A poor woodcutter and his wife raise two young children and a spirited mongrel near a village while a harsh winter and roaming wolves threaten their livelihood. When the children go missing, the dog finds them as a wolf attacks and interposes itself between predator and children; the woodcutter kills the wolf but the dog succumbs to its wounds. The family mourns and buries the faithful animal beneath a marked stone, and its selfless death becomes a local proverb about misfortune.