Blood Red, Snow White Read Online Free PDF

in different countries, and at last they were back together in Russia.
    It was now, as the Russian and the Jew stood under a tall silver birch at the edge of a clearing, smoking their pipes and stroking their beards, that the bear lumbered into view.
    Lev and Vladimir froze, but almost immediately realized that the bear had stopped in its tracks, and showed no sign of attacking them. Very quickly, because both men were very clever, they understood that the bear was confused.
    Lev winked at Vladimir, and Vladimir winked back at Lev, because they knew they had found precisely what they’d been looking for. They sauntered over to the bear, each puffing hard on his pipe to hide the fact that they were actually scared, pretending to be as nonchalant as pigs caught in the pantry. Nonetheless, Lev had one hand on the revolver in his pocket. He didn’t know how to use it, but it made him feel much better knowing it was there.
    “Good Morning, Bear,” Lev said to the animal, who, now that they were up close to it, seemed even bigger.
    “Good Morning, Bear,” said Vladimir, but the bear said nothing in reply. Lev and Vladimir looked at each other for a second, then quickly turned back to the bear. It wouldn’t do to take your eyes off such a creature for too long.
    Lev had an idea. He knew what he should say.
    “What’s wrong, Bear?” he asked.
    The bear answered him.
    “I’m hungry,” he declared, in a booming voice that made the snow tremble from the tops of the trees and flitter down around their shoulders.
    “Ah,” said Lev. “Of course you are. Of course. You’re hungry and that’s no way for a bear to be. You need food! And maybe you need more than that, too … Well, you’re in luck, because it just so happens that I, and my friend Vladimir here, are able to help you.”
    The bear slowly turned his gaze upon the Russian, who bowed so low that he was brushing the snow off his cap for weeks afterward.
    Then the bear spoke for a second time.
    “Indeed,” he said.
    “Indeed,” said Lev. “For why should a creature such as yourself, such a powerful and noble beast, go hungry? You deserve better! You should be the king of the forest, and want for nothing. And why? Because you have been starved. You must rise up and fight. We will show you how, but you must stand against the man who has taken the food from your mouth!”
    “And who is that?” asked the bear, who still seemed a little puzzled.
    “Why,” exclaimed Lev, “the Tsar, of course. He’s the one responsible. He has starved the land, and you, the great Russian bear, for too long. He must be swept away! Wipe him from the face of the earth, and you will go hungry no more!”
    “The Tsar?” said the bear. “The Tsar, the Tsar…?”
    “Yes,” cried Lev, getting angry himself now, “the Tsar, and the whole system he controls. A handful of people, unimaginably rich, who have taken everything this country has for themselves, and left you with nothing! Now you must fight to get it back! You must fight.”
    Now the bear understood and as he understood he became angry and his hunger only made his anger worse. All the time that Lev had been speaking, Vladimir had sidled out of view of the bear, and had crept around behind him. He’d pulled a frozen but stout branch from a nearby tree, and it had snapped, leaving a vicious point on the end. He looked over the bear’s shoulder, and with his eyes asked Lev a question.
    Lev nodded, ever so slightly, and with that, Vladimir shoved the spike of the branch as hard as he could into the bear’s enormous rear end.
    The bear howled and shot forward so fast that Lev had to throw himself onto his backside to avoid being trampled there and then. Before he could even get to his feet the bear was out of sight, careering away through the trees.
    Vladimir took a couple of steps forward, shouting after it as it went.
    “The Tsar! You have to destroy the Tsar! Remember! The Tsar!”
    *   *   *
    Lev stood up and