The jackal, the hedgehog and the donkey were so poor that they had no one to harness to the plow. And so they decided: “Let’s make a yoke and harness the one who will fit it.”
The donkey, simple-minded and kind, agreed. The jackal and the hedgehog made a yoke over the donkey's shadow.
Having finished their work, they called the donkey and said:
- The yoke is ready. Now we need to try to see who it will suit.
The hedgehog was the first to try on the yoke.
“It’s too big for you,” said the jackal and the donkey.
The yoke also turned out to be too big for the jackal.
And only the donkey fit it.
They harnessed it and began to plow on it. They left the poor fellow completely, so that he almost died.
Left alone, the hedgehog and the jackal waited patiently for the harvest to be harvested. Finally the barley ripened, and the hedgehog, in front of witnesses, asked the jackal:
- When we harvest, what will you take for yourself: tops or roots?
The jackal, who had never been involved in farming, replied:
- Roots.
- Did you all hear what he said? - the hedgehog addressed the witnesses.
“That’s it,” responded the witnesses. After threshing, the hedgehog received grain, and the jackal received roots. With that we parted ways.
The poor jackal was completely exhausted and could barely stand on his feet.
- What's wrong with you? Are you sick? - the hedgehog asked him.
- No. “I’m just dying of hunger,” answered the jackal.
“Then follow me,” the hedgehog told him, “I’ll take you to the garden where you can eat.”
The garden was surrounded by a fence, in which there was only one hole, and the cunning hedgehog ran there every now and then, trying to see if he could crawl back out.
And the jackal ate everything and could not get enough.
“Let’s leave before the owner appears,” the hedgehog suggested to him.
However, the jackal's belly was so swollen that he could not fit through the hole.
“I can’t get out,” he complained to the hedgehog.
“Then lie down near the fence with your paws up, close your eyes and pretend to be dead.” Don't even shoo away the flies. Don't move, even if the owner of the garden hits you.
And then the owner came, saw the jackal and said:
“God punished you for sneaking into my garden.”
He grabbed the jackal and threw it over the fence. The tail came off and remained in his hands. The jackal started to run.
“Run, run,” said the owner, “anyway, sooner or later you will come across me, and I will recognize you, the tailless one.”
Fearing that the owner of the garden would carry out his threat, returning home, the jackal called all his brothers, asked them to stand in a circle and quietly tied their tails. And then he hid to the side and began to yell:
- Oh God! Hunters with dogs come here. How many hunters! How many dogs!
The jackals scattered and many were left without tails. Since then, the jackal was calm about his safety.
One day, in a field, a hedgehog met a jackal. Seeing the sieve and tambourine in his hands, the jackal asked:
- Why do you need this?
“The shepherds want to play a joke on me, but I’m thinking of playing a joke on them,” answered the hedgehog. “Come with me.” When they came to the shepherds, the hedgehog said to the jackal:
- While I entertain the shepherds, you take care of the sheep flock.
They separated.
“Good afternoon,” the hedgehog greeted the shepherds.
“Hello, uncle,” they answered. “Have fun with us.”
The hedgehog put a sieve around his neck and began beating it like a tambourine. And the shepherds began to dance.
When they finally came to their senses, they sent one of their comrades to see how the sheep were doing.
He saw from a distance that they were all lying down, and, returning, said:
- They are all sleeping.
But in reality they were dead. The jackal killed all the sheep.
A little later, deciding that the jackal had already finished his business, the hedgehog screamed loudly:
- Trouble! A jackal got into the herd.
The shepherds, without hesitation, rushed to their flock, abandoning their bags and capes. The hedgehog took all this prey to its hole. The shepherds began to look for the thief. One of the shepherds found his hole and, putting his hand in, grabbed the hedgehog by the paw.
- Pull it, drag it! - shouted the hedgehog. - This is the root of the breast berry.
The shepherd let go of his paw and grabbed the root of the chest berry, but could not pull it out.
So the shepherds left with nothing.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru