Once a sheep strayed from the herd, got lost and met a wolf in the steppe. The wolf, of course, was hungry. He wanted to kill the sheep right away, and then he reasoned: “If I kill the sheep in the steppe, I’ll have to drag it on myself all the way to the den. It’s better to drive it into the forest and eat it there.” The wolf drove the sheep into the forest. It takes an hour, then two, and it’s not far from the lair. The sheep sees that death is holding it by the tail, but it does not know how to escape. Suddenly, a hare jumped out from behind a bush.
- Oh, hare! - the sheep bleated. “The wolf is chasing me to his lair, he’s going to eat me.”
- Of course I’ll eat! - the wolf growled. “There’s my lair behind that ravine.” I'll pick you up there.
The hare scratched his long ears with his paw and said:
“Since the wolf said he would eat it, it means he will eat it.” You, sheep, cannot escape death. Just wait here for me a little, I’ll run across the ravine and see if there are any hunters there.
- Good idea! - the wolf was happy. - Run and look!
The wolf didn’t even have time to finish, but the hare had already disappeared. Only the hare ran not across the ravine, but towards an abandoned camp. Here he found a piece of felt and red paper from a tea wrapper. He grabbed them and jumped back.
“Well,” asks the wolf, “are there any hunters there?”
“There are no hunters there,” the hare answers. “Just listen to what I found of the khan’s decree.”
Having said this, the hare importantly sat down on the felt, unfolded the red paper in front of him and pretended to read it.
"The Great Khan ordered to sew himself a fur coat from seventy-seven wolf skins. Now this fur coat is ready. Only one wolf skin is missing for the collar. The Great Khan commands everyone who knows where the wolf's lair is to immediately tell the Khan about it."
The hare read these words - and then run! The wolf, of course, thought that the hare ran to the khan to tell him where the wolf’s lair was.
- It won’t be your way! - the gray hare shouted after the hare. “The Khan’s hunters won’t shoot me!”
Having shouted these words, he rushed into the neighboring forest. When the wolf disappeared, the hare appeared again in front of the sheep.
- Go home, sheep! - the hare told her. - Yes, remember - it is not a great trick to live among sheep, but a great trick to make a hare run away from a wolf!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru