White-fronted. A. P. Chekhov
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The hungry wolf got up to go hunting. Her cubs, all three of them, were fast asleep, huddled together, warming each other. She licked them and walked away.
She-wolf and cubs
It was already the spring month of March, but at night the trees crackled with cold, like in December, and as soon as you stuck out your tongue, it began to sting strongly. The wolf was in poor health and suspicious; She shuddered at the slightest noise and kept thinking about how no one would offend the wolf cubs at home without her. The smell of human and horse tracks, tree stumps, stacked firewood and the dark, manure-covered road frightened her; It seemed to her as if people were standing behind the trees in the darkness and dogs were howling somewhere beyond the forest.
She was no longer young and her instincts had weakened, so that it happened that she mistook a fox’s track for a dog’s and sometimes, deceived by her instincts, she lost her way, which had never happened to her in her youth. Due to poor health, she no longer hunted calves and large rams, as before, and already walked far around horses with foals, but ate only carrion; She had to eat fresh meat very rarely, only in the spring, when she, having come across a hare, took her children away from her or climbed into the peasants' barn where the lambs were.
About four versts from her lair, near the post road, there was a winter hut. Here lived the watchman Ignat, an old man of about seventy, who kept coughing and talking to himself; He usually slept at night, and during the day he wandered through the forest with a single-barreled gun and whistled at the hares. He must have served as a mechanic before, because every time before stopping he shouted to himself: “Stop, car!” and before going any further: “Full speed ahead!” With him was a huge black dog of an unknown breed, named Arapka. When she ran far ahead, he shouted to her: “Reverse!” Sometimes he sang and at the same time staggered greatly and often fell (the wolf thought it was from the wind) and shouted: “Gone off the rails!”
The she-wolf remembered that in the summer and autumn a ram and two livestock grazed near the winter hut, and when she ran past not so long ago, she thought it was as if they were fading in the barn. And now, approaching the winter quarters, she realized that it was already March and, judging by the time, there must certainly be lambs in the barn. She was tormented by hunger, she thought about how greedily she would eat the lamb, and from such thoughts her teeth clicked and her eyes shone in the darkness like two lights.
Ignat's hut, his barn, stable and well were surrounded by high snowdrifts. It was quiet. The little black must have been sleeping under the barn.
Ignat's Hut
The wolf climbed up the snowdrift to the barn and began raking the thatched roof with her paws and muzzle. The straw was rotten and loose, so that the wolf almost fell through; Suddenly a warm smell of steam and the smell of manure and sheep's milk hit her right in the face. Below, feeling the cold, the lamb gently bleated. Jumping into the hole, the she-wolf fell with her front paws and chest on something soft and warm, probably on a ram, and at that time something in the barn suddenly squealed, barked and burst into a thin, howling voice, the sheep shied towards the wall, and The wolf, frightened, grabbed the first thing she caught in her teeth and rushed out...
Wolf in the barn
She ran, straining her strength, and at this time Arapka, who had already sensed the wolf, howled furiously, disturbed chickens clucked in the winter hut, and Ignat, going out onto the porch, shouted:
- Full speed ahead! Let's go to the whistle!
And it whistled like a car, and then - go-go-go-go!.. And all this noise was repeated by the forest echo.
When little by little all this calmed down, the she-wolf calmed down a little and began to notice that her prey, which she held in her teeth and dragged through the snow, was heavier and seemed to be harder than lambs usually are at this time; and it smelled as if differently, and some strange sounds were heard... The wolf stopped and put her burden on the snow to rest and start eating, and suddenly jumped back in disgust. It was not a lamb, but a puppy, black, with a large head and high legs, a large breed, with the same white spot all over its forehead like Arapka.
White fronted puppy
Judging by his manners, he was an ignoramus, a simple mongrel. He licked his bruised, wounded back and, as if nothing had happened, waved his tail and barked at the wolf. She growled like a dog and ran away from him. He's behind her. She looked back and clicked her teeth; he stopped in bewilderment and, probably deciding that it was she who was playing with him, stretched his muzzle towards the winter hut and burst into a loud, joyful bark, as if inviting his mother Arapka to play with him and the wolf.
