"Good morning to you, Brother Bruin!"
"Good morning, Brother Wolf! Have you seen the fox and her husband?"
"No, Brother Bruin, I'm waiting for them myself."
"You go and call them," said the bear.
"No, I won't go, Brother Bruin. I'm too clumsy, you'd better go yourself."
"Oh no, Brother Wolf. I'm too hairy and bandy-legged, too, what use am I?"
Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a rabbit appeared. The bear and the wolf both shouted to him.
"Come here, Bunny!" He stopped short in fear and pressed his ears close to his head.
"You're pretty nimble, Bunny, and you can run fast. You run to the fox's hole and tell her that Brother Bruin and Brother Wolf are all ready; they are waiting for her and her husband, Felix Ivanovich, and want to make him a present of a sheep and a bullock."
The rabbit ran to the fox as fast as his legs would carry him. The bear and the wolf began to look for a place to hide.
"I'll climb up the pine tree," said the bear.
"Where can I go?" asked the wolf. "I can't climb trees. Hide me somewhere."
The bear hid the wolf in the bushes and covered him with dead leaves. Then he climbed to the very top of a tall pine tree and looked out to see if Felix Ivanovich and the fox were coming. In the meantime the rabbit reached the fox's hole. "Brother Bruin- and Brother Wolf sent me to say they've been waiting a long time for you and your husband, they want to make you a present of a sheep and a bullock."
"Run along, Bunny, we'll come soon."
