Whether it happened or not, a wolf lived in Bakhtaristan. He could not eat enough, every day he killed several sheep, as if the sheep’s stomach was a tablecloth for him, and the heart and liver were a delicacy. The shepherds did not know what to do, and finally acquired strong shepherd dogs. They bit the wolf several times when he tried to approach the herd, and he no longer dared to stagger around the pasture.
He was hungry for several days and finally went to the fox. And the fox was famous for its cunning. The wolf told her:
- Send me animals from our family, but from those who are weaker. I will choose one of them to be my assistant. And come see me yourself in a couple of days.
“Wonderful,” answered the fox. By hook or by crook, she managed to send weasels, martens, and wild cats to him, and the wolf devoured them all.
A few days later, the fox thought: “It would be nice for me to visit the wolf. Perhaps he will like me, and then he will appoint me as his assistant.”
And off she went. The fox approached the wolf's den, looked at the tracks and saw: the tracks only go to the den, but not back. She immediately realized what it smelled like here, and did not go to the wolf, but turned straight into the thicket. The fox had not eaten anything for two days and was hungry. And in these very thickets, a lioness recently gave birth to two lion cubs. The fox ate them and hurried into the steppe, and then suddenly she heard the roar of a lioness. The fox almost died of fear!
— The lioness swooped in like a hurricane and asked the fox:
—Have you seen any predators—a tiger or a leopard?
The fox guessed what was going on and said:
“I didn’t see either a tiger or a leopard.” I only saw a wolf, with a bloody muzzle, he ran here. The lioness roared:
- It was he, the scoundrel, who ate my cubs! You must use any cunning to bring him to me. “Wonderful,” answered the fox and set off. For a day or two she circled the steppe. Suddenly a wolf comes towards her out of nowhere. I saw a fox and let's laugh:
-Where have you been? Didn't I ask you to come see me? Maybe you were afraid that I would eat you? Well, since you thought so, then right now I’ll put you in my stomach, you’ll be there instead of a liver!
The fox trembled, got scared and said:
“On the way to you, I met a lioness, bowed to her, and she looked at me and said: “Come to me. I am the mistress of these steppes and thickets and I want to appoint you as headman over my subordinates!” I thought: I can’t cope with such a position! She began to make excuses that I was small, that a strong animal was suitable for this. After long conversations, we agreed that I would show her a large and powerful beast that could cope with these matters. I was at a loss, not knowing who to point to, but Allah sent you! If you want, go together to the lioness. I will advise you to be appointed headman.
“Very good,” answered the wolf.
“But on the condition,” said the fox, “that you will throw me a sheep, or a goat, or something like that, once a week for the favor.”
“I won’t forget you,” answered the wolf. The fox was delighted, and the wolf even more. The two of them set off on their way, and when there was little left to the thickets, the fox spoke:
“Wait a little, I’ll go and report to the lioness about you.” You wait until I call you. Then you will come up, bow to her and say: “This is my business.”
The wolf agreed, and the fox went forward and said to the lioness:
- I brought him. He became so insolent that he shouted: “This is my business!”
- Look, I'll punish him! - said the lioness. When the wolf appeared, the fox winked at him, and he bowed to the lioness and repeated: “This is my business.” The lioness looked, became furious, rose to her feet, began to beat her tail on the ground and growl. She thought: “This scoundrel ate my cubs and openly talks about it! And even mocks me and bows!”
The wolf saw lightning in the eyes of the lioness, heard her growl, was confused, stopped halfway and thought: “The fox probably deceived me. If the lioness wanted to appoint me headman, then why is she looking at me so fiercely and growling?”
While the wolf was thinking this, the lioness rushed at him and sank her fangs into his throat. With one jerk she tore off all the skin on his stomach, but her fangs did not touch the wolf meat.
The wolf flew out of fear like the wind, leaving the skin from the lioness’s belly in his teeth. He went to the bear, with whom he had been friends since childhood, the bear immediately tore out some of his fur and glued it with saliva to the wolf’s belly, and then asked:
-Who hurt you like that?
The wolf told the bear about the lioness and added:
“When I bowed to her and, as the fox taught me, repeated: “This is my business,” I thought that it was about the fact that I could be a headman over my subordinates, but the lioness flew into a rage, began to growl and grind her teeth. At the same time, she said something, but I couldn’t understand it. I was about to turn and run away, but then she attacked me. Allah took pity on me, and she only grabbed the skin with her teeth, and not the meat, otherwise I would have lay dead. Somehow I dragged myself to you, and you brought me back to life. I can’t understand why the lioness did this?
Then the bear says to him:
- You are too simple-minded! If you had consulted me before going to the lioness, I would have explained everything to you. After all, the fox made a fool out of you! She herself, the vile one, ate the lion cubs and blamed it on you. She taught you to repeat: “This is my business,” and it turns out that you say to the lioness: “I ate your cubs.”
“What you say is true,” said the wolf. - That must be true. Once I get better a little, you’ll see what I do with the fox! They will tell about this in fairy tales!
Now let's talk about the lioness.
She sees that she only tore the skin of the wolf and did not touch the meat, and says to the fox:
- This wolf escaped! He may eat my cubs next year too. Go ahead, I’ll bring him to me again, this time I’ll tear him apart.
“Okay,” answered the fox and left the lioness. She wandered around for a day or two, returned and said:
“The next day the wolf’s belly swollen, the wounds festered, and he died.
The lioness was glad that the killer of her cubs was punished. Days passed, and the fox forgot about the wolf. She had no idea what awaited her, and thought that the wolf was no longer alive. And then somehow she was running across the steppe, suddenly, out of nowhere, a wolf appeared in front of her. The fox was frightened, her legs gave way. And the wolf said to her:
- No matter how cunning you are, you still caught me! What have you done? If the bear had not helped, I would have died long ago! The fox began to flatter and deceive:
- The lioness is innocent. When you bowed, it seemed to her that you were laughing at her - and she got angry. And she was upset by the death of the lion cubs. But she only scratched you! If the lioness wanted to kill you, she would kill you with one blow of her paw. Well, what can we talk about now? You just need to eat more and get better. Let's go to the village tonight. Kedkhuda has a barn there, and it is full of bread, butter, and meat. You will stay there for a couple of days - during the day you will hide behind jugs, and at night you will eat bread, meat and butter. Wait for me in the evening and we will go together.
The wolf happily agreed.
At night, the fox led the wolf across the roofs, so that the dogs could not see, to Kedkhuda's house. They went down through the hole into the barn, and the fox showed the wolf the supplies. The fox herself ate in moderation, but the wolf ate a whole wineskin of kaurma the first time. His stomach was swollen, and he could not even move from his place.
Meanwhile it was dawn. The fox sees that the wolf has eaten so much that he fell into the cauldron and cannot move. Then she made a hole in the round cake, stuck her head into it, climbed onto the roof and started dancing and making faces. People saw her and told Kedhuda. He called his people with sticks and clubs to the barn. They began to scour there and suddenly saw a wolf. Kedhuda shouted:
- Go, bring the chain. We will tie up the wolf and take him to the Maidan.
With sticks at the ready, they approached the wolf. They see: the poor wolf is lying exhausted with a swollen belly. They easily threw a chain around his neck and led him outside. Seeing that the wolf was harmless, Kedkhuda shouted:
- Don't touch him, catch the sneaky fox. It was she, the scoundrel, who brought the wolf here!
We ran after the fox, but there was no trace of it. For a day or two, the wolves were kept in the kedhood's house and were not allowed to eat or drink. He was completely exhausted. Kedkhuda, fearing reproaches for killing a defenseless man, took off his chain, took him to the steppe and released him in all four directions so that he could die in freedom.
The wolf barely dragged himself to the river, drank some water and stretched out under a tree. I gathered some strength and trudged towards the bear again.
This time the bear took pity on him, brought him some honey, gave it to the wolf to eat and at the same time said to him:
- Swear that in the future you will not succumb to the tricks of this vile fox!
The wolf soon recovered and began to walk a little. And after some time, when it was already starting to get colder, he again met the fox. The wolf exclaimed:
- This time you won’t trick me! You took me to Kedkhuda's barn and betrayed me into the hands of the peasants!
“It’s your own fault,” answered the fox. “I did you a favor and taught you how to get supplies.” If you were sorry for your stomach, you wouldn’t eat so much: then, if trouble happened, you could run away. But now there is no time for talking. The cold weather is coming, and you need to think about a fur coat. You obviously won’t be able to sew a fur coat for yourself, so I’ll sew one for you and you’ll stay alive this winter. But you will have to get the sheepskin yourself. You bring the sheep, I will tear off the sheepskin and sew you a fur coat.
“I’m afraid to kill a sheep from the local flock,” answered the wolf.
“I’ll find another herd,” the fox interrupted, “and I’ll lead you there.” When the shepherd leaves and the shepherds fall asleep, you pick up a couple of sheep - I’ll do the rest myself.
The wolf agreed. The next day the fox began to look for the herd. On the mountainside she came across sheep. She took the wolf there and forced her to kill two sheep. The wolf ate some meat and gave the rest to the fox.
Then the cold weather set in, and the wolf came to the fox for a fur coat.
“Half of the fur coat is ready,” said the fox. “Bring a couple more sheep and I’ll finish the fur coat tomorrow.”
Fearing the cold, the wolf somehow killed either two or three sheep and gave them to the fox. A few days later he came to her and asked:
- Well, is the fur coat ready?
“Everything is ready, except the sleeves,” the fox answers. -Bring a couple more sheep and I’ll sew on long sleeves.
Again, the poor wolf, by hook or by crook, killed two sheep and gave them to the fox. And she ate some meat and put the rest aside for a rainy day.
A few days later the wolf came to the fox again. But she was not in the hole. For two days and two nights he sat and waited for her, and finally the fox came. He walks without suspecting anything. Then the wolf grabbed her and said:
- Give me your fur coat quickly! If you don’t give it back today, I’ll kill you and take it myself!
The fox is confused, looks around to see where to run, and suddenly sees a peasant riding a horse. He had a fur coat on his shoulders. Then the fox said to the wolf:
- Look, there's your fur coat. I sewed it, threw it on my shoulders and wanted to carry it to you, but this peasant took it away from me by force and put it on. There he is galloping!
The wolf ran after the rider and growled:
“Hurry back, brother, my fur coat that you took from the fox.”
“Now, I’ll return it now,” answered the peasant. Then he got off his horse, took out a sword from under his fur coat and cut the wolf in two with the words: “Here’s your fur coat!”
The wolf fell, and the rider tied him by the tail to the horse's tail and dragged him over the stones. And the fox was delighted, ran after him and began to say over the corpse of the wolf:
- Did you get a good fur coat? You will no longer freeze and cough!
The peasant heard the fox’s speech and realized that it was she who brought trouble to the wolf. He quickly jumped off his horse and ripped open the fox's stomach.
The fox followed the wolf to the next world. And the peasant tied their tails with a rope, dragged them both to the village and announced to everyone:
“Such is the fate of a deceived rapist and a deceiving scoundrel.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru