One day, Musa, a city dweller, was going to visit his relatives in the village. He left the city and walked along a country road into the mountains. The sun was shining, the grass was fragrant, the birds were chirping, and Musa was in a good mood.
He walked and sang loudly.
Soon the road began to climb steeply into the mountains. Pine and spruce trees grew so densely here that, despite the sunny day, it was twilight in the thicket.
Musa looked around. There is no one around - no people, no human habitation. The road is narrow, winding between trees. Here the birds fell silent. Musa also stopped singing, he walked quietly, he was afraid, and he didn’t know what he was afraid of.
The road rises into the mountains, and Musa keeps looking around: suddenly someone will appear, a person or a bird. But there is no one, only the wind hums above and the trees sway. Musa felt completely terrified. How he will start running as fast as he can! He runs, out of breath, afraid to look back.
He ran out into the clearing and stopped. The sun is shining, flowers are colorful, butterflies are fluttering. But Musa won’t come to his senses, his hands and legs are shaking from fear.
Then a peasant came out into the clearing. He sees Musa standing there - pale, trembling all over, and can’t catch his breath, as if he had just escaped from the hands of a villain.
The peasant asks:
- What's wrong with you, friend? What trouble happened?
- What can I say, dear man! I won’t come to my senses. I suffered such fear! How I managed to escape, I don’t understand... Today it’s like I was born again into this world...
- Well, okay, okay, it's all over. Now gather your thoughts and tell me exactly who you were afraid of?
- Oh, dear man, can you really tell me about this? Can you find such words? You have to go through this! When I remember what danger I escaped from, my heart breaks... I’m trembling all over, see?
- Don’t tremble, but speak in order: what did you see, what did you hear?
“I saw and heard things that still give me goosebumps.” After all, I almost died! Wild animals almost got me! So no one would have known where my grave was...” Musa sobbed. “And I wouldn’t be of any use to people at all, I would go out like a lamp without oil...”
- Tell me, finally, who was chasing you, what animal?
- Who was chasing me?! I’m telling you: I’m walking through the forest alone, not a soul around, it’s dark, gloomy, even the birds have fallen silent. Suddenly something rustles, crunches, howls, roars throughout the entire forest! I turned around, and behind me was a huge pack of wolves. A hundred wolves! And how evil, how despicable! And so big! One is actually as tall as a bear...
- What did you come up with? Where have you seen a pack of a hundred wolves appear in our area? Otherwise, you were deceived. Fear has big eyes.
- Am I deceived?! How could I be deceived? Huge flock! Well, not a hundred, but certainly fifty wolves. I'm amazed how I managed to escape from them!
- I won’t believe it, buddy! We walk through this forest every day to the city. Fifty wolves! Just don’t tell people about this, otherwise they’ll laugh.
- Don’t believe me? Well, not fifty, but twenty-five for sure. Whatever you want, I will firmly stand my ground - twenty-five!
- Twenty five? My friend, I walked this forest up and down, chopped wood here, grazed sheep, but I never heard that there were packs of twenty-five wolves in our forest! Or maybe you imagined it all?
- Did you imagine it?! If you listen to you, you’ll think that there weren’t even a dozen wolves there!
- Of course it wasn’t.
- I don’t know, I don’t know... I remember the forest, how it would rustle, how it would crackle, but I myself don’t understand who it was...
Little by little the brave Musa calmed down. He and the peasant sat down on a pebble, talked, and then said goodbye.
Suddenly the peasant turned around and shouted to Musa:
- Hey, buddy! You'd better come home! Don't go any further, the forest is even darker and denser there! There you will not only see a hundred wolves, but in addition you will also see a hundred tigers!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru