Maung Tsag Tun - Russian Stories

Mules and bears

Once upon a time there was a farmer named Muzit. One day he went to his field in the forest to plant carrots. While he was plowing the land in his field, a bear came up to him and growled, "Muzit, I will break your bones."

Then Zip said, "Big Bear, don't break my bones. Instead of breaking my bones, why don't you help me plant carrots? If the carrots bear fruit, I will dig the ground."

"I will take the roots from the bottom and give you everything above," he said.

Hearing the words of the musician, the bear...

“Okay, don’t try to deceive me, you know about me, don’t you?” he said and went into the forest. Soon, large radishes grew in the field. In the autumn, Muzi went to the radish field and dug up the radishes. At that time, a big bear came out of the forest and told Muzi:

"Now, Zip, I'll share the carrot share as you promised."

He said.

The musician

"Okay. You own the upper part and I own the lower roots. So learn everything about the upper part."

He gave the big bear the radish leaves, and the bear took the radishes and piled them on a cart. Then he went to the market to sell the radishes.

On the way, Muzit met a big bear. The big bear helped him.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

Muzit said, "Why don't you go and sell the radishes at the market?"

He replied.

“How delicious are these roots? Let’s taste them.”

The big bear said.

The musician gave the bear a carrot. The bear bit the carrot and tasted it.

“Ha... you are deceiving me. Are your roots sweeter than my leaves? Don't you ever try to gather firewood in my forest. I will break your bones.”

He said angrily.

The next year, Muzik planted wheat again in the same place where he had planted the turnips. Soon the wheat was ripe. When Muzik went to the wheat field to harvest the wheat, the big bear was waiting for him.

The big bear told him-

"Don't try to lie to me this time, I'll give you my share."

He said.

Then the musician

"Big Bear, you were angry with me when I gave you the leaves of the carrot. You like the root, so this time I'll give you the root. I'll take the top, which you don't like."

"So the bear and the mouse gathered the wheat. The mouse pulled all the roots out of the ground, and the bear took all the wheat. Then the mouse loaded the wheat into a cart and brought it home."

The big bear chewed the roots with great pleasure. But they had no taste. It tasted the same as if he had chewed wood. The big bear was very angry with Muzit. From that moment on, Muzit and the big bear became enemies.

The fox and the crane

Once upon a time, a fox and a crane lived together as friends. One day, the fox told the crane...

“Friend, come have dinner with me, I will take care of you the best.”

He invited me to dinner.

Thus the crane came to the dinner table set by the fox. The fox cooked the rice and put it on the plate...

“I think you will like this rice porridge, my friend. I made this rice porridge myself.”

Saying this, he put down a bowl of boiled rice and fed it to the crane.

The crane can only eat a small amount of boiled rice in a bowl by poking it with its beak.

At that moment, the fox ate the rice in the bowl with a spoon until the rice in the bowl was gone. Then the fox said to the crane...

“Sorry, friend, I don’t have any more to feed you.”

He said..

Then the crane bird

“Thank you, I have had enough. I also invite you back to have dinner with me. Will you come?”

He asked the fox.

The next day, the fox came to the crane for dinner. The crane cooked the stew and put it in a long-necked jar for the fox to eat. Then the crane gave the fox...

"Now... my friend, eat with relish. This is all I have. I am sorry to say this."

He said, and gave the jar of soup to the fox. The fox tried to eat the soup, but his nose was stuck in the top of the jar. He couldn't eat the soup. He could only eat a little. His head couldn't fit through the hole in the jar. The crane has a long beak, so he can put his head into the jar and finish the soup. Then the crane told the fox...

“Sorry, friend, I have nothing left to feed you.”

He said.

From that moment on, the fox and the crane stopped being friends and became enemies.

The Fox and the Crane, from the book Russian Folk Tales, published by the Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, USSR