One peasant had an old horse. The man shod her on all four legs, took her into the forest and left her there. A horse wanders through the forest, nibbling grass.
She walked and walked like this and one day she met a bear. Horse bear says:
- I'll eat you! “How can you eat me,” the horse answers him, “after all, I’m old.” - It’s okay, I’ll eat it somehow, my teeth are sharp.
“If that’s the case,” says the horse, “let’s go to the stone.” Whoever strikes fire from him will eat the other.
The bear agreed, and they went to the stone. The horse came and said to the bear:
- Hit the stone! The bear began to hit the stone, and hit and hit, but could not strike any fire. “Now I’ll try to make fire out of this stone,” said the horse. She raised her foot and as soon as she hit the stone, sparks began to fall.
The bear saw that the horse had struck a fire and ran. And the horse shouts after him:
- Stop! I'll eat you! Over the hill the bear met a wolf. -Who are you so scared of? - asks the wolf. “A beast showed up in the forest and almost ate me: it barely took my legs away.” - What kind of animal is this? – the wolf is surprised. “His tail is long, and a mane grows on his neck,” says the bear.
“What a fool you are,” the wolf laughs, “but it’s a horse, and I eat horses myself.” Take me to where you saw this beast.
They walked a little, and the bear said:
- There she goes! - Where? “I don’t see,” says the wolf. The bear grabbed the wolf, lifted it up and asked: “Do you see it now?”
“And now I don’t see,” the wolf answers. The bear squeezed the wolf tighter, lifted it higher, and asked again:
- Do you see it now?
The wolf, let alone speaking, cannot breathe. And the bear squeezed him even tighter, raised him even higher and asked again:
- Well, do you see her now?
The wolf doesn’t answer him - the bear hug makes him faint. The bear got angry:
- What a fool! He boasted that he eats horses, but when he saw one, he couldn’t say a word out of fear.
The bear threw the wolf to the ground and ran away. And the horse was already walking through the forest without fear.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru