War and Peace Volume 2, Part 4, Chapter 5 Summary

  • Meanwhile, Nikolai is pumped up about the wolf-killing he’s about to do. He’s basically singing the Rocky song and everything.
  • He sees the wolf come out of the forest, thinks about what to do, then sends his dogs after him.
  • The wolf does pretty well for itself for a while, killing a dog and maiming another one. But he’s only one animal versus a whole pack, so eventually he goes down.  It’s pretty gruesome.
  • Before Nikolai kills the wolf, Danilo suggests they tie him up instead so they can stuff and mount him or something. They tie up his legs, muzzle him, and load him up onto a horse.
  • Danilo kind of apologizes to Count Rostov, who takes the whole thing in stride.