It was already dawn, and when the wolf made her way to her place through the dense aspen forest, every aspen tree was clearly visible, and the black grouse were already waking up and beautiful roosters often fluttered up, disturbed by the careless jumps and barking of the puppy.
“Why is he running after me? - thought the wolf with annoyance. “He must want me to eat him.”
She lived with the wolf cubs in a shallow hole; three years ago, during a strong storm, a tall old pine tree was uprooted, which is why this hole was formed. Now at the bottom there were old leaves and moss, and there were bones and bull horns with which the wolf cubs played. They had already woken up and all three, very similar to each other, stood side by side on the edge of their hole and, looking at the returning mother, wagged their tails. Seeing them, the puppy stopped at a distance and looked at them for a long time; noticing that they were also looking at him attentively, he began to bark angrily at them, as if they were strangers.
White-fronted and wolf cubs
It was already dawn and the sun had risen, the snow was sparkling all around, and he still stood at a distance and barked. The wolf cubs suckled their mother, pushing her with their paws into her skinny belly, and at that time she was gnawing on a horse bone, white and dry; she was tormented by hunger, her head ached from the dog’s barking, and she wanted to rush at the uninvited guest and tear him apart.
Finally the puppy became tired and hoarse; Seeing that they were not afraid of him and did not even pay attention to him, he began to timidly, now crouching, now jumping, approach the wolf cubs. Now, in daylight, it was easy to see him... His white forehead was large, and on his forehead there was a bump, such as happens to very stupid dogs; the eyes were small, blue, dull, and the expression of the entire muzzle was extremely stupid. Approaching the wolf cubs, he stretched his wide paws forward, put his muzzle on them and began:
- Mnya, mnya... nga-nga-nga!..
The wolf cubs did not understand anything, but waved their tails. Then the puppy hit one of the wolf cubs on the big head with his paw. The wolf cub also hit him on the head with his paw. The puppy stood sideways to him and looked at him sideways, wagging its tail, then suddenly rushed away and made several circles on the crust. The wolf cubs chased him, he fell on his back and lifted his legs up, and the three of them attacked him and, squealing with delight, began to bite him, but not painfully, but as a joke.
Puppy and wolf cubs playing
The crows sat on a tall pine tree and looked down at their struggle, and were very worried. It became noisy and fun. The sun was already hot like spring; and the roosters, constantly flying over the pine tree fallen by the storm, seemed emerald in the brilliance of the sun.
Usually she-wolves accustom their children to hunting by letting them play with prey; and now, watching how the wolf cubs chased the puppy on the crust and fought with it, the wolf thought:
“Let them get used to it.”
Having played enough, the cubs went into the hole and went to bed. The puppy howled a little with hunger, then also stretched out in the sun. And when they woke up, they started playing again.
All day and evening the wolf remembered how last night a lamb bleated in the stable and how it smelled of sheep's milk, and from appetite she kept clicking her teeth and did not stop gnawing greedily on an old bone, imagining to herself that it was a lamb. The wolf cubs suckled, and the puppy, who was hungry, ran around and sniffed the snow.
“Let’s eat it...” the wolf decided.
She walked up to him and he licked her face and whined, thinking she wanted to play with him. In the past, she ate dogs, but the puppy smelled strongly of dog, and, due to poor health, she no longer tolerated this smell; she felt disgusted and walked away...
The puppy licked the wolf
By night it got colder. The puppy got bored and went home.
When the wolf cubs were fast asleep, the wolf went hunting again. Like the previous night, she was alarmed by the slightest noise, and she was frightened by stumps, firewood, dark, lonely juniper bushes that looked like people from a distance. She ran away from the road, along the crust. Suddenly, far ahead, something dark flashed on the road... She strained her vision and hearing: in fact, something was walking ahead, and measured steps could even be heard. Isn't it a badger? She carefully, barely breathing, taking everything to the side, overtook the dark spot, looked back at it and recognized it. It was a puppy with a white forehead who was returning to his winter hut, slowly and step by step.
“I hope he doesn’t bother me again,” the wolf thought and quickly ran forward.
But the winter hut was already close. She again climbed up the snowdrift into the barn. Yesterday's hole had already been filled with spring straw, and two new strips stretched across the roof. The wolf began to quickly work with her legs and muzzle, looking around to see if the puppy was coming, but as soon as the warm steam and the smell of manure hit her, a joyful, liquid bark was heard from behind. It's the puppy back. He jumped onto the wolf's roof, then into a hole, and, feeling at home, in the warmth, recognizing his sheep, he barked even louder... Arapka woke up under the barn and, sensing the wolf, howled, the chickens cackled, and when Ignat appeared on the porch with his single-barrel gun , then the frightened wolf was already far from the winter hut.
- Fut! - Ignat whistled. - Fut! Drive at full speed!
He pulled the trigger - the gun misfired; he fired again - again it misfired; he fired a third time - and a huge sheaf of fire flew out of the trunk and a deafening “boo!” boo!" There was a strong blow to his shoulder; and, taking a gun in one hand and an ax in the other, he went to see what was causing the noise...
A little later he returned to the hut.
- What's there? - asked in a hoarse voice the wanderer who spent the night with him that night and was awakened by the noise.
“Nothing...” Ignat answered. - It's an empty matter. Our White-fronted one got into the habit of sleeping with the sheep, in the warmth. Only there is no such thing as going through the door, but everything seems to be going through the roof. The other night he tore up the roof and went for a walk, the scoundrel, and now he’s returned and tore up the roof again.
- Silly.
- Yes, the spring in the brain burst. I don't like death, stupid people! - Ignat sighed, climb onto the stove. - Well, man of God, it’s too early to get up, let’s go to sleep at full speed...
And in the morning he called White-fronted to him, tore him painfully by the ears and then, punishing him with a twig, kept saying:
Ignat pats White-fronted by the ears
- Go through the door! Walk through the door! Walk through the door!
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Anton Pavlovich Chekhov White-fronted
The hungry wolf got up to go hunting. Her cubs, all three of them, were fast asleep, huddled together, warming each other. She licked them and walked away. It was already the spring month of March, but at night the trees crackled with cold, like in December, and as soon as you stuck out your tongue, it began to sting strongly. The wolf was in poor health and suspicious; She shuddered at the slightest noise and kept thinking about how no one would offend the wolf cubs at home without her. The smell of human and horse tracks, tree stumps, stacked firewood and the dark, manure-covered road frightened her; It seemed to her as if people were standing behind the trees in the darkness and dogs were howling somewhere beyond the forest. She was no longer young and her instincts had weakened, so that it happened that she mistook a fox’s track for a dog’s and sometimes, deceived by her instincts, she lost her way, which had never happened to her in her youth. Due to poor health, she no longer hunted calves and large rams, as before, and already walked far around horses with foals, but ate only carrion; She had to eat fresh meat very rarely, only in the spring, when she, having come across a hare, took her children away from her or climbed into the peasants' barn where the lambs were. About four versts from her lair, near the post road, there was a winter hut. Here lived the watchman Ignat, an old man of about seventy, who kept coughing and talking to himself; He usually slept at night, and during the day he wandered through the forest with a single-barreled gun and whistled at the hares. He must have served as a mechanic before, because every time before stopping he shouted to himself: “Stop, car!” and before going any further: “Full speed ahead!” With him was a huge black dog of an unknown breed, named Arapka. When she ran far ahead, he shouted to her: “Reverse!” Sometimes he sang and at the same time staggered greatly and often fell (the wolf thought it was from the wind) and shouted: “Gone off the rails!” The she-wolf remembered that in the summer and autumn a ram and two livestock grazed near the winter hut, and when she ran past not so long ago, she thought it was as if they were fading in the barn. And now, approaching the winter quarters, she realized that it was already March and, judging by the time, there must certainly be lambs in the barn. She was tormented by hunger, she thought about how greedily she would eat the lamb, and from such thoughts her teeth clicked and her eyes shone in the darkness like two lights. Ignat's hut, his barn, stable and well were surrounded by high snowdrifts. It was quiet. The little black must have been sleeping under the barn. The wolf climbed up the snowdrift to the barn and began raking the thatched roof with her paws and muzzle. The straw was rotten and loose, so that the wolf almost fell through; Suddenly a warm smell of steam and the smell of manure and sheep's milk hit her right in the face. Below, feeling the cold, the lamb gently bleated. Jumping into the hole, the she-wolf fell with her front paws and chest on something soft and warm, probably on a ram, and at that time something in the barn suddenly squealed, barked and burst into a thin, howling voice, the sheep shied towards the wall, and The she-wolf, frightened, grabbed the first thing she caught in her teeth and rushed out... She ran, straining her strength, and at this time Arapka, who had already sensed the wolf, howled furiously, the disturbed chickens clucked in the winter hut, and Ignat, going out onto the porch, shouted: - Full speed ahead! Let's go to the whistle! And it whistled like a car, and then - go-go-go-go!.. And all this noise was repeated by the forest echo. When little by little all this calmed down, the she-wolf calmed down a little and began to notice that her prey, which she held in her teeth and dragged through the snow, was heavier and seemed to be harder than lambs usually are at this time; and it smelled as if differently, and some strange sounds were heard... The wolf stopped and put her burden on the snow to rest and start eating, and suddenly jumped back in disgust. It was not a lamb, but a puppy, black, with a large head and high legs, a large breed, with the same white spot all over its forehead like Arapka. Judging by his manners, he was an ignoramus, a simple mongrel. He licked his bruised, wounded back and, as if nothing had happened, waved his tail and barked at the wolf. She growled like a dog and ran away from him. He's behind her. She looked back and clicked her teeth; he stopped in bewilderment and, probably deciding that it was she who was playing with him, stretched his muzzle towards the winter hut and burst into a loud, joyful bark, as if inviting his mother Arapka to play with him and the wolf. It was already dawn, and when the wolf made her way to her place through the dense aspen forest, every aspen tree was clearly visible, and the black grouse were already waking up and beautiful roosters often fluttered up, disturbed by the careless jumps and barking of the puppy. “Why is he running after me? - the wolf thought with annoyance. “He must want me to eat him.” She lived with the wolf cubs in a shallow hole; three years ago, during a strong storm, a tall old pine tree was uprooted, which is why this hole was formed. Now at the bottom there were old leaves and moss, and there were bones and bull horns with which the wolf cubs played. They had already woken up and all three, very similar to each other, stood side by side on the edge of their hole and, looking at the returning mother, wagged their tails. Seeing them, the puppy stopped at a distance and looked at them for a long time; noticing that they were also looking at him attentively, he began to bark angrily at them, as if they were strangers. It was already dawn and the sun had risen, the snow was sparkling all around, and he still stood at a distance and barked. The wolf cubs suckled their mother, pushing her with their paws into her skinny belly, and at that time she was gnawing on a horse bone, white and dry; she was tormented by hunger, her head ached from the dog’s barking, and she wanted to rush at the uninvited guest and tear him apart. Finally the puppy became tired and hoarse; Seeing that they were not afraid of him and did not even pay attention to him, he began to timidly, now crouching, now jumping, approach the wolf cubs. Now, in daylight, it was easy to see him... His white forehead was large, and on his forehead there was a bump, such as happens to very stupid dogs; the eyes were small, blue, dull, and the expression of the entire muzzle was extremely stupid. Approaching the wolf cubs, he stretched his wide paws forward, put his muzzle on them and began: “Mnya, mnya... nga-nga-nga!..” The wolf cubs didn’t understand anything, but waved their tails. Then the puppy hit one of the wolf cubs on the big head with his paw. The wolf cub also hit him on the head with his paw. The puppy stood sideways to him and looked at him sideways, wagging its tail, then suddenly rushed away and made several circles on the crust. The wolf cubs chased him, he fell on his back and lifted his legs up, and the three of them attacked him and, squealing with delight, began to bite him, but not painfully, but as a joke. The crows sat on a tall pine tree and looked down at their struggle, and were very worried. It became noisy and fun. The sun was already hot like spring; and the roosters, constantly flying over the pine tree fallen by the storm, seemed emerald in the brilliance of the sun. Usually she-wolves accustom their children to hunting by letting them play with prey; and now, watching how the wolf cubs chased the puppy along the crust and fought with it, the wolf thought: “Let them get used to it.” Having played enough, the cubs went into the hole and went to bed. The puppy howled a little with hunger, then also stretched out in the sun. And when they woke up, they started playing again. All day and evening the wolf remembered how last night a lamb bleated in the stable and how it smelled of sheep's milk, and from appetite she kept clicking her teeth and did not stop gnawing greedily on an old bone, imagining to herself that it was a lamb. The wolf cubs suckled, and the puppy, who was hungry, ran around and sniffed the snow. “Let’s eat it...” the wolf decided. She walked up to him and he licked her face and whined, thinking she wanted to play with him. In the past, she ate dogs, but the puppy smelled strongly of dog, and, due to poor health, she no longer tolerated this smell; she felt disgusted and walked away... By nightfall it got colder. The puppy got bored and went home. When the wolf cubs were fast asleep, the wolf went hunting again. Like the previous night, she was alarmed by the slightest noise, and she was frightened by stumps, firewood, dark, lonely juniper bushes that looked like people from a distance. She ran away from the road, along the crust. Suddenly, far ahead, something dark flashed on the road... She strained her vision and hearing: in fact, something was walking ahead, and measured steps could even be heard. Isn't it a badger? She carefully, barely breathing, taking everything to the side, overtook the dark spot, looked back at it and recognized it. It was a puppy with a white forehead who was returning to his winter hut, slowly and step by step. “I hope he doesn’t bother me again,” the wolf thought and quickly ran forward. But the winter hut was already close. She again climbed up the snowdrift into the barn. Yesterday's hole had already been filled with spring straw, and two new strips stretched across the roof. The wolf began to quickly work with her legs and muzzle, looking around to see if the puppy was coming, but as soon as the warm steam and the smell of manure hit her, a joyful, liquid bark was heard from behind. It's the puppy back. He jumped onto the wolf's roof, then into a hole, and, feeling at home, in the warmth, recognizing his sheep, he barked even louder... Arapka woke up under the barn and, sensing the wolf, howled, the chickens cackled, and when Ignat appeared on the porch with his single-barrel gun , then the frightened wolf was already far from the winter hut. - Fut! – Ignat whistled. - Fut! Drive at full speed! He pulled the trigger - the gun misfired; he fired again - again it misfired; he lowered it a third time - and a huge sheaf of fire flew out of the trunk and a deafening “boo!” boo!" There was a strong blow to his shoulder; and, taking a gun in one hand and an ax in the other, he went to see what was causing the noise... A little later he returned to the hut. - What's there? - asked in a hoarse voice the wanderer who spent the night with him that night and was awakened by the noise. “Nothing...” Ignat answered. - It's an empty matter. Our White-fronted one got into the habit of sleeping with the sheep, in the warmth. Only there is no such thing as going through the door, but everything seems to be going through the roof. The other night he tore up the roof and went for a walk, the scoundrel, and now he’s returned and tore up the roof again. - Silly. - Yes, the spring in the brain burst. I don't like death, stupid people! – Ignat sighed, climb onto the stove. - Well, God's man, it's too early to get up, let's go to sleep at full speed... And in the morning he called White-fronted to him, tore him painfully by the ears and then, punishing him with a twig, kept saying: - Go through the door! Walk through the door! Walk through the door!