There lived an old man and an old woman. They had a cat. One day the cat ran into the forest. The cat wandered and wandered through the forest - autumn has come, it has become cold, and he still wanders through the forest, looking for a warm corner where he could hide. So, wandering through the forest, he met a rooster and said to him:
“Autumn has come, it’s getting cold, let’s build ourselves a house.”
- I won’t. What will I do with the house? - the rooster answers. I'll hide anywhere.
The cat wandered on. I wandered through the forest for a long time or a short time, met a calf and said to it:
- Hey, buddy, let's build a house.
- Well, what am I going to do with the house? - says the calf. “I’ll make some kind of nest out of hay and lie down in it.” The cat went wandering again. I wandered for a long time, briefly, and met a foal.
- Come on, buddy, let's build a house.
– What will I do with the house? “I can stand anywhere,” the foal answered him.
“If that’s the case,” said the cat, “I’ll go and build a house alone.” I began to build a house. He built a house, went inside, climbed onto the stove and lay down there.
Winter has come. The cat is lying on the stove, warming its bones. One day, he hears someone's steps. He went up to the door and began to call out, and it turned out that the rooster had arrived.
- I'm freezing! - the rooster crows. - Let me into the house. If you are attacked, I will scream and peck.
– And when I called you to build a house together, you didn’t come!..
So they are talking, suddenly the calf runs screaming.
- Let me in! - says the calf. - If you are attacked, I will scream and butt. Cat says:
“I called you to build a house, but you didn’t come!”
At this time the foal came:
- Let me in! If you are attacked, I will kick and bite. Cat says:
- Well, well, come in, come in. They entered.
Whether they lived long or short, one day their door began to open.
The rooster asks:
-Who's there?
- I, Wolverine! Let me in.
- Hush, hush, the owner is sleeping. If he wakes up, he will kill you. The wolverine got scared and ran to the bear. The bear sent a wolf.
- Go and find out the owner’s name.
The wolf came there.
The rooster, foal and calf all rushed to the doors.
“Don’t come in, don’t come in, our master will kill you.”
- Tell me, what is your owner’s name?
- Our owner is a cat.
The wolf ran home and said to the bear:
– Their owner’s name is a cat.
“Now let’s go, let’s get some deer,” says the bear, “let’s kill the deer and invite the cat to visit.” Went. We killed four deer. The bear says to the wolverine:
- Go and invite the cat here for a visit.
Wolverine went. She came, opened the door and said:
- Let your master come and stay with us. The calf woke up the cat.
- The bear is inviting you to visit.
The cat got up, got dressed and walked quietly.
Came. And the bear climbed up the tree, afraid of the cat.
The cat began to eat. Eats and meows:
- Meow! Meow!
The bear asks Wolverine:
– You know Russian, do you understand what he says? Wolverine answers:
- Not enough, not enough! - he says.
“I told you before that I should have killed two more deer.” Now he will eat us.
The cat got up. The bear got scared and fell from the top of the tree straight onto the branch. The branch stuck into the bear, and the bear died.
And the wolf and wolverine ran into the forest and now they are walking in the forest.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru