The sun was getting hotter every day. The snow has melted. Silver streams sang cheerful songs as they quickly ran through the forest. Suddenly a blade of grass stretched towards the sun, followed by another, very thin, and another, and another - there were more and more of them. A snowdrop appeared. When the breeze blew, the flower shook its head joyfully. Then many more flowers grew near the snowdrop. Spring has come.
The little hare Yepurile looked at the flowers with admiration and thought: “Hey, godmother Winter is gone,... Gone!..” - and nodded his head joyfully. Yepurile became cheerful and, singing boastfully, jumped around the clearing:
I am Rile-Yepurile,
Who is equal to me in strength here? .
I am not afraid of any enemy,
Everyone come out to fight!
The little bug, who was sitting quietly on a flower, called him:
- Yepurile! Yepurile! How are you doing? - Who's calling me?
Yepurile looked to the right, looked to the left, looked forward, looked back, but saw no one.
- Here I am! Here! On a flower! - Bug buzzed. “So you’re calling me, baby?” - Yepurile asked, looking at the Bug, whose wings glittered like gold. - What do you want?
- Let's make friends! I am the Bug with Golden Wings. Do you want us to play together?
And they began to play hide and seek. And Rile-Yepurile kept singing:
I am Rile-Iepurile,
Who is equal to me in strength here?
I am not afraid of any enemy,
Everyone come out to fight!
His song reached the Bear's den. The bear woke up. Stretching sleepily, he left the den in which he had slept all winter, and immediately saw Yepurile. The bear was old, big, very big. He was hungry and clicking his teeth.
- Mor-mor... I'm an old Bear, I slept all winter and now I'm hungry... I'll eat you, Yepurile! - And the Bear licked his lips. - Mor-mor. Ooh, I'm so hungry!
No matter how brave Yepurile was, his heart sank into a ball and began to beat very quickly.
“What should I do? What should I do?,” he thought. “Now he’ll grab me!”
And the Bear grabbed him by the ears, lifted him up above the ground and looked at him satisfied.
- Very tasty hare! Mor-mor... But suddenly Yepurile heard a buzzing sound. It was the Bug with golden wings who saw that Yepurile was in trouble. The bug boldly flew up to the Bear.
And...what would you think? He first began to walk around the Bear's nose, and then began to tickle his ear.
- Mor-mor... - grumbled the Bear, angry with the Bug. - Leave me alone!
- Byz-byz! — the Bug buzzed louder and louder. “Well, wait, I’ll show you!” - thought the Bear. Completely forgetting about Yepurile, he released him, raised his paw and hit himself on the ear.
- I caught you, Bug!
The Bear hit with all his might, his ears even began to ring.
But the Bug had long since flown away and was now in a hurry, together with Yepurile, to escape from the Bear. Bizz, top, top! — two friends were running. - Buzz, thump, thump!..
When the Bear came to his senses, Yepurile and the Bug with golden wings had already run far away. The bear never caught up with them.
And the friends began to play again. They played until the evening, rejoicing that they had escaped from the terrible Bear.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru