In one large forest, two friends lived long ago - an antelope and a raven. Every morning the antelope grazed in a nearby meadow, and the raven flew off to some village for prey. And then one day, when the antelope was left alone, she suddenly saw a jackal nearby. Jackal said:
- Hello, dear friend! Finally I met you!
- How do you know me and who are you? – asked the surprised antelope.
“The whole forest knows about your wonderful friendship with the raven,” answered the jackal. And, pretending to wipe away his tears with his paw, he whined:
- I'm completely alone... Let me become your friend. The antelope believed the jackal's words and said:
- Okay, I agree to be your friend. Come with me.
“When she led the jackal to her home, the raven was surprised and asked:
- Tell me, friend, who is your companion? The antelope replied:
- This is a poor jackal... He is completely alone... Let him be our friend...
“Let it be,” agreed the raven. And they all lived together.
It often happened that the jackal and the antelope were left alone, and then the insidious jackal all the time thought only about how he could eat the antelope.
And then one day he said to her:
“I want to make you happy, dear friend: not far from here I found a beautiful field of young wheat. Let's hurry there, and you will be convinced that I am constantly thinking about your good.
Not sensing trouble, the antelope ran after the jackal and soon saw a dense field of green wheat.
- Oh, jackal, you are a very good friend! - said the trusting antelope.
From that day on, every morning she came to the field and ate young shoots of wheat.
As the jackal intended, it happened: the owner of the field saw that someone was eating his wheat, and set a trap. The poor antelope didn't notice the trap and ended up in a snare. At first she was very scared, and then she thought:
“It doesn’t matter, the jackal will come and save me.”
And just as she thought so, she saw a jackal.
– Dear friend, how I’ve been waiting for you! - exclaimed the antelope. - Hurry up, bite through this noose, and I will be free again!
The jackal slowly walked up to the trap, looked at the noose and said:
“You must have forgotten, antelope, that today is my birthday.” Know that on this day I never work. Be patient a little: tomorrow I will come here and free you...
So saying, he quickly ran away into the bushes. Hiding there, the jackal rejoiced: “Everything turned out the way I wanted. Now a man will come, kill the stupid antelope, take the meat and skin for himself, and the offal will go to me..."
At this time, a raven flew over the field. Seeing his friend in trouble, he sank to the ground and exclaimed:
- Don't be afraid! Now I will find a jackal, he will easily gnaw through such a noose!
“Don’t work in vain,” said the antelope sadly. “I already asked him to help me, but he didn’t want to.” The treacherous jackal is waiting for my death!..
And then the raven saw that a man appeared in the distance. A large bow dangled behind the man's back.
- Pretend to be dead! – the raven whispered to the antelope. “And as soon as you hear me croak, jump up and run as fast as you can!”
The antelope barely had time to stretch out when the man was already at the trap. Seeing the dead antelope, he joyfully exclaimed:
- So that’s who trampled my field! Now we will see what kind of skin this beast has!
- And, putting the bow on the ground, he removed the noose from the antelope’s leg.
Having pulled out a knife, the owner of the field was about to begin his planned task, when suddenly a raven landed on his head. The raven pecked the man on the crown, flew to the side and sat on a nearby bush.
Grabbing a stick, the man rushed towards the bird. But the raven flew away a few more steps and sank into the wheat.
- Oh, wicked bird! - the man shouted angrily. - Wait, you won’t leave me!
And, having exclaimed like that, he ran into the depths of the field, trying to knock the raven down with a stick.
But the raven deftly dodged the man’s stick, flew to the side again and cawed loudly. Then the antelope jumped up and rushed as fast as it could into the forest thicket.
The man, chasing the raven, did not even notice how he found himself far from his field.
When the jackal looked out from behind the bushes, he was very surprised: where had the man gone? Why can't you see the antelope?
Approaching the trap, the jackal came across a bow thrown by a man.
“Well,” thought the distressed jackal, “since I didn’t manage to try the antelope’s offal, I’ll have to satisfy my hunger today with at least the string of this bow - after all, it’s made of veins...”
Thinking so, he angrily pulled the string with his fangs, the string broke, the bow instantly straightened and hit the jackal on the head with such force that he fell dead.
Thus, preparing the death of another, the vile pretender destroyed himself.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru