The Three Hyenas

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The Three Hyenas

An African fable that might have been.

By Strega, January 18, 2002.

There were once three male hyenas who had no clan, and hunted together. Like all hyenas, they hated lions, and lions hated them. The male lions would try to catch them, and the hyenas would run, only to catch the oldest lions alone and eat them.

One day they were watching the waterhole, looking for things to eat. A lioness came up to the water, and the biggest hyena said,

"There are three of us and just one of her. We should catch her and eat her."

The smallest hyena said, "But she is bigger than each of us, and stronger."

The biggest hyena said, "But she is not bigger than all of us together. While she is drinking, you two grab her paws, and I will attack her tail. Then we will all eat."

The other two hyenas nodded, for it was a good plan.

So the middle and smallest hyena crept up on the lioness, and grabbed her forepaws in their teeth. Hyenas are very strong there, stronger than lions, and they pulled at her so she could not move. And the largest hyena leapt on her from behind, to bite at her.

But he leapt too far, and he landed atop her rump with his paws down to each side. He went to bite her anyway, but he was atop her like a male hyena atop a female, and he thought how his pack had no females. And he said,

"Hold her, and I will bite her in a moment."

And then he did to the lioness what he'd do to a hyena female to make cubs in her.

"What are you doing?", said the middle hyena, his mouth full of lion paw. "Bite her, bite her!"

But the biggest hyena was busy doing what a male does to a female, and he just said, "Hold her and then you can do this too."

And the other hyenas laughed, and held her, because they hated lions and it made them smile to see a proud lioness treated so.

The largest hyena kept on doing what he was doing. Lion-males are small underneath, but hyena-males are not, and though he was half her size he found she was tight inside, and he liked that. And were she a hyena female, he would never dare do this without her asking. With the cat, he could do what he liked, so he shut his eyes and enjoyed it.

But the middle and small hyenas watched too much, and held too little, and the lioness got one paw back. She struck the middle hyena with it, and he cried and ran, for there was blood on his pelt. And before the smallest hyena could run she pulled him close and opened her mouth to bite.

The largest hyena finished doing what he was doing, and opened his eyes. He went to tell the middle hyena that they would trade places, but the middle one was gone into the distance. And of the smallest hyena there was just one paw and a tail from the lioness' muzzle, for she was very angry and had swallowed him down alive.

The largest hyena was tired from being a male for the lioness, and before he could run she reached back with her hind paws and held him there atop her. He watched as she swallowed the paw and tail, and as the big lump moved down into her belly. It still moved, but he knew it would not for long.

Now the smallest hyena was in the worst place a hyena could be, and the largest hyena was in almost as bad a place, for the lioness was still very angry. Expecially at him, who had been a male to her female. So he said, "You have eaten, and if you let me go I will make sure you eat again, for I will lead other hyenas to you, and fat antelope too."

The lioness just laughed, for the smallest hyena was still moving in her belly, even after she made the sound a person makes when she is very full. And she said, "I will eat again, because I will eat you, for doing what a male does to a female while your friends held me."

And she curled back over him quickly, like the tail of the snake, meaning to eat him. And her hind paws held him, so he could not get away. As she fell down atop him, he did the only thing he could think to do.

He opened his jaws as wide as he could, wider than she had hers, for she was smiling and thought she could be slow. And when she fell down atop him her head went into his mouth.

He got his forepaws around her own before she knew what was happening, and he was still atop her rump, so she was bent around herself. She did not have much strength bent like that, but he could not let her go or he would be clawed, or eaten. He held her head in his jaws, and thought.

There was only one way to get away from the lioness, and that was not to get away. So he strained his jaws wide, and he swallowed her head, and her neck, and he pulled with his forepaws and pushed her shoulders in after.

Thw lioness couldn't believe he would try to eat her, and she just laughed and tried to get her forepaws free. But the largest hyena was very strong in the jaws, and even though he was half her size his mouth soon held her chest and forelegs, and he pushed those in and swallowed.

The lioness' head found itself in hyena-belly, and though she was much bigger and stronger than he she was frightened. So she kicked and struggled, but when she did she let go of him with her hindpaws. And he pushed her middle into his jaws, even though her stomach was very fat with the smallest hyena, and he swallowed that too.

Now there was just her rump and tail and legs outside, and the hyena was very full and round. And now, still atop her, he started to do to her again what a lion does to a lioness, and as he did he laughed with a full mouth. And she just lay there inside him and growled, for she could not stop him.

The middle hyena came running back when he realized there was no danger, and he laughed to see the lioness almost inside the largest hyena, and what the biggest one was doing to her. And when the largest hyena was done, the middle hyena did it to her as well.

And then the middle hyena pushed, and the largest swallowed, and soon her rump and paws were inside. There was the lioness' tail, waving back and forth, for she was very angry and afraid. The largest hyena swallowed, and swallowed, and the tail became short from his lips, and now the lioness was all in his belly.

And even though she was bigger than he had been, and she had another hyena inside her, she was inside him now. And the hyena's belly started to do to her what it would do to any meat and bone he swallowed. The hyena trusted his stomach; he had eaten tough things before, like scaly pangolins and turtles. Though his belly was very tight, he knew it would do to the lioness what it did to anything else.

The largest (and now very large) hyena laughed, and made the full-bellied sound, many times. And the middle hyena laughed too, and helped the large one roll into a cave where he was safe. And the two lay down and talked.

"The smallest hyena did not like this day," said the middle one.

"But we two did, and the lioness was not so fast with him inside her," said the largest.

The middle hyena felt the lump in the largest's belly, and played with the tail that hung from his lips. The tail was still now, and the big belly made sounds. "Do you think it will work again?"

The biggest hyena made the full sound again. "We will find another small hyena, and we will find another lioness. And we will find out. And then you will be the one to be atop her as a male is with a female, and the one to eat her."

And the two lay down, the one still hungry but the other fat with lioness, and slept. And dreamed of other days, and other lionesses.

The End