In this snowy winter in Tibet , an uphill battle between the wolves and the Tibetan Mastiffs would kick off shortly.
They were coming. Yes, they were coming. The dogs could smell the odor of them. There’s a pack of wolves evenly distributed on the slope, moving quietly.
The leader of the dogs, Regan, turned his head to the slope to signal an instruction. “Attack!” Reagan’s barking sound pierced through the silence. Quickly, the dogs leaped and pounced on their enemies. Undoubtedly, a fierce scene of gnawing and biting was shown in the snow.
While the animals were waging the war, some other wolves which had been lurking in the shadow jumped out. Yet, they did not join the war. Their aim was to enter the hut where there were several vulnerable children.
The hut served as a school for the children. This year, an unpredictable snowstorm took place. The heavy snow forced the teacher and the students to stay at school. As a result, they were stranded in the hut. After one day, the teacher decided to go out and ask for help. However, nobody was there and the teacher had to go out further. Fortunately, the teacher came across their loyal Tibetan Mastiffs, the guard dogs of the village. Upon seeing the distressed teacher, the faithful dogs sensed the danger. The teacher ordered them to guard the kids from the wicked wolves. But still, the teacher had to trudge several miles to seek further help for the desperately in need children.
All of a sudden, the dogs heard a howl away down the slope, a long shuddering howl.
Oh no, the wolves were surrounding the hut. The children were seriously in danger. Regan knew that the previous howl showed a sign of victory. Obviously, he made a fatal mistake. He shouldn’t concentrate on those wolves on the slope. Now, the dogs all fell into the trap. It turned to be much harder for them to save the kids.
Surrounding the hut, more and more wolves kept coming out. They went sniffing about furiously, anticipating the big feast ahead. Then, they sat in a great circle guarding the hut. In front of the hut, a great grey wolf was crouching there. He spoke to his fellows in the dreadful language of wolves. Every now and then, all the wolves in the circle would answer their grey chief altogether, and their dreadful clamour almost made the kids in the hut scream.
After a while, they stood up and crawled in a ring. If you were there, you might be able to hear the wolves howling a horrible song:
“Flesh, flesh, we want flesh
Little doggies leave us fresh
The dogs are the losers, while we are the winners
And what shall we do with our funny little prizes?
Roast’em , stew them or eat them hot? ”
“Go way! You devils!” barked the dogs, streaking towards the hut. Regan came first and it bounced off the ground to bump into the great wolf. In the blink of an eye, the great wolf was pressed onto the ground. The rest of the wolves were horrified to see that, but they soon regained their guts. They barred their teeth in a snarl and started stomping towards the dogs. But before long, the great wolf’s painful yelp once again weakened their aggressiveness.
Following the yelp, the wolves saw their leader lying on the ground with its eyes shut. A flood of blood was streaming down his body and staining the white snow underneath with red. The wolves bowed their heads in the shame of losing the leader. Then, they raised their heads and howled to the heaven. Until the mourning was over, the wolves turned their grief into rage. Their eyes were blazing in fury. Just then, the whole pack of them rushed out towards the dogs altogether.
The dogs met the wolves head-on. Both camps bit and snapped at each other in anger. Meanwhile, one of the wolves grabbed the chance to sneak into the hut. However, Regan discovered it at once. He dashed to that wolf and pounced on it. Rolling down the slope, the wolf had no choice but to run for his life.
When all the wolves were killed, the dogs knocked open the door of the hut immediately. Inside the hut, the kids had already been too feeble due to starvation. The dogs knew what to do, especially the female dog, Nancy, she was ready to requite the children who once took care of her for a month.
Nancy stepped towards one of the kids. She lowered her body to put her nipple near the child’s mouth. The child hardly opened his eyes. Hazily, he began sucking the milk form Nancy’s breast. After that, Nancy fed the children one by one. One week ago, she gave birth to two puppies. It was possible that she could produce plenty of milk in her body.
Even so , as the aid workers had not yet arrived, Nancy soon used up her milk. Gradually, her milk turned into whitish red, reddish white and at last it was only blood.
As the only female dog, Nancy ran out of milk. Despite risking her life, she continued breast feeding the kids. Tibetan Mastiffs were all loyal dogs. Once you treated them well, they would never forget and would give a helping hand whenever possible. ( or even greater than ‘possible’). They would not mind making sacrifice. No wonder the Tibetans regarded the dogs as ‘sacred’.
Two days later, the teacher along with the aid workers came. They found that Nancy was buried in a snow lump and the other dogs were standing beside the lump. Since then, the story was circulated to all the Tibetans.