"A young she-wolf has a litter of cubs, and after a time her
instinct tells her that they will require fresh food. She steals
out at night in quest of prey. Soon she espies a weak place in
the fence (generally constructed of thatching grass and bamboos)
which encloses the compound, or 'unguah,' of a poor villager. She
enters, doubtless, in the hope of securing a kid; and while
prowling about inside looks into a hut where a woman and infant
are soundly sleeping. In a moment she has pounced on the child,
and is out of reach before its cries can attract the villagers.
Arriving safely at her den under the rocks, she drops the little
one among her cubs. At this critical time the fate of the child
hangs in the balance. Either it will be immediately torn to
pieces and devoured, or in a most wonderful way remain in the
cave unharmed. In the event of escape, the fact may be accounted
for in several ways. Perhaps the cubs are already gorged when the
child is thrown before them, or are being supplied with solid
food before their carnivorous instinct is awakened, so they amuse
themselves by simply licking the sleek, oily body (Hindoo mothers
daily rub their boy babies with some native vegetable oil) of the
infant, and thus it lies in the nest, by degrees getting the odor
of the wolf cubs, after which the mother wolf will not molest it.
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