to get back to the business of 《北京一夜》 and the lines:

人说北方的狼族 / 会在寒风起 / 站在城门外 / 穿着腐锈的铁衣

i've been curious about 狼族, and whether it is the name of an actual (historical) tribe, and if so, is the name a homophone of, or transliteration of, a central asian name, or is it a translation, and has it totemic significance? or if it refers not to one particular tribe but is metonymic for all tribes, then at what point of time in the history of the language did this usage become accepted? i couldn't find an answer to the latter, but i found on this page this commentary on the origins of the turkic people:

传说突厥这个民族起源于狼。公元552年,突厥人以对柔然的战争为契机,建立了突厥汗国。世代打铁为奴的民族,从金山(今阿尔泰山脉)上出走,走向更广阔的草原,创立了匈奴之后游牧民族间的另一个帝国神话

so then i looked up 突厥 on wikipedia to see if the myth might be expanded on there. it was helpful, and factual, and full of dates, but not quite so helpful as this discussion.

then i found a really interesting article on wolf totems, which includes this account from 魏书 or the book of wei:

(《魏书·高车传》),匈奴单于生二女,姿容甚美,国人皆以为神,单于曰:‘吾有此女安可配人,将以与天。’乃筑高台,置二女其上,曰‘请天自迎之’。经三年,复一年,乃有一老狼,昼夜守台嗥呼。其小女曰:‘吾父使我处此,欲以与天,而今狼来,或神物天使之然’。下为狼妻,而产子。后遂繁衍成国,故其人好引声长歌,又似狼嗥。

what i find interesting about this source - other than its structure, and its specific cultural spin - expected given its provenance - is of course that in western sources, the wolf would have been a she-wolf.

further investigations there shall be...