One day a Russian tank drove up to the house and turned its cannon right into the front garden. Three soldiers scrambled up on the tank cannon and sat there like sparrows on a branch. They peered into the yard over the fence.

"Hey, beautiful," shouted one of them to Angelina, who was walking across the yard. "Give us some chicken. We haven't had chicken soup for ages."

Angelina decided not to speak to them and went into the house. As she stepped onto the porch, she heard the Russians say, "Look, she's too haughty to talk to us." They hooted.

The next morning, just before sunrise, the Russians returned. They broke down the gate with their tank, clanged into the yard, took all the chickens from the henhouse, two piglets, and tried to take Semyon the Bull with them, but Semyon broke free, ran into the vegetable garden, and from there, hurried down the icy path to the river. The Russians shot at him but missed.

Semyon the Bull was very frightened, so he didn't stop. He ran through a strip of trees that grew near the river, burst out onto its dirty ice, and kept running. At the opposite bank, the ice gave way beneath him, but Semyon pushed through with his mighty chest until he reached the shore.

Now he found himself in a forest. Along the bank of the river, there was a path, and Semyon the Bull followed it. Soon he saw three mounds that reeked of human smell, so he went closer to sniff and see what they were. Small forest animals had dug into and explored the nearest mound, and as he got closer, Semyon the Bull saw a dead man in a military uniform with his hands tied behind his back with a belt. The man was lying face down. For some reason, his pants were pulled down to his knees, and even Semyon the Bull was able to understand that this did not mean anything good. A bare human back was also sticking out of the second mound, but it was a woman's back. Men and women smell differently, so Semyon couldn't be mistaken. The woman's hands were tied with a nasty-smelling tape. Semyon the Bull decided not to approach the third mound because the smell coming from it was soaked with true horror, and Semyon knew for certain that the worst was hidden there. Even animals did not touch the third mound and did not try to dig it, because they also felt this smell.

Semyon the Bull trotted along the forest path until he reached the edge of the woods. There, he saw two cows plucking tufts of blackened grass from beneath the snow. One of them had only three legs and the most beautiful eyelashes a cow can have. The sun was already rising above the horizon, round and tenderly pink like a clean udder brimming with milk. Its rays reflecting off the blinding snow backlit the cows, giving them a rosy hue.

The cows noticed Semyon, came up, and licked him on the nose with their leathery tongues, which sent a jolt of happiness along his spine. Semyon the Bull felt he was in love with them both, head over hooves in love. Gallantly, he rested his head on the three-legged one's back to protect her from the cold. He thought it was really good that all people would soon kill each other, and then the time of innumerable herds grazing in meadows and forests would come again.


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