12
Zillah Moody
"How did the wolf know he wouldn't be heard?" Jurgis thought.
But at the same time he knew just how intuitive wolves could be, such
intelligent creatures. They had more sense than his old dog which had
just slept by the oven all through the night as far as he knew.
The dog wasn't much good for anything any more except eating and
sleeping. As a guard dog he had lost his edge. Juozas wasn't particularly sentimental
when it came to farm animals. Because things was
so hard, everything had to have a use or a value otherwise it became
a waste of food resources. In this instance however he was mindful
of the useful service the dog had given in the past and he was content to
treat it now as a pet - providing it didn't eat too much! His
grandmother had been the same, spending much of her day dozing
by the fire too, occasionally waking up to tell Jurgis stories or potter
about, but then she had died when he was still a boy. But his mother
Magdalena Cernauskas was fully competent and would certainly put
her shoulder to the wheel and step forward with a positive contribution whenever
it was necessary.
Still the dog had worked hard in its time and he couldn't really lay
the blame at its door. No, it was his own fault. Why hadn't he seen
about getting a new young dog? They couldn't afford the loss of the
pig. It was next year's food. Nevertheless he still swung a boot in the
dog's direction but missed, as the animal was still not too old to react
quickly enough to dodge it.
He had known full well that a wolf had been prowling about. He
had seen the paw prints two days ago just inside the forest, which
began about fifty metres behind the house, but he had done nothing.
He had also seen the flock of ravens circling above. They often
followed wolves knowing that they would pick up carrion from their
kills sooner or later. This worked both ways and wolves were very
much aware that where there were ravens there was also food.
They found the pig's carcase a few paces in from the forest's edge.
They only had to follow the drag marks in the snow. It was just a
young pig which is why the wolf had been able to pull it this far.