Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in the forest all alone. She had no family and no friends. One day, she decided to make a friend.  She went into the forest with a basket of bread. She wanted to make friends with the birds. The birds did not want to be her friend. They tweeted, “We will not be friends with a human. Humans kill birds.” Then they flew away.

   The next day, the girl brought some fruit in the basket. She wanted to make friends with the deer and other animals of the forest. But they didn’t want to be friends with the girl. They said, “We will not be friends with a human. Humans hunt us, we will not be tricked.” Then they ran away. The girl felt sad.

   The next day, the girl brought her basket and went into the forest to pick some berries and get more food. She heard a rustling sound in the bushes. It was a wolf! The wolf jumped at her and growled, “I heard you want to make a friend. I want to be your friend. No one wants to be friends with a wolf. They all think I’m going to eat them.” The girl felt scared. She never met a wolf before and this was a really big wolf.

   She nodded her head and said, “Okay, as long as you keep me safe, I will be your friend.” So the wolf was the girl’s bodyguard and friend. They did everything together and laughed and played. Sometimes the girl was afraid that the wolf would eat her, but the more time she spent with the wolf; the more she trusted him.

   One day, the animals of the forest gathered together. “I do not trust the wolf,” Mother Bird said. “I think he’s going to eat her,” said a baby squirrel. Father Turtle said, “No one can trust a wolf.” They all agreed that the wolf was up to no good. So they decided to kill him before he could kill the girl.
   A few days later, the wolf was in the forest alone. He went to get some food for him and his friend. She didn’t want to hunt because she loved animals, but had to eat some kind of meat to survive. So, he walked in the forest, carefully, stealthily, and most steadily. Until a giant net caught him!

   He struggled, but couldn’t break free. The other animals of the forest appeared. The wolf cried, “Help! Please help me!” They didn’t want to help him. “We were the ones who set up the trap and now we will have to kill you!” The wolf howled for help, hoping the girl would save him. He waited for his friend to come as he watched the other forest animals start a fire underneath him.

   “Please don’t!” he yelped. Fawn hopped around, a sharp rock in his mouth, waiting to cut the net. The wolf wanted to escape, but he couldn’t. There was no escape. He couldn’t cut the net with his claws. He would fall right into the fire. He couldn’t run or jump out. The opening at the top was too small. The wolf had no other options. He started to cry.

   The girl would not come to save him, it would seem. She was probably waiting for him to come back. Then when he didn’t, she would’ve thought that he had betrayed her. The thought was too horrible to think about. She and the wolf were friends for a long time. They had learned to trust each other. But now, the wolf was certain that the girl would end up brokenhearted, one way or another.

   “The fire is done!” Mother Deer yelled. Fawn jumped once more and cut the rope connecting the net to the tree.

   Wolf felt his world turning and turning, his memories spinning and spinning. He reminisced his early childhood, how he played with his siblings in the morning, sat with his mother in the afternoon, and slept peacefully at night. He remembered the time his home was burned, his family dying in front of him, the flames burning his pelt off, the jeers from other packs as they mocked him. He remembered becoming a lone wolf, recovering from his trauma, and learning to survive on his own.

   He almost wanted to smile in his last moments. He had lived. He had survived. He had learned. He had made a friend. Now, he was dying. Wolf figured that his life was fulfilling enough for a wolf. Dying in the same way as the rest of his family—he felt comfort in that.

   The only thing he regretted about it all was that he couldn’t continue protecting the girl. Hopefully, she would have someone else protect her. She deserved it. Maybe another wolf with good intentions would help her, though the chances were slim.

   Wolf felt the fire on his back, searing his fur as it did many years ago. Soon, he was gone. His will to live gradually diminished until it simmered down to nothing. The other animals grimly watched as the wolf was burned. They felt no pleasure in it as they did seconds before he fell into the flame. Seeing his limp body fall into the fire and watching it just lay there pathetically as it was burned was quite disheartening.

   The animals were about to walk away when the girl showed up, yelling, “Wolf? Wolf, what’s wrong? I heard you yelling and—” She stared down at the charred wolf at her feet. The girl slowly peered up at the forest animals, all of them looking shocked and guilty. Fawn dropped the rock in his mouth and hid behind his mother. Father Turtle kept his head down, refusing to meet the girl’s glare.

   “I hate you. I hate all of you!” she screamed, “You never trusted me. You thought I would kill you all! Then, when someone finally decided to trust me, you kill him?!” Tears streamed down the girl’s face. “You didn’t even have a reason to kill him! None of you eat meat; there was no reason for him to die! You just didn’t trust him, so you just killed him! What kind of sensible, innocent creatures would do this? You’re sick! You’re all sick and disgusting! I hate you all!”

   The girl ceased to stop the tears from flowing down her face. She cried and cried and cried until the day turned to night and the night turned into day. The forest animals were glued to their spots by the dead wolf. Eventually, one by one by one, they left with a heaving heart and enormous guilt sitting in their guts, ripping their throats apart, causing them to be speechless.

   The animals say that the girl stayed in the same spot for days, weeks, months even. She stopped crying. She didn’t eat. She didn’t drink. She didn’t speak. She didn’t move. She didn’t think. She didn’t grieve.

   The animals say that she stayed there for so long that flowers grew in her hair and moss covered her legs. Her skin became covered in leaves. When the leaves reached her face, she laid her body on the rotting wolf corpse and wept, once more.

   The animals say that she wept until she finally died. The animals say that her body formed into the wolf’s body. The animals say that as she died, her last tear fell into the wolf’s face. The animals say that they rotted away together, that golden flowers grew on the spot where they died.

.

   The girl made a friend. Her friend was a wolf. No one wanted the girl to make friends with a wolf. So they killed the wolf. No one realizes that killing the wolf was also killed the girl.

   Do you?