In the vast expanse of the African savanna, where the red earth stretched endlessly beneath a sky painted in eternal blue, there lived a hyena whose industrious nature was matched only by his love for the sweet treasures that grew beneath the soil. This particular hyena had discovered the art of cultivation, and his pride and joy was a magnificent field of peanuts that he had tended with the devotion of a mother caring for her children.
From the first planting season, Hyena had poured his heart into this agricultural masterpiece. Each morning, as the golden sun crested the horizon and painted the grasslands in shades of amber and fire, he would lumber out to his field with vessels of precious water drawn from the distant river. Drop by precious drop, he nourished the tiny green shoots that pushed their way through the rich, dark soil with the determination of life itself seeking light.
As the seasons turned and the rains came and went, Hyena’s dedication never wavered. His massive paws, more accustomed to scavenging and hunting, learned the delicate art of weeding, carefully removing every unwanted plant that dared compete with his beloved peanuts for space and nutrients. He watched over his crop like a sentinel, his yellow eyes constantly scanning for threats from insects, birds, or any other creature that might dare to disturb his agricultural paradise.
Also read: The Hyena, the Hare, and the Holly
The reward for his patience and hard work was beyond his wildest dreams. As harvest time approached, the field had transformed into a sea of thick, emerald green plants whose leaves rustled in the warm breeze like whispered promises of abundance. Beneath the surface, hidden in the dark, fertile earth, lay countless peanuts plump and sweet beyond imagination. The nuts were so fat and numerous that they promised to sustain Hyena through the entire dry season and beyond, a treasure trove that made his heart swell with pride and anticipation.
But success, as the wise elders often warned, has a way of attracting unwanted attention. In this case, that attention came from none other than Hare, the notorious trickster whose reputation for mischief and cunning stretched across the entire savanna like the shadow of a great baobab tree at midday.
Hare’s love for peanuts bordered on obsession. The very thought of their sweet, nutty flavor could make his mouth water and his whiskers twitch with desire. When word reached his keen ears about Hyena’s magnificent crop, his bright, intelligent eyes began to gleam with the kind of calculating interest that spelled trouble for honest, hardworking creatures everywhere.
Night after night, when the moon hung like a silver coin in the star studded sky and the world was wrapped in the deep silence of African darkness, Hare would creep through the tall grass toward Hyena’s field. His movements were silent as shadow, his paws barely disturbing the earth as he made his way to the edge of the plantation. There, surrounded by the intoxicating scent of ripe peanuts, he would begin his nightly feast of theft.
With practiced efficiency, Hare’s nimble paws would dig into the soft soil, unearthing the choicest, fattest peanuts with the skill of a master harvester. He would crack them open with his sharp teeth, savoring their sweet flavor while his bright eyes kept constant watch for any sign of danger. When his belly was full and his cheeks bulged with stolen treasure, he would skip away through the grassland, his soft laughter carried on the night breeze like the sound of distant music.
Morning after morning, Hyena would trudge out to inspect his precious field, only to discover mysterious gaps where his finest plants had been. At first, his simple mind sought innocent explanations for the disappearing crop. Perhaps the wind had been particularly strong during the night, uprooting some of the plants. Maybe birds had discovered his field and were taking their share of the bounty. These things happened in the natural world, and a wise farmer learned to accept such losses as part of the cycle of growth and harvest.
But as days passed and the mysterious disappearances continued with alarming regularity, Hyena’s confusion began to transform into suspicion, and suspicion slowly kindled into the burning flame of righteous anger. His keen predator instincts, honed by countless seasons of survival on the harsh savanna, began to detect signs that no bird or wind could have left behind.
“This is no accident,” he growled one morning, his deep voice rumbling like distant thunder as he surveyed the latest damage to his field. “No natural force works with such precision, taking only the finest plants and leaving the rest undisturbed. Someone a clever, sneaking thief is robbing me of my honest labor. But who would dare steal from a hyena’s field?”
Determination blazed in Hyena’s yellow eyes as he formulated a plan worthy of his predatory heritage. He would catch this thief red pawed, and when he did, justice would be swift and memorable. Working with the focused intensity of a hunter preparing for the most important chase of his life, Hyena gathered strong vines and twisted them into rope with his powerful jaws. He crafted a snare so cunningly designed that even the most agile creature would find escape impossible once caught in its embrace.
As the sun began to set, painting the sky in brilliant shades of orange and crimson, Hyena positioned his trap at the very edge of his field, right along the path where the mysterious footprints seemed to enter and exit his plantation. Then, with the patience that had made his species legendary survivors, he concealed himself among the tall grass and settled down to wait for his tormentor to arrive.
The night was particularly dark, with clouds drifting across the moon like veils of silk, creating the perfect conditions for secretive mischief. Sure enough, as the deepest hours of darkness settled over the land, Hare came creeping through the grassland with his characteristic confidence, humming a soft tune under his breath as he anticipated another night of delicious theft.
His bright eyes sparkled with anticipation as he approached the edge of Hyena’s field, his nose twitching at the tantalizing aroma of ripe peanuts that seemed to call his name on the night breeze. But his usual caution had been dulled by weeks of successful raids, and he failed to notice the subtle signs that would have warned a more careful creature of impending danger.
The moment Hare’s nimble paws touched the hidden trigger of Hyena’s snare, the trap sprang into action with the speed and precision of a striking serpent. The twisted rope tightened around his hind legs like living chains, and no matter how frantically he twisted, pulled, and struggled, he found himself held as securely as if he had been carved from stone.
As the first pale light of dawn began to chase away the darkness, Hyena emerged from his hiding place with the satisfied stride of a hunter whose patience has finally been rewarded. His massive form seemed to materialize from the morning mist like a spirit of vengeance, and his yellow eyes blazed with triumph as he approached his captured prey.
“Aha!” Hyena’s roar of satisfaction echoed across the grassland like thunder rolling over distant hills. “So you are the sneaking thief who has been stealing my peanuts, robbing me of the fruits of my honest labor! Today, clever Hare, your tricks and schemes have finally caught up with you. Today, you will pay the price for your greed and deception!”
Hare dangled helplessly from the snare, his heart racing with fear but his clever mind already working at lightning speed to find some escape from his predicament. Even in this moment of apparent doom, the legendary trickster refused to surrender to despair. His bright eyes darted back and forth as he calculated possibilities, weighed options, and searched for the one slim chance that might save him from Hyena’s justified wrath.
“Please, great Hyena,” Hare began, his voice trembling with what appeared to be genuine terror, “I know I have wronged you terribly, and I accept that punishment must come. Do whatever you wish to me beat me, starve me, throw me to the vultures but I beg you, by all that is sacred, do not throw me into the fire!”
Hyena’s lips pulled back in a savage grin that revealed teeth like ivory daggers gleaming in the morning light. Fire! Why hadn’t he thought of it before? What could be more fitting than to roast this thief like the very peanuts he had stolen?
“Oh, the fire!” Hyena exclaimed, his voice filled with dark delight. “That is exactly where I will throw you, peanut thief. You will roast and crackle like your stolen feast, and your ashes will fertilize the very field you have violated!”
But Hare shook his head with desperate urgency, his large ears flapping as he gestured toward his own face with one free paw.
“You don’t understand, mighty Hyena,” he said, his voice dropping to an urgent whisper. “Fire cannot harm me, for I was born in its very heart! Look at my eyes see how they burn red like living coals? These crimson orbs were given to me at the moment of my birth, when I emerged from the sacred flames themselves. Fire is not my enemy it is my home, my heritage, my very essence!”
Hyena paused in his preparations for revenge, his predatory instincts suddenly alert to this unexpected information. Looking closely at Hare’s face for the first time, he could indeed see that the trickster’s eyes glowed with an unusual reddish light, like embers in a dying campfire. Could there be truth in this strange claim?
“If you cast me into the flames,” Hare continued, his voice growing stronger with apparent confidence, “I will not scream in agony as you expect. Instead, I will laugh with joy and dance among the tongues of fire like a spirit returning to its natural element. The flames will caress me like a mother’s gentle touch, and I will emerge unharmed and more powerful than ever!”
Doubt began to creep into Hyena’s mind like shadows at twilight. If fire truly could not harm this trickster, then his planned revenge would become nothing more than an embarrassing failure, a spectacle that would make him the laughingstock of every creature on the savanna.
But then Hare’s voice dropped to a whisper of genuine terror, and his eyes grew wide with unmistakable fear as he glanced toward a patch of tall, dry grass that grew near the edge of the field.
“But please, merciful Hyena,” he pleaded, his voice barely audible above the morning breeze, “I implore you by everything you hold dear, do not throw me into that tall grass over there. I beg you with all my heart anything, anything but that terrible fate!”
Hare’s body began to tremble violently as he stared at the innocent looking grass, and his voice cracked with what sounded like absolute terror.
“The sharp blades would slice through my tender skin like a thousand knives,” he whispered, his words painting a vivid picture of imagined agony. “The dry stems would tangle around my limbs and hold me fast while they slowly tore me apart piece by piece. It would be a death too horrible to imagine, too painful to endure. Please, great Hyena, show mercy to a defeated enemy!”
Now Hyena was certain he had found the perfect punishment. If this clever trickster, who claimed to be immune to fire, trembled with such obvious terror at the thought of being thrown into grass, then grass it would be! Justice would be served, and the thief would finally receive the fate he so richly deserved.
With a grunt of satisfaction, Hyena lifted Hare from the snare and, ignoring the trickster’s desperate pleas and apparent terror, hurled him with all his considerable strength directly into the center of the thick, dry grass patch.
But the moment Hare’s body touched the soft grass, his expression of terror transformed into one of pure joy and triumph. He landed lightly on his feet, gave a playful bound that carried him clear of Hyena’s reach, and turned to face his former captor with eyes sparkling with mischief and delight.
“Thank you, dear Hyena!” Hare called out, his voice ringing with laughter as sweet as birdsong at dawn. “Thank you for setting me free and delivering me to safety! Your kindness knows no bounds, and I shall never forget your generous mercy!”
With that declaration of mock gratitude, Hare sprang away through the grassland with the speed of lightning striking earth, his laughter echoing behind him like music as he disappeared into the vast expanse of the savanna. Within moments, he had vanished completely, leaving only the sound of his joyful voice carried on the morning breeze.
Hyena stood frozen in stunned disbelief for several heartbeats, his mind struggling to process what had just occurred. Then, as the full magnitude of his deception became clear, he began to stamp his massive paws against the earth in frustrated rage, his roars of anger and embarrassment rolling across the grassland like thunder from a storm that would never bring rain.
“Tricked again!” he howled, his voice filled with the bitter taste of defeat. “That sly, scheming Hare has fooled me once more! His silver tongue and clever lies have turned my moment of triumph into a festival of humiliation!”
And so the story spread across the savanna, carried by the wind and whispered among the creatures of the grassland, a testament to the truth that even the mightiest predator can be outwitted by quick thinking and clever words, and that the trickster’s greatest weapon is not strength or speed, but the ability to turn an enemy’s own assumptions against them.
The Moral Lesson
This classic African trickster tale teaches us that quick thinking and clever words can triumph over brute force, but also reveals the double edged nature of deception. While Hare’s wit saves him from immediate punishment, his original crime of theft shows how cleverness without morality leads to trouble. The story demonstrates that assumptions can be dangerous Hyena’s belief that Hare feared what he claimed to fear led to his own downfall. It reminds us that true intelligence involves not just cunning escape from consequences, but making wise choices that avoid creating problems in the first place.
Knowledge Check
Q1: What crop did Hyena plant and tend in this African trickster folktale? A: Hyena planted a great field of peanuts that he carefully watered, weeded, and watched grow until harvest time when the ground was full of fat, sweet peanuts that would have lasted him all season.
Q2: How did Hare steal from Hyena’s peanut field in this story? A: Hare would sneak into Hyena’s plantation night after night, dig up the fattest peanuts, fill his belly with them, and skip away laughing, leaving Hyena to wonder why his crop kept shrinking mysteriously.
Q3: What trap did Hyena set to catch the peanut thief? A: Hyena built a strong snare from twisted ropes and set it at the edge of his peanut field. When Hare crept in that night to steal peanuts, the snare tightened around his legs and he could not get free.
Q4: How did Hare convince Hyena not to throw him into the fire? A: Hare claimed he was born in the fire and pointed to his red eyes as proof, saying that flames were his home and he would laugh and dance in the fire rather than be harmed by it, making Hyena believe fire would not hurt him.
Q5: What did Hare pretend to fear in order to escape from Hyena? A: Hare pretended to be terrified of being thrown into the tall grass, claiming the sharp blades would slice through his skin and tear him apart, when actually the grass was exactly where he wanted to be thrown to escape safely.
Q6: What does this African folktale teach about the power of clever deception? A: This story shows that quick thinking and clever words can overcome physical power, but it also demonstrates that making wrong assumptions can lead to being deceived. It teaches that while wit can help escape consequences, the original wrongdoing still creates problems that require such desperate measures.
Source: retold from The Multicoloured Dairy
