GOLOVINSKY. 129 



in a way, the bear is a great favourite with the 

 moujik, and hero of many a droll story): how that 

 he lies in ambush for the unsuspecting roe or wild 

 goat, and pounces on him, or knocks him down 

 with a log used club-fashion, as he passes. Or, 

 again, that lying hid on a ledge overlooking some 

 favourite pass of the tfir's, he rolls huge stones on 

 his prey as it browses beneath him, and then, 

 having killed it in this way, climbs down and 

 dines at his leisure. 



Of course all these are mere peasants' stories, 

 but as they have been told me repeatedly by 

 peasants who have lived amongst the beasts of 

 which the stories are told all their lives, I <nve 



o 



them for what they are worth. There may be 

 some grains of truth in them. 



After putting my bear's skin out of harm's 

 way, and leaving the hams to take their chance 

 till we returned, Stepan and I continued our hunt. 

 In a deep glade, where no sunlight came to disturb 

 the drowsy stillness, something bounded to its feet 

 with a great noise, and hurried off unseen, making 

 the whole forest re-echo with its short sharp barks. 

 The cry was new to me, and I imagined all manner 

 of grim beasts from whom the sound might have 

 proceeded, and regretted intensely my evil luck in 

 not obtaining a shot. Stepan, however, consoled 

 me by telling me it was only ' cazeolc,' the roebuck 

 of this part of the world, which answers so an 



K 



