Once upon a time there lived a farmer. He had two oxen and one donkey. Every day, early in the morning, the farmer loaded the wheat onto the donkey, sat on it himself and drove the oxen in front of him, heading into the field to plow the land and sow wheat.
One evening after work, one of the oxen complained to the donkey, who was sleeping happily, lying on his side.
“Hey, friend,” said the ox, “you are happier than us, you are not tormented so much by our master.” You take the wheat to the field with the owner, and from there you bring firewood - and that’s where your torment ends. Oh, may the ox's share perish, our torment is much more severe: every day the owner harnesses us to the yoke and drives us without respite from morning to evening. If we slow down a little from fatigue, he mercilessly beats us so that the marrow of our bones ache. It is very difficult for us to live.
The donkey thought and said:
“I will give you advice, and if you listen to me, you will be freed from torment.”
“Tell me, friend, what kind of advice is this?” the ox asked hopefully.
“Tonight, at dawn,” the donkey began, “you don’t eat anything, pretend to be sick and start moaning.” The owner will think that you are very ill and will not drive you into the field.
The donkey's advice pleased the ox. When the owner came to the barn in the morning and began putting straw and hay in the manger for the cattle, he suddenly noticed that the donkey and one ox eagerly began to eat, but the other ox, as if sick, did not look at the food.
When, before leaving for the field, the owner came back to the barn, he again saw that one ox had not eaten anything and was lying dejected. The owner was sure that the ox was sick,
and thought: “What should I do now? You can’t plow on your own!” And suddenly his gaze fell on the fat and smooth donkey. The owner immediately cheered up and said:
- Found a way out!
He drove a donkey and another ox into the field, harnessed them to one yoke and began to plow.
By evening the donkey was very tired. His whole body ached from the unusual work. “Yes, how do oxen endure such torment?” - thought the donkey.
In the morning, just remembering the day before, the donkey’s whole body trembled. But he had to endure the torment and worked like that for several days.
The donkey did not stop thinking about his salvation, and suddenly such a remedy came to his mind that he screamed at the top of his voice with joy. Then, turning to the “sick” ox, he said:
- Buddy, today I heard a conversation between the owner and his wife. The owner said: “If the ox doesn’t get better and doesn’t start eating, I’ll slaughter it, sell all the meat, and buy another ox instead.” My advice to you is this: now start eating with great desire and show that you are healthy, otherwise you will feel bad.
Vol never expected things to turn out this way. Thanking the donkey for his care, he followed his advice.
When the farmer brought food in the morning, the ox was healthy and vigorous and began to eat with great appetite. The owner was happy about this and in the morning he harnessed the ox to another ox.
Several days passed. The ox again began to complain to the donkey about his hard lot. The donkey thought for a long time about how to make the ox’s life easier, but came up with nothing. Suddenly one evening the donkey had a thought. With pleasure, he shouted at the top of his voice and asked the ox:
- Do you want to get rid of your fate?
- Of course I want to! - answered the ox.
- If so, let's run away from the owner! Let's find some distant pasture and graze there freely!
Vol hesitantly said:
- It’s nice to hear your words, but how can we, alone in the pasture, avoid the teeth of the wolf and the tiger?
- We'll think of something! - the donkey said arrogantly.
That same night, the ox and donkey ran away from their owner. They spent the night on the outskirts of a village. At dawn they moved on. At this time, a rooster from the roof of the house saw a donkey with an ox and asked:
- Hey guys, where are you going?
“We ran away from the owner,” answered the donkey. “Let’s go somewhere far away and live there in freedom.”
- If so, will you take me with you? My master wants to kill me and eat me! And this way I will be saved.
“Okay, let’s go,” said the donkey. “Sit on me, three is better than two.” So the three of them moved on. They began to pass by another village,
suddenly a mouse met them and said:
- Hey guys, where are you going?
“We ran away from our owners, we’re going somewhere far away, where we’ll graze in freedom.”
“I had a place in one house,” the mouse began to tell, “two or three days ago the owner let a cat into the house.” Not today or tomorrow I will fall into the paws of a cat and disappear. If you agreed, I would go with you and escape from the deadly claws of the cat.
“Okay, come with us, sit on me,” the donkey said to the mouse and lay down on one side. The mouse quickly climbed onto his back.
- Why do we need these worthless parasites? - the ox said to the donkey, dissatisfied with the donkey’s favor towards the rooster and the mouse. “Why do we need this extra burden?”
“Don’t worry,” said the donkey, “whether your friend is small or big, it’s better if he exists.” You always need a friend.
There were three of them, now there were four, and they all continued on their way together.
A few days later, the travelers approached the foot of the mountain and saw a beautiful place, densely overgrown with bushes and grass. A pleasant sight was revealed to their eyes in all directions - there was a lot of wild millet and corn all around.
“Our place is here,” said the donkey. “It’s hard to find a better and more beautiful pasture than this!”
Everyone agreed with the donkey and stopped at this place.
Friends lived here cheerfully and joyfully. The donkey was most pleased with this life. He ate his fill with pleasure, lay around, rolled from side to side, ran from side to side. Only one thing interfered with his pleasure: his friends, out of fear of wolves, forbade him to scream.
But one day the donkey's patience ran out.
“I can’t stand it anymore, I want to scream!” - the donkey exclaimed and, not paying attention to his friends, screamed shrilly and drawn out.
The echo of his cry echoed far in the mountains and reached a pack of wolves prowling in search of food.
The leader of the wolf pack said to one strong and agile wolf:
- Run towards the cry and find out where the donkey is and is he alone?
The sent wolf rushed to the cry of the donkey. The rooster from the tree saw the approach of the running wolf first and informed his friends about it.
The ox got angry with the donkey and said:
- Well, he didn’t listen to us and called the wolves!
“Don’t worry, my friend,” said the donkey, “I’ll think of something.” Now you hide and until I call you, don’t come out!
The ox hid. The wolf ran up and saw that one sleek and fat donkey was grazing in the meadow.
At first the wolf thought: “I’ll go tell my comrades,” but at the sight of the delicious donkey, his drool immediately began to flow, and he changed his mind: “First, we ourselves will eat our fill, and then come what may!” - and the wolf immediately moved towards the donkey.
- Hey, donkey, your end has come, now I’ll eat you! - the wolf shouted.
- Okay, what can you do! - said the donkey. “My hind legs have very fatty and soft meat.” I'll lie on my back, and you come and eat!
As soon as the wolf approached the donkey’s outstretched legs and bent his head to taste the donkey’s meat, the donkey tightly clamped the wolf’s head with its hind legs.
- Hey, heroes, go out and beat the wolf! - the donkey shouted. An ox ran up and began to beat the wolf with its horns; the mouse began to tear up the ground under
kicking the wolf so that he fell, and the rooster crowed continuously and terrified the wolf with his cry.
Maddened by pain and fear, the wolf jerked his head with all his might and ran away. A pack of wolves who were waiting for him began to run after him in fear.
Out of fear, the wolves ran so far that they lost their way to this mountain.
The ox, the rooster and the mouse began to live without fear with the smart donkey in this flourishing place.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru