Thursday, December 31, 2015

THE REDEMPTION OF WOLF MASK - PART TWO



By Rita Grimaldi

                            

Rewriting ‘The Iron Wolf’ for Telling in Wolf Mask

Telling a story in mask requires that the story be told as if it were the experience of the mask character itself. 

So as I rewrite the original story, I imagine myself as Wolf. I feel what the story’s chain of events would be like if I were Wolf thinking in human language. In this frame of mind, I see right away that as Wolf, I am an adversary to the human man, the hero of the story.

In the story of The Iron Wolf, wolf makes a deal with this male hero.  The hero is given a magic egg in return for 12 years of service to a holy man.  Instructions are given that the egg must not be broken until a strong cattle pen is built. The hero goes against these instructions, cracking the egg open without the pen. Cattle pour out - too many for him to round up. This is when the Iron Wolf appears.

Wolf offers to put the cattle back into the egg and to make the egg whole again in return for the hero agreeing to be eaten on his wedding day by the wolf.  The hero agrees to this bargain, accepts his magically restored egg and becomes rich because of it.

The Question of Wolf Eating his Adversaries

In many wolf stories, Wolf is portrayed as wanting to eat his adversaries. For example, he eats two of the three little pigs and he also eats Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.

And in this traditional story, Wolf gets agreement to eat the young man.

Food is perhaps the ultimate human resource. In primitive times, wolves competed with people for this resource.

But in storytelling traditions, being eaten may represent winning the game. So this is why Grandma has to be restored from the wolf’s stomach and the third little pig has to kill the wolf.

In my original story, Wolf is torn apart by three dogs.

But I am rewriting the story.

I am redeeming Wolf.

So I don’t have to follow the traditional story pattern.



In my rewrite, Wolf will die but he will come back to life. He will learn. And then Wolf will prosper from this learning.

So here is what I did.

I followed the story pattern. At the beginning, I wrote in Wolf’s feelings and Wolf’s desire to make a bargain that is advantageous to him.

Wolf says, “I will collect the cattle and drive them back into the egg for you. And then I will patch the egg so it will be quite whole. But in return for that, whenever you sit on the bridal bench I will come and eat you.”

In my story, I will write that Wolf watches and waits for the time when his bargain will be fulfilled - when the young man marries and then tries to escape. I will write of Wolf’s feelings and desires to have the justice of getting his side of the bargain fulfilled. These feelings will be apparent over the four days of Wolf’s pursuit of the young man. They will end when Wolf is killed by the three dogs given to the young man by old men and old women.

This is how the traditional story ends but in my version, I will not end it there.

I will continue the story.

I will allow my Wolf the redemption of learning from his experience.

Here is my new ending, beginning at Wolf’s death.

The New Ending

In my mask, being Wolf, I will say:

Chutko sounded the alarm.
Vazhko pinned me to the earth.
And Barry tore me to pieces.
I died in great pain.
And from another place – away from this world – I saw the young man gather his three dogs around him, mount his horse and ride away.
When they were gone,
I put myself back together again.
I did this just as I had put the red egg back together again.
And then I considered my situation.
Well, I thought, now the young man has three dogs.
And these dogs have killed me once.
It is better not to follow them.
So I let the young man live in peace.
And I went about my own business.

And In Conclusion…

Wolf becomes a learning creature. He learns from his experience. He becomes less bound by his instinctual desire to eat his adversaries. Contrary to the traditional pattern, Wolf is now able to choose his own behaviour and in doing so, keep himself safe.

December 28, 2015

To be continued…

Part Three will discuss how Rita changes Wolf’s costume to reflect his inner changes.

Part Four will discuss the public performance of Wolf in mask and a debrief of Rita’s experience with the Wolf mask.


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