One day the hare thought that if he were married, his life would be easier. He liked the daughter of a peasant. The hare asked the bear to marry him a bride. And the girl answered the matchmaker like this:
- No, I won’t marry the hare.
- Why don’t you go? - asks the bear.
“His tail is too short,” she answers.
Conversations began among the animals: so, they say, and so, the peasant daughter refused to marry the hare, they say, its tail is short. It came to the wolf.
“If a peasant’s daughter won’t marry a hare because it has a short tail, then she will marry me—I have a long tail,” the wolf decided.
He also asked the bear to be a matchmaker. The bear says to the peasant daughter:
- It’s true, the hare is not suitable for you as a groom, because his tail is short. I know another groom, his tail is much longer.
-Who is this? - asks the girl.
- Wolf. He is an important gentleman with us, and he has a long tail." Will you marry him?
“Yes, yes,” the girl agreed, “I will gladly marry such a master.”
The bear told the wolf that the bride agreed, the wolf was delighted and promised to arrange a big feast. They decided to hold the wedding in a peasant’s house so that everyone could see what a beautiful wolf’s bride was.
On the wedding day, the wolf went to invite the hare to a feast, and the hare lay in bed.
“Come to my wedding,” says the wolf.
“I can’t,” the hare answers, “yesterday I ate too much cabbage and carrots, but today, you see, I’m sick.”
“We can’t do without you,” the wolf saddened, “where can I find another dancer like you?”
“I would go,” the hare answers, “but I feel bad, I won’t get that far.” Here the wolf says:
“Okay, I’ll put on a saddle and bridle, you’ll ride me, if I run too fast, you’ll hold me back.”
The hare agreed. Halfway there the wolf says:
- Get down, now you’ll get there!
“I can’t get there,” the hare answers, “take me some more.” Near the house the wolf says:
- Well, I won’t take you any further. If people see it, they will laugh.
“Well,” the hare answers, “you can’t run with kindness, I’ll force you.”
The hare lashed the wolf with a whip, and the wolf, like it or not, had to run further.
The hare stopped at the bride's house, threw the reins to the farmhand and said:
“Tie my horse tightly so it doesn’t run away.”
The hare comes to the bride and says:
— She didn’t marry me because I have a short tail. You liked the wolf, but I have him for a riding horse.
- Do you have a wolf for a riding horse? — the bride was surprised.
“If you don’t believe me, go to the stables and look for yourself,” says the hare.
The girl ran to the stable and saw a saddled wolf tied there. She returned to the hut and married the hare. And the wolf ran away into the forest out of shame.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru