One day, a donkey, emaciated during the winter, was nibbling grass in a meadow. The day was sunny with a light spring breeze, and there was a lot of good grass all around. The donkey quickly ate his fill and became thirsty. He ran to the river, got drunk and wanted to return to the meadow. At this time he saw a huge wolf and froze in fear.
- What are you doing here, unfortunate thing? - the wolf howled.
“I always come here,” the donkey answered, trembling. “For some reason our owner chose this place.”
“The donkey I killed the day before yesterday was always here too.” This won't make it any easier for you. Prepare to die.
“Oh, poor wolf, how I feel sorry for you,” said the donkey. “You will kill me and eat my stringy meat.” Meanwhile, I have four donkeys at home. Only a fool would refuse their tender meat. Come to my house in the evening and you will have a great meal.
- What are the names of your donkeys?
- One of them is called “On the Left”, another is called “Long”, the third is “Knowing” and the fourth is “Ignorant”.
The wolf thought and decided to wait until night. He really wanted to taste the tender meat of donkeys.
At midnight the wolf approached the stable and pushed the door. It was locked. “Apparently, the donkey is still walking in the field,” the wolf thought and began to call the donkeys:
- “On the left”! - he shouted.
“There’s a castle on the left,” answered the donkey.
- "Long!"
“A long stone props up the door,” came the answer.
“Knowing!” the wolf screamed.
“Whoever knew would have eaten me by the river.”
- “Ignorant”! "Ignorant!" - the wolf yelled.
“Of course, you don’t know,” agreed the donkey. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have found yourself in front of tightly closed doors.”
Then the wolf realized that he had been deceived, and became even more angry. Soon people came running to the noise and attacked the wolf. He barely escaped, they say.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru