It was long, long ago when the Fox and the Crane were close friends. One fine day the Fox invited the Crane to dinner with her and said to him:
«Come, buddy! Come, my dear! I’ll treat you heartily!”
And so the Crane came to the Fox for the dinner party. The Fox had cooked semolina for the dinner and smeared it over the plate. Then she served it and treated her guest.
“Help yourself to tasty dinner, my dear godfather. That was me who cooked it!”
The Crane went peck-peck with his beak, knocked and knocked but couldn’t pick even a bit of fare. The Fox kept licking the cereal until she had eaten it all.
When there’s no cereal at all, the Fox said,
«Don’t feel offended, buddy. There’s nothing more to treat you”.
«And thanks hereon, dear,” the Crane said, “now it’s your turn to visit me”.
Next day the Fox came, and the Crane made okroshka and poured in into a tall pitcher with a narrow neck and treated the fox.
“Help yourself to tasty dinner, my dear godmother. Honestly, there’s nothing more to entertain you”.
The Fox spinned around the pitcher and licked it and sniffed it but couldn’t extract even a drop of the soup. Her head wouldn’t fit the pitcher at all.
Meanwhile the Crane sucked the soup with his long bill. When everything had been eaten, he said to the Fox,
«Don’t feel offended, dear. There’s nothing more to treat you”.
The Fox got very angry as she hoped to be full up for the whole week along. So she left empty-handed.
And that was a tit for tat! So, the Fox and the Crane hadn’t been friends anymore since then.
