Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Abdul Rahman Abdulahi

A long time ago, the hyena lived in the sky. He used to howl. The donkeys heard him and prayed to God to send the hyena with the beautiful voice to earth.

But God said, “If I let him come to earth, he will eat you.”

But they said, “No, he will not eat us. Just send us the animal.”

So the hyena came to earth and the donkeys invited him to eat the grass. The hyena refused. So the donkeys asked him what he would like to eat.

He said, “I never eat anything except meat.”

So the donkeys gathered round and began to discuss the problem, and decided to give him an old donkey for his feed.

A little while later the hyena said he was hungry, so they cut off all their ears and gave him all their ears.

One day, while they were living like this, the hyena’s relatives died and the hyena asked them to come to his house and mourn with them. All the donkeys went to the hyena’s house.

But the donkeys didn’t have anything to offer the hyena and they asked him what he wanted them to do. So they decided to cut off their lips, so he could cook them and eat them.

The hyena saw their teeth and he was angry and said, “How dare you laugh while I am mourning?”

The donkeys were frightened and ran away. He chased some and ate them and from that day they became enemies.