One day a hare found a bear's den. He quietly crept up to her, stuck his head inside, looked around and saw: there was no bear, the cubs were sitting alone.
Then the hare became bolder and began to scare the cubs. Makes scary faces and laughs:
-Oh, you big heads! Finally I got you! Now I'll bite you! You just have big heads, but you don’t know how to think at all.
The cubs are huddled in a corner, trembling with fear. The hare jumped around, scared them, and then, when he got tired of this activity, jumped out of the den and ran about his business.
In the evening the bear returned home, the cubs rushed to her and said:
- Oh, mother, what fear we have suffered! Some terrible beast crawled into our den: its head was round, its ears were long and its front teeth were sticking out! He made scary faces at us, teased us and kept saying: “Oh, you big heads, I finally got you!”
The bear thought and said:
- Apparently, this is a hare. There is no one else in the forest who is so willful except him. Well, he will pay me for this with his skin! Tomorrow I will watch over you all day.
The next day, the bear hid in the bushes not far from her den. The hare didn't keep me waiting long. He came running, stuck his head into the den, saw that the cubs were sitting alone, and began to mock them:
- Well, big heads? Have you caught me again? Why are you looking at me? Do you want me to bite you? You just have big heads, but the brains of a poppy seed.
The bear heard these words, jumped out of the bushes and roared:
- How dare you say that?! And I came up with a word: big-headed! I'll show you now!
The bear rushed at the hare, but he managed to jump to the side. And the chase began: the hare runs along the path, the bear follows him; the hare meanders through the trees, the bear follows him; the hare into the ravine, the she-bear behind him. Finally, the hare cheated and slipped between two young oak trees that grew very close. The bear followed him, but she only managed to stick her head through and got stuck. He wants to climb further, but he cannot; she wants to pull her head back out, but nothing works either: her head is big. The hare saw that the chase had stopped, stopped to catch his breath, then approached the bear and said:
“You see, I was right: although you have a big head, you don’t have much intelligence.” Don't you see that you can't get through this gap where I, the hare, slipped through? And to prevent you from chasing hares next time, I will bite off your tail.
Only in the evening, when other bears came to the aid of the she-bear and bent the young oak trees to the sides, did she free herself from her trap. But from then on I was left with a short tail for the rest of my life.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru