The Sword and the Wolf

The year is 425, and a small family is sleeping in a small village in the Roman countryside. Optimus has risen early and left his wife, Prudentia, asleep with baby Sophia. In the corner of the room lay Maximus and Minimus, who were born just minutes apart from each other. So similar was their appearance that many in the village often mistook one for the other. But it is their differences that caused their adventures to be written down and passed on to their sons and daughters. 

Discussion (optional)

• Can you see any differences between Maximus (green) and Minimus (brown)?

The voice of their father reached the boys in their fading dreams, “Wake up, my sons. It’s time to go.” The boys stirred and slowly found their feet, washed their faces, and headed out of the house behind the broad shape of Optimus. “Papa, where are we going so early in the morning?” called Minimus. “We’re going to the Old Forest,” he answered. Both boys exchanged silent glances. “What are we going to do there, Papa?” was Max’s question. “If you keep up with me, you’ll see, won’t you?” They both saw the shine in their father’s eyes.

They walked about half a mile into the Old Forest when Optimus stopped them. “This will do,” he said. “You remember I’m going to Rome today, and I won’t be back until next week?” The boys nodded. “Well, you’ll be looking after your mother and sister while I’m away. You’ll need a sword.” A flash of excitement went through the boys, but Minimus’ face became confused. “But, Papa, we already have a sword at home. Can’t we use that?” “I have a sword at home, my son. You are going to find a branch from one of these holm oaks, bring it back, and carve your very own sword.” Minimus was thinking of his father’s perfectly good sword. But Maximus was thinking of his own sword, the one he would make himself. He could see it in his mind’s eye. And he thought to himself, “All that can be done for my sword I will do, nothing that can be done will I leave undone, until my sword is all it can be."

Optimus sat and opened a small book he was carrying, and the boys began to search for their swords. Minimus wandered between the shady oaks and couldn’t help thinking of the many hours of work that lay ahead of him. Carving a wooden sword from a holm oak branch was not an easy thing to do. Before long, he found some fallen branches at the foot of a large tree. One of them was about the right length and thickness, although it had been lying dead long. “There may be better branches in the forest," he reasoned, “but this one is nearest, and I am already tired and hungry.” He took up his branch, which was lighter in his hand than it looked on the ground, and returned to his father. “Is this the branch you’ve chosen, Minimus?” Optimus asked the boy. “It is, Papa.” “Will it serve you well?” “It will serve me well enough, Papa.” And they were silent. 

Discussion (optional)

• What do you think of Minimus' branch? Was it a good choice?

Maximus had also wandered for a while between the wide spreading oaks and tall beeches, and still he thought of the sword that would be his. The more he thought of it, the more of it he could see in his mind. He was looking up into the top of a holm oak in front of him when he saw it - his sword. Not a sword yet, to be sure. But Maximus knew this branch contained his sword. It was perfect. It was long, thick, already quite smooth, and still had some life in it. Only it was high, very near the top of its tree. He moved quickly to the bow of the tree to begin climbing when he noticed there were several fallen branches on the ground around him. He looked at these and then back to the branch at the top of the tree, and he hesitated. But he remembered his promise, “All that can be done for my sword I will do,” and he began to climb. 

Discussion (optional)

• Why do you think Max hesitated? What was he tempted to do?

Commentary (optional)

• It can be helpful to imagine - to draw a picture in your mind - of what you're making before you begin, just as Maximus imagined his sword before he had made it. We need to be able to keep working while our work doesn't look finished yet. Work on what you have, but imagine what it will be!

After what seemed like a long time, Maximus was standing on a branch below the one he wanted. He reached out, took it, and put as much of his weight on it as he could. It bent towards him and creaked, but would not come away from the tree. He bore down again, his branch creaking again, but still it held fast. “This is my sword, alright,” he thought. “Together we will never surrender in battle.” Once more, he bore down, this time with all his weight, his branch creaking, then, “crack!” Maximus’ branch came away from the tree, and with its momentum, so did Maximus. He fell through the branches and caught a glimpse of the blue sky between the leaves before hitting the cushioned but uncompromising ground of the Old Forest. 

His breath was knocked clean out of him. For a moment, he saw only black. Then he heaved in. A tiny bit of air got through. And again, a tiny bit more. He heaved again and again, until finally his breathing returned to normal. He climbed slowly to his feet, his back and shoulders throbbing. When his head stopped spinning, he felt something smooth and heavy in his right hand. He looked down and saw, concealed within a holm oak branch, his sword. 

Optimus, Minimus, and Maximus walked together out of the old forest and over a field to their little house. After a bit of breakfast, Optimus took the boys behind the house where he kept his tools on a bench under a bit of roof he had extended for the maintenance of his farming tools. He handed the boys a carving knife and a smoothing stone each. “Well, this is where I leave you,” he said, looking away from them quicker than usual. “Carve your swords, look after your mother and sister, and I will see you when I get back.” The boys watched him whisper something to Prudentia and kiss Sophia gently on the forehead, before setting off down the road.

