Like everyone else, Comrade Friendo was once a small puppy. But of course he was extraordinary from childhood. The parents of Comrade Friendo immediately realized what an exceptional son they had. They lived a poor life, so they collected everything they had and sold it, even sold home furniture, in order to send Comrade Friendo to study at school. They only left one bed and one chair to sit on it in turn.

Nowadays, thanks to Comrade Friendo, the friend of the puppies, we can all study at school for free, but back then everything was completely different.

And so one day the parents of Comrade Friendo gave him crackers and money and sent him to the city so that he could go to school and study there to glorify our country one day so that his parents would be proud of him.

The road to the city was not short, Comrade Friendo had to wade through swamps, ford rivers and sleep under the open sky. Of course, Comrade Friendo could pay the peasants who were carting flour and honey to the city to sell them at the market, and get to the city quickly and conveniently, lying on sacks of flour, but then he might not have enough money to study. Comrade Friendo wanted with all his might to fulfill the covenant of his parents, and therefore he traveled all the way on foot, although he ran out of crackers halfway and had to pick berries in the forest, and they are very tasteless.

Comrade Friendo walked to the city for two weeks, got lost several times, but always found his way by the stars and anthills, because the sloping side of the anthill always points to the south, and the Polar Star is always in the north.

In the end, Comrade Friendo got to school, gave the teacher his parents' money and became a first grader. At first, he had to sleep on the street and fish in the river to feed himself. But over time, Comrade Friendo became the best student in the class, and then began to help the teacher in exchange for a table and shelter. Life became better, but Comrade Friendo was haunted by the fact that many other puppies were not so lucky as him, and while he was in school and eating well, they had been bending their backs since childhood to earn meager feeding. Even then, Comrade Friendo realized that he would not leave it just like that. If not for the steely will of Comrade Friendo, he would have simply forgotten about his childhood promise, but he was an exceptional puppy, and when he grew up, he became an exceptional dog, and therefore he fulfilled his vow, as he had previously fulfilled the covenant of his parents.

---

Many, many years have passed. One day, Comrade Friendo, who had already become our favorite leader, returned to his village and went into the house of his old parents. He brought a huge bundle with a brand new chair. The modest parents of Comrade Friendo protested:

“Comrade son, why do we need another chair? We already have one chair, we take turns sitting on it and we are very happy with it.”

And Comrade Friendo smiled, hugged his gray-furred parents and said instructively:

“Two is much better than one!”