One day a man named Zova took a bag and went to work. He was walking, and suddenly he heard a child crying somewhere nearby. Zova stopped, listened and went to where the crying was coming from, and when he arrived, he saw that it was a crocodile crying under a blackcurrant bush at the edge of the road.
Seeing Zova near him, the crocodile said:
- Ayo, man, if you have a good heart, have pity on me! I am dying of fatigue and thirst, and I have no more strength to walk. Put me in the bag behind you, take me to the river and throw me into the water. God rejoices when the unfortunate are pitied!
- But how can I put you in a bag? After all, you won’t fit in it - it’s too big.
- And I’ll lie down in it so much that I’ll go in. Put the bag on the ground and open it - then you will see for yourself.
Zova was a kind man. He put the bag on the ground, opened it, and the crocodile, curled up so that it looked like a coil of rope on the deck of a ship, rolled into the bag and said to the Call:
- Well, here I am in the bag, good man, take me and carry me!
Zova put the bag on his back, went to the river and threw the crocodile into the water, and he sat down to rest, because the bag was heavy and Zova was very tired.
The crocodile drank water, took a bath, and became hungry. He crawled ashore, crawled up to Zova and said, grinning:
- Hey, good man, I'm hungry! We crocodiles are very fond of human flesh; Let me bite your leg off.
I couldn’t believe my ears:
- What, I just saved your life, and you want to eat me? You have no conscience!
- What kind of conscience is there? I wanted to eat, I found delicious food and will I still be ashamed? Don't you think crocodiles are fools?
At this time, a mother hen passed by. Zova saw her and said to the crocodile:
- Let's ask mother hen which of us is right - you or me.
- Okay, I agree - ask her, and we’ll see.
Mother Hen listened to them and, turning to the Call, said:
“I lay eggs and people eat them, I hatch chickens and people eat them, and when I get old and the rooster no longer comes to me, people cut me, hang me on a melon tree so that my meat becomes tender, cook me with seasonings and eat me.” So do you really think that I won’t advise the crocodile to eat you?
And the mother hen walked away. Zova was tanning, but the crocodile was just laughing.
Then a cow came to the river to drink. Zova called her over and told her about their argument. After listening, the cow said:
- Don’t stop me from drinking water in peace! Why should I be sad that the crocodile wants to eat you? You people drink my milk and make butter and cheese from it; when my children are born, you kill and eat them; when I get old, you kill me and skin me, and even make spoons for yourself from my horns. Let me drink some water in peace, man!
The crocodile was about to rush at the Call, but then they saw that a dog was walking past, and the man called it. After listening to everything, the dog said to the crocodile and Zova:
- Yes, you are obviously laughing at me! For me to believe that this huge crocodile could fit into a bag? You will have to wait for me to turn into a donkey, then I will believe your tales! And now I can only believe it if I see it with my own eyes. Come on, put the bag on the ground, good man! And you, crocodile, so big, with such a hard spine, claim that you can fit into a bag?
Zova put the bag on the ground, and the crocodile, curled up, climbed in again. Then the dog said to Zova:
- Hurry up, close the bag and tie it well! Zova tied the bag. The crocodile became furious and started
screaming and fighting, but Zova and the dog left him in the bag and walked away, laughing.
The crocodile tossed and struggled for a long time in the bag and finally tore it open and crawled out, but the dog and Zova were already far away. The crocodile began to think about how to take revenge on them, and then buried himself in the mud on the river bank and began to wait. The mother hen came to drink water - the crocodile did not move, the cow came to drink water - the crocodile did not move. Various animals came one after another, drank water - the crocodile did not move. But then the dog came - and the crocodile, leaning out of the mud, instantly grabbed its paw. But the dog was cunning: seeing that the crocodile’s eyes were covered with mud, and realizing that because of this he could not see well, she laughed and said:
- Hey, crocodile, how stupid you are! Do you think you grabbed my paw? It's a dry branch, that's what it is!
The crocodile was very surprised and opened his mouth to see what he grabbed with his teeth. The dog was blown away by the wind, and the crocodile was left with nothing.
So the dog managed to fool the crocodile twice.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru