One hunter was forced to hunt every day: he was very poor, and he needed money to feed his family. He had a three-year-old son whom he simply adored. Every time he returned from the forest, he immediately went to bed next to the boy.
But one day a hunter met a werewolf in the guise of a beast who ate him. Having had his fill, the werewolf put on the clothes of his victim and went to his home. There he settled into a hammock with the baby, as his father usually did. But the smart kid beyond his years took a closer look at him and realized that this was not his beloved dad: he had too much long hair.
He told his mother about his discovery, and when she decided to check his words, she was horrified by what she saw. The sleeping werewolf had a tail! She ordered her son to be silent and not move, so as not to wake up the terrible werewolf.
The well-fed werewolf slept all day. Already in the evening darkness, the woman carefully pulled the child out of the hammock, covered him with a clay pot, and, grabbing several reed darts, she climbed to the top of a tall tree.
At exactly midnight, the werewolf climbed out of the hammock. Sniffing, he discovered the woman's footprint and approached the tree where she was sitting. Trembling with fear, she began to throw darts at the terrible beast.
...Despite the fact that the pierced body remained motionless, she was in no hurry to go down to the ground, suspecting that the werewolf was only pretending. After waiting a little more, she began to scream and call for help.
Three brothers passed by - they were heading out to hunt. We heard the screams of a frightened woman and came up to look. The devilish animal indeed turned out to be dead. Then the youngest of the hunters joyfully exclaimed:
- Let's skin him!
- What are you thinking? - said the elder brother, - don’t you understand that this is the skin of a werewolf?
But the young man did not listen to him, tore off the skin from the werewolf and threw it over himself. When he tried to take it off, he could not do it and felt that he himself was turning into a werewolf. He sniffed the air and said:
- Leave quickly, because I smell your meat and want to eat you!
The elder brother immediately said to the middle one:
- Let's kill him and then burn him! This way, evil will not affect anyone else.
They took their guns and shot the younger brother, and then burned his body. How they grieved at this!
So the woman was saved along with her little son. And when I passed by, I saw the ashes of that werewolf youth being carried away by the wind.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru