An African Fable
How Hyena came to cross the Namib
By
Salome Byleveldt
Copyright Salome Byleveldt 2013
Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
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Table of Contents:
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End Notes
Other Books by Salome Byleveldt
“Fire! There is fire!” Mouse screeched at the top of his voice as he came charging out of his burrow. He ran around in a tight circle, shouting all the time: “Fire! Fire!”
Elephant was the first to pick up the alarm.
“Fire! Fire!” he trumpeted. When Mouse says there’s fire, there always is fire. No time to waste!
“Where? Where?” Monkey asked. He jumped down from his favorite branch high up in the big tree. “Young Giraffe, where is the fire? I cannot see it.”
“I cannot see it either, Monkey! You should have looked while you were up in the tree!” he said.
“Where’s the fire, Elephant?” Monkey demanded to know. “I cannot see it. I cannot smell it either.” Elephant was already on his way back from the river, with a trunk filled with water to help douse the fire.
“Get out of the way, Monkey!” Elephant was in a hurry. “Run down to the river. Call the other Animals to follow you!”
Monkey sniffed the air again and suddenly he could smell the fire. Then he saw it! Big flames came leaping across the veld. The wind was blowing from behind, helping the flames to jump from one bush to the next. It was spreading fast!
“Fire! Fire!” he shouted, spurring the Animals into action. “Don’t just stand there Springbuck! Did you not hear what Elephant said? Get down to the river!” Three jumps and Springbuck had reached the river bank. He looked around and when he didn’t see Crocodile, he waded into the water, to cross to the other side.
“Get out of the way!” shouted Young Elephant as he came charging back from the river with another trunk full of water. The fire was spreading fast and the flames were very high.
The Animals came rushing from the trees. There was chaos all around as they stampeded away from the fire, looking to escape across the river.
Hare came charging down to the river. “Hurry up, Tortoise!” he cried. Tortoise was moving his little legs as fast as it could, but it was still too slow to run ahead of the quickly spreading fire. “Help!” cried Tortoise, “I cannot go any faster!”
Baboon saw what happened and ran back up the river bank. He grabbed Tortoise and tucked him under one arm, then he ran back and with a couple of hops, skips and jumps over the slippery rocks, he had crossed the river safely. He put Tortoise down on the other side and ran off. “Help!” cried Tortoise, “I’m upside down!” But Baboon was already gone.
Warthog emerged from the river. He had to swim across and had to keep his snout above the water, so that he would not drown. He was very tired when he stumbled up the bank. But just when he was about to sit down on a flat rock, he saw that the rock had legs. Tortoise’s little legs were frantically waving in the air, trying to find a foothold to help him turn right side up.
“You’re looking funny, Tortoise.” Warthog couldn’t help laughing.
“Don’t laugh at me, Warthog. Help to turn me around, please!” Tortoise could feel himself blushing.
Warthog giggled some more, then he used his two sets of tusks to gently turn Tortoise around.
“Thank you, Warthog!” Tortoise made his slow way up the river bank.
Giraffe and Young Giraffe waded across the river and made it safely to the other side. Hippo took a deep breath and plunged into the river.
Elephant and Young Elephant realized that they could not douse the fire. They tried to stamp it out with their big feet, but that didn’t help either. They had to cross the river quickly, so that they would not be caught in the flames. That’s when Young Elephant heard Mouse calling for help.
“Help! Ugh... Help!” Mouse spluttered weakly. One last “Help!”, then he was quiet…
~~**~~
“Mouse, where are you?” Young Elephant looked around worriedly. He was standing knee deep in the river and he could not see Mouse anywhere.
“Where are you, Mouse?” Young Elephant shouted, scanning the river bank. The flames were licking the grass that grew on the river’s edge. He cried again: “Mouse! Where are you?!”
Then, from the corner of his one eye he saw something wriggling in the water, right in front of his leg. He plucked it from the water with the tip of his trunk and lifted it up in the air, so that he could have a better look. And there, at the end of Young Elephant’s trunk was Mouse, hanging upside down by his tail!
“Oh, there you are, Mouse!” exclaimed Young Elephant. “I thought you were a little worm!” Mouse coughed and coughed, to get the water out of his nose and out of his lungs.
“You’ll have to ride on my back, Mouse. We have to cross the river.” He gently put Mouse on his back, but Mouse was very scared. Before Young Elephant could stop him, Mouse had scrambled up and into one of Young Elephant’s ears.
“You’re tickling me, Mouse!” Young Elephant exclaimed. “You’ll have to be quiet if you want to sit in my ear!” Mouse tried not to cough or move around, so that he wouldn’t tickle Young Elephant too much.
They crossed the river just in time…
~~**~~
“Enough with the noise!” roared Lion and when the Animals had calmed down, he asked: “Did everyone cross the river? Is everyone safe?”
“I’m here,” shouted Monkey. “I’m here,” grunted Hippo. “I’m here,” confirmed Warthog. Then everyone was calling out at the same time. They made a lot of noise and Lion again had to call for order.
“Jackal! Call the Animals out by name, so that we can check if everyone is safe,” Lion instructed.
Jackal scurried closer. The Animals were milling around, all looking to see if their friends were safe.
“Aardvark!” called Jackal.
“I’m here!” responded Aardvark.
“Baboon!” called Jackal.
“Yes!” shouted Baboon.
“Caracal!”
“Yes!”
One by one Jackal called out their names. “Duiker! Elephant! Frog! Giraffe! Hyena! Meerkat! Mouse!” Mouse was still hiding in Young Elephant’s ear, and he did not hear Jackal calling him. When Jackal had shouted “Mouse!” for the third time, Young Elephant remembered that Mouse was still in his ear. “Yes,” shouted Young Elephant.
“Young Elephant, I did not call your name!” said Jackal impatiently. “I’m looking for Mouse.” Young Elephant lifted his ear. Mouse peered out from inside and cried: “I’m here! I’m here!” All the Animals laughed. Lion also thought that it was funny.
“Ostrich!”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“Porcupine!” But there was no response.
“Porcupine!” Jackal called again. “Porcupine..?” The Animals looked around, but Porcupine was nowhere to be found.
~~**~~
Jackal ordered a search party. Hippo remembered that he’d seen Porcupine limping towards the river. Porcupine was stepping onto the slippery rocks that lined the river just before Hippo plunged into the river. But Hippo couldn’t remember if he’d seen Porcupine cross the river.
Giraffe offered to follow the river upstream and Young Giraffe said that he would go downstream, to look for Porcupine. Porcupine had protected them when they went on their mission to the Pyramids and so they sear
ched for their friend for a very long time.
“Let’s go and search for Porcupine as well, Ostrich.” Monkey suggested. They were very worried about their friend. He had kept them safe when they climbed Kilimanjaro and they wanted to find him to see that he was safe.
“Yes,” agreed Ostrich. Monkey jumped onto Ostrich’s back and off they went further downstream, to search for Porcupine. The river was running very strong.
After they’d walked very far, Ostrich came to a sudden stop. “Look!” he said to Monkey. “That looks like one of Porcupine’s quills!” Monkey jumped down and picked it up. Yes, it was one of Porcupine’s quills!
“It looks as if the tip got burned!” Monkey was now very worried. What happened to Porcupine? They searched and searched.
Eventually they found him…
~~**~~
It took a long time for Ostrich, Monkey and Porcupine to get back to where the Animals had gathered. Porcupine was limping badly and he walked very slowly. His little feet were very sore. The Animals cried out, they were very relieved that Porcupine was safe. They wanted to know what happened, and Porcupine had to repeat his story:
Porcupine was down in his burrow when the fire started. He did not hear the first alarm calls and by the time that he smelled the smoke, it was almost too late. He charged out of his burrow, trying to escape!
But the flames were high and the fire singed his quills. He ran faster and faster and the smoke was thick around him. He couldn’t see where he was going and that was when he stepped into smoldering coals! At first he didn’t feel much, but then, when he had reached the river and tried to step onto the slippery rocks, his little feet hurt so much that he lost his balance.
He slipped off a rock and fell into the middle of the river. The current was very strong and the water grabbed him and tumbled him downstream. He swam and swam, trying to get away from the strong current. The water churned and Porcupine went round and round in the swirl. He thought that he was going to drown! Then the water splashed high up against some rocks that appeared in the middle of the river. Porcupine was thrown up into the air and he landed onto one of the rocks.
He sat on the rock to rest. He had to rest for a very long time. Then he managed to escape from the river by jumping from one rock to the next one. But it took him a very long time between jumps, because his little feet were very sore. When he had reached the safety of the river bank, he again rested for a long time before trying to make his way back to the Animals.
Fortunately that was when Ostrich and Monkey found him, because he would have lost his way. When they found him, he was walking in the wrong direction!
~~**~~
“What started the fire, Young Elephant?” Mouse was sitting on Young Elephant’s head. The previous evening he had refused to come out of Young Elephant’s ear, so Young Elephant allowed him to sleep there. But now Mouse was feeling a little better and he ventured out to hear what the Animals had to say.
“I don’t know what started the fire, Mouse. I’m just a Young Elephant and I have many things that I must still learn.”
“Let’s ask the other Animals,” suggested Mouse.
“What do you think started the fire, Jackal?” but Jackal could not suggest an answer. Hippo also did not know. Meerkat could not help and Lion admitted that he didn’t know either. When they asked Hyena, he did not answer them.
Mouse was feeling very brave, sitting on Young Elephant’s head. “Let’s ask Owl!” he proposed.
Owl opened one eye and stared down his nose at Mouse. “What have we here?” asked Owl. “Is that you, little Mouse? You’re still only a bite-sized little morsel, aren’t you?” Young Elephant flapped his ears. He didn’t like the threat in Owl’s voice, but he didn’t want to be rude, so he quickly said: “You’re the Wise One, Owl. Can you tell us how the fire had started?”
Owl really didn’t know what had started the fire, but he liked to be called the Wise One. So he closed his eyes and thought for a little while. Then he opened one eye. “It must have been the sun!” he declared.
“How can that be?” asked Young Elephant. “Sun only sits in the sky above. How can Sun start the fire?”
“You have a lot to learn yet, Young Elephant!” Owl opened his other eye and stared down his nose at Young Elephant.
By now the other Animals were standing closer, to hear what Owl had to say. “Tell us more, Owl. Tell us how Sun had started the fire.” Antelope was scared. “And tell us how we can avoid another fire!” he demanded. Even Hyena had come to listen to what Owl had to say.
Owl thought some more, then he asked: “Did any of you notice where the fire came from yesterday?” The Animals looked at each other. “What kind of a question is that?” they asked.
Meerkat was grinning from ear to ear and said: “We all know where it came from, of course. It came leaping out of the tall grass!”
“Suricate, your brain is as small as your body!” Owl declared dismissively.
“It always comes leaping out of the tall grass!” agreed Monkey with Meerkat. “And why do you call Meerkat by that strange name? Why do you call him Suricate?” he demanded.
“Suricate he is. He is but a little bitty animal, with a little bitty brain. Humph..!” Owl dismissed Meerkat.
Meerkat was a friendly little animal and he always grinned from ear to ear. But now Meerkat was getting a little bit annoyed. He stood upright on his hind legs, on the tips of his toes so that he might appear taller. He pushed his little chest out proudly and declared: “Yes, I am Suricate, I’ll have you know!” He pummeled his chest with his little hands and repeated: “I am Suricate!”
Then he dropped down on all fours, grinned widely at Monkey and said: “But you may call me Meerkat, Monkey. All my friends do!”
“Ahem...” Owl cleared his throat, trying to regain everyone’s attention. “Did any of you notice where the fire came from yesterday?” But no-one dared to answer Owl this time, so he continued: “Did anyone notice that it came from the West?”
“West? What’s West? Where’s West?” whispered Mouse in Young Elephant’s ear.
“That’s the place where Sun goes to sleep at night,” answered Young Elephant quietly.
“When Sun becomes a big red ball before it slides down for the night?” asked Mouse in an urgent whisper.
“Yes,” said Young Elephant. “When Sun is on fire and he paints the sky orange and red.”
“Oh!” squeaked Mouse. Then he screeched: “Is that how the fire had started? Did Sun set the tall grass on fire before he went to sleep last night?”
Antelope looked up to where Sun was sitting in the sky. “Did Sun start the fire?” He was shaking with fear.
“Could it be?” asked Hippo.
“Yes,” cried Mouse. “Yes, it could be true!”
“It could be true!” echoed the Animals.
Hippo shook his head. He didn’t want to believe that. “Could it be?” he asked Jackal. Jackal thought for a long time and then decided: “We must follow Sun.”
Antelope cried: “It would be dangerous, Jackal! Why must we follow Sun?”
“We must follow Sun to see where he goes to sleep. We must find out if Sun is starting a fire when he goes down to sleep.” Jackal insisted.
“But I’ve heard that the place where Sun goes to sleep is very far. The rumors say that you have to cross a desert to find it.” Hippo objected. And when Jackal merely nodded, Hippo cried: “The desert that they call the Namib!”
“Ooh,” cried the Animals. “The Namib Desert!”
“Yes,” Jackal acknowledged. “That is what I’ve heard as well.”
“The Namib Desert?!” exclaimed the Animals once more.
“But we must find the place where Sun goes to sleep,” insisted Jackal. “We must find out if Sun lights the fires when he is very red and hot and tired at the end of the day.”
Lion thought about this for a little while. “Yes, we must find out if Sun lights the fires,” he agree
d with Jackal. Then all the Animals also agreed with Jackal.
~~**~~
“Who will follow Sun to see where he goes to sleep?” asked Lion.
“It is a desert!” the Animals cried. “Who can survive in the desert?” they asked.
No, no, Hippo shook his head sadly. He needed to be close to water.
“I cannot go either,” said Buffalo. “I need to drink lots of water every day.”
“I’m just a little worm,” complained Caterpillar. “I am too slow! I’ll never get to travel anywhere, like Monkey does!”
“One day you will be a butterfly, Caterpillar.” Monkey tried to cheer up Caterpillar. “Then you will be able to fly wherever you want to go!”
“Really, Monkey? Would I be able to fly?” Caterpillar said in wonder. “When will that be?”
“Someday soon, Caterpillar, you’ll have to be patient.” Monkey didn’t really know when that day would be.
“Who will follow Sun to see where he goes to sleep?” Lion repeated, a little impatient now.
“I will go!” offered Jackal. The Animals cheered.
“Then I will go too!” said Ostrich and hung his head. At first the Animals wanted to laugh at him, but then they remembered that Ostrich had climbed Kilimanjaro. That was the time when the cold and snow had threatened the Animals. Ostrich was very brave then.
Lion looked at Ostrich. Ostrich had kept his word and he’d completed his mission, even though he was very scared at the time. Lion could trust Ostrich on this mission.
“Very well, you will go too, Ostrich,” Lion decided.
“Monkey must come with us, Lion,” Ostrich said. Monkey was very excited. He wanted to go with Jackal and Ostrich to see where Sun went to sleep! But Lion shook his head.
“No, the desert is no place for Monkey,” Lion said. “He will not be able to survive.”
Ostrich hung his head so that some of his heart’s courage could flow to his head. He quickly lifted his head, while there was a lot of courage in his head and said: “Please Lion, Monkey is my friend. He helped me when we climbed Kilimanjaro. I will help him in the desert!”
“Please, Lion,” Monkey and Ostrich cried in unison.
“I will help Monkey, Lion. I promise.” Ostrich hung his head for a little bit more courage.