It happened a long time ago, in distant times. Once we met animals - a lion, a panther, a hyena and a small hare. We met, talked and decided to cultivate one large field for everyone. And so they all got together, cultivated a large field and sowed it with Ndiyamiri millet. We grew millet, waited for it to ripen, and harvested the harvest together. And they piled all the sheaves of Ndiyamiri millet into the barn on poles so that it would dry out for threshing. Then they said to each other:
- Let's go our separate ways! We all have our own things to do. Let's rest and then get together. Let's gather for the New Harvest Festival!
Everyone agreed, and so did the little hare Kumba. But when the animals dispersed, the little hare secretly returned to the barn. He pulled out all the millet, carried it into the jungle and hid it. He ran back and forth all night. He carried millet from the barn, and into the barn - hyena droppings, which he picked up on the paths. And by morning there was almost no millet left, but the entire floor was strewn with hyena droppings.
When the sun rose, the animals began to gather for the holiday. They came together in a large clearing and stood in a circle. Everyone was here: the lion, the panther and the hyena Scilly Demba. Only a small hare was missing.
- Come on, call him! - the lion ordered the hyena.
- Hey, Kumba hare, where are you? - screamed the hyena Scilly Demba. The Kumba Hare muffled his voice and answered from behind the bushes, barely audible, as if from afar:
- Hey! I'm here!
- Run here, Kumba hare! - the hyena screamed again.
- Hey! I'm running! - the hare answered a little louder.
- Hurry, everyone is waiting for you! - the hyena Scilly Demba screamed again.
- Hey! Now, I'll come running now! - answered the Kumba hare in an almost full voice. Then he crawled out from under the bush, ran to the stream and plunged into the water once, twice, three times. And then he jumped out, all wet, into the clearing.
- What's wrong with you, Kumba hare? - asked the animals.
- I was far, far away! - answered the hare. - He ran and ran for a long time. See, he's all sweaty!
“Yes,” the animals said to the little hare. - We see. You must be very tired, poor thing.
“Nothing,” answered the Kumba hare. - Let's go to the village for a holiday.
The animals began to gather in the square. Only the little hare Kumba lingered somewhere again. And he was delayed because he was running into the jungle for Ndiyamiri millet. He brought ndiyamiri millet to his mother and said:
- Hurry up and crush this millet! And exchange it for samme millet, old-harvest millet, with the hyena's mother. She's greedy, she'll agree.
That's what Kumba's mother did.
The animals gathered for a feast. They danced, sang to the thunder of tom-toms, and drank palm wine. And the mothers of all the animals treated them to couscous and samme millet porridge. Only the hyena’s mother brought ndiyamiri millet porridge to the feast.
The animals suspected something was wrong.
“Where did the hyena’s mother get the millet from the new harvest, ndiyamiri millet?” - they asked each other.
- Let's go see if our barn is intact! - the animals decided. And after the lion they all went to the barn. The animals reached the barn and saw that sheaves of millet were scattered around. And they also saw hyena droppings.
The animals became worried. They told the little hare:
- Come on, Kumba, jump into the barn and see if our millet is intact!
- How can I jump there? - objected the hare. - My legs are too short!
“Then get in there, Scilly Demba!” - the lion ordered the hyena. - And throw us some millet!
A hyena climbed into the barn, took one sheaf of millet, and threw it down. She took the second sheaf of millet and threw it down. She dropped the last, third sheaf of millet, and along with it, hyena droppings fell to the ground. But there was nothing else in the barn.
The hyena sobbed bitterly. The animals heard this and said to the panther:
- Jump there and see why Scilly Demba is crying. The panther jumped into the barn and saw that it was empty, only hyena droppings were lying all over the floor.
- It was you, Silly Demba, who stole our millet! - the panther growled.
- No, it's not me, I swear! - the hyena answered and began to sob even more bitterly.
The panther jumped to the ground and told the animals about everything that he saw. And then Diallo’s elephant decided:
- To avoid disputes and suspicions, we all must pass the test of water. The big river itself will show who stole the millet.
And they went to the Big River. The elephant jumped over the river - and did not touch the water. The lion jumped and did not touch the water. The panther jumped but did not touch the water. The hyena jumped and did not touch the water. The hare jumped and fell straight into the river.
- Here he is, the thief! That's who stole our millet! - the animals shouted.
- No, no, no! - Kumba squeaked in response. “You know, when you got ready, I was far, far away, I ran to you for a long, long time, I was even sweating.” You know: my mother, like all mothers, cooked porridge from samme millet, only the hyena’s mother cooked ndiyamiri millet. You know, the barn is full of hyena droppings and not a single hare nut! I'm not the thief!
The animals became confused and began to think. What to do? There is no millet, there is nothing to eat. And they decided:
“We’ll have to sell our mothers!”
And so everyone prepared a rope to lead their mother to the market the next morning. But everyone felt sorry for their mother. And all the animals chose worse ropes, so that they could be easily torn off. Everyone except the stupid hyena Scilly Demba. She took the strongest rope.
And so the next morning the animals took their mothers to the market. But on the way, the lion’s mother broke the rope and ran away. Then the panther's mother ran away. Then Kumba's mother. And only the hyena Silly Demba brought her mother to the market and sold her into slavery.
- That's who the dishonest thief is! - said the animals. “She sold her mother, which means she stole our millet too!”
And the hyena was expelled from the village in disgrace. And the sly hare just chuckled into his mustache.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru