One day an old peasant was plowing in his field. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a tiger appeared. He approached the peasant and howled:
- Hey old man! I'm hungry. If life is dear to you, then give me one ox.
The peasant was already a timid person, but when he saw the tiger, his soul completely disappeared. He trembled all over, unharnessed the oxen and was just about to give one of them to the tiger, when suddenly it occurred to him: “What if I give a cow instead of an ox? He should like it. After all, if a tiger eats an ox, how will I plow? If I don’t plow the field, nothing will grow in it, and if nothing grows in the field, we will all die of hunger.”
Having thought this way, he said to the tiger:
- Oh Mister Tiger! The ox is yours. But if you wish, I will bring you a cow from home. After all, without an ox I would be completely lost, but without a cow I can still live.
“Okay,” the tiger relented. “Just take her quickly, I’m almost dying of hunger.”
The peasant rushed home. He runs, cries, hits himself on the head. His wife met him on the threshold. The peasant told her what happened to him.
“Bring her out quickly, otherwise the tiger might devour both oxen without me.”
“And I won’t think of giving the cow to the tiger,” the wife answers. – What will I do without milk?
They argued for a long time. Finally, the wife, who was smarter, braver and more cunning than her husband, came up with:
- Go to the tiger and say: “My wife is following me and leading a strong young horse for you.”
The peasant did not agree, but his wife persuaded him. And he, frozen with fear, went into the field again.
- Ah, Mr. Tiger! Be patient for a moment. Now my wife will bring you a young horse.
When the tiger heard about the horse, his mouth began to water, and he agreed to wait.
Meanwhile, the peasant woman put on torn, colorful rags, let her hair down, and tied her head with a huge turban. Well, a witch is a witch! Then she took the sickle in her hands and rode off to the field astride a cop.
And the tiger sat in the furrow, waiting. The peasant woman came closer and shouted to her husband:
– What am I going to do with him alone? After all, you said that four tigers were waiting for me; where are the others? I could swallow them right away.
The tiger heard this and got scared.
The peasant woman got off her horse and walked straight towards him.
“Okay,” he says, “perhaps I’ll eat this first, and the rest after.”
As soon as she said this, the tiger lifted its tail and started running without looking back. He ran away and stopped to rest. All this was seen by a wolf who hid behind a tree at the edge of the field. He overheard a conversation between a peasant and his wife. And they laughed at the tiger for a long time.
- You fooled him great! - said the peasant.
- Yes, I don’t need your courage. It was you, like the last coward, who was going to give our cow to the tiger. Do you see how brave I am and how great I came up with everything?
The wolf heard this conversation and ran to the tiger.
- Hello, king of beasts! - says to him with a bow. - Why are you so out of breath? Has there been any trouble?
The tiger barely had time to catch his breath. He answers, but his voice trembles:
“I was almost eaten by a witch just now.” And there’s nothing to say about profiting yourself.
“What a witch!” the wolf laughed. “It was just a peasant’s wife.” You are too trusting, O king, and you were afraid of a simple woman.
The tiger did not believe the wolf's words. Then the wolf says:
- Go back and you’ll see.
The wolf tried to persuade him so much that the tiger finally agreed.
- Okay, I’m ready to go to the field with you, just tie your tail to mine. Otherwise I’m afraid that you might deceive me and run away.
That's what they did: they tied their tails and went to the field together.
The peasant and his wife were still there - they were all laughing at how things had turned out. Suddenly the husband looks - the tiger is coming back, and even with a wolf. He got scared and shouted:
- Good people! Trouble struck again. The tiger took the wolf with him and is now coming to eat us. I guess I'll run away.
- Sit still! “If you run, then they will eat us both,” the peasant woman said sternly. - Better gather your courage and shut up. I can handle them alone. Just watch, and I’ll do everything myself.
A wolf and a tiger are approaching. The tiger's eyes were bloodshot from anger, but his fear, apparently, had not gone away. The peasant saw the tiger and trembled, but his wife, as if nothing had happened, said:
- Hey, buddy! What are you? He promised to tie me with their tails and bring four tigers, but you only lead one. What should I do with him alone?
The tiger was stunned and looked at the vodka with suspicion, and the peasant woman became completely brave, came closer to the wolf and said:
- Okay, don't be afraid. Now I'll eat this. After all, he already ran away from me once. And now that you've tied him by the tail, he won't go anywhere else.
The tiger heard these words and decided that the wolf and the witch were at the same time and dragged him to be devoured - why then did the wolf persuade him to return to the field?
And the tiger began to run at full speed. The wolf wanted to stop him and began to resist with all his might.
But the harder the wolf pulled, the more the tiger doubted him and the harder he tried to break free.
The wolf cannot overpower the tiger - so the tiger dragged him along. On the way, the wolf bled to death and died.
The peasant was very pleased with his wife’s ingenuity, and the tiger did not show his nose in the field from now on.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru