ABSTRACT
As the kabouter talked, we were following an animal track in the taiga. We were surrounded by spruce, pine, and fir trees. Among them, the leaves of deciduous trees like birch, poplar, and aspen were turning yellow and orange and the undergrowth was full of ferns and moss. And at a muddy place, I recognized the very fresh pug marks of a Siberian tiger. I thought about the one I had seen before that had been walking to the edge of the lake to take a drink. But that was from a distance. Now, I must admit that I found these fresh marks quite worrying. With the thick growth around us, the big cat could be hiding anywhere. But the kabouter didn't seem to be worried.
