There was one monkey - fidgety, like all monkeys. She climbed everywhere, poked her nose everywhere.
One day the monkey saw a pile of stones and was overcome by curiosity. "We need to find out what's hidden here!" She scattered stones and a hole opened. The restless woman stuck her paw in there to see if she could find something tasty, and a huge snake crawled out of the hole!
The snake got out of its dark prison and how it hissed, how it rushed at the monkey.
“My stupid head!” the monkey scolds himself. “Why did I climb into this hole? Was I thinking of finding a jug of oil?”
- Have pity on me, great dragon! - she began to pray to the snake. “If I knew that this was your domain, I would never dare to disturb your peace!”
But can a snake have mercy? What a snake she is then!
- There is no forgiveness for you! - she hissed. “You woke me up and you can only atone for your guilt by death!”
At this very time a fox walked past them. The monkey had heard a lot about the fox's tricks and stopped her.
“Let the wise fox judge our dispute,” says the monkey. “Okay, say your word, fox,” the snake agreed. “There are no witnesses, and I myself didn’t see anything.” How can I judge you fairly? - says the fox. - Show me how it was from the very beginning. You, snake, crawl back into the hole, and you, monkey, take the trouble to collect the stones into a pile.
The snake liked the reasonable judge.
— I was sitting in my hole. That's it, said the snake. “She stuck her head into the hole and slowly disappeared. “Now it’s up to you, don’t hesitate!” - the fox whispered to the monkey, winking slyly at her.
The monkey quickly filled the hole with stones. And then the fox said:
- Listen to my judgment, ungrateful snake. You were angry because they released you into the wild, so now sit in your dark hole and sleep as much as you want! The stupid monkey will no longer disturb your sleep.
And since then the monkey stopped sticking his nose where it shouldn’t.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru