There lived a dove and a dove in the forest. They built a nest for themselves in a tree, and the dove laid eggs. But she was very afraid that some animal might eat them.
- Dear husband! - she said to the dove. “We should get a reliable friend: in difficult times he will help us.”
- Oh, honey! - answered the dove. “After all, none of our relatives live nearby.”
The dove thought, thought and said:
Well, this is not a hindrance to the matter! You can find a friend among strangers, otherwise it’s difficult for us to live alone.
The pigeon agreed and began to look in the neighborhood for someone with whom he could make friends.
Not far from their tree lived a family of hawks. A dove came to them and said:
- Neighbors, let's be friends!
These words pleased the hawk.
“Brother,” he answered. “I will be happy to be your friend, but this is what I propose: let’s take as a friend an even larger snake that lives in the hollow of a pippal tree.” It can be very useful to us.
“You’re right,” agreed the dove, “you can never have enough friends, and the more of them, the better.”
They went to the snake and respectfully told it the essence of the matter. At first the snake thought about it, and then agreed to be friends with them.
A year has passed. One day a hunter came to the forest. He wandered all day in the thicket of the forest, but did not catch anything. Wherever he placed the snares, not a single animal was caught in them. If he shoots an arrow at a bird, he will miss. The hunter was completely depressed. He was ashamed to return to the village empty-handed, and he decided to climb a tree and look for bird eggs in the nests. He began to put his ear to the tree trunks to see if he could hear a bird’s voice. So, from tree to tree, he got to where the dove and dove lived. The dove was sitting on the eggs and hatching the chicks. The hunter heard the cooing of a dove, was delighted, and wanted to catch the bird so as not to go home empty-handed.
Meanwhile, the sun set and night quickly descended on the earth. In the darkness, the hunter could not see anything, and he decided to make a fire. He brought herbs and dry branches, set them on fire and waited for them to flare up.
And the dove and dove watched the hunter. They guessed that he was up to no good and were very frightened. The dove was trembling all over with fear, and the dove, to calm her down, said:
“Let’s try to save ourselves first, and if nothing works out, we’ll call our friends.” We must first of all rely on ourselves!
They began to think about how to protect themselves from the impending disaster. The dove says:
“If only I could somehow put out the fire!” In the dark the hunter will not find our nest.
The dove agreed with his wife. As soon as the hunter climbed a tree by the light of the fire, the pigeons flew to the river, took water into their beaks and began to put out the fire. The fire was not very strong, and they soon managed to put it out. It became dark again, the hunter could no longer see anything, and he had to get down from the tree. He lit a fire again, but the dove and dove put it out this time too. The hunter got seriously angry, dragged along huge branches, whole armfuls of dry grass and leaves and lit a huge fire. The dove and dove were very tired, and the fire was too strong for them to cope with it themselves. And the dove said:
– The time has come to ask friends for help. Call the hawk!
The dove flew to the hawk and told him everything. Hawk and his wife, without hesitating for a moment, rushed to the rescue and helped put out the fire. The hunter was already in the tree when he suddenly saw that the fire had gone out. Here he became more angry than ever and vowed to take revenge on these birds, although in his heart he praised them for their courage and courage. He climbed down and thought whether he should rest at night, and when dawn came, climb a tree and empty the nest.
He lay down under a tree and fell asleep. But the pigeons guessed what he was up to. They flew with the hawks to the snake and told it everything.
“Calm down,” said the snake. “Today the hunter will not touch you, but tomorrow I will crawl and wrap myself around a tree trunk; Let him then try to climb up!
The hunter woke up early. I was just about to climb the tree when I suddenly saw a huge hissing snake. The hunter got scared and ran away. He even threw away his bow and arrows. He was never seen in these parts again. And the dove and dove lived happily in their nest.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru