The White Wolf Knight

When Zhuoya fell from the back of a cow at the age of four, snow was falling.

Her father didn’t notice. The herd continued onward and disappeared beyond the mountains. She lay in the snow, thinking she was going to die.

A white wolf saved her.

The wolf carried her back to its den, fed her its milk, and taught her to run, hunt, and howl at the moon. She grew up among the wolves, believing she was one of them.

Ten years later, she saw the city below the mountain for the first time. The people there looked like her: they walked on two legs, wore clothes, and spoke. They caught her in a net. She let out a howl, and thousands of wolves surged out of the darkness.

She didn’t know if she was human or wolf.

She only knew that when the little girl with pigtails offered her a steamed bun, her heart softened as it had never done before.

She wanted to stay. But the yellow and white things she had brought out of the cave, the gold and silver, were casting a shadow over this family.

She wanted to find her family. But she didn’t know who to choose when blood ties stood on one side and the kindness of those who raised her stood on the other.

This is a story about the question, “Who am I?”

Between the snowy mountains and grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a child raised by wolves spends her life searching for the answer.