Turkic mythology
The legend of the she-wolf Asena is the oldest known legend of Turkish mythology (oldest version 330 BC). It is the tragic story of the Tue'kue, who are wiped out except for one badly injured little boy by an enemy attack. The boy survives in a bog with severed hands and feet. The she-wolf Asena finds the boy, nurses him and thus ensures the continued existence of the colony. The wolf, as the holiest and highest totem animal of the Turks, plays an important role in many sagas and myths. The Turks regarded the wolf as their ancestor. The wolf is the animal that seems to play the most important role in ancient Turkic mythology. It is likely that the original legend of the ancestral wolf developed among the Hsiung-nu (or Huns) at an unknown but undoubtedly very early date. Shiratori writes that in pre-Christian times it appears already well developed among the Wu sun of the Išíq Qul and the Ili, who are Indo-Europeans or Proto-Turks. Two stories introduce us to her. Both told of a she-wolf nursing a foundling and a raven circling overhead.