Dedicated to the children at Tamariki School

Chapter one: The lonely night alone

The forest is dark at night. Heapy the wolf has to find shelter. Sometimes she sleeps wherever she wants but tonight it is a real fight to get the food, water and shelter she needs. The best hunting grounds are in dry places. The elk haven’t left there yet.

Once it was a flourishing forest but then the elk took over. The wolves were away and the coyotes lost control of the deep, deep dark forest. When the wolves came back all that was left was a few plants that survived. It was no point hunting there because Heapy knew there wouldn’t be any elk there as there weren’t enough plants. Heapy had never seen a bear or a cougar before. So her life was just plain, plain, plain with elk to hunt and no coyotes or rabbits. Her mum had given her elk to eat everyday.

Heapy was in danger. She needed a mate to stick up for her. She was all alone now and life was gloomy. She always had to run from those who were big. Heapy didn’t really see what her destiny was. She thought her future wasn’t real. She thought she would get a mate, have babies, get on and die and that was it for her. Nothing was that special in her life. She had left her mum and dad and still didn’t know very much about hunting. They knew her destiny but didn’t tell her. They wanted her to find it out for herself. But they told her sisters and brothers what their lives were going to be like. Heapy thought her mum and dad were like mind readers or fortune tellers that know what your future is like, what you have done and what you are going to do. Heapy just wanted to help other wolves. She wanted to play and pounce. She like her parents’ stories about her siblings destinies but thought that as she was the youngest her destiny was weak and wouldn’t be as good as the others. She wasn’t really sure what destiny meant. Even though she knew a lot of things she didn’t see everything and hear everything. She mainly thought about playing.

Heapy has fought her way through the night. She found somewhere to sleep and now she is safer. Heapy still has lots of challenges to face. She is now hunting a herd of elk. The forest that was once flourishing with beautiful flowers has now been mostly eaten by the elk.

Now she must pounce if she is going to get a bite. Heaphy pounces, getting a perfect blow but slips off the female elk and it runs back to the rest of the herd. But she catches up and bites again. This time she stays on for a very long time. The elk twists around and around but Heapy is brave and manages to stay on. The elk is trying to get back to its herd but it starts to get slower every second. Before she could run very fast but now the elk is slower than a slug. The elk trip trotted with Heapy on her back. Heapy slid off again.

Five days have passed and the elk is getting slower and slower. Heapy catches up and gives the final blow. The elk falls like a boulder down a cliff. She’s done for. Heapy is very hungry as she hasn’t eaten for so long. This elk is no longer powerful. Heapy eats her fill and then dozes.

When she wakes up she sees that there is just the carcass left and the crows have been eating it. She eats the rest and goes off on her own. Now she has eaten she has lots of energy. All she needs is some water and then she can go off in search of a mate.

Chapter 2: Hunt and find

Heapy reaches a pool of water and drinks. She isn’t tired, thirsty or hungry anymore. Now she goes off in search of a mate. Heapy finds a wolf. He says his name is Rex. He says “Get away, you loser!” Heapy backs away. Rex says “I said GO!” Heapy decides to say something rude back. She says “You’re not my family!” Rex attacks but she dodges him. She is now very tired. She goes off and has a rest. Heapy realises that Rex didn’t like her because he already has a mate.

Heapy ventures to find a mate. she sees no tracks and smells nothing. When she meets up with another girl wolf she is told “Get out of my territory!” by the angry wolf. She growls at Heapy. Heapy shivers and says “I just want to find a mate”. But the other wolf is no friend to her and says “I have seen no other wolves except for me and my mate so get out!”

Rex and Heapy

Heapy tries to attack her, giving her a bite and snapping at her. The other wolf says “I am no threat to you” and wants her to go. But Heapy strikes another hit and the wolf finally has to stand up for herself. The other wolf is very scared of her and has her tail between her legs. Heapy growls and has her tail up in the air to show that she is boss. The female wolf’s mate comes along and says “What argument do we have here?” She tells him “I will fight both of you!” The male tells her to make his day, growling at her. Heapy is brave - she is not scared of him. She gives the female another blow and she falls unconscious. The male wolf runs off. He is not a very nice mate as he has left his mate to die in the wilderness. Perhaps he will go and find another mate. Heapy sighs and tut tuts to herself. “There are some real scaredy wolves out there” she says. She leaves the unconscious wolf and continues looking for a mate.

Heapy smells something and goes towards it. It is another female wolf. She says “Make my day!” to Heapy but she replies “I’m boss, back off!” Heapy smells another scent. Yet again it is another wolf. The wolf says “What is up? I’m not boss”. The male wolf asks her to play. Heapy replies “Let’s hang out”. The male replies “Let’s start a pack” so Heapy answers “Good idea”. The other wolf says "My name is Haypay, what is yours?” Heapy tells him her name. They go off together. Heapy feels comforted to have a mate. She won’t be lonely any more.

Then suddenly Haypay says “You stay here” in a kind voice. Heapy lies down, wondering why Haypay has taken off. Haypay comes back three hours later. He says “Oh boy, have a look at this elk I found, it is enough to feed us for a week”. But Heapy says “Where is it?” He says “Come with me and you will find out”. But he starts running as fast as an elk and she lags behind before eventually catching up. One hour later she looks at the carcass her mate has scavenged. She lunges in for a bite of the elk.

Haypay

Chapter 3: Heapy has to impress another wolf



Suddenly Haypay runs off again. Two minutes later he comes back saying “Boy, look at this water I found. There’s enough water to make a grizzly bear pop!” But she says “I haven’t eaten my full yet.” Haypay says it doesn’t matter because he will bring her some water. A wee while later he brings back some fresh water. It tastes lovely and sweet. She asks him where the water was. When Haypay opened his mouth a big shadow appeared. It was Rex, the first wolf she had met when she was searching for a mate. Rex said “I see, I see, now where does this water happen to be?” Haypay looked up at Rex’s shadow and fled for his life. When he realises Heapy isn’t coming he comes back and grabs her as she is a bit smaller than him. Then suddenly a big grizzly bear appears. It is the first grizzly that Heapy has ever seen. It was as big as the den she was brought up in. It stumbled around and stood on its back legs. It picked Heapy up and ran off with her. Haypay was still in shock at seeing this happen.

Meanwhile he thought “A wolf and a grizzly bear - what bad luck”. He runs after the grizzly bear. Heapy falls unconscious with shock. When she wakes up she finds the bear has left her. She is surprised that she has not been torn to shreds. She would rather be dead than torn to shreds. She feared that Haypay wasn’t coming. In came the bear. The bear comes closer. Heapy thinks to herself “by the time Haypay reaches me I’ll be dead”. She backs off. Suddenly Haypay runs in the doorway, charging at the bear. The bear doesn’t notice him. Haypay rips the bear’s tail off. Haypay is strong. The bear turns around and can’t believe he is now seeing two wolves. It is a big challenge for a wolf to take on a grizzly bear but now their chances are better. Haypay drops the bear’s tail and then gobbles it up. "That was filling” he said, hoping to teach the bear a lesson. This time he isn’t so smart and lunges for the bear’s jaws. But instead the bear takes a bite of him. Heapy is so shocked that she can’t speak. But she can bite and fight. She lunges at the bear’s bottom. The bear says “Huh?” and turns around to look at her. While the bear is looking at Heapy Haypay attacks. They are working as a team now. The bear is not strong any

longer.

Instead of making the bear die for what it has done they let it run off. But now Haypay is injured and Heapy stares at her mate. He has fallen over onto the hard, rocky floor of the cave. She decides that sometimes your mate stands up for you and sometimes you stand up for them. She decides to get some water for him and some food.

While Haypay is unconscious he has a dream about the grizzly bear. He was imagining he was the grizzly bear and how painful it was to have his tail ripped off. But his bite was painful too and he didn’t feel too sorry for the bear. He hears a familiar voice interrupting his dream. “Haypay, wake up. Haypay!” he wakes up. Heapy says she has brought him food and water to help him. Haypay tries to stand up but he is unsteady so he falls down halfway. Heapy gives him food and water to make him stronger.

Now that he has had a bit of rest he can go with Heapy on their adventure. They wander into the wilderness once again. They are in a field of grass. Suddenly Haypay tells Heapy “Stay here!” Heapy has a wee rest but she thinks he might come back and tell her that he has found a den to have their babies in.

He comes back later and says “I have found the perfect place to have babies”. She is confused - how does her mate always find the right places? She stands up, has a scratch and follows him. He leads her into a den that wouldn’t do. It was falling down. Heapy pointed out to him that it was all crooked and crumbling.

“It might fall down on our pups and squash them one day while we are out hunting”. So they set off to find another den. They both say that it is perfect. They decide to settle in and have a rest in their new home. They will raise their pups there.

When Heapy wakes up she decides it is time to start a pack. Haypay is mostly ready too. Haypay waited patiently for the pups. Heapy is now pregnant so she has to stay home and rest. Her mate gets food for her. A couple of weeks later she is resting and the den, which happens to be in a tree, catches on fire. Luckily it rains later in the night and washes the fire out of the burning tree.

Heapy has to wait one week before the pups will be born. She gives birth to seven pups. She names them Hunter, Fimo, Blackout, Bunkside, Inna and The Statue of Howling. One of the pups died. They were going to call it Crabby.