A shepherd boy was tending a flock of sheep in a wide field. He was young, but smart. His name was Ivanko. The sun was warming him, the sheep were nibbling at the grass, and Ivanko was lying on the grass, looking at the clouds in the sky.
Then a gray wolf peeks out from behind a hillock. Hungry, thin, his yellow eyes shining with hunger. He licks himself: "What a lucky thing, a whole flock! I'll have a bite now - and I'll grab some more for later." He crept quietly to the sheepfold, found the fattest lamb for himself.
But Ivanko the shepherd was not asleep. He noticed the wolf while he was still a little way off. He was not frightened, he did not scream, but only quietly picked up a heavy stone from the grass. He waited until the wolf bent over the sheep, and as soon as he threw the stone, it hit the wolf right in the back of the head.
The wolf spun in place, closed his eyes, and fell on his back. Ivanko thought, "Oh, did I kill him?" He approached cautiously, gave a push with his stick. The wolf lay there, its paws spread, only its trunk was rising - it was breathing, it was coming out. Then Ivanko quickly took the sheepskin off the smoothest old ram (and that ram was supposed to go to the festival anyway) and tied it tightly to the wolf.
He tied a rope to his sides, stuck a stick into his horns. He sits, waiting. The wolf has woken up, shakes his head - and he is wearing a sheepskin coat. He looks at himself - his horns, white fur, and a short tail. "What's wrong with me?" the wolf thinks, "have I really turned into a sheep?"«
Meanwhile, Ivanko sits on a stump, his legs dangling, and laughs: «Hey, what did you think, little lamb, was eating enough? Now you will stay with us, the flock will accept you.» The wolf realized that it was the shepherd who had laughed at him. He wants to run away, but Ivanko stands with a stick, and his dog, Rudko, is also growling.
What should the wolf do? Howl like a wolf - the dog will hear, the villagers will come running, they will take his life. He whined softly: "Me-ee-ee," - they say, I'm a ram. And Ivanko claps his hands: "Well done, little ram, you bleat beautifully!"«
Ivanko drove the wolf and the flock home. They locked him in the fold with the sheep. The wolf sits in a corner, terribly ashamed. And the sheep sniff him, push him, do not recognize him. They look and look: a wolf's face, but sheep's clothing. They do not know what to think.
The night passed - the wolf did not sleep. The day passed - the wolf sits hungry, because he does not eat grass, and there is no meat in the sheepfold. On the third day, Ivanko sent the wolf to graze with the sheep. The wolf follows the flock with his head down. Familiar animals look from the forest - no, they do not recognize him. One boar met him - he called out: "Hello, ram, cluck like the rest of the flock." The wolf's heart boiled with resentment.
On the fourth day at night, the wolf bit through the rope with his teeth, threw off the sheepskin, and ran off into the forest, only he was seen. He sneaks around by himself, never showing his eyes to anyone. And in the morning Ivanko went into the sheepfold - and the wolf was gone, only the sheepskin was lying in the corner. The shepherd laughed merrily. And that wolf never went near that flock again, and even told the other wolves: "Don't go near Ivanchik's sheep, because you might not even get a sheep there." So Ivanko used his intelligence to protect both his sheep and teach the wolf a lesson - so that he would know how it is on the other side.
💛 Whoever wants to do wrong, let him first try what it's like on the other side.