One day a cat was walking along the road and fooling everyone who caught his eye. The cat met two monkeys.
At this time, the monkeys saw a wasp's nest on the branch of a large tree. They asked the cat:
- Listen, cat, what is this thing hanging on the tree?
The cat answered them:
- Ooh, that's my grandfather's gong.
- Does it sound loud? - asked the monkeys.
- Certainly! - said the cat. “If you hit it, the whole country will hear its sound.”
-Can we try?
“Oh, no, you can’t, otherwise my grandfather will get angry,” answered the cat.
“But he’s not here,” the monkeys convinced the cat.
- That's right, grandfather is not here. But he instructed me to guard the gong so that no one would touch it.
- Well, let us hit him at least once. We really want to hear what it sounds like.
- No, no, you can’t, otherwise the whole country will be alarmed!
But the monkeys really wanted to hit the gong. And they again began to ask the cat:
- We will only hit once, give us permission!
“Well, since you insist so much,” the cat agreed, “okay, hit it.” But first I’ll leave here, otherwise grandpa will be angry with me. If he finds out that I was here and did not forbid you to touch the gong, I will get punished for this.
“Okay,” the monkeys were happy, “run away quickly, and we’ll hit this gong.”
- Hey-hey-hey! - the cat shouted, running away. - Wait until I leave. When you can't see me at all, you can hit me.
- Run faster!
- Wait a little longer! Take your time! - the cat shouted. - You can still see me...
- Hurry up! - the monkeys shouted after him.
When the cat was out of sight, the monkeys found a stick and hit it on a wasp's nest that was hanging on a tree branch.
The angry wasps actually buzzed like a big gong. A nest filled with wasps fell to the ground. The monkeys even opened their mouths in surprise. But then a whole swarm of wasps took to the air...
And... what is this? The wasps began to furiously sting the monkeys in the heads, ears, backs, necks... Unconscious from the pain, the monkeys began to run, but the wasps did not lag behind.
Seeing the pond, the monkeys dived into it with a running start. They had to sit under water for a long time until the wasps flew away.
As soon as the buzzing of the wasp swarm died down in the distance, the monkeys emerged from the water.
They see a cat sitting on the shore, the same one that fooled them. And the cat, waiting for the monkeys, leaned against the trunk of a small bush on which red pepper grew: the pepper pods were already ripe.
The monkeys approached the cat and asked him:
- Listen, cat, what are you doing here?
“Now I guard my grandfather’s garden so that no one picks the fruit.”
- What? Fruits? Can we try them?
- You can, but I’ll leave first. If my grandfather finds out that I allowed you to do this, he will be angry with me.
The monkeys waited until the cat was out of sight, then they picked lots and lots of red peppers, stuffed their mouths full with them and began to chew...
And suddenly... it was as if a fire had started in their mouth! Tears appeared in the monkeys' eyes, their lips were swollen from red pepper!..
And the cat was already far away.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru