One peasant’s rooster grew old and stopped singing on time and waking people up. The owner got angry with him and drove him out of the house. The poor rooster became sad, went into the forest and wandered there for three days and three nights.
And another peasant had a cat who, due to his old age, could no longer catch mice. The owner of the cat chased him into the forest - why waste the bread? Let him wander around the world, get food and shelter for himself. The cat wandered into the forest, loitering there, the poor fellow, like the rooster, does not know where to go or what to take up.
A cat was wandering through the forest, wandering around and met a rooster. They told each other about their troubles and decided to stick together: everything would be easier.
They did it as they decided. We found a more comfortable place to build a hut for ourselves. Once they found a place, they set to work together. One or two – the hut is ready. They agreed that the rooster would be the housekeeper and the cat would go hunting. Once they were settled in the hut, the cat ordered the rooster to cook cabbage soup, and he himself went to get the meat. When leaving, the cat told the rooster not to let anyone into the hut.
“No, no,” says the rooster, “I won’t let anyone in.”
The cat left with a calm soul, and the rooster began to cook cabbage soup. He cooks cabbage soup, cooks it, and suddenly hears someone knocking on the door and plaintively asking:
- Let me go into the hut to warm up!
“Who is it that is so cold?” - thought the rooster and looked out the window to look. Here you go! Yes, this is godfather fox! The rooster tells him:
- I won’t let you in. My owner, the cat, strictly ordered me not to let anyone into the hut.
“Oh, cockerel,” the fox whined, “I’m done for if you don’t take pity on me.” It’s bitterly cold outside, my little feet are so cold, they’re so cold – they can’t stand, they can’t walk. “And he keeps shifting from foot to foot so that the rooster will believe him.”
The rooster took pity on the poor fox and let him into the hut to warm himself.
The godfather was delighted, entered the hut and asked the rooster:
- What are you doing?
“Yes, I’m cooking cabbage soup,” the rooster answers.
“Let me taste the cheek,” the fox continues.
“Okay,” thought the rooster, “I’ll treat the poor guy.” As soon as he bent down to scoop up the cabbage soup, the fox grabbed the rooster by the neck, over the threshold and ran into the forest. It’s good that the cat was returning from the hunt along the same road along which the fox carried the rooster. The cat saw the fox, rushed at him and fought off the rooster.
They returned home, the cat scolded the rooster: why did he disobey him and let the fox into the hut? The rooster makes excuses this way and that, saying he thought that the fox was about to freeze in the yard, that’s why he let it in. And the cat became even more angry than before and almost tore the rooster out for his willfulness. Meanwhile, the cabbage soup was cooked, the cat and the rooster ate their fill and went to bed.
In the morning, the rooster needs to start eating cabbage soup again, and the cat is getting ready to hunt - to get meat. When leaving, the cat again told the rooster not to let anyone into the hut, otherwise he would be in trouble.
“Even if he asks,” says the cat, “don’t let him into the hut for anything.”
“Okay, okay,” the rooster promised, “now I won’t let anyone in.”
The cat went into the forest with a calm soul. And the fox is already sitting in the bushes and waiting for the cat to hide in the forest.
The cat left, the rooster lit a fire and set the cabbage soup to cook. But before the cabbage soup had time to boil, someone knocked on the door again and plaintively asked:
- Let me go to the hut, cockerel.
The rooster jumped up to the window to see who really wanted to go to the hut. He sees foxes sitting under the window - shameless eyes. “Well, this time I won’t let you into the hut,” thought the rooster. But the fox still doesn’t leave, he keeps begging to let him in. Finally the rooster got tired of listening to the fox, and he said:
“The cat strictly ordered me not to let anyone into the hut.” And I certainly won’t let you in, fox, just like you rushed at me just now.
“Yes, I was joking,” the fox answers, “I wanted to scare you.” But now I have no time for jokes: if you don’t let me in, that means that’s the end of me. Hunters with dogs are chasing me, they are about to overtake me. Let me into the hut, don’t kill me!
And so the fox asked, so begged that the rooster took pity on him and let him into the hut.
-What are you doing here alone? - the fox asks the rooster.
. “I’m cooking cabbage soup,” the rooster answers, “and I’m waiting for the cat to bring meat.”
“Let me try the soup,” the fox asks, “is it tasty?”
The fool rooster did not think anything bad and decided to treat his godfather. As soon as he bent down to scoop up the cabbage soup, the fox grabbed him by the neck, jumped out of the threshold and into the forest.
This time the fox ran a different route so as not to meet the cat, but - wow! - the cat that day was also returning home along a different path and again met a fox with a rooster in its teeth. The cat grabbed the fox by the scruff of the neck and saved the rooster from certain death for the second time.
They came home, and the cat scolded the rooster for stupidity and disobedience, but the rooster had nothing to justify himself with. The cat scolded the rooster, and then forgave him, and they sat down to sip cabbage soup from the pot.
“If you get caught like that again,” says the cat, “I’ll rip you out.”
“I’ll be ruined,” the rooster swears, “if I let myself be tricked and let someone into the hut!”
They ate their fill of cabbage soup and went to bed.
On the third morning, everything is as before again: the cat is getting ready to hunt, but the rooster is left to cook cabbage soup. As the cat leaves, he says to the rooster:
- Be careful! If you let someone into the hut, bad luck will come to you.
The cat has gone hunting, and the fox is sitting in the bushes near the hut, spying on the cat. The cat disappeared from sight, the fox waited a little and knocked on the door of the hut. The rooster came up to the window to see who was knocking, and this time the fox didn’t even think of asking, but instead shouted to the rooster:
- Open the door, hurry up, the cat himself sent me here. Something bad happened to him in the forest, we need to decide how to help him. The cat also told me to take something from the hut with me.
The simpleton rooster believed the fox, he was too good at pretending, and let him into the hut.
“Give me some soup first,” says the fox, “otherwise I don’t have the strength, I won’t be able to help the cat get out of trouble.”
“Okay, now I’ll pour you some cabbage soup,” the rooster answers. But as soon as he bent down to pour the cabbage soup, the fox grabbed him by the neck - over the threshold and into the forest.
This time they did not meet a cat on the road, and the rooster decided that his hour of death had come. The fox carried him into the dense forest, into the thicket, and dragged him into his hole. He threw the rooster into a dark corner and told him to pray, while he and his wife consulted on how best to prepare the rooster: fry it or boil it.
Meanwhile, the cat returned from the forest with its prey. He saw that the door of the hut was wide open, the cabbage soup had not been eaten, and he immediately understood what had happened. The cat was saddened; he doesn’t even want to see the rooster alive. But I decided to try anyway: what if it saves me? The cat counted all the money he had left from better times and hurried into the city. I bought a pipe and a sharp saber there, returned home and followed the fox’s tracks until I reached his hole. The cat sat down in front of the hole and played the pipe, and he played so nicely that even the birds in the forest fell silent and listened. The little foxes heard the game, there were three of them in the hole, and they began to ask their father and mother to let them listen. They released the fox and his wife. The little foxes ran out of the hole to listen to the pipe and see who was playing so well. And the cat holds a pipe in one hand, and a saber in the other, and as soon as the little fox emerges from the hole, the cat’s head is off his shoulders. The fox herself went to see where her cubs had gone and why they weren’t coming back. As soon as she leaned out of the hole, the cat cut off her head too. The cat threw the pipe and ran into the hole. And the rooster was about to die: the fox was just about to kill him. Then the cat ran in and cut off the fox's head. The cat sees a tied rooster lying in the corner. The cat untied the rooster, took it under his arm and brought it home.
This time the cat didn’t even scold the rooster, but ran into the forest and broke some birch branches. The rooster sees that he is about to be whipped, and let’s tell him how it happened, they say, he let the fox into the hut because he wanted to help the cat out of trouble. The rooster told everything as it happened, but it didn’t help him: the cat stretched him on the ground and tore him out. The rooster cried, crowed, pouted at the cat, and then they made up.
Since then, the cat and the rooster lived in the hut calmly and happily, and no one bothered them anymore.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru