The tale of Masha and the Bear tells how a little girl named Masha saved herself by tricking a wicked bear. One day she decided to go pick berries in the forest so that she could make her grandparents some little pastries called "pirozhki," which she could bake very well. Unfortunately, she went to far into the forest, lost her way, and couldn't get back home. Soon she saw a house and decided to enter it. She didn't know it was very dangerous and that a terrible bear lived in that house. The beast made Masha stay and clean and cook for him. It was a hard time for Masha, who missed her grandparents sorely.
But Masha was a cunning girl and she devised a plan. She asked the bear to deliver to her grandparents a big bag with dozens of pirozhki that she had baked. Masha told the bear where her grandparents lived in the village, and told him that she would climb the highest tree in the forest to make sure he brought them all the way and that he didn't once look in the basket. Bear agreed to all this, and Masha got the basket ready. But when it came time to put the pirozhki into the basket, she hid herself in it instead. The bear picked up the bag, and set out.
While on his way, Bear got tired, and thought to himself,
"I'll just take the weight off my feet
And have a little pie to eat!"
But Masha cried out from inside the basket,
"I can see you! I can see you!
Don't take the weight off your feet!
Don't have a little pie to eat!
Take them to grandmother!
Take them to grandfather!"
Several times this repeated, and Bear was amazed that Masha had climbed so high and could see so far. But her plan worked--he never once looked in the basket, and he left it near the grandparents' house and went away. Soon the happy grandparents found their dear girl in that bag, and they lived happily to this day.
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