There was a goat who had two kids, and they lived in a house near the mountain. And when they were staying there, the dry season came and all the grass was getting dry. When the grass was getting dry, Goat told her kids, “I am going to go near the water stream and look for some green grass.” She then cautioned, “Just stay in the house until I come back and when you hear my voice singing a song, you can open the door.” So, she started teaching them the song that she would sing.

“Open the door; I’m your mother. I brought for you enough grass. Open the door; I’m your mother. I brought for you enough grass.” IF you hear me singing this song with my voice, then you open the door.

The mother went and when the sun was about to set the mother came back and sang the song. When they heard the song, her kids opened the door. She brought a lot of grass, and they ate, and ate, and ate, until they got full and wanted to sleep. They slept and the next day in the morning, the mother went again to get some grass. And in the evening, she came back and sang a song, and when they opened the door, she was there with the grass.

On another day there was a hyena walking around the area. The hyena saw the mother came and sang a song and then the kids would open the door and she entered the house. While the goats are eating the grass, and eating the grass, the hyena said, “That’s it! I have to come with a plan!” He says, “Tomorrow when the mother left, I will come and sing the song. So, when the mother left for fetching grasses, the hyena came and sang this song: “Open the door; I’m your mother. I brought for you enough grass. Open the door.” The kids didn’t open the door. They hyena sang and sang and sang until he got tired and then he just left. As he was walking away, the hyena was thinking about what he can do so that the little goats can open the door for him, so he can eat. He was thinking, thinking, thinking, what can he do and suddenly he remembered that there was a kujur that he could visit. He thought to himself maybe I can go to the kujur and change my voice. So, he went to the kujur and he told the kujur that he wanted to change his voice because when he’s singing, his voice is big—it’s not sweet/good (giafa). So he wants to change his voice so it becomes smaller and sweeter, and people, when they hear it, they enjoy it.

So, the kujur said, “ok, no problem. You go and bring me a white chicken and a red sheep.” So, the hyena went and look for all these things and he found them and he brought them back to the kujur. So, when he brought those to the kujur, the kujur told him to lay down and open his mouth. So, he laid down and opened his mouth. And the kujur went and put a stone on fire until it got red with heat and he put the stone in the hyena’s mouth. And the stone rolled inside his body until it came out from the other side. After that, the hyena started crying, and crying and crying. When fire was rolling in his stomach, he was crying but the voice coming of him was not his voice. Then he started asking himself, “who is this crying beside me?” When he asked this, the fire started cooling down in his stomach. And then he said, “Oh, that is me!” “Yes, it’s you!” And then when he starts singing, he will hear a different sound.

So, he quickly ran to where the goats are. When he reached there, he stood at the front door. He started singing in a sweet voice. So, when they heard the song, the goats’ kids opened the door and when the door opened, the hyena jumped in and got them all. So he ate them all and he ate and ate and ate and only blood remained. Then he locked the door and he went to his house.

So, the goat’s mother returned and sang and sang and sang and sang and sang and sang but the door would not open. At last, she broke in to the house. (6:47) And, inside, she found only bones. And she started crying, crying, crying crying and she asked herself, “Who did this? All I have are those children. Who came and ate them all?” She prepared a funeral and the funeral finished. At the time of the funeral, her brother came and told her “You Goat! What you have to do is look for the cause of the deaths of your kids. Because if you find who did that, then we can seek punishment for what he did.” She said, “OK.” After the funeral finished, the Goats went to the kujur’s house. She told the kujur that her two children were eaten by somebody but she didn’t know who. She came and she didn’t find her kids, but rather only blood. The kujur said, “Ok, I can give you medicine that will tell you who killed your kids.” So, the kujur prepared his medicine and suddenly the hyena appeared. The kujur told the goat that the hyena is the one who ate your kids. Now, what do you want to do to the hyena now?” “What we can do; we don’t need to kill the hyena.” Because the hyena ate her children in the daytime Let’s make his daytime his night and the night become his daytime so in the daytime, the hyena will be sleeping and at night he will be walking around so he cannot find anything to eat at night unless those who are also walking at night. So that’s why now you can see all the hyenas sleeping during the day and walking around at night looking for something to eat.

And that the punishment given to the Hyena for eating the kids of the goat and that’s the end of the story.

Storytelling Session Details
Storyteller: John Onwar Akol
Language: Arabic
Story Collectors: Henry John Onwar and Danguru Enoch Joseph
Place: Gudele Block 8, Juba
Date: 2015

Note: this recording was made for the course African Literature taught by Dr. Rebecca Lorins in the Department of English Language and Literature, College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Juba. Translation from Arabic to English by Elfatih Atem and Rebecca Lorins.