Who Is The Wolf?
The attacker who ends up pulling the sleigh
The Wolf of the Snowfields
The Wolf is a huge, starving animal that attacks the Baron's sleigh in a Russian winter forest. Unnamed in the original story, it stars in a tale where the attacker becomes the one pulling the sleigh.
The Wolf leaps over the Baron, sinks its teeth into the sleigh horse from behind, and eats its way into the horse's body. Crouching low in the sleigh until the danger passes, the Baron seizes his chance and whips the Wolf. Startled, it bolts forward at full speed, the horse's body falls away, and the Wolf finds itself in the horse's harness.
The Baron keeps whipping it onward and arrives safely in St. Petersburg in the wolf-drawn sleigh, to the astonishment of everyone watching. Turning a creature that nearly ate him into his transportation is a reversal typical of the book.
