Once upon a time a shepherd tended his flock; A kid, a lamb and a calf got away from him. By evening they settled down for the night in a secluded place. And nearby, it turns out, a bear, a wolf and a fox were sitting next to each other.
When it became completely dark, the bear and the wolf sent a fox to the kid, lamb and calf.
The fox came and said:
- The bear and the wolf sent me. They are hungry and demand that you get them some meat.
Then the little goat stood up and answered the fox like this:
- We are hungry too. Before evening I went to look for a place to stay for the night for my comrades. Before I arrived, they caught and ate either a wolf or a fox. I came and managed to profit from only one leg, but this, of course, was not enough for me, and my comrades did not have enough to eat. I swear, fox, that we don't have a piece of meat left!
When the fox heard these words, she was very frightened, began to slowly back away and, seizing the moment, jumped to the side and ran away into the thicket, without even showing herself to her friends.
The bear and the wolf waited a long time for the fox. Finally, the bear could not stand it and sent a wolf:
- Go and find out what happened there, why the fox was so slow!
The wolf came to the kid, the lamb and the calf and said:
-You seem to be arrogant and self-important? We sent a fox to you for meat for dinner. Why are you delaying and not sending us meat?
The little goat stood up and answered:
“You are hungry, and we are hungry too.” Before evening I went to look for a place to stay for the night for my comrades. While I was away, they caught and ate either a bear or a wolf. I came and managed to profit from only one leg, but this, of course, was not enough for me, and my comrades did not eat enough. I swear to you, wolf, that we don’t have a single piece of meat left!
The wolf heard that one wolf had already been eaten here, and began to slowly back away in fear. When the kid finished speaking, the warrior started to run. He ran into the thicket and never showed himself to the bear!
The bear waited, waited for his friends and lost patience. He himself went to the kid, the lamb and the calf. He came and said:
- Apparently, there is no limit to your impudence! I sent to you twice for meat for dinner. Why didn't you send me meat?
The little goat stood up and answered:
“You’re hungry, and we’re hungry too.” Before evening I went to look for a place to stay for the night for my comrades. While I was away, they caught and ate either a wolf or a bear. I came and ate only one leg. But this, of course, was not enough for me, and my comrades did not have enough to eat. I swear to you, bear, that we don’t have a piece of meat left!
When the kid said that either a bear or a wolf had already been eaten here, the bear was horrified, began to slowly back away and, fearing for his own skin, ran away into the thicket.
“These animals may meet us again somewhere,” the kid said to his comrades. “They will come to their senses, realize that we have deceived them, will come here and then they will definitely eat us.” Let's get out of here quickly!
The kid, lamb and calf set off on their journey without hesitation. On the way, they saw a crooked tree and decided to spend the night on it. The kid and the lamb quickly climbed the tree and dragged the calf. The calf was the most awkward of them all - he could barely stay on the tree.
Meanwhile, the bear, wolf and fox met in the forest. They talked and realized that they had been fooled. The three of them returned to the place where the kid, lamb and calf had sat in the evening, but they were no longer there. Then the animals followed their tracks and reached a crooked tree. They stopped, sniffed and said:
- They are somewhere very close!
At this time, the calf stumbled and flew down. The little goat was not at a loss and shouted:
“Come on, grab the bear, I can handle the wolf, and our younger brother can handle the fox!”
And the kid knocked with all his might on the tree with his horns and hooves. The bear, wolf and fox decided that some terrible monsters had settled in the tree, got cold feet and ran away.
They were the only ones they saw.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru