The history of Turin's origins, mired in folk legends and musty documents, does indeed seem to somehow involve a bull. As chronicled by Salesian monk Antonio Ghirardi in his "Almanac of Turin for the year 1881", when the city was but a small village its people lived in fear of a monstrous many-headed serpent that inhabited the surrounding woods. The area was however also stalked by a huge wild bull, which eventually slew the beast with its horns. According to this legend, the town's people were so grateful that they chose for themselves the name of "Taurini", or "bull's people".