When the fish appeared in the spring, the old man decided to send the deer to the mountains. The old man says to his old woman:
- Old woman, will you fish if I go with the deer?
Wife says:
- I can't fish. I'm weak, I can't fish.
While the old man was thinking, a fox came. The fox asks: “Grandfather, what are you thinking about?”
— Fox, I’m thinking of sending my reindeer to the mountains.
Fox says::
- Grandfather, teach me how to herd, then I will take your reindeer to the mountains.
The old man says:
- Take the reindeer up the Eche River. You'll bring me back in the fall. In the summer, kill our calves for meat and eat them.
Fox says:
- Grandfather, don’t worry. Why should I eat calves? I will live as Europeans.
Wagging her tail, the fox left, saying: “Goodbye.” The old man and the old woman remained.
When autumn came, the fox came. The old man was delighted and asked:
- Fox, how are you grazing? Fox says:
“I graze well, our deer are fat.” The old man was delighted and ran to the deer, approaching
close to them, he whistled. All the deer are lying down. He whistled again, they were still lying there. Not a single deer moves. When he came close to one deer, he whistled again. One deer was kicked. His deer rolled head over heels like a furry ball and turned over. He dragged the deer. It turns out that it is all filled with moss. I examined all the deer: all the deer were filled with moss.
The old man ran home. Approaching the house, he shouted:
- Old woman, hold the fox by the tail! The old woman says to the fox:
- Fox, what is grandfather shouting? Fox says:
“Old woman, feed the fox milk for making our deer fat.”
The old man shouts again:
- Old woman, hold the fox by the tail, the fox killed all our deer!
The old woman heard. I caught the fox by the root of its tail.
Fox says:
- Grandma, don’t hold it like that, otherwise the sun will hide.
The old woman took her hand away, holding the end of her tail. The fox rushed forward strongly. The old woman tore off the end of the tail and let the fox go.
An old man came:
- Old woman, where is the fox?
- No fox, she ran away.
The old man and the old woman began to argue. We were left without food.
Then the old man says to his wife:
- Old woman, let's go to the fishing place.
They went. Suddenly a fox came towards them.
- Grandfather, where are you going?
- Get out! Don't lie, you killed all my deer.
- Grandfather, you were mistaken, it was a red fox, and I am a silver fox.
To prevent the old man from recognizing her, the fox went into the burning place and got her fur dirty. The old man believed. The fox began to help him again.
- Grandfather, I know a fishing place, let's go there. The fox drags the sled on a belt. An old man and an old woman are walking behind the sledge.
Suddenly the fox screamed:
- Oh, oh, oh! The old man says:
- Fox, what’s wrong with you?
- Grandfather, I broke my leg.
The old man put the fox on his sled. The fox lay down.
We arrived at one big river. The old man asks:
— Chanterelle, what is the name of this river? Fox says:
— This river is called “Initial”.
Just at this time, the fox began to steal the fat that the old men were carrying on the sled.
Let's move on. We came to another river again. The old man asks again:
- What is the name of this river? Fox says:
— This river is called “Half”.
She had already eaten half the fat by this time. Let's move on again. Again we came to another river.
The old man asks:
— Chanterelle, what is the name of this river? Fox says:
— This river is called “Terminal”. She finished eating fat.
The old man looked at the sledge. It turns out there is no fox. We examined the sled - there was nothing, the fox had finished off all its fat. g
This is the end.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru