Editing Wolf (section)

=== In culture ===
==== In folklore, religion and mythology ====
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{{Main|Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology}}
{{See also|Wolves in heraldry}}
[[File:Lupa Capitolina, Rome.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph of the sculpture ''Capitoline Wolf'' showing of the mythical she-wolf feeding the twins Romulus and Remus|The ''[[Capitoline Wolf]]'', sculpture of the mythical [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-wolf]] feeding the twins [[Romulus and Remus]], from the legend of the [[founding of Rome]], Italy, 13th century AD. (The twins are a 15th-century addition.)]]

The wolf is a common motif in the mythologies and cosmologies of peoples throughout its historical range. The [[Ancient Greeks]] associated wolves with [[Apollo]], the god of light and order.{{sfn|Mech|Boitani|2003|p=292}} The [[Ancient Romans]] connected the wolf with their god of war and agriculture [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]],{{sfn|Lopez|1978|p=210}} and believed their city's founders, [[Romulus and Remus]], were suckled by a [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-wolf]].{{sfn|Marvin|2012|p=128}} [[Norse mythology]] includes the feared giant wolf [[Fenrir]],<ref name=Symbolism/> and [[Geri and Freki]], [[Odin]]'s faithful pets.{{sfn|Marvin|2012|p=78}}

In [[Chinese astronomy]], the wolf represents [[Sirius]] and guards the heavenly gate. In China, the wolf was traditionally associated with greed and cruelty and wolf epithets were used to describe negative behaviours such as cruelty ("wolf's heart"), mistrust ("wolf's look") and lechery ("wolf-sex"). In both [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]], the wolf is ridden by gods of protection. In [[Vedic]] Hinduism, the wolf is a symbol of the night and the daytime [[quail]] must escape from its jaws. In [[Tantric Buddhism]], wolves are depicted as inhabitants of graveyards and destroyers of corpses.<ref name=Symbolism/>

In the [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]] creation myth, the wolf was the first animal brought to Earth. When humans killed it, they were punished with death, destruction and the loss of immortality.{{sfn|Lopez|1978|p=133}} For the Pawnee, Sirius is the "wolf star" and its disappearance and reappearance signified the wolf moving to and from the spirit world. Both Pawnee and [[Blackfoot]] call the [[Milky Way]] the "wolf trail".{{sfn|Busch|2007|p=110}} The wolf is also an important [[Crest (heraldry)|crest]] symbol for clans of the Pacific Northwest like the [[Kwakwakaʼwakw]].<ref name=Symbolism/>

The concept of people turning into wolves, and the inverse, has been present in many cultures. One [[Greek myth]] tells of [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]] being transformed into a wolf by [[Zeus]] as punishment for his evil deeds.{{sfn|Marvin|2012|p=47}} The legend of the [[werewolf]] has been widespread in [[European folklore]] and involves people willingly turning into wolves to attack and kill others.{{sfn|Marvin|2012|p=50}} The [[Navajo]] have traditionally believed that [[skin-walker|witches]] would turn into wolves by donning wolf skins and would kill people and raid graveyards.{{sfn|Lopez|1978|p=123}} The [[Dena'ina]] believed wolves were once men and viewed them as brothers.{{sfn|Mech|Boitani|2003|p=292}}

==== In fable and literature ====

{{See also|List of fictional wolves}}
[[Aesop]] featured wolves in several of his [[Aesop's Fables|fables]], playing on the concerns of Ancient Greece's settled, sheep-herding world. His most famous is the fable of "[[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]]", which is directed at those who knowingly raise false alarms, and from which the idiomatic phrase "to [[wikt:cry wolf|cry wolf]]" is derived. Some of his other fables concentrate on maintaining the trust between shepherds and guard dogs in their vigilance against wolves, as well as anxieties over the close relationship between wolves and dogs. Although Aesop used wolves to warn, criticize and moralize about human behaviour, his portrayals added to the wolf's image as a deceitful and dangerous animal. The [[Bible]] uses an image of a wolf lying with a lamb in a utopian vision of the future. In the [[New Testament]], [[Jesus]] is said to have used wolves as illustrations of the dangers his followers, whom he represents as sheep, would face should they follow him.{{sfn|Marvin|2012|pp=38–45}}
[[File:Dore ridinghood.jpg|thumb|upright|right|alt=An illustration of Red Riding Hood meeting the wolf|''[[Little Red Riding Hood]]'' (1883), [[Gustave Doré]]]] 
Isengrim the wolf, a character first appearing in the 12th-century Latin poem ''[[Ysengrimus]]'', is a major character in the [[Reynard]] Cycle, where he stands for the low nobility, whilst his adversary, Reynard the fox, represents the peasant hero. Isengrim is forever the victim of Reynard's wit and cruelty, often dying at the end of each story.{{sfn|Lopez|1978|p=259}} The tale of "[[Little Red Riding Hood]]", first written in 1697 by [[Charles Perrault]], is considered to have further contributed to the wolf's negative reputation in the Western world. The [[Big Bad Wolf]] is portrayed as a villain capable of imitating human speech and disguising itself with human clothing. The character has been interpreted as an allegorical [[sexual predator]].{{sfn|Marvin|2012|pp=64–70}} Villainous wolf characters also appear in ''[[The Three Little Pigs]]'' and "[[The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats]]".{{sfn|Lopez|1978|p=263}} The hunting of wolves, and their attacks on humans and livestock, feature prominently in [[Russian literature]], and are included in the works of [[Leo Tolstoy]], [[Anton Chekhov]], [[Nikolay Nekrasov]], [[Ivan Bunin]], [[Leonid Pavlovich Sabaneyev]], and others. Tolstoy's ''[[War and Peace]]'' and Chekhov's ''Peasants'' both feature scenes in which wolves are hunted with hounds and [[Borzoi]]s.{{sfn|Graves|2007|pp=21, 123}} The musical ''[[Peter and the Wolf]]'' involves a wolf being captured for eating a duck, but is spared and sent to a zoo.{{sfn|Marvin|2012|p=162}}

Wolves are among the central characters of [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[The Jungle Book]]''. His portrayal of wolves has been praised posthumously by wolf biologists for his depiction of them: rather than being villainous or gluttonous, as was common in wolf portrayals at the time of the book's publication, they are shown as living in amiable family groups and drawing on the experience of infirm but experienced elder pack members.<ref name=Kipling/> [[Farley Mowat]]'s largely fictional 1963 memoir ''[[Never Cry Wolf]]'' is widely considered to be the most popular book on wolves, having been adapted into a [[Never Cry Wolf (film)|Hollywood film]] and taught in several schools decades after its publication. Although credited with having changed popular perceptions on wolves by portraying them as loving, cooperative and noble, it has been criticized for its idealization of wolves and its factual inaccuracies.{{sfn|Mech|Boitani|2003|p=294}}<ref name=Jones/><ref name="Nevercrywolf"/>