“It’s bad to live alone,” the dog decided. “If only I could find someone the bravest and strongest... I would be his true friend...” And the dog went into the forest to look for a friend. She just heard from the hare that the bravest and strongest animal in the world is the wolf, and he was right there, coming towards her, clanking his teeth. The dog told him:
- Come on, wolf, to be friends with you.
“Come on,” the wolf agreed. - It’s bad alone...
In the evening they went to bed on soft moss under a tree. At night, the dog suddenly heard some rustling and began to bark loudly. The wolf got scared, tucked his tail and began to calm her down:
- Hush... Hush... Shut up, don’t bark, the bear will hear and tear both you and me to pieces.
“What a coward you are,” said the dog. “I’m smaller than you, and even then I’m not afraid.” Show me the bear, what kind of animal is that, I wonder...
They went through the taiga. Soon they saw a shaggy brown bear lying in the dead wood...
“Here he is,” the wolf showed from a distance and ran away, leaving the dog alone.
The dog approached the bear and said that he wanted to make friends with him. The bear looked at her and growled:
- Well, okay.
And they began to live together.
In the evening we went to bed, and the dog again heard a rustling sound and started barking. The bear chickened out and said:
- Don’t make noise, dog, otherwise the tiger will hear... He will attack and tear you and me apart.
“No,” the dog thought, “he’s not fit to be my comrade, he’s afraid of some tiger...” “Show me the tiger,” the dog asked. In the morning the bear said quietly:
“There he comes, the tiger...” He said and quickly ran away. “Big beast, strong. He's probably afraid of no one. “I’ll be friends with him,” the dog decided.
When the dog told the tiger that he wanted to make friends with him, the tiger thought and thought and agreed.
At night, when they were sleeping, the dog barked. The tiger jumped up and shouted at her:
- Shut up, the lion will hear! He'll come and eat us both...
The tiger was so afraid that he didn’t even show the dog where the lions lived—he was afraid. She went alone. I searched and searched until the evening and did not find the lion. At night I woke up from a terrible roar - the earth shook, the forest began to rustle. It was a lion... The dog boldly approached him. The lion roared, his mane standing on end.
-What kind of animal are you? – the lion asked angrily. - Why aren’t you afraid of me? I'll crush you.
The dog said that she would like to become his friend.
“Well then,” the lion growled. - Come with me. The whole day they walked together through the forests and steppes, all the animals hid from them, and in the evening they went to sleep in the bushes.
At night the dog woke up and barked loudly. Lez got angry:
- Hush, hush! If a person hears it, he will kill you and me. He has a fiery iron stick with a thunderous voice.
The dog wanted to know what kind of man this was... She went with the lion to look for the man. Soon they met a little boy.
- Maybe this one? - asked the dog.
– This one... Only he hasn’t grown up yet. - And they moved on. Then they saw the old man. He walked slowly, leaning on a stick.
- This? - asked the dog.
- This one... Only he has already become decrepit, you see - he walks on three legs...
After some time they met a healthy guy who was riding a horse.
- Here he is! - the lion shouted and rushed back. The dog approached the man, wagged its tail and said that it was looking for the bravest and strongest friend for itself.
- Come on, man, let's make friends.
“It’s possible,” the man answers affably. “Just know that I don’t like cowards.”
In the evening they went to bed. At night, the dog barked - she heard some rustling. The man jumped up, grabbed a gun - a fiery iron stick with a thunderous voice, which the lion had spoken about, and began, together with the dog, to look for who it was that was making noise nearby.
“You and I are not afraid of any enemy,” he said to the dog.
The dog realized that he had finally found a friend with a fearless, heroic heart. Since then, she has faithfully served man.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru