Marcovaldo

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Marcovaldo Page 12

by Italo Calvino


  A jack-hare came out, white, onto the snow, he twitched his ears, ran beneath the moon, but he was white and couldn't be seen, as if he weren't there. Only his little paws left a light print on the snow, like little clover leaves. Nor could the wolf be seen, for he was black and stayed in the black darkness of the forest. Only if he opened his mouth, his teeth were visible, white and sharp.

  There was a line where the forest, all black, ended and the snow began, all white. The hare ran on this side, and the wolf on that.

  The wolf saw the hare's prints on the snow and followed them, always keeping in the black, so as not to be seen. At the point where the prints ended there should be the hare, and the wolf came out of the black, opened wide his red maw and his sharp teeth, and bit the wind.

  The hare was a bit farther on, invisible; he scratched one ear with his paw, and escaped, hopping away.

  Is he here? There? Is he a bit farther on?

  Only the expanse of snow could be seen, white as this page.

 

 

 


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