The old man and the hare

The old man and the hare (Kalmyk fairytales)

In the earliest ancient times there lived an old man with a few cows in a village.

Once a crazy wolf frightened the old man in the village:

“Old man, I am going to eat you”.

“Do not eat me; I will give you a cow”, the old man said and gave a calf to the crazy wolf.

The next day the wolf came to the old man again:

“I am going to eat you”, he said.

“Do not touch me; I will give you a cow again”, he said and gave him another cow.

So the old man had no way out and suffered, sitting by his house.

Suddenly a hare running by, asked him:

“Why are you crying?”

“The wolf comes to me every day and threatens to eat me; he has been taking my cows. What will I do if the crazy wolf comes again tomorrow? I am crying because I cannot do anything else”, the old man told him.

The clever hare realised the old man’s grief and advised him:

“I will run, raising dust, and make the sun invisible with the dust tomorrow at dawn. If the wolf comes and threatens to eat you, tell him: ‘There is the khan’s brown bear coming to catch you’. ”

The next day the crazy wolf came to the old man at dawn and threatened him. Following the hare’s advice, the old man said to him:

“Wolf, there is the khan’s brown bear coming here to catch you and eat you. He has learnt that you come to me. He is approaching and raising the dust. He is going to kill you”.

The crazy wolf saw the dust rising up to the sun; he believed the old man and was much frightened.

“Old man, tell the bear that I have left the area”, the crazy wolf said and ran with all his swiftness faraway.

After that the wolf was not ever seen in the village. So the inhabitants of the village lived light-heartedly, happily and without grief thanks to the help of the clever hare.

Translated from Kalmyk into English by Danara Balayeva-Kokayeva
Перевод с калмыцкого на английский Данары Балаевой-Кокаевой

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