The story of the Two Wolves is a popular legend of unknown origin, sometimes attributed to the Cherokee or Lenape people that is also known as "Which one do you feed", "Grandfather Tells", "The Wolves Within", and "Tale Of Two Wolves". It is a story of a grandfather using a metaphor of two wolves fighting within him to explain his inner conflicts to his grandson. When his grandson asks which wolf wins, the grandfather answers whichever he chooses to feed.
The story is frequently quoted in various forms in media articles, a podcast called , and was summarized in the 2015 film Tomorrowland. From Wikiquote:
Casey Newton: "There are two wolves"... You told me this story my entire life, and now I'm telling you: There are two wolves and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair, the other is light and hope. Which wolf wins? Eddie Newton: C'mon, Casey. Casey Newton: Okay, fine, don’t answer. Eddie Newton: Whichever one you feed. Casey Newton: Good. Eat.
In the television seriesLuke Cage a pastor tells the story of a "Cherokee Legend", with the metaphor of two wolves fighting, where the boy in the story asks "Which wolf is stronger?" and his grandfather responds: "It's the one you feed."
In an issue of the Daredevilcomic series, the character Echo encounters Wolverine while on a vision quest. He tells her a version of the Two Wolves story he learned from the Chief, albeit referring to them as dogs. Echo then reveals that her late father was the one who originally told that story to the Chief.
In Knightfall Godfrey tells the story to Landry in a flashback.
"Feed the Wolf", the second song on Breaking Benjamin's 2018 album, Ember.
The marquee of the Roma theatre in ' advertises a performance titled "A Dance of Two Wolves."
Similar Stories
There are similar stories to Two Wolves that refer to dogs instead of wolves. It is unknown whether these similar stories had any impact on the existing popular legend, or whether they were early examples of cultural appropriation from Native American culture.
John Bisagno version
The earliest known variation of this story was published by the Baptist pastor John R. Bisagno in the book The Power of Positive Praying. In this version, a missionary is told by a Mohave Indian convert named Joe that he has a black dog and a white dog always fighting inside him, and that the dog which Joe feeds the most will win.
A later variation of this story was published by the Reverend Billy Graham in his book The Holy Spirit: Activating God's Power in Your Life about an Inuit with a black dog and a white dog that he used for match fixing by only feeding the one he wanted to win.
