Under the perch in the fence there was a large pile of manure. The manure in the pile heated up and began to smoke. At night, the chicken noticed smoke and thought: “Fathers! Isn’t the earth on fire?! It seems like there’s nothing left to burn!”
The chicken got scared and clucked. The rooster woke up:
- What kind of trouble, what kind of trouble? Even at night there is no peace from you.
- Stop talking! Don’t you see: the earth is burning, we are lost! - Wait a minute, something is really smoking. Listen, wife, isn't this your fault?
- You're crazy! You'll still be looking for someone to blame! Let's run quickly or we'll burn!
They woke up the chickens and ran all together. At the edge of the forest we met a hare.
-Where are you going so early? – the hare was surprised.
- The earth is burning, the earth is burning! My wife is to blame for this.
- Is it really true?
- True, true! My wife is to blame for this.
- Oh, brother, if that’s the case, then I’ll run with you too. They run further, and a fox meets them.
-Where are you going so early?
- Oh, godfather, the earth is burning, the earth is burning! My wife is to blame for this.
- Is it really true? - The fox was scared.
- True, true! My wife is to blame for this.
- If so, we can’t hesitate. Let's run faster, I'm with you.
They run further and meet a bear.
-Where are you in such a hurry?
- Run quickly, run quickly: the earth is burning, half is already burned, and all because of the chicken!
But the bear doesn’t give a damn, he laughs at them:
- You are simpletons, you are simpletons! You all deserve each other. Well, show me where it’s burning; Let's see what it is.
We turned everything back and took the bear to show the fire. They come to the place and see that the bear is right, nothing is burning: the owner has taken out all the manure during this time, only an empty fence remains. The hen and the rooster flew over the fence, but the bear, fox and hare didn’t know how deep it was, and as soon as they climbed in, boom! - and failed. And this way and that they tried to get out, but they saw that nothing worked. As luck would have it, all three were terribly hungry. The bear and the fox decided to kill the hare, whether he wants it or not. As they decided, that’s what they did: they tore the poor thing apart and ate it. Only the cheating fox didn’t eat everything; she hid the hare’s intestines in a corner, and lay down next to the bear. The fox lay there, lay there, then suddenly jumped up and chewed something.
- Hey, what are you eating there? Bah, those are guts! Where did you get them? I want too!
- How slow-witted you are! Yes, I ripped open my belly and pulled out my intestines. Do this too - everything is better than dying of hunger.
The bear, a fool, tore open its belly and immediately died.
The fox had a good laugh at the stupid bear, and then managed to get out of the hole.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru