(fairy tale)

Once upon a time there was a rat Stepan and a fox Andriy. And for 2 years they shared one hole in the forest. Everything was fine, they constantly went hunting with each other, had fun together and were generally thick as thieves, until recently Stepan started to be lazy and not go looking for food. Stepan constantly told Andriy that he was sick and asked the fox to find food for him too. And Andriy, as a true friend, decided to help Stepan, not even knowing that the rat was deceiving him.

And for two weeks the fox had to not only look for food to feed himself, but also to look for food for the rat Stepan. The fox was constantly returning home very late, because all day long he was in search of food for himself and for his friend. But later Andriy noticed that after the fox went hunting in the morning and came back in the evening, different objects were not in their places. Sometimes the ball was in another room, sometimes the curtains were closed, although no one had closed them in the morning, and the rat in turn said that it was difficult for him to get up, therefore he always stayed on his bed.

That’s why Andriy the fox decided to check if his friend was not deceiving him and using his kindness to avoid hunting. After going in search of food, Andrew simply asked Ivan the hare to watch what Andrew was doing while the fox was fowling. Ivan easily agreed to help solve the problem with his friend and went in the direction of their home. Having reached their burrow, the hare started overseeing Stepan, but after sitting for almost half an hour he did not notice anything. And just when the hare was about to return to the fox to inform that his friend was not deceiving him, the rat began to look around to make sure the fox was not at home and abruptly got out of bed. Waking up, the rat happily did morning exercises and without even brushing his teeth ran outside to play the ball. Seeing this, Ivan immediately ran to Andriy to tip off what he had seen.

When Andriy learned about this news, the fox was very upset that his best friend deceived him. Having finished the search for food earlier than usual, Andriy quickly ran towards their house to see with his own eyes that Stepan scammed him.

Entering the hole, the fox immediately began to look for the rat, but could not find it anywhere, neither in the yard nor in the hole. And so, having reached his room, the fox saw that someone was lying on the bed. He was of course quite surprised, because he expected to return earlier and see the rat playing and walking around the room, although he himself said that he was still sick.

Coming closer, the fox Andriy noticed that Stepan fell asleep, and looking more attentively he noticed that the rat’s paw was wrapped with a bandage. Of course, the fox thought that the rat was trying to deceive him again, so he immediately woke Stepan up and asked him about this ‘situation.’ Stepan, seeing Andriy, immediately felt guilty and told what exactly happened. He said that he was trying to dupe Andriy so that only he would look for food for them, and Stepan was just resting at home. Then the fox asked why his paw was rewound. Stepan answered him that when he saw a hare watching Stepan playing in the yard, he was very scared and wanted to run to the house, but he ran so fast that he slipped on the grass and actually injured his paw.

In the end, the rat admitted his guilt and apologized to the fox Andriy for the long time idling and as soon as his paw recovered, they went hunting together again, have fun and got very good friends again. Friends are to be given the second chance!