There lived a grandfather and grandmother, and they had a loud rooster. And they also had a hut on the edge of the forest. Every morning, as soon as the sun rose behind the maple tree, the rooster would jump onto the fence and sing: "Ku-ku-ri-ku! Good morning, grandfather, good morning, grandmother!"«
The old women were delighted with such a singing cockerel. But one day the grandfather warned: "Look, cockerel, don't sit on the lower crossbar of the fence, because a fox is sneaking out of the forest. Sit on the very nut." But the cockerel wanted to sit on the lower one - it would be closer to peck the viburnum berries from there.
Once he climbed onto the lower crossbar, even jumped down to the ground to grab a berry. Then, out of the bush—whip!—a fox jumped out, and grabbed the rooster by the wing! «Help, grandparents, the fox is carrying me across the distant forests, to its hole!»
The grandfather heard, grabbed an axe, and he and the old woman ran after the fox. But they couldn't catch up - the fox was slyly winding around, climbing into the thicket. The fox came to its hole, put the rooster in a corner. "Now my dinner is ready. Only first I'll chop the wood, cook the borscht - and I'll season you with meat.".
The rooster sits in a hole, his feathers shaking with fear. But he thinks cleverly: "I shouldn't die in vain. I need to think of something." And the fox is outside chopping wood, not suspecting anything, and even singing along.
Then the rooster sang in a thin, loud voice: "Oh, what a pity, what a pity that I am in captivity! And they bake pies for my grandmother - big ones, with poppy seeds, with cherries, with nuts, and they even put bagels on them, which are so sweet! If I were at home, I would eat my fill. But the stupid fox doesn't know that she could come there while the grandmother is in the field and take everything for herself.".
The fox heard through the door. She threw down the axe, jumped into the hole: «What are you talking about, cockerel, about pies?» Again he said softly: «Yes, oh, oh, what a pity. Grandma baked a whole oven of pies at the women's house in my village - with poppy seeds, and with jam, and with nuts, and there are also bagels. Whoever comes will take everything himself, because the woman is in the field until evening.».
The fox drooled. Her eyes lit up. «How far is it?» «Not very, not very far, fox. When you get out of the forest, past the old birch, and across the bridge — and you will be in our village. The third hut from the edge — there are pies there.» «And I will leave you here, I haven’t cooked you yet.».
«"What are you doing, little fox," the rooster says slyly, "everything is just ripe from the oven there. Whoever wants it will jump in and grab it. While you're gone, the others will take it all away." And the fox was foaming at the mouth. She couldn't stand it anymore, she rushed to run to that village. And the rooster just needed that - as soon as the little fox hid in the bushes, he - swish! - and flew out of the hole.
The rooster found his way home, ran to his grandfather's hut, out of breath. The grandfather and grandmother were overjoyed, and hugged their singer. And the little fox-sister ran to the village, climbed into the third hut - and there were no pies or bagels, only the grandmother with a rolling pin. When the grandmother saw the fox, how she was shaking her with a rolling pin! The fox ran away, barely alive, without a tail. She ran all the way to the house, only then did she come to her senses: the rooster had deceived her like a small calf. And the rooster has never sat on the lowest crossbar of the fence since that day. He sits at the very top, munching on corn, and even smiles - remembering the fox.
💛 Mind and intelligence are stronger than cunning paws.