: A wolf kills and robbers all his life in order to get food for himself and his family. By old age, he understands that killing is bad, but he cannot live otherwise, so he decides to end his life by surrendering to hunters.

The wolf is the most cruel predator living in temperate and northern climates.

However, not by his own will he is so cruel, but because he has a tricky build: he can eat nothing but meat.

A wolf can get meat only in one way - by killing a living creature. But nobody wants to die, therefore, the one who is stronger is beaten off from him, and the one who is weaker will be protected by others. Often the wolf has to go hungry, walk with rumpled sides, and then he howls so that "with every living creature, out of fear and longing, the soul leaves its heels." And the she-wolf howls even more sadly, because she has wolves, which have nothing to feed.

All animals hate the wolf, called a robber and a murderer. Guys hunt him, they dig wolf pits, set traps, and the wolf is to blame only for the fact that he cannot live otherwise.

And yet there was one wolf who, by old age, began to realize that "there is something amiss in his life."In his youth, he robbed day and night and never went hungry: either a flock of sheep would be slaughtered, he would kill a forester, or he would steal a child — and everything got away with it. The whole forest cursed him, and from this he “became a lute and a lute”. So, when he was robbery, he lived to see the years when wolves are called “inveterate,” he became a little heavier, but he did not stop robbing.

Once he accidentally fell into the clutches of a bear by Mikhailo Ivanovich Toptygin. He did not like wolves, because they often attacked him with a whole flock, spoiled the skin. The bear began to find out if the wolf has a conscience. He vowed that you can’t live a single day without a conscience, but he only needs to eat something and the wolf cubs feed him, and he can only eat meat. It’s good for the bear - he will lie down and the honey, and eat berries, and oats will shake, and in winter he has enough legs. But the wolf needs to get food all year round, and one cannot do without murder. The bear thought and released the wolf on all four sides.

The most unfortunate you are a beast ... I can’t judge you, even though I know that I take a lot of souls of sin, letting you go ... If I were you, I would not only cherish life, but would bless death for myself!

Finally, old age came to the wolf, he became not so strong and agile, and even a man had a bruised back on his back. Now the wolf could not catch a hare, nor take a sheep from the herd, sat in the den and howled from hunger.

Once the wolf was lucky - he managed to fire a lamb from the herd. Usually the sheep are silently waiting for death, and this lamb suddenly began plaintively asking the wolf to let him go to his mother. The wolf recalled the words of the bear, he let go of the lamb and wandered into the lair, so as to reflect carefully.

With his mind, the wolf understood that without killing and robbery he would die a starvation, but in his ears he thundered: “Damned! murderer! live-bearer! ”

Suppose he is unjustly cursed, unreasonable: he does not rob him of his own will, but how not to curse him! How many beasts he killed in his lifetime! how many women, men are destitute, for the whole life miserable!

It can be seen that the bear turned out to be right, and the wolf could only put his hands on himself, but the beast cannot do this. For many years these thoughts tormented the wolf, but hunger still forced him to kill.

Finally, fate took pity on him - hunters appeared in that forest, raided the wolf, and he no longer tried to break free and went out, bowing his head, to meet the "death-deliverer."