Le Meneur de Loups is a supernatural novel about a pact with the devil,
set in Dumas' home town of Villers-Cotterêts, circa 1780. It might be
viewed as a the evil twin to
Conscience L'Innocent,
written several
years before, in which Dumas depicted the life of a saintly hero in
Villers-Cotterêts. Le Meneur de Loups is, however, a strikingly
original work, full of unexpected twists, mixing scenes of deft comedy with
sudden horror, and showcasing Dumas' profound but not-quite-orthodox
religious beliefs.
Dumas recounts that, as a teenager, he was taken wolf-hunting by his
father's former gardener, Mocquet. The hunters flushed an immense old
wolf, who escaped unscathed through a fusillade of gunfire. Dumas was
told: "That was Thibault's wolf." So, Mocquet tells Dumas the story of
Thibault's wolf. Thibault was a young shoemaker. After he obstructed the
hunting of the Lord of Vez, he is severely beaten by the Lord's gamekeeper.
He is then approached by an immense wolf, walking on its hind legs and
capable of human speech. The wolf offers Thibault a pact, Thibault has but
to wish someone harm, and the victim will be instantly harmed. In
exchange, the wolf requires a single hair from Thibault's head for each
evil wish. In token of this pact, the Thibault and the wolf exchange
rings. Thibault promptly wishes the gamekeeper dead, and the Lord of Vez
injured.
Thibault derives little advantage and much harm from his powers. Each wish
converts a hair on his head into a blood-red strand, long and stiff like a
horse's mane, impossible to remove or cut, and his appearance becomes
increasingly bizarre. He courts, in turn, a local maiden, the widow of a
mill-owner, and the wife of a magistrate. In each case, though his wishes
are granted, the women spurn him and laugh at him, and men hate him. He
finds himself the master of the local wolves, who understand and obey his
commands.
Thibault learns that a local aristocrat, Raoul, Lord of Vauparfond, is
carrying on an affair with the delicious wife of the Count de Mont-Gobert.
He idly wishes that the Count will catch Raoul in his adultery. Later,
Thibault encounters Raoul in the forest, and Raoul strikes Thibault with
his whip. Thibault wishes that he could be Raoul for just 24 hours. Raoul
is thrown from his horse, and Thibault finds himself inhabiting Raoul's
body, staring down at his own unconscious body, occupied, he presumes, by
Raoul's soul. As Raoul, Thibault goes to meet the Countess, only to be
trapped by the Count and mortally wounded. Thibault desperately tries to
remain alive for 24 hours, so that he can return to his (comparatively)
undamaged body. Thibault awakens in his own bed (and in his own body) to
the smell of smoke. The locals have decided Thibault is werewolf and are
burning down his house.
Thibault is reduced to living in the forests, eating the game the wolves
catch for him. The Lord of Vez mounts a campaign of extermination against
the wolves, while Thibault and the wolves hunt the hunters. Only one hair
on Thibault's head remains his own.
The conclusion is just as unexpected as much of the rest of the book, and
illustrates Dumas' belief in the infinite mercy and wisdom of God, and the
redeeming power of love and repentance, and links this work to
Conscience L'Innocent.
