One summer, the wolf and the bear went for a walk in the forest. The bear heard a very beautiful song and asked the wolf:
- What kind of bird sings so beautifully?
- "That's the king of the birds," said the wolf, but it was the ox's eye.
- All right, but I want to see the royal palace where the king lives.
- That's not so easy," said the wolf. - We'll have to wait until the queen comes home.
Soon the king and queen came with food in their beaks to feed their chicks. The bear wanted to go straight away, but the wolf stopped him.
- Wait until they leave again.
They noted where the nest was and moved on. But the bear had no rest, he was anxious to see the castle, and soon he was back again. Just then the king and queen flew out. The bear peeped into the nest and saw about six cubs.
- "Is this the royal castle?" he asked in great anger. "It is a miserable hovel! And you are royal children? Common children!
The bullfinches heard this and started shouting terribly:
- We are not ordinary kids! You're gonna get it, bear boy!
The bear got scared and went back to his den.
Soon the king and queen came home again, bringing food for the chicks, but they did not reach for the food. They said they wouldn't touch a fly's tongue if they starved to death, not until they proved to the bear that they were no ordinary cubs. And they told what the bear told them.
Their mother said:
- Do not grieve, my chicks! We'll straighten this out and teach our bear friend a lesson!
They went to the bear's den and shouted:
- Old grumpy, why did you slander our children? You'll be punished, we'll start a bloody war against you!
And they gave the bears a taste of war.
The bear immediately called all the four-legged animals to war - the ox, the donkey, the rabbit, the deer and everything else that lived on the land.
And the bull's-eye called all flies to war, not just birds, but all beetles, flies, mosquitoes, bees and wasps.
The most cunning of them all was the mosquito. It buzzed back and forth in the forest, and finally settled on a leaf of a tree under which the general staff was meeting.
The bear called the fox to him and said:
- Since you are the cunningest of all animals, be the leader and guide us.
- "Very well," said the fox, "but what sign shall we agree on?
Nobody said anything to that. Finally the fox said:
- My tail is long and floppy. When I raise my tail high, it means all is well, and then push forward. But when I pull it in, it's trouble, run where you can see.
As soon as the mosquito heard this, it flew back and told the bull's eye everything.
When the day of battle dawned, the four-legged creatures burst out of the forest with a terrible roar that shook the ground. The ox-eye and his army flew at them, so that the air whirred and crackled. The two armies ran at each other. The bull's-eye sent the wasp first to fly under the fox's tail and sting him good.
And so it happened. The fox took the first sting valiantly and raised his tail even higher, but at the second sting he was startled and pulled back a little. He couldn't take the third sting any more, started howling and caught his tail between his legs.
When the animals saw this, they thought all was lost and started running, each to its own den. The birds won the battle.
The bull's-eye and his wife flew home, shouting to their children from afar to rejoice because they had won the battle. But the chicks said they would not rejoice until the bear came and apologized.
The bull's eye flew to the bear's den and called out:
- Dribbling old bear, come and apologize to my children, or I'll break you!
The bear went over and apologised with great humility. Now the bullfinches were satisfied. They ate and drank happily, and merrily until morning.
It was, it was over, tale was!
(Ágnes Kovács: Folk tales for kindergarten children)
