The Wolf

Guy De Maupassant (1850-1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic and supernatural terms.

Originally published in 1884, The Wolf is one of many stories in which Maupassant explores the concept of fear.

The story begins with an unnamed narrator recounting an evening in which his party had returned from a successful hunting expedition. Over dinner, they discuss ''the slaughter of animals'', with some recounting ''incredible tales''. The Marquis d'Arville, who has never gone hunting, then begins a narrative involving his distant ancestor Jean d'Arville and his younger brother Francois

The Marquis tells the party that, for his ancestors, hunting was ''the only thing they spoke of and lived for''. One day, they hear reports of a huge, cunning wolf that was terrorizing the locals, preying not only on livestock and injuring guard-dogs, but also wounding a woman and eating two children. As a result, the brothers resolve to find and kill the beast.