One day a fox caught a sparrow.
- Oh, little fox, will you really eat me? Wait a little! - the sparrow begged. - You forgot to sing the hunting song. I don’t care if I die, and you won’t have luck next time!
“He’s telling the truth,” thought the fox, raised her muzzle and began:
- Ahh...
But as soon as she had time to open her mouth, the sparrow flew up and sat down on a tree. There he straightened out his crumpled feathers, cleaned his beak and, looking at the fox, began to jump from branch to branch.
The deceived fox pretended to be offended and said to the sparrow:
- Instead of teasing me, at least tell me where I can eat.
“Khorogpo, follow me,” answered the sparrow and flew away. The fox, wagging its tail, ran after him. They soon noticed
woman with boy. She carried a bowl of hominy on her head and a jug of sour milk in her hand.
“Stay here, little fox,” said the sparrow. “I’ll pretend to be a cripple, the woman will leave her burden and chase me.” Look, don't yawn here!
The sparrow flew up and fell in front of the woman, pretending that he could not fly. The boy pestered his mother to catch the sparrow. The mother put her burden on the ground and chased the bird. The little boy ran after. The sparrow jumped from place to place and took them further and further. Meanwhile, the fox went to the left bowl, ate the hominy and licked the jug of curdled milk.
- Well, little fox, are you full? - asked the sparrow, returning.
“My friend,” answered the fox, “I am very grateful to you - I ate to my fill!”
- Now what else do you want?
“Make sure I have a good laugh, then dinner will be beneficial.”
“Okay, follow me,” said the sparrow.
He flew to the field where three brothers, stubborn and narrow-minded, were hoeing corn.
“Stay here, fox, by the fence and watch what I will do,” said the sparrow.
Then he fluttered up and sat on his older brother’s head.
- Stop, don’t move! - shouted the middle brother.
He raised his hoe and, thinking of killing the sparrow, hit the elder one on the head so hard that he fell down. And the sparrow sat on the head of the middle brother.
Then the younger brother, in order to deal with the annoying sparrow, in turn swung his hoe and hit his middle brother on the head.
Then the sparrow sat on the head of his younger brother. He pulled out a dagger and hit himself on the top of his head, thinking of finishing off the sparrow, but instead, bleeding profusely, he fell to the ground.
The fox rolled on the ground laughing. Sparrow asks her!
- How are you, little fox? Did you laugh enough?
- Of course! I almost died laughing!
- Maybe you want something else?
“Now I would just like to frolic, to chase someone.”
“Okay, I’ll try to make you run as much as you can,” said the sparrow and led the fox to the village itself.
The dogs sensed the fox and rushed after it. The fox, fleeing from them, hid in the hollow of an old oak tree. The hole was narrow, and the dogs could not reach it. When the danger had passed, the fox began to ask his feet:
- How did you help me?
“If it weren’t for us,” said the legs, “you wouldn’t have gotten here, and the dogs would have caught up with you.”
- And you, eyes?
“If we hadn’t noticed the dogs in time, they wouldn’t have let you down.”
- What did you do, tail?
“I fanned the dogs when they were chasing you.”
The fox got angry at her tail and stuck it out of the hollow with the words:
- If so, then go to the dogs! The dogs, clinging to the tail, pulled the fox out of the hollow and strangled it... And I skinned it and brought it home to make a case for a gun.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru