The Monkey met Rabbit's friend and said to him:
- Listen, grandma Lioness recently gave birth to grandchildren. You know, she’s an expert at killing, but she’s unlikely to be able to raise her children well. Let's go to her and offer ourselves as a nanny. She'll probably agree. And then, as soon as the opportunity arises, we will kill all the cubs and eat them. At the same time, the Lioness herself.
The rabbit, of course, agreed. But when two friends came to Grandma Lioness, she immediately raised her paw and wanted to kill them.
- Ay-ay-ay, grandma! - they both shouted. - Don't eat us, we're still small! Is our meat enough for you to satisfy your hunger? Let us go. If you do this, we will bring our adults to you, such huge ones as Grandma Pakasa, Auntie Zhavali!
The lioness agreed.
“But you just know what, grandmother, in order for them to come, you need to lie down over there in the tall grass and pretend to be dead,” demanded the Monkey.
And the Lioness hid in the tall grass, stretched out on her side, just like she was dead, and the Monkey and her friend Rabbit stood in the doorway of her house, beat the drums and sang:
Grandmother Lioness has died, We are free! Grandmother Lioness has died, We are free!
All the animals, both small and large, were so happy that they came running from the nearby forests and fields and began to dance around the Lioness. Has she really died? What a joy! It's simply impossible to believe it! The drums were thundering - dum-dum-dum, dum-dum-dum, dum-dum-dum! - and the animals danced and danced beside themselves with happiness.
Friend Rabbit and friend Monkey, when the dancing was in full swing, threw down the drums and also started dancing. But then the door of the house slammed. The lioness immediately jumped out of the grass and began to grab everyone who fell into her clutches. After all, the animals had nowhere to hide. She also grabbed two friends - the Rabbit and the Monkey, and clicked her teeth: now she will eat them.
- Ay-ay-ay, grandma! Don't kill us! - the Monkey begged. “Don’t you want us to bring you some firewood?” Aren't you going to fry all this meat? Ay-ay-ay, don’t you really want to?
The lioness thought and thought and agreed. Indeed, there is a lot of meat, she needs to fry it, but she has no brush! And she released the Rabbit and the Monkey to get some brushwood.
They ran into the forest. But here they were suddenly met by a huge boa constrictor Kitasele. He stuck out his forked tongue and prepared to swallow them both.
- Ai, grandfather Kitasele, don’t kill us, wait a little, you’ll see, we’ll bring you a giant like you for lunch! But we are still small, and we don’t even have any meat! - the Monkey begged.
Then Kitasele the boa constrictor released them. Friends rushed to the Lioness.
- Oh-oh-oh, grandma, we didn’t bring brushwood! We were almost swallowed by Grandfather Kitasele. Come along with us. He'll be scared of you. After all, everyone is afraid of you. You are the strongest! - said the Monkey.
And the Lioness went with them into the forest.
The monkey ran forward unnoticed and warned Grandfather Kitasele:
- A giant, just like you, is already here!
The Kitasele boa crawled out of its hiding place and killed the Lioness.
- Grandfather Kitasele, you see, we didn’t deceive you! And if you only knew how much meat she still has in her house! Let's go roast him! — the Monkey suggested to the boa constrictor.
All three of them went and carried the brush as best they could: the Monkey in his paws, the Rabbit in his teeth, and the boa constrictor grabbed the branches with both his tail and head.
“You, grandfather, wait here a little, and now we’ll go get some fire.” You see: people are working in the fields, and we will take the fire from them.
And people from a distance already saw a huge snake and began to run. The people ran away, and the Monkey snatched a burning coal from the fire and shouted joyfully:
- Well, grandfather Kitasele, now let's go fry the meat!
The huge Boa constrictor, out of greed, forgot that he was holding the brushwood with both his tail and his head. And the Monkey brought the coal to both the tail and the head of the snake. The dry brushwood immediately burst into flames, and the Boa constrictor burned. And all the meat went to the Monkey and her friend Rabbit. They were feasting!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru