Black and grey drawing of a tree of life with two wolves inside a circular Celtic knot border, shown as a tattoo design.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Tree of life with wolves in a Celtic knot circle

Black and grey · Flash

A large central tree with a spreading canopy of leaves and branches stands between two wolf heads, with interlaced animal forms and roots below. A dense Celtic knotwork band frames the whole circle. The shading is black and grey with fine hatching and highlights, and the composition is symmetrical.

Tree of life Wolf Celtic knot Interlace Root Circle Leaves

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The ash at the top of Gallow's Lane came down in the gale on Tuesday, and Mr Pryce says we will have the wood for the winter if the men can get the trunk off the road before the frost. I have written that so you know the village is still the village. Nobody has asked after you, which I take to mean they have stopped expecting you, and I am not sure whether to be glad.

Your wolf came back. Not your wolf, I know you will say, but the grey she-wolf the Hollins children named after the bishop. She sat at the edge of the clearing past the stile for most of an evening, and when Ada went out with the milk pail the beast only looked at her, the way you look at a man who owes you money. Ada says the root of the old ash lifted out of the ground like a hand, with a loop of rope still tangled in it. I told her to stop reading the stones in the churchyard.

I have started going up the hill in the mornings to see what the storm left. There is a hollow under the fallen trunk where the roots went down in great knotted cords, and I swear the earth around them has been worked into patterns, as if someone had combed the soil with a fork. Those are the knots I used to draw on your slate when you were small. You never managed to finish one. Come home when the trunk is cut, and bring a proper pencil. Mind the hollow. I will leave the gate open.

Love, Nell