English term
Russian Federation
Professional interpreting/translation
Native in: Russian 
Works in: English to Russian, Russian to English, Ukrainian to English, and 1 more.
pulled
"Matthew stepped aside to get out of the way of a passing wagon that pulled a buff-colored bull to market."
Or is it some kind of humor?
Non-PRO (2): Cilian O'Tuama, Yvonne Gallagher
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Responses
United Kingdom
Taking good care of each word
Native in: Russian , English (Variants: US, UK, British) 
Works in: English to Russian, Russian to English, Russian, and 22 more.
the bull is being pulled
| agree |
Tony M
: Yes, also a possibility.
6 mins
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| agree |
Sheila Wilson
42 mins
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| agree |
Sarah Lewis-Morgan
: In this part of the world is is also quite common to put an animal in a sort of cage which is towed behind a vehicle while the animal walks.
2 hrs
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| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
2 hrs
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| agree |
Clauwolf
4 hrs
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| agree |
Britta Norris
20 hrs
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| neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: seems like a strange use of "pull" if the bull is trotting along behind a wagon? ON Nassau St NYC? Highly unlikely to have a bull like that in a city?
2 days 4 hrs
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something (an ox / a draught horse) was pulling the cart containing the bull
Note that the more docile oxen are used for draught purposes; you would never use a bull for that!
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Note added at 19 hrs (2020-11-27 08:08:36 GMT)
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Asker, it definitely does NOT mean that 'the bull was pulling the waggon' — the EN syntax would be grammatically quite wrong for that.
The only doubt, due to the slightly odd expression used, is if the bull was IN the wggon or being pulled along behind it. I favour the former interpretation, simply because of the use of the verb 'to pull'; if the bull were merely being 'towed' behind the waggon, I wouldn't expect to use that verb, which to me somehow seems to suggest he was being dragged along — both unlikely and improbable!
| agree |
Daryo
: I think this makes more sense.
13 hrs
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Thanks, Daryo! I feel it is guided by the use of the verb 'to pull'... but it remains slightly ambiguous
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: I agree that "pull" does not imply a bull being tethered to a wagon, but rather that it is IN the wagon being pulled in NYC!//surely "pull" is quite simply wrong verb with " bull"?mule & cart mentioned earlier//pull> haul= transport IN a cart or lorry
2 days 3 hrs
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Thanks, Yvonne! I agree, although they were still driving cattle through the streets of Paris to Les Halles in... 1974!!! / Tend to agree with the odd use of 'pull', but cf. its quite common usage for 'haul', which with 'haulier' implies cart / Exactly!
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Discussion
In the olden days, livestock were often 'driven' to market — hence a 'drover'
'Pulling' suggests more that they were led — so that could indeed be 'tethered to a moving cart'; or my own suggestion of 'conveyed in a cart drawn by some other animal'.
It would be nice, of course, to know what the cart was used for on the return journey (provisions, perhaps?) — it would seem silly to take an empty cart to market and back again just to lead a bull; but maybe they had other things to sell / buy?
https://novel122.com/mister-slaughter/part-one-the-monster03...
The only useful context is the year 1702 and Wall Street, New York.
What would have been the usual way to take a bull to the market in 1702 passing along the Wall street in New York?
There are some elements of black humour / irony in the rest of the text, but not in this quoted part.