Once a squirrel Kuuk, walking through the forest, came across a cave from which calls for help were heard. The sympathetic and kind Squirrel naturally looked inside and found Juan Tul there, standing on his hind legs and using his front legs to support the roof of the cave with the last of his strength...
Poor Squirrel did not know that the Rabbit had already been possessed by the Evil Spirit and it was dangerous to deal with him. So she offered him her help. He only groaned in response that he had to hold the ceiling otherwise it would collapse on his head. It was painful for the Squirrel to see how the Rabbit was suffering, and she agreed to take his place and began to hold the vault. The rabbit promised to bring several sticks to support the ceiling, and then both would be free.
But, of course, the Rabbit did not return.
Only when Belka was tired and completely exhausted did she realize that Juan Tul had simply deceived her: the vault was not going to fall at all.
Squirrel's indignation knew no bounds, and she rushed to look for the Rabbit to reprimand him for his vile trick.
Soon she found Huang Tul. But he so brazenly denied his guilt that the gullible Belka began to doubt that she was reproaching the very rabbit who had played such a cruel joke on her. And then Juan Tul collected a large bundle of branches and, trying to lift it, pretended that he could not. Then he began to ask Belka to help him.
Squirrel, of course, took pity on him and agreed. Juan Tul divided the armfuls, put one of them on the back of his friend and immediately set her on fire, and he began to run, not paying attention to the desperate cries of the poor thing.
The squirrel called for help, but no one heard her. Fortunately, a stream flowed nearby - Belka plunged into it and moved on, hoping to meet the villain and deal with him.
More than once they met again, and the villain Juan Tul brazenly mocked the kind-hearted Squirrel Kuuk: he would hang her from a springy vine, or get her drunk with balche wine...
...When she came to her senses, there was no trace of Juana Tula. But Kuuk did not want to admit defeat and again set out in search of the offender.
Meanwhile, Juan Tul reached a stream with clear water. There was a pillar sticking out on the shore. Guessing that Kuuk was looking for him, he decided to play one last joke on her... The squirrel indeed soon appeared, but did not notice Juan Tul - he was already sitting on the pole. She went to the stream to drink and saw the reflection of the villain in the water, but, unfortunately, she mistook this reflection for the Rabbit himself. Belka decided to grab the offender right in the water.
“Now you won’t run away from me, damn Rabbit,” she said. “You’ve deceived me so many times already that you’ll soon have to pay back...
And she rushed into the water, trying to grab him... but since she couldn’t do it, she decided that the Rabbit was sitting at the bottom.
“Since the Rabbit dived so deep and didn’t drown, then I won’t drown,” the poor thing decided and began to dive deeper and deeper...
The Evil Spirit, completely delighted with the trick, finally left the Rabbit, and he, as if waking up from a deep sleep, suddenly saw from the pillar how the Squirrel was drowning. Without thinking, he jumped into the water in one fell swoop to save her.
“It’s immediately obvious that you are not Juan Tul,” Kuuk said with gratitude, “Juan Tul is not capable of a good deed.”
But Squirrel did not know that even in the most cruel hearts the radiance of goodness does not fade, which can sometimes unexpectedly give rise to the noblest deeds.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru