Lowering his head and fighting against the wind which was tearing the plaids out of his hands, Levin had almost reached the Kolok and could see something gleaming white behind an oak, when suddenly everything burst into flame, the earth seemed on fire, and just overhead the vault of heaven seemed to crack. When he opened his dazzled eyes the first thing Levin saw with horror through the dense curtain of rain that now separated him from the Kolok was the strangely altered position of the green crown of a familiar oak in the middle of the wood.
Ya distinguía algo que blanqueaba tras un roble, cuando de pronto todo se inflamó, ardió la tierra entera, y pareció que el cielo se abría encima de él. Al abrir los ojos, momentáneamente cegados, Levin, a través del espeso velo de lluvia que ahora le separaba de Kolok, vio inmediatamente, y con horror, la copa del conocido roble del centro del bosque que parecía haber cambiado extrañamente de posición.