The lion, the king of beasts, fell ill. I am sick for a day, two, three. Animals began to visit him, coming one after another and wishing him a speedy recovery. An elephant, a tiger, a fox, a monkey, a hyena, and even a hedgehog visited him. He came, said hello, kissed the owner of the forest’s paw, and wished him health and a long life. Moreover, he was curious about what was tormenting him. The lion thanked the hedgehog for his attention and said:
My head hurts, like it’s splitting, my whole body aches, and it’s like weights are tied to my legs.
“O our lord, your illness is clearer than anything to me, and I can heal you, king of beasts!”
The lion got excited and began to ask the hedgehog about the medicine that he should take.
The hedgehog looked carefully at the lion again and said:
“You definitely need to eat the wolf’s heart.”
- Well, what kind of drug is this! — the lion was indignant. “I’ve eaten so many of these wolves in my lifetime that I’ve lost count, but there’s no point—I still got sick.”
“It’s true, it’s true, you feasted on wolves to your heart’s content,” says the hedgehog. “But you’ve never tasted a wolf’s heart separately.” But you won’t find a better remedy in the whole world.
The lion looked around and saw: dozens of different animals were standing around him, but not a single wolf.
- How come, where did all the wolves hide? I’m completely ill, you can see for yourself, so I have no time to hunt.
“There is nothing easier, I will find the wolf and bring him right here,” said the hedgehog and bowed deeply.
The lion thanked the hedgehog, and he left, swearing that he would fulfill his promise. The hedgehog rushed to look for the wolf. I searched and searched and finally found it. And the whole point was that the hedgehog himself had long dreamed of tasting a wolf’s heart, thereby hoping to regain lost strength and health, because he was no longer young. But how could he, little one, cope with the wolf on his own? So the hedgehog came up with a cunning plan: to bring the wolf to the king of beasts for reprisal.
The hedgehog greeted the wolf and said reproachfully:
- What happened to you, wolf? You hunt so much and eat so much that it just makes you jealous. In my opinion, you are fussing in vain, it’s time to think about the future!
The wolf was surprised at such speeches and asked what the hedgehog meant.
“Haven’t you heard,” the hedgehog shouted, raising his head high, “the lion is sick, all the animals visit him and wish him health.” You are not alone. Look, a little time will pass, the lion will recover and go hunting again. What then? Of course, he will not touch those who visited him during his illness. Do you understand now what I'm talking about?
“You’re right, brother hedgehog, I’ve thought about this myself more than once.” But what should I do, because I’m so afraid of the lion. The hedgehog laughed and said:
- Well, you’re stupid, I can’t even believe it. Why should you be afraid of him? After all, he is sick, seriously ill, and he will be glad if you visit him. And you can be sure that he will never forget your kind deed and will appreciate your attention.
The wolf and the hedgehog agreed and decided to visit the lion without delay. However, as soon as they approached the lion’s den, where he was lying and lazily scratching himself, the hedgehog shouted at the top of his voice:
- The wolf has come, O king of the forests! He wants to inquire about your health and wishes you a complete recovery!
However, the wolf did not dare to approach the lion for a long time; it seemed to him that deceit and greed flashed in the eyes of the lord of the beasts. “What if this is a trap? What if they want to take me by surprise?” - thought the cautious wolf. But, encouraged by the hedgehog, he cast aside doubts and, gathering his courage, came closer. The lion even grinned with joy: there was a wolf standing right in front of him, stretch out your paw and you’ll grab it! The lion rushed forward, trying to grab onto the wolf, but it was not to be, the wolf turned out to be more agile, slipped out of the lion’s clutches and was gone.
- O king of the forest! - the hedgehog shouted angrily. “I kept my promise and brought the wolf, and you missed him!” Now try to catch him.
The lion became sad and bowed his head. But the hedgehog consoled him:
- Okay, don’t worry, so be it, I’ll bring the wolf again. But be ready, don't let him hide again.
And the hedgehog walked towards the forest. He decided to definitely find the wolf.
Everything turned out as the hedgehog thought. He was lucky.
- Why did you anger the lion? - asked the hedgehog when he came across a wolf.
“Didn’t you see what happened, brother hedgehog?” - said the wolf. - You remember: I came with you to visit the lion, I wanted to wish him health, but what did he do? An insidious lion jumped on me and almost tore me to pieces.
- No no! - the hedgehog shouted. - This is not true! You think too poorly of the lion. He just wanted to hug you. How could the lord of the forest attack you instead of gratitude? All the animals came to him, he never had any thoughts of offending anyone. He greeted everyone and hugged everyone, but for some reason it seemed to you that he wanted to tear you to pieces...
The hedgehog spent a long time persuading the wolf, convincing him to go to the lion again:
- After all, you remember how the lion was surprised when he saw that you wanted to run away from him. His anger knew no bounds when he found out that you thought badly of him.
By hook or by crook he managed to convince the wolf to go to the lion again.
When both of them were in the lion's den, the hedgehog whispered to the wolf:
“Come closer, don’t you see, the lion wants to hug you.”
Before the wolf had time to take a step, the lion grabbed him on the body with his paw, so hard that he broke it in half. Then a hedgehog quietly ran up, quickly ate the wolf's heart and began to pretend that he was preoccupied with something, as if he was looking for something and could not find it.
“O lord, this wolf has no heart,” he said at last.
The lion angrily threw the hedgehog far to the side and began to look for the heart, but all in vain.
“I never thought that there were wolves in the world who don’t have hearts!” - the lion exclaimed and looked at the hedgehog.
“Oh, lord, you are right as always,” the hedgehog agreed. “If this wolf had a heart, he would hardly agree to come to you a second time (The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart is the source of thought.)
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru