The Middle Ages in Europe was a time of growing enlightenment and crushing superstition. A belief in werewolves was widespread. The Roman Church exploited this sinister image of the wolf and, during the years of the Inquisition, used the peoples' fear of werewolves to maintain secular control. When the European settlers arrived in America, they brought this dark wolf of their imaginings with them.
In contrast the indigenous people of North America both admired and emulated the wolf. The Native Americans respected the wolf's hunting abilities and honored him because he provided food for the community at large-the fox, the coyote, and the raven.
To some the wolf was seen as a wise, powerful, an instinctive hunter, a teacher in fact, of tactics humans could emulate against buffalo or caribou.
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Over the centuries, the wolf has come to mean different things to different cultures. Revered as a deity, or reviled as a devil, the wolf has often paid with its life for crimes it did not commit.