Chapter 6 : 
Bulka and the Wolf
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18881888

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Author : Leo Tolstoy

Translator : Nathan Haskell Dole

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At the time when I was about to leave the Caucasus, 
war was still in progress, and it was hazardous traveling 
by night without an escort. 
I was anxious to start as early as possible in the 
morning, and therefore I did not go to bed at all. 
A friend of mine came to keep me company, and we 
spent the whole evening and night sitting in front of 
my khata, or hut, on the street of the stanitsa, or Cossack 
outpost. 
It was a misty, moonlight night, and so light that one 
could see to read, though the moon itself was invisible. 
At midnight we suddenly heard a little pig squealing 
in a yard on the other side of the street. One of us 
cried : 
"There 's a wolf throttling a young pig." 
I ran into my khata, seized my loaded musket, and 
hastened out into the street. All were standing at the 
gates of the yard where the young pig was squealing, 
and they shouted to me, " Here ! here ! " 
Milton came leaping after me, evidently thinking that 
as I had my gun I was going hunting; and Bulka 
pricked up his short ears and bounded from side to side, 
as if inquiring what it was that he should grip. 
As I was running toward the wattled hedge, I saw a 
wild animal coming directly for me from the other side 
of the yard. 
It was the wolf. 
He was running toward the hedge, and gave a leap 
at it. I retreated before him and got my musket ready. 
As soon as the wolf leaped down from the hedge on 
my side, I leveled the gun at him, almost touching him, 
and pulled the trigger; but the gun only gave a "chik" 
and missed fire. 
The wolf did not stop, but darted down the street. 
Milton and Bulka set out in pursuit. Milton was near 
the wolf, but evidently did not dare to seize him ; while 
Bulka, though he put forth all the strength of his short 
legs, could not catch up with him. 
We ran as fast as we could after the wolf, but wolf 
and dogs were now out of sight. 
But we soon heard near the ditch at the corner of the 
stanitsa a barking and whining, and we could make out 
through the moonlit mist that something was kicking up 
a dust, and that the dogs had tackled the wolf. 
When we reached the ditch, the wolf was gone, and 
both the dogs returned to us with tails erect and excited 
faces. Bulka growled and rubbed his head against me ; 
he evidently wanted to tell me about it, but was not able. 
We examined the dogs and discovered that there was 
a small bite on Bulka's head. He had probably overtaken the wolf in front of the ditch, but had not dared to tackle him, and the wolf had snapped at him and 
made off. The wound was small, so that we had no 
apprehension in regard to it. 
We returned to the khata, sat down, and talked over 
what had happened. I was vexed enough that my 
musket had missed fire, and I could not help thinking 
that, if it had gone off, the wolf would have fallen on 
the spot. My friend was surprised that a wolf had ven- 
tured to make its way into the yard. 
An old Cossack declared that there was nothing 
wonderful about it ; that it was not a wolf, but a witch, 
and that she had cast a spell over my gun ! 
Thus we sat and talked. 
Suddenly the dogs sprang up, and we saw in the 
middle of the street, right in front of us, the very same 
wolf ; but this time he made off so swiftly at the sound 
of our voices that the dogs could not overtake him. 
The old Cossack after this was entirely convinced 
that it was no wolf, but a witch ; but it occurred to me 
whether it was not a mad wolf, because I had never 
heard or known of a wolf returning among men after 
once he had been chased. 
At all events, I scattered gunpowder over Bulka's 
wound and set it on fire. The powder blazed up and 
cauterized the sore place. 
I cauterized the wound with powder so as to consume 
the mad virus, in case it had not yet had time to reach 
the blood. 
In case of the spittle being poisonous and reaching 
the blood, I knew that it would spread all over his 
body, and then there would be no means of curing him. 



     From : Wikisource.org

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     Chapter 6 -- Publication : November 30, 1887

     Chapter 6 -- Added : June 30, 2021

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