CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Rules

In December, Gray Beaver went on a long journey. His wife and his son also went. Because it was the winter, a lot of snow was on the ground. Therefore, they had to go by sled. A group of dogs pulled the sleds. There were two sleds. Gray Beaver drove one of the sleds. Mit-sah, Gray Beaver's son, drove the other sled. Puppies pulled this sled. The sled was kind of a toy for Mit-sah, but it taught Mit-sah how to drive a sled. On the other hand, the puppies learned how to pull a sled. Gray Beaver and Mit-sah used the sleds to carry many things.

White Fang was one of the puppies pulling Mit-sah's sled. Gray Beaver put some thick leather strings around his neck and back. Then he used rope to connect the leather strings to the sled. Altogether, seven puppies pulled Mit-sah's sled. The dogs were connected to the sled in a special way. The rope used to connect every dog was a different length. Therefore, the dogs could not attack each other as they ran. If one dog wanted to fight with the dog in front of him, he would only pull the sled more quickly. All of the puppies were older than White Fang. They were nine or ten months old. White Fang, however, was only eight months old.

Mit-sah, Gray Beaver's son, was a wise boy. He saw Lip-Lip treat White Fang unfairly many times. At that time, Mit-sah could not punish Lip-Lip, because he was another person's dog. Lip-Lip was now Mit-sah's dog. To punish Lip-Lip, Mit-sah placed Lip-Lip at the end of the longest rope. This made Lip-Lip the dog in front of all of the other dogs. The front was the worst place to be. This was because when the dogs ran, all day they would see Lip-Lip running before them. Hour after hour, they would look at his back legs and his tail. They wanted to run after him, and, because they were dogs, attack him.

Mit-sah had another way of punishing Lip-Lip. He pretended that Lip-Lip was his favorite dog. He gave Lip-lip more meat than the other dogs. When there was no meat to give the other dogs, Mit-sah would still give meat to Lip-Lip. This made the other dogs very jealous. They hated Lip-Lip.

White Fang enjoyed pulling the sled. Because he wanted to please Gray Beaver and Mit-sah, he worked very diligently. He could pull heavier things than the other dogs. He could also run faster and longer than the other dogs.

White Fang did not become friends with the other pup-pies. When they rested, White Fang did not play with them. This was because they were the puppies that helped Lip-Lip attack him back in the camp. White Fang could not forget those times. When resting, White Fang would stay with Gray Beaver and Mit-sah while the other puppies played together. The other puppies were a little afraid of White Fang. He growled if they were too close to him. Sometimes, White Fang would try to take their meat. Therefore, when Gray Beaver gave meat to the other dogs, they would eat very quickly so that White Fang would not try to take it.

The long journey took many months. White Fang's body became very strong after pulling the sled for many long days. He had also developed his view of the world around him. He felt that the world was a cold and unhappy place. He knew that he needed to be fierce. He did not know anything about love. Therefore, White Fang did not love Gray Beaver. He simply obeyed him because he was a strong and powerful man. Gray Beaver never spoke kindly or gently to White Fang. He also never touched or played with White Fang the way that most people touch or play with their dogs. The only time Gray Beaver touched White Fang was when he was beating him.

Finally, Gray Beaver's journey was over. They reached a village near a large lake. After arriving, White Fang was hungry and went to look for food to eat. He saw some boys cutting some meat. Some small pieces of the meat fell on the ground. White Fang ate one of these small pieces. Then one of the boys picked up a stick. The boy walked to White Fang and tried to hit him with the stick. The boy missed White Fang. White Fang ran, but he ran to a place in between two houses. There was no escape. The boy was walking to White Fang. White Fang was very angry. He had eaten a piece of meat that no person would have eaten. It was not fair for the boy to punish him for eating the tiny piece of meat. White Fang had done nothing wrong. Because he was so angry, White Fang bit the hand of the boy that was holding the stick.

When White Fang ran from the boy, he knew that he had done something wrong. Because he attacked the boy, he had broken one of the people's rules. He expected to be punished. He ran to Gray Beaver's tent. Soon the boy and the boy's family came. They wanted White Fang to be punished, but something happened that surprised White Fang very much. Gray Beaver defended White Fang. Mit-sah also defended White Fang. They knew what White Fang did was fair. White Fang then understood that some people are fair and some people are not fair.

Later that day, Mit-sah went to the forest to get some wood for the fire. The boy who had been bitten and some other boys saw Mit-sah and started talking with him. They said many angry things to him. Then, the boys attacked Mit-sah. They hit him many times. When White Fang saw this, he knew that he must protect Mit-sah. White Fang ran to the boys. He began attacking and biting the boys. The boys were afraid, so they ran away from Mit-sah and White Fang. Then, Mit-sah and White Fang returned to Gray Beaver's house. Mit-sah told the story to Gray Beaver. Gray Beaver was very happy that White Fang had protected his son, so he gave White Fang a lot of meat. That night, White Fang slept by the fire with a full stomach. He was very happy. Gray Beaver and Mit-sah were very fair and good people.

(end of section)