In one of the most famous tales from St. Petersburg — Nikolai Gogol’s “The Nose” — Major Kovalyov wakes up one day to find his nose has disappeared from his face. He learns that the anthropomorphic nose has developed a life of its own, eventually even surpassing him in rank.
Now, another St. Petersburg man has lost his nose — this time to a horse’s bite during a failed attempt at romance, the local Fontanka.ru news website reported Thursday.
The inebriated 25-year-old tried to make a pass at a woman on horseback in the city center around midnight, the outlet cited St. Petersburg police as saying.
Having been rejected, the affectionate man “tried to kiss the animal despite the woman’s warnings that it may bite” and the horse responded by biting at his nose.
The unnamed lover-turned-bite victim was hospitalized following the bite.
“Police joked that the guy got off easy,” Fontanka.ru reported.
“If he had come from the rear, the hoof injuries would have been much more severe than a cosmetic defect.”
A graphic photograph posted by the Baza Telegram channel showed the man it identified as Vasya, a nickname for Vasily, with his amputated nose covered in gauze.
Unlike Gogol’s story, there have been no reported sightings of this nose walking around town following the amputation.
