There is a story about some people who lived in a beautiful village in Italy in the 13th century. They were understandably proud of their little village, as it was quite an idyllic place to live. But one night a shadow came out of the nearby woods. The shadow prowled the streets. In the morning, a local farmer found that many chickens from his farm had been killed or taken away. The next night, the same thing happened - the time another farmer was the victim. This happened again and again. Finally, an old woman said that she had seen a wolf on the streets at night. The terrified people decided to ask a holy man who had a reputation for being able to talk to animals for help. They sent a delegation to get St. Francis.
They had very specific ideas on what St. Francis should tell the wolf. First, he should prech to the wolf and remind him to obey the commandment about stealing and to follow Christ’s commandment about loving God and neighbors. And then, just in case, since a wolf is, after all, a wolf, he should tell the wolf to move to someone else’s village.
Francis went into the forest to meet the strange shadow, addressing it as “Brother Wolf.” Then he returned to the town square. “My good people,” he said, “the answer is very simple. You must feed our wolf.” The people were furious, especially with the suggestion that this uninvited beast in their midst was somehow to be regarded as “their wolf.” But they did feed it, and the killing stopped.
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