Once upon a time, many wild animals lived in the dense forests near the city of Matsumoto. The hunters found out about this and began to go hunting in that forest. From morning to evening, screams and shots were heard in the forest. And with each shot there were fewer and fewer animals in the forest. And finally the day came when, of all the animals in the forest, only a badger and a fox and a fox cub remained.
For a long time the badger and the fox did not come out of their holes: they were afraid to meet the hunters. The hunters, deciding that they had killed all the animals, stopped going into this forest.
And so, lying in her hole, the fox thought like this: “If I leave my hole, then it is unknown whether I will catch the eye of the hunter. If I stay here a few more days, then me and my little fox will both die of hunger.”
Having thought so, the fox carefully leaned out of the hole and began to look around and listen. But there was no sign of people anywhere.
The delighted fox ran to the badger's hole and shouted:
- Mister Badger! Come out, don’t be afraid: hunters have stopped coming into our forest! Now we are saved!
The cowardly badger did not dare to stick his nose out of the hole for a long time, but hunger finally forced him to leave his shelter.
- What are we going to do? - the badger asked the fox. “After all, there is not a single animal left in our forest.” A day or two will pass and we will die of hunger. It’s better to die from a hunter’s bullet than to die of starvation!
In response to this the fox said:
“But we both know how to take on any form.” Let's do this: I will turn into a hunter, and you will pretend to be killed. I will sell you to some merchant: and with the money received I will buy whatever we want. You, choosing a convenient moment, will run back into the forest, and we will divide in half everything that I get.
- Agree! - the badger exclaimed joyfully. - Let's do this quickly: I don't have the strength to endure hunger anymore!
“Okay,” said the fox and took on the appearance of a hunter. Seeing this, the badger immediately pretended to be dead.
Then the fox hunter threw him over her shoulder, said goodbye to the little fox and went to the city of Matsumoto.
Then everything was as the fox planned. Some merchant bought a badger and, throwing it into a corner, said:
“Tomorrow morning I’ll skin him.” In the meantime, my dear, get money for your badger.
Having received the money, the fox hunter went to the market. What didn’t the fox buy there! With great difficulty she dragged the bag of food to her house.
When the hungry little fox saw so much food, he jumped above his head with joy. But the fox said:
“Don’t you dare touch anything: we’ll wait for Mr. Badger and we’ll divide everything equally.”
All day the hungry little fox whined and begged his mother for at least a fish tail. The fox felt very sorry for her son, but she still didn’t give him anything, but only spoke.”
- Be patient a little, be patient a little more. Mr. Badger will come, we will divide our prey in half and start eating.
The badger managed to escape from the merchant only at dawn. He rushed to the fox hole and shouted angrily:
- You probably already ate everything without me, gluttons!
- What are you saying, Mr. Badger! - said the fox. “We didn’t even dare to untie the bag without you!”
“So I believed you,” the badger muttered and, taking his half, went into the hole.
A few days later the badger came to the fox and said:
- I've already eaten everything. Now it's my turn to sell you. Pretend to be dead, and I will take the form of a hunter and go to the city.
When the fox pretended to be dead, the badger took the form of a hunter and carried it off to sell.
As soon as he appeared at the market, some merchant called him into his shop and immediately bought a fox from him. While the merchant was counting out money for the fox, the badger thought: “I need to get rid of this annoying fox. Then you won’t have to share food with her.”
And the evil badger, calling the merchant aside, whispered to him:
— The fox is only pretending to be dead. In fact, she is alive and is planning to escape from you at night.
Hearing this, the merchant waved his heavy stick and killed the unfortunate fox.
And the heartless badger bought two bags of food at the market and dragged them into the forest.
In vain the poor little fox waited all day and all night for his mother. In the morning he ran to the badger to find out what happened to the fox.
The badger, who had already drunk a large cup of sake, lay lounging on the bags of food. Seeing the little fox, he began to lie:
“Your mother doesn’t love you at all!” She didn’t want to come back to you, no matter how much I tried to persuade her.
When the little fox saw how much food the badger had, he guessed that the badger had killed his mother so as not to share the prey with her.
The little fox said nothing. He returned to his hole and began to think about how he could take revenge on the heartless badger.
One day, a little fox could not sleep for a long time from hunger. Before dawn, he decided to sneak into a nearby village and get himself something for lunch. But the little fox was unlucky. He thought that at such a time all the people in the village were sleeping. It turned out that many peasants were working on the road near the village.
The little fox hid in the tall grass and began to listen to what people were talking about. And they said that at noon the daimio himself would pass across the road (Daimio is a powerful prince), and they needed to quickly make the road to the forest smooth and pleasant.
Hearing about this, the little fox ran to the badger's hole and said:
- Mister Badger! I heard from my mother that you can take on any form. Is this really true?
“Of course it’s true,” the badger said boastfully.
- Do you know that I can also take on any form? - asked the little fox.
- Well, you're lying! - the badger got angry.
- No, I’m not lying! Today at noon I will take on a different form and, if you recognize me, I undertake to be your slave until the end of my days!
- Agree! - shouted the badger. - I agree! Just keep in mind: when you become my slave, don’t expect mercy from me!
Just before noon, the badger went out onto the forest road and began to look around. Suddenly he saw some people carrying a palanquin along the road. The daimio himself sat in the palanquin and fanned himself.
“Oh, this is what the cunning little fox has turned into,” thought the badger and jumped into the palanquin. Snatching the fan from the daimyo's hands, he shouted:
- Pathetic creature! You dare to think that I am stupider than you! From now on you are my slave until the end of your days. Get out of the palanquin!
The frightened daimyo jumped out of the palanquin and shouted:
- Mad badger! Mad badger! Kill him quickly! Then one of the servants pulled a sword from his belt and cut off the badger's head.
This is how the little fox took revenge for the death of his poor mother.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru