MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/. Police have found Behemoth, the cat named after the well-known character from Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita that went missing from Moscow’s renowned Bulgakov House early on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the Bulgakov House filed a report with the police over the kidnapping of their cat that has been on the museum's staff for the past 14 years. Bulgakov House Director Nikolai Golubev told TASS earlier that an unidentified woman had abducted the feline.
He said a district police officer had found the cat. "The cat was without its collar," Golubev said. He said the cat had been found not far from the Bulgakov House, near Mossovet State Academic Theater. "Evidently, it was dumped off there, as it had no collar on," the director said, thanking the media for support. The cat is already at home, he said. "He immediately ran to the food bowl. Everybody (the museum staff) is happy, jumping with joy," Golubev said.
The cat has lived at the museum since 2005, has its own medic and stylist, and is fed under a special program. "(His) distinguishing characteristics are as follows - a black fluffy Siberian-Persian cat, the collar has the address label in the form of a bone, weight about six kilograms," said the description drawn up after the abduction, also pointing to cat’s ‘harsh nature’.
Behemoth is among the most bizarre characters of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel with many of his remarks widely cited nowadays. He is an enormous black cat who speaks, walks on two legs and can even take human form at certain times. The cat is a member of the entourage of the mysterious foreigner and Professor Woland that also includes witches and vampires.