======================================================================
=                          The_Wolf_Leader                           =
======================================================================

                            Introduction
======================================================================
'The Wolf Leader' is an English translation by Alfred Allinson of 'Le
Meneur de loups', an 1857 dark fantasy novel by Alexandre Dumas.
Allinson's translation was first published in London by Methuen in
1904 under the title 'The Wolf-Leader'; the first American edition,
edited and somewhat cut by L. Sprague de Camp and illustrated by
Mahlon Blaine, was issued under the present title by Prime Press in
1950. The text was also serialized in eight parts in the pulp magazine
'Weird Tales' in the issues for August 1931 to March 1932.


                            Plot summary
======================================================================
'Le Meneur de Loups' is set around 1780 in Dumas' native town of
Villers-Cotterêts, and is supposedly based on a local folk-tale Dumas
heard as a child. The story concerns Thibault, a shoe-maker, who is
beaten by the gamekeeper of the Lord of Vez for interfering with the
lord's hunting. Afterwards he encounters a huge wolf, walking on its
hind legs like a man, who offers him vengeance; Thibault may wish harm
on any person in return for one of his own hairs for each wish. To
seal the agreement, the two exchange rings. As a result of this
bargain he also finds himself able to command the local wolves, and
hence gradually gains the reputation of being a werewolf.

Thibault's first two wishes kill the gamekeeper and injure the Lord of
Vez. The wishes turn two hairs on his head long and red, as do his
subsequent ones, which, though equally successful, also backfire
against him in unexpected ways, leaving him scorned and hated by
others in his community. Finally one of his wishes causes him to trade
bodies with Lord Raoul of Vauparfond, who is having an affair with the
wife of the Count de Mont-Gobert. Caught with the lady by the count as
the result of an earlier wish against Lord Raoul, he is mortally
wounded. He manages to keep himself alive until transferred back into
his own body, only to find himself trapped in his own home, to which
the townsfolk have set fire.

Escaping, Thibault takes to the forest, where he subsists on animals
caught for him by his wolves and hunts and is hunted by the Lord of
Vez. He has but one human hair left on his head. The conclusion of the
book, however, brings him an unusual redemption.


                         Critical reception
======================================================================
In 1951, Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas reviewed the 1950
Prime Press edition and placed it among "Dumas's drabbest hack-work."
Discussing the werewolf theme in literature,
Franz Rottensteiner described 'The Wolf-Leader' as "considerably
superior from a literary
point of view".Franz Rottensteiner, 'The Fantasy Book:an illustrated
history from Dracula to Tolkien'. Collier Books,
1978, (p. 54).


                           External links
======================================================================
* [https://archive.org/details/TheWolfLeader 'The Wolf Leader' by
Alexandre Dumas]
* [http://www.cadytech.com/dumas/work.php?key=244 A review and summary
by Arthur D. Rypinski]
*


License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_Leader