“Well, your greed caught you here, but at least you’re alive,” sighed Cheese-eater.
“Cheese-eater dear, what did you use to say – ‘please’ doesn’t bow and ‘thank you’ doesn’t bend its back?” asked Vovka suddenly.
“Yes, that’s right,” agreed Cheese-eater. “But why are you asking?”
“Because we are in a fairy-tale forest!”
“Well, of course we are, so what?”
“And in this forest everything is from a fairy-tale, right?” continued Vovka.
“That’s true as well,” said Cheese-eater, beginning to understand what Vovka had on his mind.
“So, that means that all the trees are alive and understand everything. And if you ask them well, they’ll set the Wolf free.”
“They’ll never do that,” grumbled the Wolf. “You’d better talk business instead of nonsense. I don’t believe they will free me only if we ask them for it.”
“But that’s exactly what we should do!” assured him Vovka. “We’ll ask them well, and they’ll let you go.”
“I’ve never seen such things happening,” insisted the Wolf.
“And yet they do happen!” exclaimed Cheese-eater. “You don’t believe in good things, that’s it. But one can move a mountain, if he only believes. There are kind people in the world. And kind trees as well.” Cheese-eater stepped beside, bowed and started talking with her muzzle up, “Father Forest, Mother Earth and your children, Trees! You are masters here and we are only guests. You treated us well, but still there is no place like home. Will you please set this senseless Wolf free? He’s got in this trap because of his own foolishness. Of course, if the Wolf is in the trap, everybody will be only glad. It will be peaceful in the forest without his mischief. Young Hares can play without caution, a strong Elk doesn’t expect to be attacked, and neither do the seven Kids and their mother. All the birds and animals are glad that the Wolf is in the trap. But in a garden everything grows, and the Wolf has his own place in our forest. He hadn’t been brought up somewhere else; he had been growing here, among us.”
Listening to Cheese-eater’s words, the Wolf burst into tears.
“Nobody loves me, nobody cares! Woe-oh-oh!”
“Stop howling!” The Wolf was getting on Cheese-eater’s nerves again. “What do you want them to love you for, for all your mischief? Your first task is for forgiveness to ask.”
“It’s easier to say than to do. I’ve never asked anyone for forgiveness in my whole life, also had no pity for anyone.”
