It was spring. The peasants cleared the fields of corn stalks and burned them. Columns of smoke rose everywhere and tongues of fire turned red.
A peasant driving past a field noticed a low tree, under which the grass was slowly burning on fire. A loud hissing could be heard from the top of the tree - a snake, choking from the smoke, had climbed up there. The horseman thought: “A living creature is dying before my eyes, can I pass by indifferently? No, you can’t!” Rising into the stirrups, he touched the snake with the whip.
The snake crawled onto its handle, slid down the handle, found itself on the rider’s chest and instantly wrapped itself around his neck.
- What are you doing? - exclaimed the frightened rider.
- What is due to my breed. And your breed is not holy. I want to sting you. I want it so much that my jaw actually cramps! – the snake hissed to its benefactor.
- Good thanks! - he exclaimed. - And you, snake, are considered still wise!
– I have to sting you and I can’t resist it:
“Okay, let me be your victim,” answered the horseman, “but still, for my consolation, allow me to ask the first person I meet - is your deed noble?”
The snake moved its tail, relaxed the links a little and agreed, deciding that whoever contradicted it, it would also have time to sting and receive double pleasure.
On the way they met a bull.
The bull patiently listened to the rider’s complaint, swallowed the cud and muttered:
“When I was still a calf, I didn’t see my mother for days at a time. In the morning they drove her out to pasture, and the owner locked me in the barn. In the evening, when my mother returned and I tried to satisfy my hunger with her milk, the owner pulled me away, beat me and did not allow me to get closer to my mother. When I grew up, they put a yoke on me and I had to do the hardest jobs. What did you get for it? Beatings and rotten straw... Don't expect good from a person. From time immemorial, he is cunning, angry and ready to oppress every creature.
- Well, do you hear - my truth! - the snake hissed.
“Let me ask at least one more person you meet,” the rider begged.
The snake agreed. They came across a large mulberry tree along the way. The horseman decided to address him with his complaint.
The tree shook its top, sighed so that the leaves rustled, and began the following speech:
- Passers-by rest in my shade. But some of them pick off leaves to feed their horses and silkworms. Others knock down my sweet fruits, but my life is not sweet at all. You cannot rely on a person; he will always let you down and offend you.
- Well, whose truth? – the snake hissed again. “I’ve had enough of messing around with you—now you’ll know the taste of my poison.”
The rider begged the snake to wait a little longer. At this time, a marten jumped out onto the road and stopped, looking around.
The horseman told her about his grief.
“Okay, I’m ready to become a judge,” said the marten. “But you are so closely intertwined that I can’t even get a good look at you.” You, snake, get off the man and crawl away a little; I will stand between you and then I will judge.
When the snake slid off the man and crawled away a little, the marten jumped up to it, bit into the back of the head and bit off the snake’s head.
“Here’s to you for trying to climb into a hollow and destroying defenseless cubs,” the marten said, eating the snake. “Well, you,” she added, turning to the rider, “have had enough of being annoyed that you won’t profit from my fluffy skin.” You didn’t bring a gun with you, and without it a man’s arms are short.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru