Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Zaineba Abibeker Deremo

Once the hyena and the fox went to search for a house. The hyena got a big house and the fox got one with many holes.

The fox said, “When the lion comes where can you escape? But I can escape through the holes.”

So the hyena begged her to exchange houses. They did so. She locked her house and sat down inside. Then the lion came and the hyena chased the lion away.

Again the hyena and fox met.

“Let us search for food,” they said, and started going.

The hyena caught a fat ox, the fox caught a donkey full of parasites.

Fox said, “Look, my donkey has so much fat it is dropping out, but there is no fat dropping from yours. Let’s exchange.”

So they exchanged.

They met again and searched for a knife. The hyena found a knife and the fox found a feather.

The fox said, “You have a knife, but if it’s broken, you can’t slaughter anything. But I can easily get another feather. Let’s exchange.”

So they exchanged.

The fox killed with his knife, but the hyena couldn’t.

“I can’t kill the donkey with this feather,” says the hyena. “Can you slaughter it?”

The fox hides the knife under the feather so the hyena only sees the feather and slaughters the donkey. They both eat.

They went and sat in the road. In the road they saw a camel carrying honey and butter.

The fox begged the persons going with the camel: “I’m tired. Put me on the back of the camel.”

So they did.

The fox ate the butter and the honey and she peed inside the butter and honey gourds and filled them.

Then she said, “Here’s my house. Put me down.”

So they put her down.

Then they went into the market to sell their butter and honey and they put down the gourds. When they opened them, it smelled.

The customer said, “What is this? It smells bad!”

The camel men said, “We took the fox and gave her a ride, because she begged us, and then she arrived at her house and we put her down.”

So they called all the foxes together without forgetting any of them and put them in a row and told them to jump so they would know, since the one who ate would be too full to jump. And every fox jumped except for the guilty fox and they caught her and tied her up and they went away, planning to come and whip her later.

Then the hyena came and said, “What happened to you? Why are you tied up here?”

The fox said, “I don’t want butter and honey, and I said this and they tied me up.”

So the hyena said, “Let me loose you and tie me up.”

When the merchants came they began to whip the hyena.

He said, “Stop! Stop!”

“Why? Why are you here?”

“The fox told me I could get butter and honey and I told her to tie me up.”

The fox was up on top of a tree and she said (in Oromiffaa) “Don’t whip his eyes, don’t whip his ears, but whip her in another place.”

So they whipped the hyena. Then the hyena’s meat was removed and they let him go. He went to his house. When he came there his children saw him, “Oh! Our father brought us flesh," and ate him.

The foolishness of the hyena makes him lose his life.