# The Wolf and the Man explained — Household Tales

> Chapter companion for Household Tales by Jacob Grimm.

## What happens

The fox demonstrates to the wolf the strength of man by showing him three examples: an old soldier, a schoolboy, and a hunter. The wolf, despite warnings, attacks the hunter and is severely wounded by gunshot and a hanger, learning a painful lesson about human power.

## Themes in this chapter

### Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished

The wolf's arrogance and aggression are punished by the hunter's superior strength and weapons.

## Character check-ins

### the fox

The fox acts as a guide, showing the wolf different types of men and warning him of their strength.

### the wolf

The wolf is arrogant and insists on attacking a man, only to be brutally beaten by the hunter.

### the old discharged soldier

The first man shown to the wolf, described as 'one that was' a man.

### the little boy

The second man shown, described as 'one that is going to be' a man.

### the hunter

The third man, a fully armed hunter who defeats the wolf with his gun and hanger.

## Key lines

> If I had but the chance of seeing a man for once, I would set on him notwithstanding.

The wolf boasts that if he ever saw a man, he would attack him without hesitation.

_This shows the wolf's overconfidence and sets up his downfall._

> First, he took a stick from his shoulder, and blew into it, and then something flew into my face which tickled me terribly; then he breathed once more into the stick, and it flew into my nose like lightning and hail; when I was quite close, he drew a white rib out of his side, and he beat me so with it that I was all but left lying dead.

The wolf describes the hunter's gun as a stick that blows something into his face, and his hanger as a white rib that beats him nearly to death.

_The wolf's naive description highlights his ignorance of human weapons._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters/the-wolf-and-the-man
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters