In those days when the stork and the raven were people, the stork invited the raven to visit him.
“I caught a lot of fish with my net,” said the stork. - Come to me, we’ll eat fish with you.
“Okay, I’ll come,” said the raven.
The raven took a wicker bag and a stone ax and went to the stork. The weather was cold. The raven was hungry, he walked and thought about the fish that the stork caught.
“This stork is a kind fellow,” he said to himself. “It’s nice when you have such a friend.”
The raven walked and walked and suddenly noticed that bees were flying into the trunk of a tree.
- Uh! Yes, it's a bees' nest! - cried the raven. - Let me eat honey first, and then I’ll eat fish.
He climbed a tree and used a stone ax to cut a hole in the trunk in the place where the bees had flown in. Then he stuck his hand into the hollow and pulled out one honeycomb, which was oozing honey. He ate this honeycomb and pulled out another one, he ate and ate the honey until he had eaten it all. And he didn’t leave a drop of honey for the stork.
“The stork has so many fish,” said the raven, washing his hands in the stream. - But I don’t have fish!
When he approached the stork's camp, the raven saw that he was frying fish on a fire.
“Come here to the fire,” the stork called him. - I prepared a lot of fish for you.
The raven sat down by the fire, took a huge red fish and began to eat it.
“I gave you a tasty fish,” said the stork. “Eat it, and then we’ll sit and talk.”
The raven was eating fish, and the stork sat and looked at him. And suddenly the stork noticed a piece of honeycomb and a bee in the raven’s hair.
- Hey! - he exclaimed. - Yes, you have a bee and a honeycomb cell stuck in your hair.
Raven didn't answer him. He savored the red fish.
The stork thought and thought and said:
- Stop eating my fish, otherwise you will ruin my whole fishing trip. I will throw my net into the river, and not a single fish will fall into it. The fish will see a bee and a honeycomb cell in your hair, get scared and swim away.
The raven heard such a speech, stood up and walked away from the fire. He sat down on a fallen tree and did not answer the stork.
And he sat by the fire and thought about the raven.
- Why did you go there? - he asked finally.
“So as not to eat your fish,” said the raven. “I’ll eat your fish, and she’ll see a bee in my hair, and then you won’t catch a single fish with your net.”
“You don’t have to say that,” said the stork. -This is your land, you are free to do what you want. Go eat some more fish.
“No, I won’t go,” the raven became stubborn. “I can’t eat your fish, otherwise I’ll ruin your entire fishing trip.” You throw a net into a river, and all the fish swim away. There’s nothing to be done, stork, I can’t eat your fish now.
But the stork hoped to persuade the raven and kept repeating:
- Go eat some more fish. And the raven answered:
-No, I can’t.
Finally the raven got angry. He stood up and said:
- Goodbye, stork. I’ll go home, to the lands from which I came.
And he left without even looking back at the stork.
Raven lived on the slope of a mountain, and this mountain was called Argulup. He lived in a cave, and below there was a large lake where many swans nested.
At that time, the swans began laying eggs. The raven took the basket and went to the lake to collect eggs.
There were so many eggs that he quickly filled the basket full. He took the eggs to the cave and went to collect more. When there was a large pile of eggs in the cave, the raven sent an invitation to the stork: “Come and eat swan eggs. I have a lot of swan eggs.”
They gave the stork this invitation, he thought and said:
- Okay, I'll go. I want to see the raven, see how he lives. And he went to visit the raven.
- Hello, friend! - the raven greeted him. - Look how many eggs I got for you.
The raven lit a big fire and baked the eggs.
“Come sit here and I’ll give you some eggs,” he said to the stork. - You will be comfortable here. The stork sat down, took the egg and began to eat it. And the raven did not take his eyes off the stork while he was eating, and suddenly he noticed several green ants in his stripes.
- Hey! - exclaimed the raven. - Yes, you feasted on green ants! Now you'll ruin the swan eggs! They will all disappear, because you ate green ants. Whoever eats swan eggs must not eat green ants, and whoever eats green ants must not eat swan eggs. For the first time in my life I see a creature that eats swan eggs after green ants. I'll tell you what, stork.
- Oh, yes! - the stork was offended. - Then goodbye!
“Goodbye,” answered the raven. - I don’t want to see you anymore!
- Me too! “I won’t invite you to visit again,” said the stork and left.
That is why you will never see a stork and a crow together anymore.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru