "Children, Mohandas, probably outcasts from a village, raised by wolves. And we have just killed the only mother they remember" (Yolen38). The wolves became the children's parents. The children's survival was to live the life of a wolf. A human can only take so long of eating raw meat, drinking dirty water, and sleeping on the damp ground. The body would become prone to disease and sickness and eventually the person would die.
When strangers capture a child, they become very scared and sick. The children, who were raised by wolves, only know how to react like an animal. Wild animals usually sense that humans can be dangerous. It would be merely impossible for a wolf to take on human abilities. If a human only knew how to behave as an animal, they could be taught the abilities of a human. Mohandas taught the wolf-girl to be a human. "By the end of the monsoon season, in September, after many more such lessons, Kamala could walk upright, though never without food for encouragement and always in some pain, for her back was slightly bowed and so were her legs" (Yolen90).
The wolf-girl was treated as an animal and a child. She received dolls for rewards and raw meat as encouragement. She lived outside in a small shed with the dogs because she was thought of as part animal though she never experienced a human life. The family captured Kamala not only to save her but also to realize her identity and how it felt to be raised by wolves. By pulling the wolf-girl out of the jungle may have saved her or killed her. She was adapted to her surroundings and the environment. The wolves were protecting her. Pulling a fish from water would kill the fish in time. Pulling Kamala out of the jungle can compare it.
Jane Yolen's book was based on a true story. It is based on a reverends diary of the wolf-children. Yolen points out the possibility that it may be exaggerated but still anything is possible. People live differently in other countries. Basic tradition or the food that is available in countries makes it seem impossible to survive. When children are raised with different types of cultures and tradition, the body seems to accept things that may seem dangerous to others.
This book has to have readers with an open mind. It is an insanely incredible children's folklore. It presents that young children are raised by wolves and are saved by an orphan. The story may get changed over time but Jane Yolens original story is a classic.