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African Tales #17

on Oct 12, 2016

The wise Eagle and treacherous Hyena

When an animal spends most of its waking hours hundreds of kilometres above the earth looking over it all, you can quite easily see that animal knowing and understanding the realm of the ground quite well. In this tale we see how the wise Eagle helps out the other denizens of the ground.

In the early morning sun, a Hyena was slinking around looking for any little titbit he could scrounge up as a meal. As he was sniffing around, not really watching where he was going, he managed to fall into a very deep hole that had doubtless been dug by a careless pangolin. The Hyena landed on his bum with a hard thump. Now because a Hyenas back legs are so much shorter, it wasn't able to jump high enough to get out of the hole.

He started wailing and shouting in the hope that some kind soul would come and help him out of his unfortunate predicament. Lion heard the commotion from a fair distance away and knowing Hyena, though it was just bullying someone again and so paid no heed to the racket. Hyena kept calling and crying until his voice was sore and he still called more. See most of the animals had no love for the Hyena because he was always stealing their food and laughing at them from behind.

The day progressed and each animal that heard Hyena, ignored the plaintiff’s wails and pleas. That was until a kindly Baboon wandered past and was curious, maybe there was some benefit in this arrangement for the Baboon. The Hyena grew hopeful and began appealing to the Baboon to help.

05Sheldon Hooper Baboon 4 Final

Baboon was apprehensive as it also knew the treachery of Hyena, but Hyena looked so forlorn and tired that Baboon reckoned it couldn’t do too much once it was free. To compound it, Hyena was sprouting promises of safety and such that the Baboon conceded and with its long arms reached down into the hole and helped haul Hyena out. Now as soon as Hyena was free, it realised it had been in the hole all day and was still hungry from breakfast whereupon it fell upon Baboon trying to kill it.

Baboon’s cries brought down the attention of Eagle who swooped down and raked and clawed at Hyenas head and back so badly that Hyena stopped and cowered shouting out to Lion to stop hurting him. Eagle perched in a bush nearby and played this card well, using its deepest most commanding voice he shouted that the two explain why they had roused him from his sleep. Baboon immediately told the whole tale and Eagle was not impressed.

Eagle boomed at Hyena in his best angry Lion impersonation that he didn't really understand what had gone on and to do so, he would have to see exactly what happened but he would only come out of the shade of the bush when it was all as it was before he came when Baboon had found Hyena. So Hyena sheepishly crawled back into the hole and once he was at the bottom he said so. Eagle and Baboon both started roaring with laughter at Hyena who they were now going to leave down at the bottom of the hole for its sly ways.

And so they left Hyena at the bottom until after dark when other Hyenas came to help it out.

  • Blog by Sheldon Hooper (Bush Lodge Ranger)
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