Once upon a time there lived a formidable bear. He was the king of animals in a large forest. But the bear has grown old and cannot move his paw. And the mice began to annoy him. They have deprived them of sleep and peace, there is no peace with them.
The bear gathered his strength and issued a decree: “Destroy all mice!” The animals found a good cat and assigned it to the bear as a guard. The cat turned out to be very cunning: he is not very zealous in his service, he will catch one mouse as a warning - the rest no longer show their noses out of their holes. But as soon as the cat leaves, the mice swarm again and annoy the old bear. To prevent this from happening, the bear brought the cat closer to him, began to consult with him on everything, and began to keep him near him day and night.
But one day the cat fell ill and left his son near the bear. The kitten began to guard the bear's peace: as soon as he saw a mouse, he would immediately catch it. In one night I caught all the mice. The next day the old cat came, saw the squashed mice, became very angry, but became even more sad.
- Stupid head! - he told his son. “For many years I have not killed a single extra mouse, so that I would have someone to protect the king of beasts from, and you dealt with them in one night: For my faithful service, the bear brought me closer to himself, and you, my own son, deprived me of this service.”
After a short time, a rumor reached the royal ears: “Unfortunately, there is not a single mouse left in our forest!” “And if this is so,” said the bear, then there should not be a single cat left.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru