is way home from the chase, and he happened to pass near
the cave where Ailbe and the wolves lived. As he was riding under the
trees he saw a little white creature run across the path in front of
him. At first he thought it was a rabbit; but it was too big for a
rabbit, and besides, it did not hop. The hunter jumped down from his
horse and ran after the funny animal to find out what it was. His long
legs soon overtook it in a clump of bushes where it was hiding, and
imagine the hunter's surprise when he found that it had neither fur
nor horns nor four feet nor a tail, but that it was a beautiful child
who could not stand upright, and whose little, bare body ran on
all-fours like a baby wolf! It was little Ailbe, the wolf-mother's
pet, who had grown so fast that he was almost able to take care of
himself. But he was not quite able, the hunter thought; and he said to
himself that he would carry the poor little thing home to his kind
wife, that she might take care of him. So he caught Ailbe up in his
arms, kicking and squealing and biting like the wild little animal he
was, and wrapped him in a corner of his great cloak. Then he jumped on
his horse with a chirrup and galloped away out of the woods toward his
village.

But Ailbe did not want to leave his forest home, the wolf-den, and his
little wolf-brothers. Especially he did not want to leave his dear
foster mother. So he screamed and struggled to get away from the big
hunter, and he called to the wolves in their own language to come and
help him. Then out of the forest came bounding the great mother-wolf
with her four children, now grown to be nearly as big as herself. She
chased the fleeting horse and snapped at the loose end of the
huntsman's cloak, howling with grief and anger. But she could not get
the thief, nor get back her adopted son, the little smooth-skinned
foundling. So after following them for miles, the five wolves
gradually dropped farther and farther behind. And at last, as he
stretched out his little arms to them over the hunter's velvet
shoulder, Ailbe saw them stop in the road panting, with one last howl
of farewell. They had given up the hopeless chase. And with their
tails between their legs and their heads drooping low, they slunk back
to their lonely den where they would never see their little boy
playmate any more. It was a sad day for the wolf-mother.

But the hunter carried little Ailbe home with him on the horse's back.
And he found a new mo