One day the fox kneaded cakes from the ground, baked them, anointed them with honey and took them to the people who were guarding the turkeys.
-Give me the turkey in exchange for honey cakes.
They refused and sent her to the swineherds: they say they will give you a pig in exchange for honey cakes.
A fox came to them, but the swineherds did not want to give her a pig and sent her to those shepherds who tended the cows: you will get it there, they say, in exchange for calf cakes. But the shepherds also refused, sent her to the herds and said that the herdsmen would give her a foal. Indeed, the herders gave the fox a foal. The fox told them not to break the cakes until she crossed the mountain. They obeyed, and when they broke and tasted the cakes, they saw that the cakes were made of earth and that the fox had deceived them. The shepherds chased after her, but the swindler on the foal managed to gallop far away, and they returned tired and empty-handed.
The fox, having come home, put the foal in the stable and began to clean him, bringing him green grass and cold water every day. So that the foal would recognize her voice and not open the door to anyone else, she shouted the same thing every time:
- Filly, filly! Open the door! I bring you some cold water and green grass.
The wolf heard the fox calling the foal several times. One day he came and shouted in a rough voice:
- Filly, filly! Open the door! I bring you some cold water and green grass.
But the foal heard from the voice that it was not a fox, and did not open the door. Then the wolf hid around the corner of the stable. A little later the fox came with water and grass and shouted in a thin voice:
- Filly, filly! Open the door! I bring you some cold water and green grass.
The foal recognized her voice, opened the door and began to tell how someone came and asked in a rude voice to unlock the door. Lisa says:
- Make sure you never open the door to a rude voice!
And the wolf heard their conversation from around the corner. The next day, when the fox again went for water and grass, the wolf came to the door, cowered as best he could and spoke in a thin voice:
- Filly, filly! Unlock the door! I bring you some cold water and green grass.
The poor foal succumbed to the deception and unlocked the door. The wolf grabbed him by the neck, threw him to the ground and ate him. Only the tail and head remained.
The fox came and, as always, called:
- Filly, filly! Open the door! I bring you some cold water and green grass.
But no one came and opened the door. Then the fox looked through the crack, saw only the tail and head of the filly in the stable and immediately guessed what trouble had happened. She broke down the door and began to wail over the filly’s dead head. Finally, out of grief and sadness, she went and lay down on the road, pretending to be dead.
After some time, a man was passing by in a cart and saw a fox lying in the middle of the road. He picked it up and threw it on the cart, planning to skin it when he arrived home. And on the cart, in a bag, lay three circles of cheese. The fox began to move little by little, took all three circles out of the bag and ran away with them. Running further away, she ate two circles of cheese, put the third one around her neck and walked away. She walked and walked, and the same wolf who ate the foal met her. The wolf saw the cheese and asked where the fox got it, and she answered:
— Lapped out of the river.
-Where is that river?
- Come on, I'll show you.
It was midnight, during the full moon. The sky is clear and starry. The fox led the wolf to the river, showed him the reflection of the moon in the water and said:
- Do you see how big the cheese is in the water? Lak and latch him like I lapped him.
The poor wolf lapped and lapped until the water gushed back out of him. The fox squeezed his throat and said:
“Luck up, lap up, now you’re lapping up.”
The poor wolf lapped again and lapped until water poured out of his nose. The fox pinched his nose, sat astride him and said that she was sick and could not walk, let him take her. The wolf took her, and she began to sing:
- A sick person brings a healthy one, a sick person brings a healthy one!
-What are you singing, auntie? - asked the wolf.
“Nothing, wolf, just like that,” I mutter to myself,” the fox answers.
So she sang all the time until they reached the house where they celebrated the wedding. The guests left the house and began to praise her song. And she says that she will sing even better if they let her into the attic. The guests let her in. As soon as the wolf, with hard labor, carried the fox to the attic, she opened his ears, nose and throat, and water gushed out of the wolf and poured onto the guests through the cracks in the ceiling. They ran to the attic. The fox jumped and ran away, but the poor wolf barely survived.
One day the fox and the wolf met again and began to ask each other who had escaped. The wolf says they beat him, and he barely carried off his legs; the fox said the same thing. Then she saw a haystack not far away and persuaded the wolf to jump over it. Unfortunately, the wolf listened to her here too. He jumped over several times, but the fox said that he was jumping poorly - not directly above the haystack, but somehow to the side. Then he jumped right over the haystack and got stuck in it. Lisa was delighted and said:
- Work with your legs, wolf, and you will get out.
And the wolf fidgeted and fidgeted and fell into the very bottom of the stack. The fox laughed maliciously and ran away, saying goodbye:
“I’ve been sharpening my teeth on you for a long time because you ate my foal.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru