In one poor village family there lived a boy. His name was Tol Se. Often he had to go to the mountains for fuel. One day, when Tol Xie was chopping wood far away in the mountains, he suddenly heard some noise. The boy put the ax down in surprise, looked around and saw a bear running straight towards him.
- Hey, scoundrel! Who let you cut wood here? - the bear growled.
- Who will stop me from doing this? “I’m cutting down trees that don’t belong to anyone,” Tol Se objected.
- Oh, are you still reasoning? How dare you be willful when there is an owner in the forest! - the bear roared at the top of his lungs.
Tol Xie realized that it was unwise to anger the bear, and decided to come to an amicable agreement with him.
- Yes, I'm wrong. Next time I'll ask your permission.
The bear calmed down and grumbled:
- Well, that’s it! In these mountains, no one dares pluck even a bunch of grass without my knowledge.
Then he patted the bundle hanging on Tol Se’s chige (Chige is a device for carrying a load on the back.) and asked:
- Is this something edible? Then post it!
Tol Xie had to give his lunch to the bear. He ate everything, not even a grain of rice was left.
- And bring it every time! - he growled and, waddled, wandered into the depths of the forest.
Hungry Tol Xie put on his chige and headed home. And from that day on, the bear always took his lunch.
Tol Xie continued to go to the forest every time the house ran out of firewood. One day he was climbing a slope and suddenly saw a roe deer. She, limping, ran up to him, sat down on the ground and asked:
- Boy, heal my leg. I met a bear - and this is how he maimed me.
Tol Se felt sorry for the roe deer, tore off a piece of his shirt and bandaged her leg.
- It became easier immediately! Thank you very much. The trouble is, there is no life from this bear!
And the roe deer told the boy about her torment. It turned out that the bear was hurting both of them.
- Listen, why, really, do we have to endure all this?! - Tol Xie exclaimed.
“I have a good idea,” said the roe deer. “What do you think, if...” and she whispered something in Tol Se’s ear.
- Yes, yes! Well, well! Certainly! — Tol Xie nodded approvingly.
Having parted with the roe deer, Tol Se went deeper into the forest and began chopping wood. "Bale! Bale!" — the sound of an ax echoed through the forest. Soon a heavy stomp was heard.
- Hey, you! Are you cutting down trees again without my permission? - the bear growled.
“Don’t be angry, I brought you some porridge,” said Tol Xie. He quickly removed the bundle from the chige and gave the bear a cup of rice. The bear plopped down on the ground and began to greedily devour the porridge. But then some noise came from the depths of the forest. The bear asked in surprise:
- What is this?
- Yes, hunters passed here recently. “It’s probably them who are returning,” Tol Se answered.
The bear immediately calmed down.
- What? Hunters? Do they have guns?
- Certainly. And with each hunter there are five evil hounds.
The bear began to fuss:
- Is this true? Are these people already visible?
“Yeah, they’re coming right here,” Tol Xie answered, looking to the side.
- Save me! I will not harm you anymore and will thank you! - the bear began to ask.
- Well, it's not difficult. But where can I hide you?
“Hide me under the chige,” the bear hurried.
He crawled under the chige and buried his nose in the ground.
At this time, a voice came from behind the trees:
- Hey, lumberjack, have you seen a bear here?
“No, I didn’t see it,” Tol Xie answered calmly.
- What is this under your shirt? - the voice asked again.
- Say it's firewood. Quicker! - suggested the bear.
- Oh, yes, this is the wood that I chopped.
- If this is firewood, then why did you put it under the chige?
- Put me on the chige. Quicker! - the bear begged.
Tol Xie moved it with difficulty. From behind the trees they asked again:
- And if this is firewood, why didn’t you tie it up?
- Hurry up and tie me up! - the frightened bear began to plead.
Tol Xie tied him tightly with a rope. And the voice from behind the bushes continued:
- Hey, boy! Something's wrong here. If it's firewood, why didn't you chop it?
And the bear, unable to understand with fear, screamed:
- Chop with an axe! Quicker!
Tol Xie swung his ax and killed the bear. And immediately a roe deer ran out from behind the trees.
- Ugh! How light my soul became!
- We cleverly came up with all this, roe deer! — Tol Xie admired.
“We were lucky that the bear was so stupid.”
“Now I will calmly go for firewood.”
“And I can sleep peacefully,” said the roe deer.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru