What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

A woman named Dornička meets a wolf on Mount Radhost. The wolf is not truly a wolf, but something that has recently consumed a wolf and is wearing its remains, though in the “wrong order.” She asks the “wolf” if he’s the Big Bad Wolf, and he claims that the archetype was modeled on him. The wolf says that he thought that Dornička was “her,” and though he has already consumed a wolf, he needs to consume life again. Dornička promises to bring him something juicy and young to eat so that he won’t wait for someone else to come around. He agrees, but he strikes her in the hip with a blow so strong that it feels like it should have shattered bone.

Dornička goes home, and the place on her hip where the wolf hit her has grown into a large lump that looks like a “knob of cured ham” (265). Dornička’s goddaughter Alžběta and her 19-year-old daughter Klaudie are coming to visit, so she decides to cut it off her hip before they arrive. She uses a carving knife, treats the wound, and buries the lump under an ash tree in the garden.