One early morning, a peasant with two bulls went out into the field and began to plow. Before he had time to make two or three circles, a tiger appeared out of nowhere.
The peasant was stupefied with fear, folded the palms of his hands imploringly and, bowing to the tiger, barely audibly stammered:
- O lord of the jungle, accept my deepest respect!
“Hm... I see that you don’t have much meat on you,” the tiger growled, looking at him carefully. “It would be better if you learned to hunt like I do.” After all, scratching the ground is of little use.
“But we peasants do this from generation to generation,” said the plowman.
- Yes, I see you are completely stupid. Look at me, I have such strength because I hunt.
“Everyone must mind his own business, Mr. Tiger,” answered the peasant.
“Well, so be it,” the tiger growled, “then I will mind my own business and first have breakfast with your bulls.” Unharness them.
“Eh, why did I say that everyone should mind their own business,” the peasant began to reproach himself and, scratching the back of his head, began to think about how he could appease the tiger so that he would not touch the bulls.
“O lord of the jungle,” he said at last, “God created man so that he would cultivate the land and grow bread for his own food.” He gave man cattle to cultivate the land. And for tigers he created deer, hares and jackals.
“I don’t have time for all this chatter!” - the tiger barked. - Unharness the bulls as soon as possible! - And his eyes flashed with anger.
- Oh lord, don’t touch my bulls! - the peasant begged. - In return, I will bring you a fat cow, which my wife carefully raised.
“But it’s only enough for half of my breakfast,” the tiger licked his lips. “Now, if, in addition to the cow, you also bring a calf, then I won’t touch your bulls.”
The peasant untied the plow, put it on his shoulders and trudged home.
“Make sure you don’t deceive me,” the tiger threatened after him. “Otherwise we’ll attack your village and kill everyone.”
The peasant's wife was terribly surprised that her husband returned home so soon.
“Well, how lazy these men are, they don’t want to work,” she greeted him, grumbling under her breath. - I probably forgot something.
The peasant squatted down, clasped his head in his hands and did not answer.
“What’s wrong with you?” the wife became worried. And her husband told her everything that happened.
- Yeah, so you are ready to sacrifice our cow, which gives so much milk, for the sake of your stupid bulls? - she wailed. “No matter how much you plow, we will never get a good harvest.” Let the tiger eat your bulls. Soon our heifer will also become a cow, and then we will have two of them. We will sell a lot of milk and somehow feed ourselves.
The peasant again grabbed his head and began to cry.
“A coward, an unfortunate coward!” the wife flared up. - Why are you crying? Let's better figure out how to save the bulls.
- What can you come up with here? - the peasant answered weakly.
“Tell you what,” the woman suggested. “Go back to the tiger and tell him that your wife will bring the cow herself.” Be careful not to mix anything up, go ahead.
The peasant was scared to death by the thought of coming to the tiger without a cow. After all, in a rage, a tiger can eat him himself. But he did not object and, lowering his head, headed into the field.
The tiger saw that the peasant was walking without a cow and gnashed his teeth in rage. And the poor plowman, at the sight of the angry tiger, fell to his knees and shook with fear.
Meanwhile, the peasant's wife, having put on men's clothes and a turban, mounted a horse and rode into the field after her husband.
- Yeah! - she screamed in a loud voice at the sight of the tiger. - Thank God, a real tiger was finally found. Now let's try it, I haven't eaten fresh tiger meat for a long time. As a child, I ate a tiger almost every day.
The tiger even shook his head in surprise. Is it really conceivable that such a monster could eat one tiger a day?
The peasant's wife pulled out a sickle and, waving it, rushed at the tiger.
- Do you see this sickle? I sharpened it like a razor. Get ready, now I'm going to blow your head off with it.
The tiger got scared, thought that the end was coming for him, and let go. He looks and a jackal runs towards him.
- Oh my lord! - he says to the tiger. -Where are you rushing? I so dreamed of eating the bones of those bulls that you intended to eat today. Tell me, is there anything left there?
- No, no, don't go there! There, near the peasant’s field, some monster appeared on a horse, eating tigers.
- What are you talking about?! - the jackal chuckled. - Has the sun blinded your eyes? Yes, this is not a monster at all, but a peasant’s wife, dressed in men’s clothing. I was not far there and saw everything.
- Hmm!.. Are you sure about this? — the tiger asked confused.
- Absolutely sure! And if the sun didn’t blind your eyes, you could see that from under her turban something like a pig’s tail was sticking out from behind,” the jackal noted.
“I’m not such a fool as not to look at a woman in men’s clothing.” I assure you, this is a real monster. “It almost blew my head off with its sickle,” the tiger began to make excuses.
- Well, you’re stubborn! “Let’s go back and I’ll prove to you that this is none other than a woman in men’s clothing,” suggested the jackal.
“Don’t play tricks on me, jackal,” the tiger frowned. “I know that you jackals are cunning by nature.
- It's not true! - cried the jackal. “They called us cunning because we are smart.” But you tigers are meant to drink blood and not show your tails when you see a woman with a sickle in her hands. I never thought you were such a coward!
The tiger felt insulted.
- Am I a coward?! he roared. - Okay, let's go and see who it is. But promise me that you won’t run away with your tail between your legs if you’re convinced that this is really a monster.
“I not only promise, but I’m ready to tie my tail with yours so that you believe that I’m right.” In this case, there is no way I can escape.
The tiger agreed and they tied tail to tail.
The peasant's wife brought her husband some food in a bag attached to the saddle. And just as she began to untie it, lo and behold, a tiger was approaching them with his servant the jackal, and their tails were tied.
“Hurry, hurry up, let’s get on a horse and get away from here!” - the peasant cried out in fear.
“And we’ll leave them the bulls to eat?” - the wife objected. “You’re not only stupid, you’re also cowardly.” Sit still, I'll deal with them myself... Bravo, jackal! - she screamed as soon as the animals came closer. - Thank you for bringing me a tiger for lunch. Now I’ll eat it, and you’ll pick up the seeds as agreed.
Hearing such words, the tiger immediately realized that the jackal and the monster had agreed to eat him, he pulled as hard as he could, tore off his tail and began to run.
- Oh Mister Tiger! - the jackal screamed heart-rendingly. “Don’t be scared, this woman is just fooling us.”
The jackal's cry frightened the tiger even more, and he ran even faster. Moreover, the jackal also rushed after him.
At this point it became completely clear to the tiger that his servant was in cahoots with the monster. In several jumps he crossed the mountain and came to his senses only when he reached the lair.
The peasant’s wife laughed and, turning to her husband, remarked edifyingly:
- All of you men are cowards!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru