The Cunning Fox and the Wolf

Once upon a time, there was an old man and his wife. One day, the old man went to catch fish, while the old woman stayed at home and baked. The old man caught a whole cart full of fish and took them home. A crafty fox lay in wait on the road, pretending to be dead. The old man was delighted at this find: “Now my wife will have a fur collar!” He threw the fox into his cart. The cunning fox ate all the fish, and when the old man got home, the old woman was angry to find no fish and no fur collar.

While the fox was eating the fish, a wolf came along and asked for one. The fox did not want to part with its fish, and told the wolf that it had caught them by dipping its tail into a hole in the ice. The wolf went to the river, dipped its tail in the hole in the ice and waited. Some women came to the hole for water and started beating the wolf with their yokes and buckets. The wolf took to its heels and ran.

The fox then climbed in the old man’s window and saw the old woman making pancakes. It fell straight into the mixture and ran away covered in dough. The wolf met it and felt sorry for the fox. It let the fox ride on its back. As the fox said, “The loser carries the winner.”