The Bear-Hunt (Tolstoy)
Short summary
Russian forest, winter. During a bear hunt, the narrator's comrade wounded a bear that escaped. While others decided to wait, the narrator and Damian followed the bear's tracks through deep snow.
They circled the bear's trail for miles, discovering the animal had walked backwards to confuse them. After resting overnight in the forest, they organized beaters the next morning. The narrator took position behind a tree. When the bear charged at him in blind fear, his first shot missed. The second wounded but didn't kill the bear.
The bear knocked him down and began mauling his face.
It was as if my face were being cut with knives. I struggled to get away, while he made haste to close his jaws like a dog gnawing. 'Now,' thought I, 'my end has come!'
Damian saved him by shouting at the bear, who obeyed and fled. A month later, Damian killed the bear, which had a broken jaw from the narrator's bullet.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The debate over pursuing the wounded bear
A hunting party had wounded a bear, leaving traces of blood on the snow, but the animal had escaped. The hunters gathered in the forest to decide their next course of action. They consulted the peasant bear-drivers about whether it would be possible to surround the bear that same day.
The old bear-driver insisted it was impossible, arguing they must let the bear settle down for five days before attempting to surround him. However, a younger bear-driver disagreed, claiming the deep snow would prevent the fat bear from traveling far.
We need not argue. You do as you like, but I will follow up the track with Damian. If we get round the bear, all right. If not, we lose nothing.
Tracking the bear through the forest
The narrator decided to pursue the bear with Damian while his comrade returned to the village with the others.
The two men examined their guns and set off following the bear's tracks. The weather was fine but the snowshoeing proved difficult in the deep, soft snow. The bear's trail was clearly visible, showing where he had ploughed through snow up to his belly. When the tracks led into a thicket, Damian suggested they leave the trail and circle around quietly to avoid frightening the bear.
After circling for about five hundred yards, they encountered the bear's tracks again, this time leading to a road. Following the road for nearly a mile, they discovered something strange - bear tracks that appeared to be going from the forest onto the road rather than from the road into the forest. Damian realized the clever bear had walked backwards to confuse his pursuers. They followed the true trail and found the bear had indeed turned around behind a fir tree. The men spent the night in the forest, resting on fir branches under the stars.
Surrounding the bear and the first encounter
The next morning, they completed their circle around the bear and returned to the village to organize beaters. After gathering thirty peasants, both men and women armed with cudgels, they returned to the forest. Damian positioned the hunters while the beaters formed a circle around the area where the bear was trapped.
The narrator took his position behind a tall fir tree, preparing both his guns and ensuring his dagger was ready. Soon Damian's shouts echoed through the forest, followed by the voices of the beaters driving the bear forward. The narrator's heart beat violently as he waited, trembling with excitement.
Suddenly, the narrator spotted something big and black among the distant fir trees. In his excitement, he fired but heard his bullet strike a tree instead. The bear scampered back into the circle, disappearing among the trees. The narrator thought his chance was lost, but then heard a woman screaming frantically, indicating the bear's location near his comrade's position.
The bears attack and desperate rescue
Something was coming towards me like a whirlwind, snorting as it came; and I saw the snow flying up quite near me. I glanced straight before me, and there was the bear.
The massive bear rushed directly at the narrator, blinded by fear and scattering snow as he came. The narrator fired twice but missed both shots. The bear knocked him down into the snow and began mauling him.
I felt something heavy weighing me down, and something warm above my face, and I realized that he was drawing my whole face into his mouth. My nose was already in it.
The bear seized the narrator's forehead with his lower jaw and the flesh below his eyes with his upper jaw, trying to close his teeth like a dog gnawing. The narrator struggled desperately to twist his face away as the bear attempted to draw it back into his mouth. Just when death seemed certain, the bear suddenly jumped off and ran away.
But Damian just as he was, without a gun, and with only a stick in his hand, rushed along the path shouting: 'He's eating the master! He's eating the master!'
While the comrade had stumbled in deep snow trying to reach the scene, brave Damian had rushed to the rescue with only a stick, shouting at the bear to leave off. Remarkably, the bear obeyed him and fled. When the narrator rose, there was blood on the snow as if a sheep had been killed, with flesh hanging in rags above his eyes.
Recovery and the final successful hunt
A doctor stitched up the narrator's wounds with silk, and they healed quickly.
A month later, they hunted the same bear again, but it would not come out of the circle, instead going round and round, growling terribly. Damian killed the bear, which had a broken lower jaw and a missing tooth from the narrator's bullet. The huge creature with splendid black fur was stuffed and placed in the narrator's room, while his facial scars healed so well they were barely visible.