Once we met a fox and an elk.
- What's new? - the fox asks the moose.
“Nothing new, neighbor,” the moose answers. - Yesterday I almost disappeared completely: a hunter was chasing me, and I got my horns tangled in the branches... I have trouble with my long legs - I touch the branches!.. How are you living? - the elk asks the fox.
“And I feel bad, neighbor,” says the fox, the hunters are lying in wait for me. The problem with my short legs is that I can’t look around from above!
The animals were sad, what a bad life they had and how badly everything in the world was arranged: those who need long legs have short ones, those who need short legs have long ones. So the fox says:
- Come on, neighbor, change legs!
“Come on,” the moose answers. So they swapped legs.
The fox looked around: with his long legs he could see far away - there were no people nearby. She ran to the camp. She wanted chicken. I tried to climb into the barn, where the chickens were sitting on a roost, and their long legs were in the way. She stuck her leg into the crack to grab the chicken, but the moose leg was in the hoof, there was no way she could catch the prey. The fox sighed and regretted her paws: how sharp her claws were, how convenient it was to hold and tear prey with them! Then a man came out of the house... The fox got scared and ran away. So she ran away hungry.
And the elk, having received the legs of a fox, became very small in height. He hid in the grass and rejoiced:
- Now I feel good! No one will see me from afar!
He began to slowly move on fox legs. I got tired quickly. Tired and hungry. Out of habit, he raised his head to satisfy his hunger with young shoots and leaves. He slaps his lips, but he can’t reach the branches: his legs are short!
The moose sighed:
- Eh, I shouldn’t have exchanged legs! My legs were so good: tall and strong! Not like these paws! Now I'm going to completely starve...
And the moose cried.
Suddenly he hears: someone is flying through the taiga, breaking straight through. The branches and dead wood are cracking. The moose started running! He tripped over some dead wood, fell and closed his eyes. Well, he thinks, now it will be the end for me!
However, he hears the fox calling him:
- Hey, neighbor, where are you?
“Here,” says the moose. – Were you the one making noise in the taiga?
“I am,” says the fox. - I'm in trouble with your legs! I wanted to walk quietly, but your legs were breaking twigs, stomping, knocking. I almost got lost with them!
“And I,” says the moose, “have a problem with your legs: they are small, weak... Come on, neighbor, change again!”
So they exchanged legs.
The elk stamped his hooves on the ground: good!
“It’s great,” he says, “it’s arranged that the elk walks on its hooves!” The legs are strong, the hooves are hard!
The fox ran on its paws: good! The paws are light, the claws are sharp, the gait is silent. The fox answers the moose:
- Yes, it’s true! It’s a good thing that the fox has small paws with sharp claws.
They said goodbye and went in different directions. Since then, the animals have not changed their legs.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru