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Hyena and Raven page # |
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Hyena and Raven |
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Writer: Ann Nduku | |
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Illustration: Wiehan de Jager | |
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© African Storybook Initiative, 2014 |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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Hyena and Raven were once great friends, even though they were quite different in some ways. |
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Raven could fly but Hyena was only able to walk. |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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One day Hyena, curious to know something about his friend, asked Raven, "What is this white thing which is always below your neck?" |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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Raven answered, "It is the fatty meat which I usually eat in the sky. I have been eating it for so long now it is stuck on my neck." |
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On hearing about meat, saliva started pouring out of Hyena's mouth for he was greedy and he loved meat very much. |
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Hyena really wanted to eat that meat. But how could he reach the meat in the sky if he had no wings to fly? |
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"Please my friend," he asked Raven, "lend me some feathers so that I can make myself some wings. I really want to be able to fly like you." |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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Raven was not mean, so he gave him some feathers. |
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Hyena sewed them together into wings. |
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He fastened them to his body, and tried to take off into the sky. |
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But he was far too heavy for the few feathers to carry him. |
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So he had to think of another plan. |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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"Please my friend," he asked Raven, "could I hold onto your tail as you fly up into the sky?" |
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"All right," said Raven. "I know how much you want to fly. Let's do it tomorrow morning." |
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When day came, Hyena took hold of Raven's tail and Raven flew up into the sky. |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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Raven flew and flew and flew until he was exhausted. But Hyena said, "Just a little further, my friend!" |
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He could see the white and fatty meat just above them, and his mouth was watering. |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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When they reached the first piece of fatty meat, Hyena felt a jerk. One of Raven's tail feathers came off in his hand! |
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Then there was another jerk, and another. Raven felt much lighter, and the ache in his tail was going. |
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He sang: Raven's feathers, unpluck yourselves. Raven's feathers, unpluck yourselves. |
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In response, Hyena sang the opposite: |
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Raven's feathers hold on, don't unpluck yourselves. Raven's feathers hold on, don't unpluck yourselves. |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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Finally, the feathers could not hold Hyena anymore. He was in the middle of nowhere in the sky. |
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He jumped onto the fatty meat thinking that as he ate, the fatty meat would hold him. |
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But as he tried to hold and eat the 'meat', all he felt was moist cloud! |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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By now he was falling fast. "Help, help!" he shouted. |
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But no one could hear him. Raven was lost in the clouds. |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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Hyena fell on the ground with a crash and lay silent for some minutes. |
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He woke up howling in pain, with a broken leg and dark scars all over his body. |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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From that day to now, Hyena limps and he has many scars on his body. |
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He has never been able to fly. |
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And he and Raven are no longer friends. |
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Hyena and Raven page # |
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Hyena and Raven |
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Writer: Ann Nduku |
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Illustration: Wiehan de Jager |
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© African Storybook Initiative, 2014 |
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution |
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(CC-BY) Version 3.0 Unported Licence |
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Disclaimer: You are free to download, copy, translate |
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or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you |
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attribute or credit the original author/s and illustrator/s. |