There lived a woman on the edge of the village, and she had a little son. They lived poorly. And then an old hyena got into the habit of visiting them. Every night she came to the hut and stole food.
The woman saw that the food was disappearing, but could not understand where it all went. One day her son said to her:
- I won't sleep. Let's find out who came to us. The mother agreed. The son pretended to fall asleep while he watched. And I saw a hyena licking their pots. In the morning the mother asks:
- Well, who is the night thief?
“This is the hyena Myambago,” answered the son.
- What should we do? - asked the mother.
“I’ll think about it,” said the son. He thought and said:
- Make a boy out of beeswax. Place him at the doorstep. Let's hide ourselves. Let's see what happens.
So they did. The mother fashioned a boy from beeswax, sat him at the threshold and put a handful of boiled beans in his hand. And she and her son hid in a dark corner. They hid and waited.
At night, as always, the old hyena Myambago came dragging along. He sees a boy sitting at the doorstep with a handful of boiled beans in his hand. He sits and is silent.
The hyena walked around the boy and made its way into the hut. She found a pot of beans, found a pot of stew, and ate it all. I even chewed the pots! But everything is not enough for a hyena! She approached the boy and growled:
- Give me some beans, I'm hungry! The wax boy sits and is silent.
- Don't you want to feed me? Don't even want to talk to me?
The wax boy sits and is silent.
- So I’ll teach you a lesson! - the hyena growled and hit the wax boy with her paw. The paw immediately stuck.
- Why are you holding my paw? The wax boy sits and is silent.
- Oh so? I’ll show you now that I also have a second paw!
The hyena hit the wax boy with its second paw. And the second paw stuck.
- You grabbed my hands, ha ha ha! - the hyena laughed. - But I’ll show you that I also have legs with sharp claws. - Now I’ll rip your stomach open!
The hyena contrived, kicked the wax boy with one hind paw, and with the other - both hind paws also stuck.
- Damned boy! You grabbed me by the arms and legs! But I'll show you that I still have teeth!
And with these words the hyena grabbed the wax boy by the throat. What's the point? The muzzle is also stuck, so you can’t move.
The mother and son saw that the hyena had stuck tightly, grabbed the mother’s spear, and the son the club, and walked out of the corner into the light.
The old hyena sees that people have weapons, but she is defenseless. I was scared, but decided to cheat.
- What do you want to do? - asks.
“We want to kill the old thief,” the mother answers.
- Oh, oh, I'm lost! Only if you really want me dead, kill me right away, don’t torture me. If you pierce me with a spear, I will not die. If you hit me on the head with a baton, I won’t die. But if you pour a cauldron of hot water on me, I will die immediately.
- This is true? - asked the mother.
“True,” answered the hyena. “I don’t care if I die, so at least I’ll do it as soon as possible.”
“Okay,” said the mother.
He and his son lit a fire in the hearth and warmed a pot of water.
— Is the water hot? - asks the hyena.
- Now it’s boiling! - the mother answers.
- Oh, oh, we have to wait! Probably already good.
“Okay, so good,” said the mother and poured hot water on the hyena.
The wax boy immediately melted. The scalded hyena howled, rushed and ran! Only the son had time to hit her on the backside with a club.
Since then, all hyenas have been dragging their butts and avoiding human habitation. And to this day, all of their skins are spotty, as if shabby.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru