Village Shepherd

Henry Hyena had a problem. He was quite popular with the whole hyena pack, because he could make them all laugh. Henry was full of jokes, and on a dark night you could hear all the hyenas howling with laughter because of Henry's humour. But apart from his jokes, nobody ever listened to anything Henry said.

It was all Clarence's fault. Clarence was the biggest and strongest of the hyena pack, so he had declared himself king, and all the hyenas did everything he said. What's more, Clarence was very good at speaking. Not just talking to his friends, but speaking to the whole pack together. There was something about the way he used words, which made the whole pack want to follow him.

Everyone except Henry, that is. Henry didn't trust Clarence. He heard all Clarence's fine words, but when he thought about them afterwards, he realised they were empty words. They didn't mean a thing. Henry tried to point this out to his friends, but nobody would listen. They were all too busy hanging spellbound onto every word Clarence the King uttered.

One day Clarence gathered the pack around him. "Hear this," he began. "All this territory should belong to us hyenas by right. We were here before any of the other animals. This territory belongs to us. They are intruders. They should find their own land, not steal ours. I say, get rid of the outsiders!"

Immediately the pack took up the shout, "Get rid of the outsiders!" There was a terrible baying and barking from the throats of the hyenas, but no laughter. They began to prepare for war against the other animals.

Henry was appalled. "Listen," he tried to say, "we can't just -" But Clarence cut him off.

"If you're afraid to stand up and fight with your brothers and sisters, stay behind," Clarence barked.

"No, I - " Henry tried again, but the pack turned on him and began to bite and scratch him. Henry slunk away, his tail between his legs. He was very worried. He knew the pack would stand no chance against the lions or the buffalo or the wildebeest, no matter what fine words Clarence used. And none of the other hyenas were as strong as Clarence. They wouldn't be able to do what he wanted. Anyway, Henry quite liked to have the other animals around. They sometimes allowed the hyenas to finish the meat on any carcasses they had killed, and Henry was afraid that without the other animals there would be no meat.

He went round to each of his friends in turn to plead with them not to follow Clarence. But none of them would listen. They were all starry-eyed about Clarence the King and took no notice of Henry, except to laugh at him.

The great day of the fight came. Clarence led all the pack out to battle against the other animals. But Henry stayed behind. The pack called him unkind names and said he was a coward, and jeered and laughed at him. Henry felt bad. But he knew someone should be around to pick up the pieces after the battle, for he feared that many hyenas would die or be horribly injured.

There were terrible sounds of a huge animal war that day. Henry listened and shivered at the screams and cries. At the end of the day a sorry pack of hyenas returned home. Many had died, and nearly all the rest were injured. Henry went round to each one, binding up their wounds, talking to them quietly and kindly and finding them fresh meat to eat. When he'd finished, he told them jokes until they began first to smile a little, and then to laugh again.

Clarence the king had been trodden underfoot by a huge elephant, and was never heard of again. The next day, each of the pack came up one by one to Henry. "We believed in all his wonderful words," they said, "but you listened to your own inner voice. You tried to tell us the truth, but because Clarence spoke so well, we refused to hear you. Now we're so very sorry. Henry, you make us laugh and you're good inside. We want you to be our king, so that we can always live with the other animals as God intended we should."

So that day Henry became hyena king, and they all lived happily ever after.