This is a translation of an old Russian story appeared in Russian Internet around 2000.
The Bear was an ugly, clumsy and dirty beast. However, there was no one kinder and nicer in the whole forest. But the animals notice only his appearance, and because of this, Bear felt terribly offended, caught them and brutally beat them with his feet. Therefore, the animals did not like him. Although, he was very kind and cheerful. He loved funny jokes. For these jokes, animals started to terribly hate him soon and beat him often. Yes, it's hard to be kind and cheerful in the world.
The Wolf was ugly and dirty too. And he was very evil and cruel. But the animals did not hate him and did not beat him. Because Wolf died in early childhood. Because the Bear was born before the Wolf. Yes, it is nice, when Good overcomes Evil.
The Hare was also evil and cruel. And dirty. And he was cowardly. The Hare has never done bad things to anyone. Because he was afraid. But he still had been severely beaten. Because Evil must always be punished.
And the Woodpecker was also evil and cruel. He did not beat the animals, because he had no hands. Therefore, he took out his anger in the trees. He was not beaten. Because they could not reach him. Once he was crushed to death by a fallen tree. It was rumored that it took revenge. After that, the animals were afraid for a month to pee on the trees. They peed on Hare. Hare caught a cold and died. It was clear to everyone that the Woodpecker was guilty of everything. But he was not touched. Because they could not pick him out from under the fallen tree. Yes, Evil sometimes goes unpunished.
The Mole was small and blind. He was not evil. He just did his job well. It was he who undercut a tree that fell on a Woodpecker. No one found out about this, and therefore he was not beaten. He was rarely beaten. More often frightened. But it was very difficult to frighten him because he was blind and did not see that he was frightened. When it was not possible to frighten Mole, the animals were very upset. And they beat the Bear. Because it was very disappointing. One day, the Bear also wanted to scare Mole. But Mole was not afraid. Because the Bear killed him. Unintentionally and accidentally. Just because Bear was very clumsy. And the animals beat him very badly. Even despite the fact that Bear said he was joking. It's bad when no one understands your jokes.
Fox was very sly and dodgy. She could easily trick anyone. When she succeeded, she was not beaten. But sometimes she was not lucky. And they beat her. All animals together beat her. And she could not trick anyone. Because it is very difficult to trick someone when they beat you. Once she was beaten to death. Yes, the truth always comes out.
The Boar was big, strong and scary. Everyone was very afraid of him. And therefore he was beaten only by all forest animals together. Or they simply threw stones at him. Boar did not like this very much. And one night he hid all the stones in the forest. For this, he was beaten very badly. Boar never hid stones again. Truly saying - time to gather stones together and time not to touch them ever.
The Rat was neither evil nor good. He was just a Rat. He often was ratting. And they were afraid to beat him. And everyone was tired of his ratting at some point. And then he was beaten to death. Because otherwise, he would have died of old age. Someday. When the Rat died, Bear cried heavily. Because he secretly loved the Rat. Yes, love is blind.
The Hedgehog was small and prickly. He prickled. He was not evil, he was prickled by nature. Because of this, he was beaten only in the stomach. Hedgehog did not like this and began to shave bald. And then they began to beat him like everyone else. Yes, it is very difficult to be different from others.
The Skunk was almost like the Hare. But only very smelly. He smelled bad. He was beaten only in a plastic bag. Then the smell was not so strong. Once Skunk had a birthday. He invited all the animals because he was greedy and loved gifts. And the animals gave him a new plastic bag. And they beat him badly until he lost consciousness. And Skunk choked in the plastic bag. So he was buried as is. In the plastic bag. In a Very Far Forest. Because the dead Skunk was stinking even more. Then came the inhabitants of the Very Far Forest and severely beat everyone. They did not like the smell of a dead Skunk. Yes, we must live in peace with our neighbors.
The Hamster was also very greedy. And rich. If he shared his wealth, he would not be beaten so much. But he was very greedy. For this, he was beaten hard. And he still had to share. And he cried bitterly. Yes, the rich are crying too.
The Lion was the king of beasts. He ruled the forest. Kings are not supposed to be beaten. This is the law. But the animals bump that law long time back. The animals beat the Lion too. For nothing. Because it has become a tradition here.
In case of repost, please keep link to this post.
Original Russian text can be found here.
