mstance occurred:--"About dusk, just as the last
sledge had arrived within a quarter of a mile of a village on the way
homeward, and had cleared the corner of a wood which had bounded the
road at a few yards distance for a considerable length; the owner, who
was seated behind, with his back to the horses, espied a wolf rush out
of the angle of the wood, and give chase to the sledge at the top of his
speed. The man shouted to the boy who was driving, 'Farkas! farkas!' (a
wolf! a wolf!). Itze het! itze het! (drive on),' and the lad, looking
round in terror, beheld the animal just clearing the gripe which ran
along the road they had passed. Quick as lightning, with shout and whip,
and with all his might, he urged the horses to gain the village. Away
they flew at their fullest stretch, as if sensible of the danger behind
them, conveyed to them by the exclamation of the lad, and the dreaded
name of the animal which he shouted in their ears. The man turned his
seat and urged the boy still more energetically to lash the horses to
their very utmost speed. He did not need any further incentive, but
pushed on the nags with frantic exertion. The sledge flew over the
slippery road with fearful speed; but the wolf urged yet more his utmost
pace, and gained fast upon it. The village was distant about two hundred
yards below the brow of the hill; nothing but the wildest pace could
save them, and the man felt that the wolf would inevitably spring upon
them before they could get to the bottom. Both shouted wildly as they
pursued their impetuous career, the sledge swerving frightfully from one
side of the road to the other, and threatening every moment to turn
over. The man then drew his thick bunda (sheep-skin) over his head; he
looked behind and saw the fierce, panting beast within a few yards of
him; he thought he felt his hot breath in his face; he ensconced his
head again in his bunda, and, in another moment, the wolf sprang upon
his back, and gripped into the thick sheep skin that covered his neck.
With admirable presence of mind the bold-hearted peasant now threw up
both his hands, and grasping the wolf's head and neck with all his
strength, hugged him with an iron clutch to his shoulders. 'Itze het,'
now shouted the cool fellow, and holding his enemy in a death grip,
they swept into the village, dragging the fierce brute after them, in
spite of his frantic efforts to disengage himself. The shouts of the boy
and man, with the mad sp