One day Brother Possum was just terribly hungry! And he wanted to taste persimmon. And I must tell you that Brother Possum was the most adorable creature! But then his belly began to growl so much that, willy-nilly, he had to go in search of food. And who do you think he met along the way? Well, of course, Brother Rabbit!
But they were more friends, Possum and Rabbit, because Possum never pestered Rabbit like the others. They sat down by the road and began chatting about this and that.
Here Possum take it and admit that he is simply dying of hunger. And the Rabbit even clapped his hands and shouted that he knew a place where the Possum could have a great meal. The Possum, of course, asked where this place was, to which the Rabbit replied:
- Yes, in Brother Bear's garden!
As soon as Possum heard about Brother Bear's orchard, his mouth began to water. Before the Rabbit had time to blink an eye, there was no trace of the Possum. He ran into the garden and climbed the tallest tree. And the Rabbit, it turns out, came up with this: he rushed to the Bear’s house and started shouting that someone was messing around in his garden.
The bear rushed there as fast as he could.
The Possum is sitting on a tree, and yet it seems to him that the Bear is coming. He sits like this and says:
- One more thing and I’ll get away! One more and I’ll grab it! Well, I've finished it! The Bear is right there, but the Possum doesn’t see him and repeats to himself:
- One more and I’ll get away!
The Bear jumped up to the tree and began to shake it! The Possum fell to the ground like a ripe fruit, and as soon as his feet touched the grass, he took off running towards the fence - like your racehorse! And the Bear is after him. So they ran through the garden, ran, and with each jump the Bear was getting closer. They reached the fence, and then the Bear overtook the Possum and grabbed his tail with his teeth. Only the Possum managed to contrive, squeezed between the poles, rushed and pulled the tail out of the Bear’s teeth. However, the Bear held it so tightly with his teeth, and the Possum pulled so hard that all the fur remained in the Bear's mouth.
And, perhaps, if the Rabbit had not been nearby and he had not brought a mug of water to the Bear, he would certainly have choked on the wool.
Since that day no fur has grown on Brother Possum's tail. Neither he nor his children.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru