A long time ago there lived an old man and an old woman. They had a daughter. Among the livestock they had one goat.
One day, an old man left home and instructed his daughter to take the goat to the steppe and graze it until it was full.
The girl drove the goat into the steppe, grazed it to its fill, and then drove it home. In the evening, the old man asked the goat how it was grazed. The goat replied that it was bad. And then the old man drove his daughter out of the house.
The next day the old man entrusted his wife with tending the goat. She drove the goat, grazed it, and brought it home in the evening. The old man asked the goat how it was grazed. She said that the old woman also tended her poorly. The old man drove his wife out of the house too.
On the third day, the old man changed clothes and himself drove the goat to graze. He grazed it well, and the goat ate its fill of grass. In the evening he drove her home, dressed in his old clothes and asked the goat how the old man tended it. She also said about the old man that he herded her poorly and she did not eat enough grass.
Then the old man tied the goat with ropes, and he went out to sharpen his knife to slaughter it. While he was sharpening the knife, the goat broke the ropes and ran away into the forest. In the forest, she went into the hare's house and climbed onto the stove. In the evening the hare returned home, saw the goat and was afraid to enter the house. He sat down at the threshold and began to cry.
A bear passed by and asked him:
- Why are you crying?
The hare told him his grief, and the bear sat down next to him. A wolf appeared and asked the hare:
- What happened to you, why are you crying?
The hare told him about his grief. The wolf sympathized and sat down next to him - he could not help with anything else. The fox appeared, and the hare told her his grief. Finally the rooster appeared and also asked the hare:
- What happened to you, why are you crying?
When the hare told him about his grief, he stood at the door and shouted three times at the top of his lungs:
- Ku-ka-re-ku!
The goat flew off the stove in fright, its legs gave way, and it lost its life.
The hare and his friends had a good meal. They ate the fatty meat of the goat, and what was left were its legs and horns for the old woman.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru