The Wolf turned out to be a very resourceful fellow.
Since he figured out that village wells look like zeros, the Wolf began covering them with stolen pictures.
And all who took water from the wells started to believe that this water now solved the forest dwellers’ demographic problem, despite their tendency toward excessive drinking.
The wells became objects of prayer just like the melting snow.
But time passed, those who prayed to snow and crossed themselves with the sign of zero when a black cat crossed the road were very modern animals from a scientific point of view.
They all grazed on social media, where the Wolf provided the latest news on fashion and global trends.
It told not only where to stick stolen pictures, but also offered free access to all stolen content.
On social media, giraffes posted photos of how they were vacationing at the North Pole,
and polar bears boasted about eating bananas in Africa and swimming daily in rented pools in the Bahamas.
Faith in the zeros helped the Wolf convince everyone, that he regulated the balance between eaters (those who eat others) and the eaten animals.
Gradually, the Church of the Golden Freezer moved online and began preaching zero-grace.
Red Riding Hood was also a very modern girl, because she had developed a small hump on her neck from writing during PE class and constantly reading on her phone.
So the Gray Wolf was really counting on the support of this smart girl.
But since Red Riding Hood consulted with her mom and dad, the Church of the Golden Freezer online began to lose money, and the congregation quickly thinned out.
The Gray Wolf began to suspect Red Riding Hood’s negative influence and started preaching about the Great Unity.
But since Red Riding Hood was no longer in the Church of the Virtual Freezer, the Gray Wolf decided to ask his influential friend, Sharik, for help.
He was just an ordinary village dog.
A bit silly and fond of a good meal.
Due to old age, his mind had grown a bit dull, but he decided to look modern, so he too got himself a hump on his neck from constantly using his gadget.
The village youth grew fond of Sharik, who were supporting the Church of Stolen Pictures.
The dog received a mission from the Gray Wolf to provide spiritual support to Red Riding Hood, and if possible — to her parents as well.
This way, the affairs of the Church of Stolen Pictures could be improved.
One day, the dog Sharik asked Red Riding Hood: “Girl! Why did you stop subscribing to our chats and groups of global brotherhood?”
To this, Red Riding Hood humbly replied:
“Have you watched the cartoon ‘Once Upon a Dog’?”
“Of course I have!” said Sharik.
“Well then. ‘Once lived’ and ‘was’ — those are past tense verbs”.
When Sharik heard Red Riding Hood’s answer, even his dark sunglasses began to vibrate.
Nevertheless, he passed the answer on to the Gray Wolf, and the two of them began thinking how to bark more frighteningly.
