The fox was too lazy to get food for herself, so she lived poorly and went hungry. One day she told her daughter:
- Let me deceive the crow. I will say that I got married and began to live richly.
Daughter says:
- Don't lie! Better ask him for food in a nice way.
The fox didn't listen. She took an old wet fish net, stuffed it into a bag, tied it, and went to the raven. Raven heard someone coming and asked:
-Who's there?
And the fox is already in the hallway answering:
— My husband and I came. Raven was surprised:
- Look! My cousin got married. Let my husband show you.
Lisa says:
— My husband can’t be in the light. His ancestors lived in the dark, and he loves the dark. It's like he's blind - he doesn't see anything.
Then the raven says:
- Well, put out the lamps. Let them come in.
When the fox came in, the raven asked:
- What will you eat? Lisa replied:
- We have a lot of food. Eat yourself. The raven's wife went to the pantry to get food, and the fox quietly sneaked behind her and began putting food into a bag. She put a full bag on it, tied it, took it out into the hallway, and put it in a corner.
And the raven is still surprised:
- Well, my cousin finally got married!
And the fox keeps bragging:
— My husband has a lot of deer. Two large herds. Don't you have any eggs? My husband loves eggs very much. In exchange, I promise you deer skins. Here they are, the skins, in the bag. Feel it.
Raven touched the bag. Indeed, there is something soft there, like deer skins. The raven rejoiced: “This is wealth - enough for everyone to buy clothes.” He ordered the bag to be placed in the canopy.
Raven's wife says:
- We have a son, you have a daughter. If only I could match them!
Lisa thought and said:
- If your son wants, we'll get married. While talking like this, they drank tea. Then the fox said, as if addressing her husband:
“Let’s go home, otherwise our deer will get scared and run away.”
She said goodbye to the raven and his wife, grabbed a bag of food in the hallway, and loaded herself up so much that she barely reached the house. At home she said to her daughter, laughing:
- Look, I deceived the raven. He thinks I really got married. And he took the old net for deer skins.
The daughter said again:
- Why are you lying? I should have asked in a nice way.
Lisa answered angrily:
- Don’t teach me, otherwise I’ll leave you without food!
The daughter fell silent, and the fox ate the eggs and began to cook the meat.
Meanwhile, the raven was happy that he had gotten the deer skins so easily. Suddenly something started dripping in the canopy. The raven's wife exclaimed:
-What is this dripping?
“The fox probably got the expensive skin wet,” answered the raven.
At this time their son arrived. When they told him about the skins, he said:
- Come on, show off your wealth! The mother took out the bag, untied it, pulled out the net, and was surprised:
- Look, there’s nothing! Just old wet mesh!
The raven got angry and ordered:
— Cover the doors in the pantry with mesh. If the fox comes again, let him take the food himself. He puts his paw into the bag and gets into the trap.
And it’s true, after a while the fox came again, speaking falsely again:
- So my husband and I came again. They brought the skins.
The raven's wife pretended to be sick and said:
- Oh, today I have a headache. I can't go out.
Lisa says:
- Well, then goodbye, we're in a hurry.
And she made her way to the pantry and put her paw in the bag. The paw got stuck in the bag. The fox pulled her paw and wanted to run away, but she got entangled in the net and screamed:
- Oh, what are you doing to me? And the raven says:
- You did something bad to yourself. Why did she deceive us? Why did you give me an old net instead of skins? Why do you go into other people's closets?
The fox began to cry and began to ask to be freed, but no one rescued her. Finally she managed to break the net and jump out into the street. And her paw is in a trap. So I ran home with him.
“Free me,” she asks her daughter.
The daughter didn’t want to help her mother because she was a liar, but she still took pity and freed her.
This is how the raven taught the thief and deceiver the fox a lesson.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru