In one village there were half a dozen chickens, and they laid a dozen eggs. And then, as luck would have it, one woman says:
- Let me give our chickens some salt so they can lay eggs better!
I took a handful of salt and sprinkled it on the chickens. The chickens pecked at the salt and died at the same hour, and in the whole village there were only a dozen eggs left.
Just at this time the gendarmes came to the village and conspired:
- What will we have for dinner?
- Scrambled eggs!
They broke all the eggs for them, only one survived.
- What should I do alone in the whole village? - exclaimed the surviving egg. - I'll run away from here!
And the only egg ran away from the village into the forest.
And in the forest a rooster met an egg. He saw the egg and shouted:
-Where are you going, dear egg?
And the egg in response:
- And don’t ask, dear rooster! I was in terrible trouble! Whoever stops for the night in our village, the first thing they do is agree on what to eat on the way. "Eggs!" There were ten of us, nine eggs were destroyed. I was the only one who survived that massacre. Well, I think we need to save ourselves, it took off and rolled off into the forest!
The rooster tells him:
“And exactly the same story happened to me: whoever stops in our village, the first thing they do is agree: “What are we going to eat for dinner?” And, without hesitation, they decide to eat a roasted rooster. There were fifteen of us comrades, fourteen heads off, only I was the only one who got out of the carnage alive. Well, I think there is no salvation for me and I decided to go into the forest before it’s too late.
The egg and the rooster became friends, and the two of them moved on. An egg and a rooster came across a boulder-stone, and a cat was sitting on it. The cat asks:
-Where are you going, dear egg? And you, my friend rooster, where are you going?
The egg answers:
- Don’t ask, cat! A terrible misfortune has befallen us.
And the cat asks:
- What happened to you?
- Oh, dear cat, an unheard of misfortune! Evil people killed all our comrades, only my rooster friend and I were left alive. But we were also threatened with death, so we decided to run away into the forest. Perhaps, we think we’ll live a little longer!
- Oh, my dears! - the cat tells them. “And I suffered all sorts of insults, because terribly evil people live in our village.” As soon as the meat comes out, they immediately blame it on the cat - the cat, they say, devoured the meat! They'll catch the poor thing and beat her half to death. The wheat will run out, and they, the villains, will do their thing again: “The mice have poisoned the wheat, but the cat doesn’t even think about catching them!” And again the unfortunate cat suffers. Otherwise, it happens that a child gets scratched or simply hurts himself somewhere - and who is to blame? Again a cat. “Look - the cat took the meat from our child’s hands and scratched him.” And let's hit the cat. There is no urine, I was so tired of this beating, and I ran into the forest. And now I ask you - accept me as your comrade.
The egg, the rooster and the cat became friends and the three of them moved on. They walked through the forest, walked and came out into a clearing, and a donkey was grazing in the clearing. The donkey saw a rooster, an egg and a cat, greeted them with his beautiful song, and then asked:
-Where are you going, friendly team?
The egg answers him:
- We have suffered through troubles, dear donkey! The unscrupulous people from our village completely tortured us, we simply had no more strength, and we ran away from them into the forest.
“And I have suffered my fill,” responded the donkey. - Judge for yourself. If you need to take pots to the market, they load them on a donkey. They drag firewood from the forest on a donkey. Clay for pots - also on a donkey. Water is carried on a donkey; salt - on the donkey; dung in the field - and that on a donkey! I was tired of this kind of life, I raised my ears and trotted into the forest. Dear egg, and you, rooster, and you, cat, accept me as your comrade! Let me go with you!
- Well, then, perhaps! - answered the egg, and the donkey went with them.
So they go out to the stream, and in the stream the ram drinks water. The ram asks them:
—Where are you going, friendly team?
- Trouble is driving us, buddy! - the egg answers the ram.
- What kind of trouble is driving you?
- A terrible misfortune, dear friend! Why are you wandering in the forest?
- Oh, and don’t ask, white egg! My master is a real villain! He sold all my sheep comrades, sparing me alone. He tied a huge bell around my neck and made me the leader of the sheep flock. Now I am responsible for everyone. Some sheep will eat the greenery in the field or climb into the garden, and I’ll take the puff on my sides. My little brain could no longer bear such torment, and I decided to take refuge in the forest. Tell me, friendly team, will you accept me as your comrade?
- Why, of course, we’ll accept it! - the egg agreed.
We all went further together - the egg, the rooster, the cat, the donkey and the ram. They wander through the forest and suddenly come out onto the lawn. And a wolf lies on the lawn. The wolf saw them and asked:
-Where are you going, friendly team?
The egg answers:
- Ah, my friend the gray wolf! Trouble drove us out of the house!
- What's the problem, white egg?
- What a disaster! Evil people from our village were beating us out of the world, so we ran away into the forest!
The wolf tells them:
- Oh, I, too, have suffered a lot of grief. Whatever living creatures people lose, they blame it all on the wolf: “The wolf, they say, ate it!” And let's poison me. I was offended by such treatment, went into the forest and then met you.
Let's move on together. The company goes out onto the meadow and sits down to rest. Here the wolf says:
- Well, what are we going to do now? I'm kind of hungry! Who should I eat?
“I’m no good for you, I’m too small!” One egg is to a wolf what a pellet is to an elephant! - the egg responded.
“And I have too many feathers,” the rooster hastened to notice, “if you pluck me, there will be nothing left.”
“And I have long claws, I’ll scratch your insides,” the cat interjected.
Donkey says:
“Even though I’m big, what’s the point - look how skinny I am!” Skin and bones, but no meat at all!
“But I’m big and fat,” said the ram. - You'll eat your fill of me! Open your mouth wider, and I will run and jump down your throat alive.
The wolf stood up and opened his mouth. And the ram ran away and hit the wolf on the forehead with its horns. The wolf fell and died.
- Wow! - exclaimed the egg. - But the ram killed the wolf! Who will carry the carcass now?
“I can’t,” responded the rooster.
“And I can’t,” says the cat.
“I’m used to carrying weights,” said the donkey, “load the wolf on me.”
They loaded the wolf's carcass onto the donkey and moved on. Suddenly they see a house in front of them. And they decided to spend the night in that house. They began to climb over the fence. The egg somehow rolled, the rooster opened its wings and flew over, the cat climbed onto the fence and jumped down from there. The ram jumped over with a running start. But a donkey can never overcome such a height, because he has a heavy load on his back. Finally, the donkey ran as fast as he could and jumped over with all his might, and the wolf’s carcass fell off his back and fell under the fence. An egg, a rooster, a cat, a ram and a donkey enter the house, and lo and behold, the house is full of wolves! They sat down to dinner and began to drink to each other's health. They raised a toast in honor of the chieftain, and the egg said:
- May you also be healthy, like the one who lies under the fence!
-Who’s lying under the fence? - the wolves ask. - Let's go take a look!
They came up and saw a dead wolf lying under the fence! The wolves got scared and ran into the forest. They huddled in the very thicket, then one wolf realized:
- Well, isn’t this a stupid thing - they ran away into the forest themselves, and left the egg team in the house! Let's go back and see what they're doing there!
But the wolves do not agree to anything.
- Don't be afraid, you poor fool! Nothing bad will happen to you!
- What are you telling us to do?
- Let's go back. You wait for me behind the fence, and I will go into the house: I am not afraid of the egg team. I am stronger than them all! What's against me a white testicle, a fluffy gray animal, a bully on stilts, and a dead thing on four legs? As soon as I open my mouth, the dead meat will rush to run, and I will grab the fat and white one and swallow it!
The wolves turned back to the house. We approached the fence and stopped, and the brave wolf headed straight to the door. The egg team saw him and became alarmed:
-Where should we go? Now they will eat us all up!
And the egg ataman says:
“I’ll bury myself in the ashes, let the rooster fly up onto the ceiling beam, let the cat hide under the bench, let the donkey hide behind the door, and let the ram hide in a nook.” As soon as the wolf enters the house, I will begin to puff under the ashes, the wolf will come to the hearth and begin to fan the fire, and I will burst into flames under the ashes and fill the wolf’s mouth with flames. At that very moment, let the cat jump out from under the bench and slash him in the eyes with its claws, let the ram gore with its horns from its nook, let the donkey knock its hooves behind the door and trumpet at the top of its voice, and let the rooster jump from beam to beam and shout “crow!”
Lo and behold, the wolf is on the doorstep. I walked in and the house was empty! Only the heat in the hearth glows. The wolf decided to light a fire and take a good look around. He began to blow on the coals, and the egg flared up under the ash and scorched the wolf's mouth with flame. And then the cat jumped out from under the bench and slashed him in the eyes with its claws, the ram jumped out of the nook and butted the wolf with its horns, the rooster darted from beam to beam and crowed, and the donkey trumpeted and knocked his hooves outside the door.
The wolf jumped out of the house and rushed as fast as he could to his own people. He came running, and the wolves began to find out what was going on there. The wolf snapped:
- Get off me! I hate even to remember! Just think - a round white squirrel buried itself in the ashes, a fluffy animal hid under a bench, a bully on stilts flew up onto a beam, a fat white one hid in a nook, and a dead animal on four legs lurked behind the door. I enter the house - it’s empty! The fire glows in the hearth. I decided to light a light and take a good look around. I blew on the coals, and a little white squirrel burst into flames under the ashes and doused me with flames, a fluffy animal jumped out from under the bench, and slashed me in the face with its claws, a fat white one jumped out of its nook, and gored me with its horns, and a dead animal on four legs outside the door trumpeted: “Bring it here!” The bully on stilts rushes from beam to beam, shouting: “Bring him here! Kukarekuu!” Well, I think I still didn’t have enough to fall into the clutches of dead meat! It wasn't enough for them to hang me from the ceiling to a bully on stilts! This way, you probably won’t return to your own people!
The wolves listened to their comrade and rushed headlong into the forest. And the egg ataman and his team still manage the wolf house to this day.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru