The old man heard branches crack under its paws, shadows of other animals flitting nearby, but no one dared approach the pair.

After a few kilometers, a light appeared ahead – the village. People, hearing the barking of dogs, ran outside and saw the incredible: a huge wolf carefully laid the elderly man, exhausted but alive, at their gate.

When the old man was finally safe, under the roof of kind people, he wept. Not from fear, but from realizing that the beast had been more human than his own children.