A fox and a hedgehog were once friends. We walked together, got food together, got into trouble together - everything happened. So one day they walk and talk in a friendly way. The fox began to brag about how smart and dexterous she was, she had a whole load of tricks up her sleeve and a small cart! Well, why lie so much!
- So much? — the hedgehog was surprised. - Is it really true?
- It’s true, it’s true, I’m not saying it in vain.
They reached a wolf trap along the road - that’s what we called wolf traps in ancient times, large deep holes like a well, and at the bottom there was bait - meat, carrion of all kinds. A wolf or a fox will jump in there, eat, but won’t be able to get out. The owner of the wolf house will catch them, skin them, sell them and receive the money.
Yes, they came to the wolf pit, tumbled into it and attacked the food. When they had eaten to their fill, the fox again began to talk about his own things - about a whole cart and a small cart of tricks. The hedgehog listened and listened and added:
“But I only know one trick, I’m so stupid.” Listen, fox, how are we going to get out now, huh? Maybe your cart and cart will help?
- Well, shall we try? - the fox answers.
Jump-jump and - head over heels! There’s no way to get out, even if you crack!
“Then the hedgehog pretended to be sick.”
- Listen, sister, my waterskin is so sore, I have no strength! (Animals call their belly a waterskin, and people also say that as a joke.) You know where it hurts, right here, where the belly button is: Please, remember it with your nose, suppress it well, maybe it will go away!
Or she buried her muzzle in his stomach, and he curled up into a ball, and the needles dug into her muzzle! She starts shaking her head, and then she spins - throw! — the hedgehog flew up from the hole.
“You see, fox,” says the hedgehog, “I got out using only one trick, let’s go out too, in your cart or cart.”
- Brother hedgehog, help me, please!
- Okay, so be it, I’ll get you out, I’ll take you out with my own trick, I won’t see that you yourself are cunning, you could use your brains. Take advantage of my kindness! Now, listen to me. Pretend to be dead, freeze, as if you are completely, completely dead. The wolfman should come now. He will come down the stairs to you, don’t breathe, stretch out your paws, you’re dead - and that’s it! He'll throw you up by the tail. When he throws you out, you go ahead, don’t wait for him to get out, and don’t even think about messing with him!
That’s how it all turned out, as the “stupid” hedgehog said: the wolfman came, went down into the pit, and threw the fox out by the tail. She asked the patches. When he crawled out of the hole, there was no trace of the fox.
“Next time I’ll be smarter,” he says. “When a dead fox turns up here, I’ll first shoot it, fire one round, and see if it doesn’t get up, it means it’s really dead.” And this one was apparently alive, she ran away, the scoundrel!
So the wolfman was left with nothing.
Strong hedgehog! And he got out of the hole himself, and took the fox out without a cart or cart.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru