A raven sits near his yaranga and thinks: where to go for prey - to the seashore or to the tundra? I thought and thought and decided to go to the sea.
Went ashore. The waves roar angrily, bitter foam hisses on the sand. A raven walked and walked along the shore. Tired, but no gain. He scratched behind his ear out of grief, and a large louse fell onto the sand. The crow tied a rope to her and dragged her home.
The closer to home, the harder the extraction becomes. The raven is dragging, suffocating. The children saw him, ran out to meet him and helped drag him to the yaranga. Just then the raven looked back and saw that there was a large seal on the rope. A fox runs past and asks:
- Where did you get so much food?
- On the shore! - the raven answers.
- Well, I’ll run there too!
- Don’t, don’t go, don’t ruin my hunt. I'll share it with you.
- What to share, you better tell me how to get a seal?
The raven said.
The fox ran and ran along the shore, she got tired, she scratched behind her ear, and the louse fell on the sand. The fox tied a rope to her and dragged her home. The closer to home, the more curiosity torments the fox. Now the house is not far away, the children are running towards. The fox couldn’t bear it - he looked back, and instead of a seal, there was on a rope what the fox had tied: there was no need to look back.
The raven ate the seal and again thinks - where to go hunting? On the river bank or in the tundra? Better to go to the river.
A raven approaches the river, and there the little mice are playing. They divided the raven and shouted:
- Grandfather, grandfather has come!
The mice surrounded the raven and took him to the yaranga to drink tea, treated him well and gave him roots and fish for the road.
Raven put it all on the sled and dragged it home. The raven is walking, and the sled is getting heavier and heavier.
The raven walks on and doesn't look back. He approached the yaranga, looked around, and there was a lot of red fish and fatty meat on the sledge.
A fox runs past and asks:
-Where did you get so much food? The raven said to the fox, and the fox went to the shore.
- Don’t go, don’t ruin my hunt! - asks the raven. Is it possible to persuade? The fox ran away.
She was running along the river bank, the little mice saw her and shouted:
- This is our grandmother!
- What kind of grandmother am I to you, you are ugly, you are pop-eyed and your tails are not fluffy! - says the fox.
The little mice came running home and told their parents. The fox comes and says:
- Eh, what a small, dark yaranga! The fox sat down in the canopy and ordered the mice:
- Give me something to eat!
The old mouse gave the fox some roots and pieces of fish.
The fox got angry at the mice:
- What are you giving me? Give me more, or I'll eat you all.
“What a bad guest,” thought the old mouse and remembered the crow.
- Go home, we have no more food for you! They gave the mouse a gift to the fox: a sledge full of grass. The fox goes home, and the sled gets lighter and lighter. Now the yaranga is close, the children are running to meet him. The fox couldn't stand it and looked around - there was only grass on the sled, as it was.
Here again the raven thinks: “Where should I go? I’ll go to the tundra, maybe I’ll find something?” He walks across the tundra and sees a lonely dugout standing. He began to look through the chimney. And in the dugout there are many fat young deer, and a woman grazes them. The crow chose a smaller fawn and spat on it. The fawn has died. The woman threw him into the tundra. The raven picked him up, put him on the sled and dragged him home. He walks and doesn’t look back. I approached the house, and instead of a small fawn, there was a big fat deer lying on the sled.
A fox runs past and asks:
- Where did you get so much meat?
- So many times you ruined my hunt! - says the raven. - I won’t tell. I'd rather give you meat!
- No, I don’t want meat, I want to bring the deer myself. Raven told me what needed to be done. The fox ran.
I found a dugout. She chose the biggest and fattest deer and spat on it. The deer died.
- Why did the deer start disappearing? - said the hostess and threw out the deer.
The fox dumped the deer on his back, but couldn’t get up. She shouted:
- Hey, mistress, come help!
A woman came out with a big stick and started hitting the fox on the nose and on the spine, only the blood flowed in streams. Then she helped raise the deer, and the fox went home.
He walks across the tundra, and the burden becomes lighter and lighter. She approached her yaranga, and instead of a big fat deer, there was a small, bony, dead fawn. The Fox sat down near the yaranga and began to cry.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru