Once upon a time the fox and the titmouse were good friends. One day the fox really wanted to eat. She searched and searched for food, but could not find it.
Early in the morning the fox went to the titmouse and complained:
“My friend, I’m very hungry.” Can you find me something to eat?
“Come on,” says the titmouse, “I’ll find it.”
They went out onto the road and reached the rye.
“Go and hide in the rye,” says the titmouse, “and watch the road.”
The fox hid in the rye and began to watch. And the titmouse began to jump and gallop right on the road.
At this time, one woman was carrying two buckets of lunch to the field. In one bucket there is noodles, in the other there is milk.
The titmouse jumped out in front of the woman and began to jump and jump. Noticing a titmouse on the road in front of her, the woman ran after it, leaving buckets of food on the road.
Meanwhile, the fox ran out of the rye, started eating and ate it all. When the fox had eaten, the titmouse flew out of the way. The woman was left with nothing.
Then the fox says to the titmouse:
- Well, my friend, you fed me to my fill. And now I want to laugh. Make me laugh.
“Okay,” says the titmouse.
The titmouse led the fox to the threshing floor. She flew up to one worker and sat on his head. Another worker saw a tit on his neighbor’s head and hit him on the head with a flail. The titmouse flew away and landed on the head of another worker. The third worker wanted to kill it and swung it, but the titmouse flew up at that moment, and the worker hit his neighbor on the head instead of the titmouse. Then the workers quarreled among themselves and started hitting each other. And the fox sat on the edge of the threshing floor and roared with laughter.
They left the threshing floor, the fox said to the titmouse:
- Well, my friend, you fed me, made me laugh, and now try to scare me.
“Okay,” says the titmouse.
They went outside. The titmouse sat on the gate, and the fox remained below under the gate. The titmouse sang:
- Chi-chi-chi-chi, little boner!
- What are you singing about, calling the dogs or something? - asks the fox.
“No, that’s my song,” says the titmouse.
She sat for a while and sang again:
- Chi-chi-chi-chi, little boner!
- What are you singing about, calling the dogs or something? - the fox asks again.
“No,” says the titmouse, “this is my song.”
Then two huge dogs ran out of the gateway and chased the fox. The fox runs, the dogs follow. The fox barely escaped. And the titmouse flew into the forest and there again met the fox.
The fox says to the titmouse:
- Well, my friend, thank you very much: you fed me, made me laugh and scared me a lot. Now you live on your own, and I too on my own. Since then, the fox and the titmouse have ceased to be friends.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru