A woodpecker hollowed out a hollow in an aspen tree, made a nest and brought out the babies - three woodpeckers.
The little ones grow, and the woodpecker rejoices. “I’ll raise children,” he thinks, “and it will help me in my old age.”
But it’s not without reason that they say: “If the woodpecker hadn’t had a long sock, no one would have found it!” He did not know how to rejoice to himself, but trumpeted his children to the whole forest. Whoever he meets, he brags to everyone: “Oh, what nice children I have! Both smart and handsome. No one else in the world has such children!..”
The fox heard about it. She wanted to taste the young woodpecker chicks. But how to get them out of the nest? The fox does not know how to climb trees.
The woodpecker raises the babies - feeds them, gives them water, and the fox walks around the aspen tree, bares its teeth and keeps thinking about how it can snatch the woodpecker chicks from the world.
And I finally came up with it.
Once he approaches the aspen tree and lets knock his tail on the tree.
The woodpecker poked his head out of the hollow:
- What are you doing, fox? Why are you scaring my children?
- Is that so? - says the fox. - Do you have children?
“Yes,” says the woodpecker. “And such nice kids!”
- Well, then drive them out, and get out yourself, otherwise I’ll cut down the tree now...
- Why do you need this tree?
- How is this - why? I'll cut it for firewood and light the stove.
“Oh, little fox, oh, mother,” the woodpecker began to beg. “Let me feed the babies first, and then cut down the tree.” Where am I going to go now with the kids?
And the fox knocks his tail even harder on the tree:
“I can’t wait for you to feed the children!” Whose fault is it that you built a nest on this aspen tree? Were there not enough trees in the forest?
“It’s true,” says the woodpecker, “there are a lot of trees in the forest, but who could have known that you would need this old, rotten aspen for firewood!”
“Before making a nest, you should have asked me,” the fox gets angry. “It’s your own fault!” The woodpecker scratched his motley head:
- What should I do, little fox? Please advise.
The cunning fox licked its lips, twirled its tail and said:
- Throw me one woodpecker, then I won’t cut down the tree.
The woodpecker thought - it’s a pity for the child, but what can I do: at least he will have two left. And he dropped one chick. The fox picked it up, ran behind a bush and ate it.
The next day it comes again:
- Drop another woodpecker, otherwise I’ll chop down the tree, and let’s hit the aspen with my tail.
No matter how hard the woodpecker begged, he had to drop another one.
The fox liked the woodpecker chicks. A day later she came again. It’s a pity for the woodpecker to give away his last child. He says:
- Wait, little fox, at least until tomorrow. Give the child at least a little more comfort.
“Okay,” the fox agreed. “I’ll come tomorrow.”
A woodpecker sits in a hollow, grieves and keeps thinking about how he can escape from the fox. He can't think of anything.
Meanwhile, his godfather, a gray crow, flies to visit the woodpecker.
“So, so, so,” the woodpecker tells her, hanging his nose. “I have no time for guests, gossip: the fox takes the last child...”
The crow was an old and smart bird, not like the others.
“You fool,” she says, “don’t give it away!”
“Then the fox will cut down the tree and still ruin us.”
- She just scares me. When she comes tomorrow, you tell her: “Chop yourself, I’m not afraid of you!”
The woodpecker was delighted, thanked the crow for his smart advice and even treated her well to bark beetles.
The next day the fox comes running.
“Well, woodpecker,” he says, “give me what you promised, otherwise I’ll cut down the tree.”
And the woodpecker stuck his long nose out of the hollow and said:
- Rub yourself, I'm not afraid of you! The fox was surprised: where did the woodpecker get his wits from?
- Who taught you to talk like that? she asks.
- My sister-in-law, godfather crow! - the woodpecker answered boldly.
The fox got angry at the woodpecker godfather, the hooded crow.
“Wait,” he thinks, “I won’t forgive you for this!” And she left, swallowing saliva.
She thought and thought about how to take revenge on the crow, and finally came up with an idea. She ran out into the clearing, lay down and pretended to be dead.
A crow saw this from a tree. “Ah,” she was delighted, “there’s some good food lying around.”
Then she flapped her wings, flapped them - and instantly found herself next to the fox. First, she pecked at its tail to check whether the fox was really dead.
And she didn’t even move. Lies as if lifeless.
The crow became bolder, jumped up to the head and was about to peck in the eyes, but the fox grabbed the crow and grabbed the crow’s leg!
- Yeah! — the fox laughed, baring his teeth. “I got you for lunch instead of a woodpecker chick!” You will know how to teach a woodpecker.
“Well,” says the crow, “you outwitted me.” Now I’m afraid of only one thing: that you don’t torment me the way your mother tormented me.
- How did she torture? I don't remember something.
- Yes, you were little then...
- So tell me.
“Okay, I’ll tell you,” agreed the crow. “It was like this.” Your mother caught my mother. This is how you treat me now...
“Well, I see,” the fox interrupted her. “My mother was not as stupid as yours.”
“Yes, yes,” answered the crow. “She really was smart, she didn’t want to eat my mother with feathers: feathers are not tasty!”
- Of course, tasteless! - the fox confirmed.
“So this is what your mother did: she took two sieves, put my mother in them, then she put the sieves together, and when she let them down the steep mountain, there wasn’t even a feather left on my mother, they all fell off completely.” Brr! — the crow was horrified. “After all, this is the most terrible torment for us, crows...”
“Okay,” thought the fox. “I won’t be stupider than my mother.”
She took out two sieves, put the woodpecker godmother in them, and sent the sieves down the steep mountain. The sieves moved apart, and the crow rose and flew to the tree.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru