Runt

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of animal death.

The following hunt is not successful, and the wolves stagger back to their home, falling into hungry sleep. Later, Runt wakes to see Bider disappear into the woods. Runt knows that Bider is going to feed on the cows, and Runt’s “stomach rumble[s] at the thought” (110).

The next time Runt wakes up, he sees Bider regurgitate a pile of meat in front of King. The meat smells like the humans’ cows, and King refuses it, ordering no one else to eat it either. Bider starts to eat again. When King threatens the wolf, Bider attacks. The wolves bite and claw at each other until they’re both bloody. Finally, King emerges victorious, jaws clamped around Bider’s throat. Instead of killing the other wolf, King orders Bider to leave. Bider slinks away, and Runt watches him go. Even though Bider lost the fight, Runt believes that Bider is right to take easy food when its available, and as Bider disappears, Runt wonders, “[S]hould a pup named Runt follow?” (116).