Once on a winter night, an ermine was hiding under a bush - sitting, watching for mice. And suddenly it was as if a mountain had fallen on his back. There is nothing to grab onto with the ermine’s legs; the ground has disappeared from under her feet out of fear. Not seeing the light, he turned around and grabbed the mountain with his teeth.
“A-ah-ah!..” there was a terrible cry, crying, moaning, and a weight fell from my back.
And the ermine saw the wounded hare. The back leg is bitten to the bone, red blood flows onto the white snow.
The hare cries and sobs:
- I will never forgive you, ermine! I accidentally fell on your back.
- Oh, hare, I accidentally bit you! - answers the ermine.
- A-a-a, a-a-a... I still won’t forgive you! -And the hare crawled into the forest on three legs.
Not even a month has passed, and the ermine has already received a written order from the forest: “Come to my village for trial right now. Zaisan of the local forest is the Dark Brown Bear.”
The ermine's round heart began to beat. Small bones bend with fear. Timidly and timidly he enters the large village. And there, next to the owner, sits a hare all bandaged up to the very eyes. The bear raised his fluffy eyelashes and looked at the ermine with red-yellow eyes.
- How dare you bite?
The ermine is like a mute, he only moves his lips, his heart doesn’t fit in his chest.
“I... I... hunted,” he whispered barely audibly.
-Who were you hunting?
“I wanted to catch a mouse, chase birds.”
“It’s true: mice and birds are your food,” said the bear, “but why did you bite the hare?”
“He fell on me from behind.” I didn't recognize his face. A hare's head is white in winter, like snow.
“It’s true,” said the bear, scratched his nose with his paw and turned to the hare. - Why did you jump on the ermine’s back?
“I didn’t recognize him from behind,” the hare sobbed. - His back is whiter than snow in winter.
- And this is also true.
The gloomy bear was silent for a long time. A large fire crackled hotly in front of him. Above the fire hung a golden cauldron with seven bronze ears. The bear never cleaned this beloved cauldron. He was afraid that happiness would go away along with the dirt. And the golden cauldron was covered with a hundred layers of soot. The wise bear thought for a long time, then he rubbed his paw on a smoky cauldron and blackened the hare’s ears.
- Now you, ermine, always recognize a hare by sight.
He rubbed his paw again and smeared soot on the ermine's tail.
“And you, hare, can always distinguish this baby’s back by its black tail.”
Since then, hares have never encountered ermines.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru