A long time ago the wolf and the fox had a strong friendship and comradeship. They walked in woods and meadows together, never leaving each other. Well, if they walked together, once they fell into a hole together.
They orgonised, poor people shouted, but not a soul came that way. Day after day, night after night passed. Then they perished of hunger, for they could not get out.
One day the fox thinks of something, and says to the wolf:
- I'll tell you something, wolf man.
- What, fox man?
- It means to stand up on your two hind legs, let me see how tall you are. "I think," says the sly fox, "that you are taller than the bear, or even the lion.
The wolf liked this flattering speech. He stood up on his two hind legs. He stretched himself so wide that every bone in his body cracked.
The fox says to him, "Hey, my wolf friend, what an idea. I'm going to get out of the pit and pull you out too.
- Foxy, don't fool around, or I'll smack you in the neck! - says the wolf. - How can you get out of here?
- Well, all right! Just let me stand on your shoulder. If I can't go out, I'll at least see what the weather's like outside.
Okay, the wolf is allowed to just stand on the shoulder of the fox. After all, the fox guy didn't need any more. He jumped off the wolf's shoulder, jumped out of the pit, and with that - oops, him, get lost! He ran away to the village, and there he sneaked around until he sneaked into a goose barn, and there he had a big party.
But he remembered the wolf man. He brought him a goose leg. He rolled over to the pit, and said, with a sad face and a sigh:
- Hey, wolf man, I've been there. I went to the village to bring you a goose. But just as I was about to go into the goose pen, and I pinched a goose, the farmer hit me, and all that was left in my mouth was this goose leg. You see, wolf man, I brought this for you too. Am I not, I am a good fellow?
- 'You're good, you're good,' says the wolf, 'but if you want to be even better, put your tail out and pull me out of here.
- Oh, my soul, my friend, I can't do that, for my weak tail would fall out of my thorns. But you might break your neck, and fall back. But I'll fetch a bough of wood, and with that I'll draw you out.
The fox runs away and brings two twigs: one stronger and one weaker. First he stretched out the weaker one, and as soon as the wolf had got hold of it, he gave it a big tug. The twig snapped in two, and the wolf fell back so far that he was limp inside it. The wolf howled in agony.
And the fox laughed so hard that the forest rang in his ears. Then he submitted the stronger branch and pulled the wolf out. When they were both out, says the fox:
- Jere, mate, to the village! Just now, as I was passing by, I saw a wedding party at a house. Come, let's have some fun, we've been sad enough.
They go into the village. They go to the wedding house. There the wedding is in full swing. The gypsies are pulling, the lads and lasses are walking. They could not have wished for a better occasion. They sneaked into the chamber, and there they fell upon all the good pork and bacon and whatnot. And even the wine-barrel. They ate and drank and danced. They couldn't have done better in the other world.
Suddenly the fox notices that while they were feasting, someone has locked the door to the pantry. He didn't say anything to the wolf to let them eat, but he looked for an iron spike and started digging in the wall.
The wolf asks:
- What are you doing, fox boy?
The fox replied:
- I smell, wolf man, that there's a hammerhead buried here. That's just the real thing.
The wolf just let him look for the hammerhead, and he kept drinking. Then he started dancing again and asked the fox to dance too. The fox was quiet enough to stop dancing and shouting, for the guests might hear and see the mockery, but the wolf was not to be trifled with. He danced, he sang, he whined. He beat his ankles and his palms together.
He's made a killing:
- Nye, dear, nye!
But the cunning fox kept turning out of his hands and digging the hole. And when he had finished the hole, he began to dance with all his heart. He howled even bigger than the wolf. And the people at the wedding heard him.
They ask each other:
- Who can be shouting out there?
One says one thing, the other says another. Then one day they all say it must be a wolf, created by such and such. Come on, let's make him dance! They're all armed, some with axes, some with rifles, some with pitchforks.
They open the chamber door. And there indeed is the wolf, still dancing, still howling madly. Ooo! The fox slips out through the hole. And the wolf follows. But the fox couldn't fit through the hole. Supp-supp! they beat him as hard as they could.
And then the wolf-man thought one thing, and he ran back out of the hole and out the door. By this time the fox had gone a long way from the village, and as he walked along the road, he looked back and saw a cart coming after him, full to the brim with fish. He takes hold of himself and lies down in the middle of the road, closes his eyes, stretches himself out as if he were dead.
The carriage arrives, the owner sees the dead fox, picks it up and throws it on the roof of the carriage. That's all the fox needed. While the man was walking quietly, he was passing by the oxen, and he ran into the fish. He had a good time and caught a lot more fish.
He jumped off the car and rolled off in another direction. He hadn't gone a good chase before the wolf came up to him, with a broken waist and a sad face.
- Come on, fox, you're giving me up!
- "What, you're still talking," the fox snapped, "didn't I tell you not to shout so much?!
- True, true!" said the wolf.
They made up, made great friends again, and moved on. Yes, but the wolf sees all the fish by the fox and asks him:
- Where did you catch all these fish, fox boy?
- Where? In the water, wolf man.
- How did you catch it?
- How is it? Well, I fished.
- Come on, fox, teach me how to fish.
- Now, that's not much of a skill. You go to the ice. You stick your dick in a hole. And when the fish get cold, you pull it out.
They go to the ice. There they are about to find a leak. The wolf sticks his tail in. He sits there for a while and then he wants to pull it out, because he feels it's heavy. Oh, yeah! It was hard because it was freezing.
- Wolfie, don't pull it out yet, wait until there are more people on it. When his tail was frozen, the fox encouraged him:
- Now, my dear fellow, pull!
- I'd pull, mate, I'd pull, but I can't.
- 'That's good,' says the fox, 'there must be lots of fish on it. Well, go on, man, pull as hard as you can!
The poor wolf was moaning loudly, sweat dripping from him. But he just couldn't pull his tail out.
- "Wow, who's got a blessing," says the fox, "you're in trouble, mate! God forbid your tail should be frozen to the ground.
- Oh, oh, oh," the wolf howled, "what shall I do, what shall I do?!
- Tell you what, wolf man, I'll chew your tail off.
- "But I will not allow it," said the wolf, "I would rather die.
- Very well, mate, I can't help you otherwise, God bless you!
No sooner had the fox gone than women came out onto the ice with clothes to wash the chairs. They see the wolf from far away, they shout to see if it will run away. But the wolf didn't run away. They go closer and see that it is frozen to death.
But now the women are getting brave. They come and beat the wolf with their stools and their whistles. But even the wolf did not take this for a joke. He sprang at him with all his strength, and with his tail in the ice, and with that - ouch, to him! - he ran away as if he had been taken for an eye.
Meanwhile, the fox was crossing bushes and ditches, and as he went, he came to a pit. This pit was full of possums, and the fox took hold of himself, and lay down in it, and was so well rolled up that his hair was not visible from his many white possums. Then he stretched out as if he had been beaten to death.
The wolf is walking by, sees the fox and asks:
- What's got into you, fox boy?
- Don't ask me, wolf man, can't you see that all my bones are so broken that they're sticking out of my fur.
- "Well," says the wolf, very sadly, "I've left my tail in the leak.
And Foxy moaned bitterly:
- Oh, my bones, my bones, but they would break!
The foolish wolf was heartbroken. He told him:
- "Well, don't cry, fox, let's go, we'll hide somewhere in the woods, lie down and get well.
But the fox man just kept moaning and wailing:
- Oh, my soul, my friend, my wolf friend, I'd go, but I can't.
- Okay, okay, I'll drive.
- But when I can't even stand on my feet.
- Well, if you can't, get on my back and I'll give you a lift.
He put the fox on his back and carried it with great bitterness. As the wolf walked, the fox began to say quietly to himself:
- Vert viszen veretlent, vert viszen veretlent.
The wolf turns his head back and asks:
- What are you whispering to yourself, fox boy?
- I said unbeaten takes beating, unbeaten takes beating.
"Well," thinks the wolf to himself, "my ears must have been ringing, and I didn't hear right." But he hardly goes on, the fox says to himself again:
- Vert viszen veretlent, vert viszen veretlent.
The wolf turns back again and asks:
- What are you whispering to yourself, fox boy?
- I kept saying to myself, wolf man: unbeaten beaten, unbeaten beaten.
- But such and such a creature," roared the wolf, "I heard everything right, you've made a fool of me again!
And with that, he threw the fox off his back so that it clung to him.
- Eb be your comrade, do you hear, I'll no more!
But the great friendship and the comradeship were over. They had a nasty fight. Then one went right and the other left. Ever since then the proverb has been told: he played like a fox at being a good guy.
(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale- and mythology Volume 2)