Maximus looked down at his branch and closed his eyes. He could see his sword in even more detail now. It had a long handle, since it was heavy. The blade was wide at the hilt and curved slightly upwards at the tip. Maximus opened his eyes. “I shall remove any wood that isn’t my sword.” And with that, he began. Slowly and carefully, he removed the bark. Patiently, he carved off unwanted branchlets. Firmly, he formed a blade with his stone. But the work was not quick. Before long, his hands were sore, and the pain in his back and shoulders (from the fall) had worsened. More than once, his hands slipped from his tools, and soon there were small cuts and grazes on his knuckles. But all the while, he kept his sword in mind and worked on. “Nothing that can be done will I leave undone, until my sword is all it can be.”

Discussion (optional)

• Maximus kept working even though his sword took time to make, and even though it was painful to make. Do you sometimes stop doing things when it takes a long time, or when it is painful?
• Can you see any differences between Max and Minimus in the picture below? There are at least three.

Minimus worked quickly. He trimmed his branch down and began to smooth the edge of his blade with his stone. But his branch had been dead long and it began to break apart as he worked. “I shall have to leave the edge blunt,” he thought. He carved a handle that was good enough, laid his sword aside, and went into the field to play. “It isn’t as though I will need to cut anything with it anyway,” was his conclusion. 

The next day, the boys set out together at first light to bring up the morning’s water from the well. “Don’t forget your sword, Minimus,” Maximus called to his brother, as he took up his own. And the two set out together for the well, which lay on the edge of the Old Forest. 

It was a clear, bright morning, quiet in the field. And the air carried a cold breeze that brushed the brothers’ faces as they walked. Soon they were at the well, and Maximus let down the bucket to draw water. Minimus was wandering along the edge of the Old Forest when they heard it: a low, menacing growl.

It was coming from just inside the Forest where Minimus was standing. “Maximus, do you hear that?” he whispered anxiously. “I hear it. Your sword, Minimus. Ready your sword!” While Minimus was backing away from the sound, a large, black wolf emerged from the Forest with its eyes fixed upon the boys. Its teeth were bared, and its eyes were hungry. There wasn’t time to run, only to screw one’s courage to the sticking place, and stand and fight. But before there was more time to think, the wolf lunged. 

Minimus raised his sword as the wolf crashed into him. He felt the warm, wet weight of the beast scratch and claw at him as it glided through the air. The force of the animal knocked him to the ground. He still had hold of his sword, but the blade had broken in the middle. The wolf advanced on Maximus now, and returned to its low crouch and malevolent growl. A wave of fear flooded Maximus, and he thought about running away. But he knew that if he showed the wolf his back, he would not return to his mother and sister alive. 

The wolf crouched low for another attack, and in the blink of an eye, it sprang into the air once more, mouth open, teeth bared. Maximus gripped his sword, raised it in front of him, and pressed the bottom of the handle into his hip. Then he too felt the warm, wet weight of the beast upon him. But this time, a howl of pain rang out over the field and into the Old Forest. And as quickly as the noise rose, it died away. Minimus looked and saw the sharp tip of Maximus’ sword pointed to the sky, streaked with red in the golden sunlight. Maximus lay underneath his dead foe. His sword, sharp and strong as it was, had pierced the heart of the beast and had passed right out the other side. 

Commentary (optional)

• Did you notice that Maximus was afraid? Being brave or courageous doesn't mean we're not afraid in dangerous or difficult situations. It means doing good and right things even though we are afraid, just as Maximus stood and faced the wolf while being afraid at the same time.

Maximus heaved to the right so the wolf on his sword lay beside him on the ground. He pulled out his sword and stood shaking from the battle in the now warm sun. Minimus inspected his brother’s scratched face and looked up and down his limbs to make sure they were all unharmed. “Maximus, are you hurt? How you killed this wolf with only the raising of a wooden sword, I will never know. Father will be proud!” 

In the following days, the story of the sword and the wolf was told many times in the house as well as in the village. But the most lively telling was the one given to Optimus when he had returned from Rome. The boys jumped on each other to show how the wolf had attacked, and the father was amazed and proud. “Maximus, did you really kill the beast with your own wooden sword?” “I did, Father,” said Maximus, passing the sword to Optimus, who marvelled at the care with which it had been made. “The very one you told me to make.” Optimus examined the sword in the silent room before looking at Maximus once more with a hint of disbelief in his eyes, to which Maximus responded: “All that could be done for my sword I did nothing that could be done did I leave undone, until my sword was all it could be. And with it, I killed the wolf!” 

Discussion (optional)

• What is the lesson Maximus teaches? Can you remember his promise?
• Fill in the gap with things from your own life. “All that can be done for my ______ I will do. Nothing that can be done did I leave undone, until my ______ was all it can be.”