[Un leu, un leu... Chapter XIV] The Palace Wolf

This is a continuation of the book "Un leu, un leu...", which was written in Romanian by my late godfather and uncle Bill Edwards, and published by Evenimentul, a now defunct Romanian publishing company. The book is being released for the first time in English exclusively online here on Steemit, as a serial. I hope you enjoy his writings as much as I do!
-Rob

Lupo, The Palace Wolf

In a land rife with legends of werewolves and vampires, you wouldn’t expect anything less in Bucharest, Romania. A real wolf running loose on the grounds at the royal palace across the street from the Romanian senate being fed dairy by an old woman…in the heart of a capital city at the end of the 20th century.

This in a city where ten years ago, a descendant of Vlad Tepes – more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, a real-life Romanian historical figure who Bram Stoker based his Dracula on – was found to be an official in the city’s blood bank.

This present day full-blooded wolf, Lupu to Mrs. Sagola Lena Petreis – his self-appointed keeper – had an almost equally intriguing and sad story.

Mrs. Patreis feeding the dogs at the Royal Palace

Mrs. Petreis, a 65 year old pensioner says, “I found Lupu – near death – several years ago under a large pine tree in the park on the grounds of what used to be the Romanian Royal Palace. He had been severely abused and maltreated. His throat was cut, ears almost burned off, and he had open wounds all over his body.” Mrs. Petreis says Lupu is about 12 or 15 years old, has lost some teeth, and suffers from arthritis and other old-age maladies, but has otherwise recovered from all of his man-inflicted injuries. “He survived last winter pretty good and that was one of the worst winters here in this century,” she said. Actually Lupu got a lot of help from Mrs. Petreis, who has even built a couple of wolf dens – more like wooden dog houses for Lupu and his doggie pals in the shrubs behind the Royal Palace, which now serves as a museum and a theater.

The Royal Palace in Bucharest today

Mrs. Petreis says she later uncovered the real story about Lupu. He was found in a Romanian forest as a cub and raised as a house pet by his original owner, a kindly man who died several years ago just before Lupu was found in such a sad shape. It seems that when his owner died, there was no one left to care for Lupu. The family and neighbors of the former owner did not want Lupu around and did these terrible thing to him to drive him off. Not normal actions for people in a nation of rabid animal lovers. Bucharest has a huge dog population which is generally well treated.

Enter Mrs. Petreis and several other real animal lovers who daily take food to the wolf and his dog companions in the Royal Park, where Lupu is the undisputed leader of the pack. He can be seen anytime of the day romping with his pals in the park or along the streets nearby, never wandering too far away from his base of operations.

Mrs. Petreis, who provides food and medical care for Lupu and his companions from her meager pension, says Lupu will eat carrots and other vegetables along with the rare piece of meat someone gives him. Not very much like the werewolf of Romanian folk legends which lived on human flesh. But Mrs. Petreis says, “Strangers have to be careful of Lupu at first because he is a wolf, and he was mistreated terribly by some very mean people. He is still wary of some people.”

Mrs. Petreis says she cannot understand how anyone could mistreat an animal, especially one as beautiful as Lupu. “But then the evil that man does to man is well known”, she said.

More important is the good one woman is doing for some canines.

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