“It was Tante Hyena that Jakhals cheated more than anyone else,” Outa Karel began, shaking his head with a mixture of amusement and pity. His wrinkled face crinkled even more as he settled into his tale. “She always forgot about the last time he had played a trick on her, so she was quite ready to believe him when he came along with yet another story. Some people are like that, my baasjes. Perhaps it’s kindness that makes them so trusting, perhaps it’s only stupidness, outa doesn’t know for certain. But Brown Sister, she never learned.”
The old storyteller paused, letting his words sink in, then continued with renewed energy.
“One day, Jakhals and Hyena were out walking together across the veld under the wide blue sky. The sun was warm on their backs, and they were moving along companionably enough, when suddenly a white cloud came drifting up from behind the distant kopjes. It floated low over the veld, coming closer and closer until it hovered quite near to where they walked.
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“Now this was no ordinary cloud, my baasjes. It was a beautiful, thick cloud dense and substantial, looking for all the world just like pure white fat, the kind that farmers render down from sheep’s tails. Jakhals, always quick to spot an opportunity, studied it with his clever eyes gleaming.
“Before Hyena quite understood what was happening, Jakhals had scrambled up and climbed right onto the cloud! There he sat, perched on its soft, billowing surface, looking down over the edge at her with the most satisfied expression on his pointed face. Then, as she watched in amazement, he leaned forward and bit pieces right out of the cloud, chewing them with evident pleasure.
“‘Arré! But this white fat is delicious,’ he declared loudly, smacking his lips. ‘N-yum, n-yum, n-yum!’ And he chewed his way around the edge of the cloud just like a hungry caterpillar chews methodically around the edge of a tender leaf.
“Hyena stood below, looking up at him with growing hunger. She licked her lips repeatedly as she watched him eat, her mouth watering at the thought of such a wonderful treat. The cloud did look remarkably like fat, and Jakhals seemed to be enjoying it so thoroughly!
“‘Throw me down some, please, Grey Brother,’ she begged, her voice plaintive with desire.
“‘Ach! My dear Brown Sister,’ replied Jakhals with exaggerated generosity, ‘will I then be so selfish and greedy as to throw you down just little bits and pieces? That would be most unkind! No, no, wait until I climb down, and then I’ll help you up properly so you can eat your fill for yourself. You’ll enjoy it much more that way. But come, stand a little nearer so that you can catch me when I jump down.’
“So Hyena, trusting as always, positioned herself carefully below him and stood ready with her arms outstretched. Jakhals gathered himself, took aim, and jumped but in such a cunning way that he knocked her completely off balance and sent her tumbling backward into the sand. He landed soft and comfortable on top, cushioned by her body, but foei! Poor Hyena had all the breath knocked violently out of her lungs, and she lay there gasping and covered from head to tail in thick dust.
“‘Ach! But I am so clumsy!’ said Jakhals, shaking his head as if deeply disappointed in himself. ‘Please forgive me, Brown Sister. But never mind, I’m down safely now, so let me help you up, and then we’ll get you onto that cloud.’
“So when she had finally struggled to her feet and dusted herself off, still wheezing slightly, he helped her climb carefully onto the soft, floating cloud. There she sat in triumph, feeling very pleased with herself, biting off pieces of the cloud and eating them with great satisfaction. ‘N-yum, n-yum, n-yum! It really is just like the finest white fat!’ she called down happily.
“She ate and ate until her belly was pleasantly full. After quite some time had passed, she called out contentedly, ‘Grey Brother, I’ve had quite enough now. I want to come down. Please stand ready and catch me when I jump, just as I caught you.’
“‘Ach, certainly, Brown Sister, of course I will!’ Jakhals called back cheerfully. ‘Come on, then. Just see how nicely I’ll catch you. I’m ready so-o-o.’ He held out his arms in what appeared to be a firm, reliable catching position.
“Hyena trusted him completely. She positioned herself at the edge of the cloud, took a deep breath, and jumped confidently toward his waiting arms.
“But just as she launched herself into the air, Jakhals sprang suddenly to one side with remarkable agility, calling out in apparent distress, ‘Ola! Ola! A thorn has pricked my foot! A terrible sharp thorn! What shall I do? What shall I do?’ And he hopped about frantically, holding one leg up as if in excruciating pain, making a great show of his suffering.
“Woops! Down fell poor Brown Sister through empty air, with nothing and no one to break her fall. As she plummeted toward the hard ground, she desperately put out her left hind leg to try to save herself from the worst of the impact. But the leg doubled up awkwardly beneath her with a sickening crunch, nearly breaking under the force, and she collapsed in a painful bundle in the sand.
“‘My leg is cracked! My leg is cracked!’ she cried out in agony, writhing in the dust and clutching at her injured limb.
“Jakhals came hobbling over very, very slowly jump, jump, jump on three legs, keeping one paw held carefully up in the air. Surely that imaginary thorn that wasn’t really there at all was causing him the most terrible suffering!
“‘Oo! Oo!’ cried Hyena desperately, tears streaming down her dusty face. ‘Help me up, Grey Brother. My leg is broken, I cannot walk!’
“‘And mine has this dreadful thorn stuck deep in it,’ Jakhals replied with a great sigh of shared misery. ‘Foei toch, my poor sister! It’s a terrible situation. But tell me how can the sick help the sick? How can the injured assist the injured? We’re both in such bad condition! The only sensible plan is for each of us to get home in the best way we can manage. I’m very sorry, but I must think of myself and my own injury. Good-bye, Brown Sister, and I promise I will visit you tomorrow to see if you are recovering all right.’
“And off he went jump, jump, jump on three legs moving very slowly and painfully as long as he remained in sight. But as soon as Old Brown Sister could no longer see him through her tears of pain, he immediately put down that fourth leg and sh-h-h-h, he shot like an arrow across the veld! He raced home at top speed and arrived just in time to enjoy a delicious supper of plump young ducks that Mrs. Jakhals and the children had cleverly caught at Oubaas van Niekerk’s dam.
“But poor Brown Sister lay alone in the sand for a long, long time, crying bitterly over her sore places and her injured leg. And from that day forward, she has walked with a noticeable limp, dragging that left hind foot, because it became smaller and weaker than the right one and never properly healed.
“So you see, my baasjes, that is why, if you watch a hyena walking today, you will notice that it limps on its left hind leg. It is all because of Jakhals and his wicked trick with the cloud that looked like white fat.”
Moral Lesson
This tale serves as a cautionary warning about the dangers of being too trusting and failing to learn from past experiences. Hyena’s kindness or naivety made her vulnerable to repeated deception by the same trickster. The story teaches that while kindness is admirable, wisdom requires us to recognize patterns of behavior and protect ourselves from those who exploit our good nature. It also illustrates how tricksters often feign concern and create elaborate excuses to avoid responsibility for the harm they cause. The physical consequence Hyena’s permanent limp serves as an eternal reminder that some betrayals leave lasting scars.
Knowledge Check
Q1: What does the cloud symbolize in this South African Bushman folktale? A: The cloud represents false promises and deceptive appearances. Though it looked like “white fat” (a valuable food source), it was merely a trick Jakhals used to lure Hyena into a vulnerable position. The cloud symbolizes how things that seem too good to be true often are, and how appearances can deceive the unwary. It’s a metaphor for empty promises that lead to harm.
Q2: Why does Hyena repeatedly fall for Jakhals’s tricks in Bushman folktales? A: Hyena represents those who fail to learn from experience, either through excessive kindness or lack of wisdom. As Outa Karel says, “Perhaps it’s kindness, perhaps it’s only stupidness.” In the oral tradition, Hyena serves as a cautionary figure, someone whose trusting nature makes her perpetually vulnerable. Her character teaches listeners to balance compassion with discernment and to recognize patterns of betrayal.
Q3: What is the significance of Jakhals pretending to be injured by a thorn? A: Jakhals’s false injury demonstrates the manipulative tactic of feigning victimhood to avoid accountability. By pretending he too is suffering, he deflects blame, prevents Hyena from seeking his help, and even gains sympathy despite being the perpetrator. This reflects a common behavior pattern where wrongdoers create false equivalencies between their victims’ real suffering and their own fabricated problems.
Q4: How does this tale explain a real physical characteristic of hyenas? A: This is an etiological tale, a story that explains the origin of natural phenomena. Real hyenas do appear to walk with an uneven gait because their front legs are longer than their hind legs, creating a sloping appearance. The Bushman people created this narrative to explain why hyenas seem to limp, transforming a biological fact into a memorable moral lesson about trust and deception.
Q5: What cultural values does this Bushman folktale teach? A: The tale emphasizes the importance of learning from experience and maintaining healthy skepticism, especially toward those who have previously caused harm. It values wisdom over blind trust, and suggests that while kindness is good, it must be tempered with discernment. For the Bushman people, who faced constant survival challenges, recognizing deceptive behavior could mean the difference between life and death.
Q6: Why does Jakhals always escape punishment in these South African trickster tales? A: Jakhals represents the harsh reality that cunning and deception often succeed in the short term, and the unjust frequently prosper while the innocent suffer. This reflects the Bushman people’s realistic worldview, shaped by their own history of displacement and survival. However, the stories also serve as warnings, by learning Jakhals’s tricks through these tales, listeners can avoid becoming his next victim, turning entertainment into practical survival wisdom.
Cultural Origin: South African Bushman (San) folktale from the Great Karroo region, collected by Sann Metelerkamp.
