The Donkeys went to the funeral of the Hyena's son, using the occasion to make peace. "O Hyena-Who-Howls, Hyena-of-the-White-Dung!" the Donkeys lamented. "How could the son of such a great creature be dead?"
"Such a beautiful lament!" sang the Hyena. "But I'm hungry, we're all hungry, and we have nothing to eat."
"God comfort you," said the Donkeys, turning to run, but a Hyena at the door said, "We'll eat your upper lips!"
So they ate the Donkeys' lips.
Then another Hyena said, "They've just come to mock the dead," and with that excuse, the Hyenas ate all the Donkeys.
Inspired by: "The Hyena’s Lips" in Ethiopian Folktales collected by Elizabeth Laird (website).
Notes: You can read the original story online. The storyteller is Magabi Enyew Gessesse. See the original for the verses that the animals sing. More about the hyena's white dung: Hyenas and the Desert Soil.
No comments:
Post a Comment