One day a man was mowing grass in a meadow. Becoming tired, he sat down under a bush to rest. He reached for his sack and began to eat some bread.
Suddenly a hungry wolf came out of the forest and saw the man sitting under a bush and chewing something.
The wolf approached the mower and asked:
“What are you eating, my good man?”
“Bread,” the man replied.
“Is it good? “
“The best !”
“Let me try some.”
“Sure.”
The mower broke off a piece of bread and gave it to the wolf.
The wolf liked the bread very much and said:
“I’d like to eat bread every day, but tell me, my good man, where can I find it?”
“Very well,” replied the mower, “I’ll teach you where and how to get bread.”
And so he began:
“First you have to plough a field...”
“And then I’ll have my bread?”
“Hold on a minute, brother. Then you need to harrow it...”
“Now I can eat my bread?” The wolf began to wag his tail. “What are you talking about? Next you need to sow some rye...” “ Now the bread?” The wolf began to lick its lips. “Not yet. You’ll have to wait until the rye sprouts and the cold winter months have passed. Then in spring the rye will grow and blossom and form ears...”
“Ah,” sighed the wolf, “such a long time to wait. But now I’ll have all the bread I want?”
“What bread?” interrupted the mower. “It’s still too early for that. Now you have to reap the ripe rye and tie sheaves and stack them together for the wind and sun to dry them.
Next you must carry them to the threshing-floor...”
“And now I can eat my bread?”
“How impatient you are! First you have to thresh the sheaves, pour the kernels into sacks, take the sacks to the mill and grind the kernels into flour. . . “
“Is that all?”
“No, not yet. Now you make the flour into dough in a tub and wait for it to rise. Then you place it in a hot oven.”
“And it will bake into bread?”
“Yes, it will bake into bread and you can eat all you want.”
The mower had finished his lesson. The wolf thought a bit, scratched its forehead with its paw and said:
“It sounds like boring and difficult work. Tell me instead how I can get something to eat an easier way. “
“Well, if you don’t want to get your food the hard way, get it the easy way. Go into the pasture. There’s a horse grazing there.”
The wolf went into the pasture and said to the horse:
“I’m going to eat you up!”
“Well, alright,” said the horse, “but first take off my shoes or else you’ll break your teeth.”
“That’s true,” said the wolf and bent over to take off the horseshoes.
Just then the horse kicked the wolf in the teeth with her hooves. The wolf turned a somersault and took off running.
He ran to a river and saw some geese on the bank. “I guess I’ll eat them,” the wolf thought and then said:
“I’m going to eat you geese up!”
“Well, alright,” said the geese, “but first grant us one last wish.”
“What?” asked the wolf.
“Sing to us and we will listen.”
“Sure. I’m a great singer.” The wolf sat on a little hill, threw back his head and began to howl. Meanwhile, the geese flapped their wings and flew away.
The wolf watched them go and came down from the hill, grumbling: “What a fool I was! Why did I agree to sing? The next creature I meet I’m going to eat.”
With this thought in mind, the wolf looked up and saw an old man walking down the path.
The wolf ran up to him and said:
“Old man, I’m going to eat you up!”
“Why the rush?” asked the old man. “Let’s sniff some tobacco first.”
“Is it good? “
“Try it, you’ll see.”
“Alright.”
The old man took his tobacco pouch out of his pocket, took a sniff and then handed it to the wolf, who snorted all the tobacco in the pouch.
The wolf began to sneeze so loud the whole forest heard. He couldn’t see anything for the tears in its eyes. He sneezed for about an hour until he had sneezed out all the tobacco.
Looking around, the wolf saw that the old man had disappeared.
The wolf walked on and saw a flock of sheep grazing while the shepherd slept. Picking out the best ram in the flock, the wolf cornered him and said:
“I’m going to eat you up!”
Well, that’s just my luck,” said the ram. “But so that I won’t suffer too long and to prevent you breaking your teeth on my old bones, why don’t you stand in that dell and open your mouth? I’ll run down from this hill and jump into your mouth.”
“Sounds good to me,” said the wolf and went to stand and wait in the dell with his mouth open. The ram raced down the hill, gathering speed. He crashed his horns against the wolf’s head. The wolf saw stars and everything seemed to be spinning.
When he finally came to, the wolf turned his head and wondered:
“Did I eat the ram or not?”
By that time the mower had finished his work and was going home to rest. He heard the wolf’s words and said:
“You didn’t eat anything, but you did get a taste of bread the easy way.”
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