The Heart of the Trans-Siberian

Once upon a time, a certain gentleman was traveling along the newly completed Trans-Siberian Railway. Suddenly, somewhere around the midpoint of his travels, he spied an imposing train station. The gentleman concluded that he had arrived at a rather large municipality and exited the train, intending to spend a night in the local hotel, then take in the local sites the next day.

Imagine our gentleman's surprise when he discovered that there was no city whatsoever here, just a tiny village huddled about the station, consisting of no more than a dozen wooden homes.

We should also note that this was a day in early spring, and the melting snow was sliding down from the mountain into the valley. Now in these parts the local bears were not averse to sitting atop such sliding floes, riding them down the mountain like a child on a sled. And as Fate would have it, at that very moment when our gentleman was casting his gloomy gaze toward said mountain, three bears were scooting down the mountain in the aforementioned manner.