Once upon a time there lived a magpie with her magpies in a nest in an oak tree. One morning a fox came to the oak tree and said that he was dying of hunger, so that the magpie would give her one chick.
“No, I won’t give it away,” the magpie answers. “If you want to eat, take it yourself.”
“If you don’t give me one, I’ll chop down the oak tree with my tail, the nest will fall down, I’ll eat them all,” said the fox, and then beat the oak trunk with its tail.
The magpie got scared and, in order to save the others being fooled, she threw one to the fox, who ate it.
The next morning the fox came to the oak tree again and said:
- Forty-forty, I'm hungry. Give me one chick.
- No, I won’t. If you want to eat, take it yourself.
- If you don’t give it, you have yourself to blame. I'll cut down the oak tree with my tail, the nest will fall down, and I'll eat them all. And then beat the trunk with your tail. The magpie got scared and threw another chick to it.
And so it went: every morning the fox came for a new shirt, so in the end, the mother had only one, the last one. A heron, the magpie’s cousin, happened to pass by an oak tree. She heard crying and asked:
- What's wrong with you, sister?
She told her everything, and the heron said:
- Eh, your head is empty! How can a fox cut down an oak tree with his tail? For this you need an ax, and a very sharp one. The fox will come, you tell her:
Don't come to us, fox,
Don't hit the trunk with your tail.
Anyone who is not stupid knows:
oak trees are cut with axes.
Or say this:
To get to the nest,
little long tail,
get yourself an axe,
so that the ax is sharp.
That's what they decided on. The fox came the next morning and said:
“If you don’t give it, you’ll blame yourself: I’ll chop down the oak tree with my tail, the nest will fall down, I’ll eat everyone.”
And she's forty:
Don't come to us, fox,
Don't hit the trunk with your tail.
Anyone who is not stupid knows:
oak trees are cut with axes.
To get to the nest,
little long tail,
get yourself an axe,
so that the ax is sharp.
The fox was taken aback and asked:
- Who taught you?
And take the simple magpie and say:
- My cousin, heron.
“Well, I’ll show her,” says the fox.
And she went to look for the heron. She searched and searched and saw that she had put her head under her wing and was getting ready to sleep. The fox crept up to her, covered her with his paw and said:
- Good afternoon, Mrs. Heron!
The heron died, but answered:
- Good day, madam fox! What brought you to our region?
- Yes, nothing. I'm looking for a place to relax after lunch. What if we take a nap next to you? And then we'll chat.
“Well, that’s possible, Mrs. Fox.”
But the fox doesn’t let the heron out from under his paw. She closed one eye. Lisa saw and asked:
- How do you sleep with one eye?
The heron answers:
If you sleep with a neighbor who is willing to cheat, close one eye, buddy, and keep an eye on the other.
Lisa says to her:
“Well, so that you don’t suffer, I’ll eat you right now, otherwise your cousin left me without breakfast.”
“I guessed,” the heron answers, “and I only ask one thing.”
- About what?
“When you swallow me, go to the oak tree and show the magpie what she brought me to with her tongue.” Shout to her, and louder: “I got a heron for lunch.”
“We agreed,” said the fox and instantly swallowed the heron.
Then she went up to the oak tree and shouted:
- I got a heron for lunch!
And the heron to her:
- Shout louder, otherwise she won’t hear.
Fox again:
- I got a heron for lunch!
- Louder, little fox, louder, my sister is rather deaf.
Here the fox barks with all his might:
- I got a heron for lunch!
Yes, it opened its mouth so much that the heron flew out of there and said:
- You, fox, are left with a nose!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru