Several young lambs strayed from the herd and got lost. A hungry wolf attacked them and tore them to pieces. He ate meat, he drank blood and made his way to rest in the forest. He saw an old ram grazing in a meadow near the forest, approached him and said:
- How dare you, sheep, graze in my meadow? Who allowed you?
“The meadow is not yours at all, but my shepherd’s,” the ram calmly answered.
- You're lying! - the wolf shouted. “Your shepherd has not yet been born, but I have owned this meadow for a long time.”
“That’s not true,” the ram still answered. “I know well that the meadow belongs to my shepherd.”
The wolf got angry and wanted to tear the ram to pieces, but since he was full, he only growled at him. “Let him live for now, and tomorrow, when I get hungry, I’ll deal with him in my own way,” he thought.
“That’s it, ram,” said the wolf. “If we argue, we will never decide whose this meadow is: you will say that it is your shepherd’s, and I will say that it is mine.” Let’s do better this way: let’s gather here tomorrow, and whoever of us swears by that bush over there that the meadow belongs to him, it will remain his. Agree?
“I agree,” answered the ram.
And then they parted: the wolf went to the forest, and the ram to the village.
Early in the morning he came to the meadow with a large, strong dog. The dog hid in the bushes, and the ram immediately began grazing nearby. A wolf came out of the forest, saw a ram in the meadow and was happy. “Now I’ll have enough to eat for a whole week,” he thought and started running into the meadow. Suddenly a fox comes across him.
- Hello, wolf! Where are you going in such a hurry? she asks.
“To the meadow,” answered the wolf and told her how he argued with the ram yesterday.
“Hm... It’s a good thing,” says the fox, “but only you, of course, know that no dispute can be resolved without witnesses; Therefore, take me as a witness - I will hold your hand, and you, in gratitude, will give me lamb entrails, legs and head for this.
“Well, it can be done,” answered the wolf. - Let's go! A wolf and a fox came to the meadow and asked the ram:
- Well, what? Do you still claim that the meadow belongs to your shepherd?
“Yes, still,” answered the ram.
- Oh, sheep, aren’t you ashamed to lie! — the fox said reproachfully and shook her head. “After all, it seems that everyone has known for a long time that this meadow from the earliest times belongs not to anyone else, but to the wolf.”
- Who did you hear about this from? - asks the ram.
- Like from whom?! - exclaimed the fox. - Yes, everyone will tell you about it, ask anyone you want. I remember it was a long time ago, when I was still very little, my parents, father and mother, often talked to each other about this meadow: “In the wolf meadow,” they said, “the mice are fatter than in other places.” This means that if this meadow were your shepherd’s, it would not be called wolf’s.
-Will you swear that you are telling the truth? - asked the ram.
“Of course, I swear,” answered the fox.
“Okay,” said the ram. “Stand your foot in this bush and say: I swear that this meadow belongs to the wolf.”
The fox approached the bush, but, seeing two sparkling eyes in it, turned back, ran away and said:
- To tell the truth, my parents, when talking about this meadow, also mentioned a ram... Yes, I really can’t say who exactly it belongs to, and therefore I don’t want to sin, to take an oath in vain... And if the wolf is the first to swear, then I wouldn’t mind doing the same.
- What do you think? - the wolf said angrily. “I’ll take it and I swear, I won’t be a coward like you.”
He put his paw in the bush and just said, “I swear,” when suddenly a dog jumped out of the bush, grabbed him by the collar and began to torment him. The wolf forcibly escaped from the dog’s teeth and without looking back began to run into the forest. And the fox has long climbed a high mound and shouts from there to the wolf:
“Didn’t I warn you, wolf, not to take a false oath?” You didn't listen to me, so you got what you deserve.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru