If a wolf sees a man before the man sees the wolf, the man will lose his voice. If the man sees the wolf first, the wolf can no longer be fierce. If a man loses his voice because the wolf saw him first, he should take off all his clothes and bang two rocks together, which will keep the wolf from attacking.

The wolf lives from prey, from the earth, and sometimes from the wind. When the wolf sneaks into a sheep fold, it approaches like a tame dog and is careful to approach from upwind so that the farm dogs do not smell its evil breath. If it steps on a branch and makes a noise, the wolf punishes itself by biting the offending foot. The wolf is cunning: it does not hunt for food for its cubs near its lair, but goes far away to find prey.

Wolves have strength in their feet, and anything they trample dies. They are also strong in their mouths and shoulders, but weak in their loins. They are unable to turn their necks backwards, but must turn their whole body to look behind them. Their eyes shine in the dark like lamps. At the tip of a wolf's tail is a tuft of hair that can be used for love potions; if the wolf is about to be captured, it bites off the tuft so that no man can get it. The wolves of Ethiopia are said to have manes in such a range of colors that no hue is left out, and to be able to leap so high that one might think they had wings.

Wolves mate only twelve days in the year. The female gives birth at the beginning of spring, in the month of May, when it first thunders.

Like the wolf, the devil always sees mankind as prey and circles the sheepfold of the faithful, that is the Church. As the wolf gives birth when thunder first sounds, so the devil fell from heaven at the first display of his pride. The shining of the wolf's eyes in the night is like the works of the devil, which seem beautiful to foolish men. As the wolf cannot turn his neck, so the devil never turns towards the correction of penitence. Like the man who, because of the wolf has lost his voice, can save himself by removing his clothes and banging two rocks together, so can the man who is lost in sin be saved by stripping off, through baptism, his worldly self and then appealing to the saints, who are called "stones of adamant".

Prostitutes are called she-wolves (lupae) because they lay waste their lover's riches.

The wolf has a small tuft of hair in its tail that can be used in a love potion, but only if it is pulled from the tail of a live wolf. The heart of a wolf, burned to ash and added to a drink, is a treatment for epilepsy, but only if the patient is not tainted by lust.

Hildegard von Bingen says, "If someone, because of weakness of diseases, should be mad in the head and insane, shave the hair from his head and cook a wolf in water, having thrown away its head and intestines. Wash the head of the mad one in a broth of this water, with his eyes, ears, and mouth tied with a cloth, lest any of it enter these places. If any of the broth enters his body, he would be more crazy, since it would be as a poison to him. Do this for three days. Although the madness is great, he will recover his senses. If he does not allow you to bind his eyes, ears, and nose with a cloth, then dip a linen cloth in the broth, and dampen his head with the warm cloth. Allow it to lie on his head for a little while. After doing this for three days, he will return to his senses. When he is better, wash his head in warm wine, so the richness will be washed and removed from his head." (Throop translation)