The Little Fox, the Cat, the Wolf, the Bear, and the Boar
A cat runs out of the village, and a fox runs out of the forest, and they meet. The fox says:- Hello!
- Hello! - says the cat.
- What’s your name? - asks the fox.
- Wise Solomon. And yours?
- Widow Fox.
- Let’s live together then.
- Let’s!
They build themselves a hut and live there.
The fox says:
- Wise Solomon! I saw a dead sheep over there, skinned. Let’s go and bring it here.
They go. They bring it and start eating. A wolf comes:
- Open up! - he shouts.
- Run away, Mr. Kozlovsky, - says the fox, - or else Wise Solomon here is already eating Mr. Baranovsky, and he’ll eat you too.
The wolf gets scared and runs away. A bear comes:
- Open up!
- Run away, Mr. Kudlash, - says the fox, - we’re already finishing Mr. Kozlovsky, and then we’ll eat you!
The bear gets scared and runs away. A boar comes:
- Open up!
- Run away, Mr. Rylach, we’re already finishing Kudlash, and then we’ll eat you!
The boar gets scared and runs away.
Then they all gather together: the wolf, the bear, and the boar, and they say:
- Let’s go and see this Wise Solomon. They approach the hut, and there the cat is eating meat and purring:
- Meow! Meow! Meow!
- Hey, - they say, - we better run, or else he’s saying there won’t be enough of us.
They get scared and run further, but then they say:
- Well, - they say, - in such a small hut, the beast must be small too. Could he really eat us? Let’s go and see him anyway. We’ll bury ourselves in the ground or lie under a log and hide.
The boar buries himself in the ground, wagging his tail, the bear climbs up an oak tree, and the wolf lies under a log.
Then the fox says to the cat:
- Let’s go, I’ll catch a goose, and we’ll bring it here. They go. The fox goes first, and the cat follows, still purring:
- Meow! Meow! Meow!
Suddenly, he spots the boar’s tail.
He thinks it’s a mouse, so he grabs it with his claws. The boar, startled, jumps up and hits his snout against the oak tree... The cat gets scared and climbs up the oak tree where the bear is sitting. The bear, startled, falls onto the log where the wolf is lying; they all jump up and run away.
Later, they gather and tell their stories. The boar says:
- Here’s what happened: he grabbed me by the tail and bashed my head against the oak...
The bear says:
- And he grabbed me by the fur and threw me off the oak...
The wolf says:
- When he sneaked up on me, and I was lying under the log, he took the log and whacked me on the back, and my back still hurts!
Then they say:
- Let the devil deal with him, we’re not going back! Meanwhile, the frightened cat and the fox go, bring back a goose, and eat it.
More fairy tales
- Telesik
- The Lad and the Flying Chest
- How the Horse and the Bull Raced Against Each Other
- A Mosquito is No Friend to a Gadfly
- The Tailor and the Wolf
