Once upon a time there lived an old bear in the forest. Winter came, everything was covered with snow, birds and animals hid in their holes. The bear has nothing to eat, even if he starves. A hungry chicken dreamed of millet, and a bear dreamed of meat, and he began to eat it in his sleep, smacking his lips. The bear woke up from his own slurping and went to look for the dreamed meat. He walked for a long time, through mountains, through valleys, and finally reached some mountain.
On the slope of the mountain a shepherd was grazing sheep. One of the goats, the leader of the herd, climbed onto a rock a little distance from the shepherd and was plucking thorny bushes. Suddenly the goat slipped on a stone and fell head over heels. And under the rock stood a hungry bear who blocked the goat’s path.
“Yeah, brother goat,” exclaimed the bear, “tell me, sleep in your hand.” Now I’ll eat you, so much so that you won’t even feel it.
The goat thought about running away, but realized that he couldn’t - both the bruises and the bear blocking the road were in the way.
“Father Bear,” said the cunning goat calmly, “they’ll eat me anyway.” It’s even better if you eat me—you’re fair: I believe that before you eat me, you’ll fulfill my request.
- What is your request, brother goat? - asked the bear.
“Father Bear, you know that I have a good voice,” says the goat. - So let me sing before I die.
The bear agreed.
And the leader goat usually warned the herd of danger by bleating. The shepherds, as soon as they heard the goat’s “b-b-e,” understood that an enemy had entered the herd. So the goat started bleating. The shepherds grabbed clubs, called their dogs and rushed towards the voice. The shepherd arrived just in time. He began to beat the bear with his club, and the dogs grabbed onto the clubfoot. The bear started to run with a roar and barely carried off his legs.
The bear hid in the thickets and lay low. The sores healed, and hunger made itself felt again. He went again to look for the meat he had seen in his dream. He walked and walked and met two black rams. The rams see that they will not be able to escape, they politely bowed to the bear and said:
- How are you, Father Bear?
“What a life,” the bear replies, “I haven’t had poppy dew in my mouth for a week, I’m dying of hunger.” Well, I met you. I’ll eat you both and it’ll immediately become more fun.
The sheep looked at each other and understood each other without further ado.
“Father bear, eat me first,” says one ram.
“No, no, me first,” says the other. The bear saw that the matter was dragging on and suggested:
- Let's agree this way - go in different directions, run up and butt each other, whoever's horn breaks, I'll eat him first.
And that’s all the sheep needed. They separated and stood on both sides of the bear. They ran up and butted the bear, so much so that he fell unconscious. By the time the bear came to his senses, there was no trace of the rams.
The bear woke up and, grumbling, moved on. He met a horse on a narrow path between two cliffs. The bear was delighted: “How good. It’s better to eat one horse than a goat or two rams. We’ll eat our fill.” The bear blocked the horse's path. He had nowhere to run, but the horse knew how stupid the bear was.
“Brother bear,” says the horse, “I have a request for you - don’t eat me from the front, go back, and I, so as not to bother you, will put my hoof right into your mouth.” And you feel good, and I won’t see you eating me.
The bear, not sensing any trick in the horse’s words, walked back, opened its mouth, and as soon as the horse kicked the bear, it swallowed all its teeth. The bear fell, and the horse galloped away and soon disappeared from sight.
The bear came to his senses and sadly moved on. I met a fox along the way. The fox sees that the bear is barely alive and asks:
- Father Bear, what happened to you? The bear told the fox about everything that happened. The fox laughed and said:
- Father Bear, go and may you never dream of meat again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru