The Forest was once a place of shadows and darkness, of old trees, long-gone waterways, treacherous bogs, iron furnaces, charcoal burners, brigands and wolves. Of place-names tied to nature, to legend.
There once stood an apple-tree or orchard, as recently as 100 years ago, by where the Drève de la Meute meets the Chaussée de la Hulpe, the Wolfs Appelaer. Further north-west, near where Boitsfort Rugby Club now stands, was the Wolfs vijver or pond. There was also a stretch of heathland called Bruyère des Loups.
Pierron in his Histoire de la Forêt de Soignes (1905) notes that during the reign of Charles-Quint in the first half of the 16th century, forty-two wolves were killed in 18 years.
May 11th is associated with Saint Mamertus who instituted the Rogation processions. Centuries ago these were associated with the beating of the bounds, in which the boundaries of the parish would be walked by the clergy and parishioners, praying for its protection against harm. Harm from weather certainly, but doubtless from the wolf as well.
In 1815, on the fringes of the Forest, Napoleon was defeated and driven out of Europe. In the same year, the last wolf was gone.