There lived one poor woman and she had thirteen children. The youngest was named Tredicino. This is because he was the thirteenth of the brothers, and in Italy such boys are always called Tredicino. It was very difficult for the poor woman to feed her children.
When the children grew up, she once called them to her and said:
“I’ve gotten old, I can’t feed you anymore—you’ll have to take care of yourself.”
The brothers went to look for luck. They walked and walked and saw a house standing on the edge of the forest. And in this house the king lived in the summer. Tredicino knocked on the door and asked the king for a piece of bread for his hungry brothers. The king pouted like a turkey and said:
“I can’t give bread to all the hungry ragamuffins!” Now, if there is a brave man among you who will take my blanket from the wolf, then I will give him bread and even money.
The brothers were confused and did not know what to answer the king. Only Tredicino was not afraid. He approached the king and said:
“Give me a big needle and I’ll bring you a blanket.”
They gave Tredicino a needle, and he went straight to the house where the wolf lived. Tredicino hid behind a tree and waited. As soon as the wolf left the house to hunt, Tredichino quietly climbed onto the roof, went down the chimney and hid under the wolf's bed. The wolf returned from the hunt, tired, pulled out a blanket from the chest, lay down on the bed and immediately began snoring. Then Tredicino crept up to the wolf and started stabbing him with a needle, first in the side, then in the back. The wolf began to spin and the blanket rolled off him. Then Tredicino picked him up, climbed out through the chimney and ran straight to the king.
And I must tell you that the wolf had a learned parrot. Whatever you asked the parrot, he could answer everything and knew how to tell the time. The wolf woke up in the morning and asked the parrot what time it was.
“It’s only five o’clock in the morning, and the cunning boy Tredicino has already taken away your blanket!” - the parrot answers.
“If only this robber falls into my clutches, I’ll show him!” - the wolf growled, so loudly that all the hares in the forest were scared.
Meanwhile, Tredichino was already in the royal house and awaiting the promised reward. But the king did not even think of fulfilling his promise.
“This is not my blanket,” he said to Tredicino. “Take my blanket with the bells from the wolf.” Then I will definitely reward you!
“Okay,” replied Tredicino. “Give me some cotton wool and thread, and I’ll bring you your blanket with the bells.”
At night Tredichino snuck into the wolf's house, and to prevent the bells from ringing, the cunning boy wrapped them in cotton wool and tied them with threads. Then he grabbed the blanket and ran to the king's house.
The wolf woke up in the morning and asked the parrot what time it was.
“It’s only four o’clock in the morning, and Tredicino has already managed to steal your blanket with bells!”
The wolf became even more angry, gritted his teeth and growled:
“If I catch Tredicino, I’ll tear him to pieces.”
And Tredichino at that time had already run to the royal house, gave the blanket to the servants and began to wait for the reward. Do you think the king rewarded the boy? No!
Now the king wanted to get the learned parrot - let time tell him when he wakes up.
Tredicino was saddened: “How can I take away a parrot? As soon as you approach him, he will squeal so much that the wolf will immediately hear.”
But it was not for nothing that Tredicino was the smartest of the brothers. He finally figured out how to outsmart the parrot.
Tredichino asked the royal servants for various sweets, put them in a basket and went into the forest again.
He waited until the wolf went to fetch water, sneaked into his house, put the open basket on the table, and hid under the table. The parrot sees a basket of sweets and no one is there. Well, how could a parrot resist sweets if he loved them more than anything else in the world! He climbed into the basket, filled his mouth full, chewed and clicked his tongue with pleasure.
Then Tredicino crept up, slammed the lid, grabbed the basket and ran as fast as he could towards the king.
Poor Tredicino decided that now all his trials were over and he and his brothers would return home. But that was not the case. The king took the parrot from Tredicino and said to him:
“Listen, Tredicino, I give you my royal word that I will reward you as I promised.” But first you must fulfill my last wish: I want you to catch the wolf himself. And if you don’t catch him, you will die. Understood?
All night poor Tredicino thought about how he could catch the wolf, and he came up with an idea. The next morning he put together a large box, put it on a cart and went into the forest.
He approached the wolf’s house and started shouting at the top of his lungs:
- The king ordered to catch the disobedient Tredicino! Who will help him catch Tredicino?
And the wolf is right there:
- Is it you, boy, who wants to catch Tredicino?
I'll help you. Now the bad boy won't leave us!
“I’ve already prepared the box,” Tredicino says to the wolf. “I’m just afraid it might be too small.”
They say Tredicino is the same height as you. Please lie down in the box and I'll check.
The stupid wolf obediently climbed into the box. Before he had time to lie down properly, Tredicino grabbed a hammer and quickly began hammering the lid of the box with nails.
“What are you doing, good boy, I could choke like that!” - the wolf shouted.
- Nothing, nothing, godfather wolf, the road here is not long. “We can be patient,” Tredicino answered him.
So Tredicino caught the evil wolf.
This time the king had to give Tredicino and his brothers the promised reward.
Satisfied, the brothers returned to their mother. They built themselves a new house and lived in it amicably and cheerfully.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru