when we were little , tomas and i believed devoutly that deda himself ran from the rampaging golem in 1586 ( he has a lump of petrified clay in the rough shape of a toe ) , hunted the witch baba yaga across the taiga at the behest of catherine the great ( who presented him an order of st. george medal for his troubles ) , and , yes , cornered a marauding undead fox cossack in a sevastopol cellar in the final days of the crimean war .