It was bitterly cold. Clothes became more expensive, many children walked around in rags. The peasant cut down the forest, sold it to a reseller for firewood, burned out the bushes and stumps, and sowed oats in that place.
Oats turned out great. The hare and the bear noticed this and got into the habit of walking in the field. One evening they met in the oats. The bear barks at the sideways one:
- Get out of my oats while you're still alive!
The hare moved his ears and answered:
“What’s true is true, the oats are yours, but I’ll eat them; I really liked it!
The bear's breath was taken away from such daring speeches, but the hare still doesn't let up:
“You, clubfoot, want to devour everything yourself, because you are stronger.” Wait, now we’ll measure our strength, sparks will fly out of your eyes. Well, hold on! No, wait, what the hell, one of us will give up the ghost! Let's try to squeeze the stone; whoever squeezes the water out of it will get the oats!
The bear squeezed the stone so hard that it crumbled into dust. Sparks flew from under the claws, but not a drop of water. The hare secretly sprinkled water on the stone, hit it and stuck it under the astonished bear's nose.
- Look, clubfoot! How can you compete with me! As soon as I touch you with my finger, you will immediately stretch your legs!
- Oh, oh, the hare is small, but smart! “We need to get away before it’s too late,” the bear whispered with a sigh.
The hare pricked up his ears and heard everything.
- Oh, I’m tired! Let’s go to that hill over there and sleep a little,” he says to the bumpkin bear.
The bear began to snore, and so did the hare. The hare actually fell asleep, but the bear pretended to be asleep, and he himself was still thinking about how to ask the striker. He looked at the hare, and his eyes were open. The bear is waiting, waiting for the hare to fall asleep, and he, as luck would have it, looks with all his eyes. Then such fear fell upon the bear that he began to run as fast as he could, only his heels sparkled and his fur stood on end.
A bear is rushing, and a wolf is meeting him.
- Hey, brother, what's your hurry? Or what miracle happened? Has the water caught fire somewhere?
The bear was embarrassed and said:
- I, my dear, barely got away with my legs - I came across a small bird, but the claw got stuck!
“We have nothing to fear together,” said the wolf.
And they went down the mountain to look at the scary hare. The bear stood on its hind legs and saw a hare, but the wolf did not see anything, because it did not know how to stand on its hind legs.
“Well, I need to help you,” said the bear, grabbed the wolf in his arms, stood with him on his hind legs, lifted him higher and asked:
- Do you see there, behind the fence?.. Answer me, fool, do you see it or not?
No wolf. The bear lowered him to the ground, but the wolf was silent. The bear squeezed him so hard that the wolf lost his breath.
The bear stared at his dead comrade and thought:
“Look, I killed him with my scythe with one glance.” But I talked to the hare and even lay next to him - you know, I’m still quick and evasive, if I’m still intact!
And the clubfoot quickly fled from our region, because we have a lot of hares. And to this day he has not yet returned; and we no longer have wolves, because the last one was strangled by a bear when he wanted to show him the hare.
But in our oats, right outside the outskirts, there are a lot of oblique ones.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru