180. The Hyena's Grindstone

Some girls found a grindstone in an empty hut and ran to tell their mother. 
Their mother realized it must be Hyena's grinding stone. "Don't go there!" she said. "That is Hyena's grinding stone."
But they went there again, and this time they met Hyena's doorkeeper. "Grind quickly," he said, "before Hyena returns."
The girls ground their flour and left.
Hyena returned. "Who's been using my grindstone?" she snarled.
"I saw no one," said the doorkeeper.
The girls returned the next day, but Hyena ambushed them. "Who said you could grind with my stone?" 
Then Hyena killed and ate them.
[a Lango story from Uganda]



Inspired by: "The Hyena's Grindstone" in The Lango: A Nilotic Tribe of Uganda by J. H. Driberg, 1923.
Notes: You can read the original story online. In the original story, it says a "cripple" lives at the hyena's house. I wasn't really sure what to make of that, so I just referred to the hyena's doorkeeper.


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