The wolf walked into strange places and came to the river. He saw that the river was wide and deep, he did not dare to throw himself into the waves and began to ask the ferryman to transport him in his boat.
“I’ll transport you if you pay,” says the carrier.
And the wolf responded:
“I’ll give you anything, just let me into the boat.” The carrier let him go and drove away from the shore. The wolf says to the man:
- Well, what kind of payment do you want from me?
“Tell me,” says the carrier, “three words of truth, that’s the payment.”
The wolf liked this, and he immediately said the first thing:
- He who does good is a good person
“What’s true is true,” the carrier answers. They reached the middle of the river, says the wolf
my second word:
- And whoever does not do good is a bad person.
“And that’s true,” the carrier answers. - What's the third?
“I don’t know the third one yet,” says the wolf, “but hey, give me a ride to the shore, and in the meantime I’ll get some sleep.”
They approached the shore, the wolf jumped out of the boat in one leap and, as soon as he found himself on land, shouted:
- And whoever does good to a bad person is only wasting his strength in vain!
The wolf spoke the truth; whoever does good to an evil person is rewarded for good with evil.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru