Sister Fox and the Wolf

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman. The old man said to the old woman:

"You, old woman, bake some pies, and I'll harness the sleigh and go fishing."

He caught a lot of fish and was bringing home a whole cartload. As he was driving, he saw a little fox curled up like a bun, lying on the road. The old man got off the cart, approached the fox, but it didn't move, lying there as if dead.

"What a gift for my wife!" said the old man, picked up the fox, and placed it on the cart, then walked on ahead.

But the fox seized the moment and began to quietly toss out the fish, one by one, from the cart. She threw out all the fish and then ran away.

"Well, old woman," said the old man, "what a collar I've brought you for your fur coat!"
"Where is it?"
"There on the cart—both the fish and the collar."

The old woman went to the cart: no collar, no fish—and she began to scold her husband:

"Oh, you good-for-nothing! You even dared to deceive me!"

Then the old man realized that the fox hadn't been dead. He grieved and grieved, but there was nothing to be done.

Meanwhile, the fox gathered all the scattered fish into a pile, sat down by the road, and began to eat. Along came a gray wolf:

"Hello, sister!"
"Hello, brother!"
"Give me some fish!"
"Catch it yourself and then eat it."
"I don't know how."
"Come on, I caught it! You, brother, go to the river, stick your tail in the ice hole, sit there, and say: 'Catch, fish, both small and big! Catch, fish, both small and big! Catch, fish, both small and big!' The fish will latch onto your tail. But make sure you sit for a long time, or you won't catch anything."

The wolf went to the river, stuck his tail in the ice hole, and began to chant:
"Catch, fish, both small and big!
Catch, fish, both small and big!"

Soon after, the fox appeared; she walked around the wolf, chanting:
"Shine, shine, stars in the sky,
Freeze, freeze, wolf's tail!"

"What are you saying, little fox-sister?"
"I'm helping you."

But the sly fox kept repeating:
"Freeze, freeze, wolf's tail!"

The wolf sat by the ice hole for a long, long time, all night without moving, and his tail froze. He tried to get up, but it was no use!

"Wow, so much fish has piled up—and I can't pull it out!" he thought.

Then he saw women coming to fetch water, and they shouted when they saw the gray wolf:

"Wolf, wolf! Beat him, beat him!"

They ran over and began to hit the wolf—some with a yoke, some with a bucket, some with whatever they had. The wolf jumped and jumped, tore off his tail, and ran away without looking back.

"Just you wait," he thought, "I'll pay you back, sister!"

Meanwhile, while the wolf was nursing his wounds, the little fox-sister decided to see if she could steal something else. She sneaked into a hut where women were baking pancakes, but she got her head stuck in a tub of dough, got all messy, and ran off. The wolf met her:

"So that's how you teach? They beat me all over!"
"Oh, little wolf-brother!" said the little fox-sister. "At least you only bled, but they hit me so hard my brains are scrambled: I can barely walk."
"That's true," said the wolf, "how can you walk, sister? Climb on my back, I'll carry you."

The little fox climbed onto his back, and he carried her.

As they went, the little fox-sister sat there quietly singing:
"The beaten carries the unbeaten,
The beaten carries the unbeaten!"
"What are you saying, sister?"
"I'm saying, brother, 'The beaten carries the beaten.'"

"That's right, sister, that's right!"

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Sister Fox and the Wolf

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