--The Hakawati explains why the Donkey brays, and the Hyena laughs even though his hind legs are short—
There was once a mason in the city of Taphis who was renown for his skill. This is of course before the desert swallowed that once gleaming city making it only a dreaming memory. The mason could with one mighty stoke of a maul knock from any mountain a perfect cube of rock two spans on a side. With hammer and chisel he could carve out intricate stone pieces that fit together like giant rock puzzles. It is said he built the basalt seal that guards the entrance to the Black Necropolis. So too did he build the fabled Eye of Kharled which to this day still marks each solstice and equinox and all the days of the year.
To aid him in his work, he had a donkey. Even though it was scrawny, the animal would carry the mason’s tools, or raw stone, or whatever else the mason needed to create such wonderful stoneworks. The donkey also had a beautiful voice and so melodious was it that it eased the drudgery of work for anyone hearing him sing. Wherever the mason went with his donkey, hearts lightened at the animal’s joyous singing.
Because the donkey served faithfully and never once complained about having to carry such heavy loads, the mason would not tie up the donkey at night. This suited the donkey just fine because even though the mason treated him well, the donkey did not much like the simple oats and grains the mason would feed him which is why the donkey was so skinny. At night the donkey would sneak away and into the gardens of the mason’s neighbors. There he would eat a carrot or two. Maybe a turnip or some lettuce. But never enough to make the neighbors suspicious that anything but perhaps a wild hare was gnawing on their vegetables.
This went on for so long that eventually the neighbors started stringing bells around their gardens to alarm them when something was sneaking into their vegetables. So, each night the donkey had to go further and further afield in order to find something he wanted to eat.
One night the donkey found himself far outside the city in one of the king’s pastures. Donkey knew it was the king’s pasture because he hauled the rock that his master used to build the tall stone walls which sectioned off the pastures and gardens. It then struck him that one of the gardens was a vast acreage of fig trees and he did so enjoy sweet figs. He sneaked quietly through one of the pastures, careful not to wake the sheep sleeping like puffy balls of cotton on the cool grass. When he came to the fig grove he found the opening in the wall now blocked by an iron gate with a heavy lock on it. Apparently the sheep liked gnawing on the fig bark so the king had the gate put there to keep them out.
Disappointed, the donkey turned to leave but stopped when someone whispered to him from the dark of the grove.
“I know you,” said the voice. “You are the mason’s singing donkey.”
The donkey turned to see who was whispering to him. He saw at first only lambent pale eyes glowing in the moonlight. “Who are you,” donkey asked, stepping closer to the gate. “Do I know you?”
“No, but I know you,” said the voice. Below the eyes donkey saw the gleam of large canines. Hyena smiled and pushed his wide muzzle through the gate. “What are you doing sneaking about in the moonlight like…” the Hyena paused barely able to contain a nervous laughter. “…well, sneaking about like Hyena in the dark?”
“I came for the figs,” said Donkey glad for the iron gate between him and Hyena. “But with this gate here, I will have to console myself with simple sheep grass.”
The Hyena’s lips twitched, a manic grin spreading across his face. “I came for supper, too. But thanks to your master building this wall and the king placing this gate in it, I cannot get to the sheep. But perhaps we can help each other.”
“I do not see how,” said Donkey.
“I could open the gate” explained Hyena. “ I’ll just bite the lock and crush it like brittle sheep bones. But that would make noise and wake the sheep which would in turn wake the shepherds and their dogs. However, if you sang a lullaby in that beautiful voice of yours I am sure the sheep would go right back to sleep. With the gate open both of us could go to the other side of the gate and have the dinner we want.”
“And how do I know you will not eat me, instead?”
“Silly donkey! If I ate you there would be no one to sing those fat, stupid sheep back to sleep and their bawwing and bleating would wake the shepherds.”
This seemed reasonable to the donkey who decided the risk was worth the reward of all those succulent figs. He agreed and started singing a soft lullaby. CHANK! Hyena clamped his jaws onto the lock, shattering the steel like splintering wood. A few of the sheep stirred but hearing the song, lay their drowsy heads back down.
“Tasty tasty red meat pasty,” snarled the Hyena who snatched up the closest sheep with those mangling jaws of his and instantly snapped the unfortunate sheep’s neck.”
True to his word, the Hyena did not look with hungry eyes to Donkey who gorged himself on delicious figs. After the two had eaten their fill, they rested for a bit before going their separate ways. And there they determined that as soon as the gate was discovered open, another lock would be placed on it. Since their new friendship was so mutually beneficial they agreed to meet again in two days and repeat the process.
This went on for several weeks, the donkey growing much more fat and healthy. So many sheep and so many figs were missing that the king ordered armed soldiers to stand watch to discover who was breaking the lock, stealing figs and taking sheep. But each morning the guards were found sleeping, lulled into dreams by the donkey’s hypnotic singing. The lock was always broken and more sheep and figs had disappeared.
“It must be a djiin,” one of the royal viziers told the king. “Those are the only things I can think of that could devour so many sheep and figs in such a short time. Only a djiin has the magic to break those locks and put those soldiers to sleep.”
“Then we shall build an unassailable gate with a lock even a genius cannot break,” said the king. “And there is only one man in all of Taphis that can build such a thing. Summon the mason!”
When the mason arrived at the palace he was taken before the king for a private audience. The King told the mason all that had happened and ordered the mason to build a stone gate impassable by any djiin.
“It may take a while,” said the mason. “Only one other stone gate and lock such as that exist and they seal the entrance to the Black Necropolis.”
“See to it,” commanded the king. “But this is to be a secret. I do not want to risk the djiin or anyone else to finding out what is being built. If you tell anyone I’ll have your head on a pike.”
The mason nodded and returned home. He knew he had to determine what manner of creature was breaking the lock in order to build a proper barrier so he decided to spend a few nights hiding at the gate in hopes of spotting the culprit. He packed some food and a few small tools in a knapsack and rested his large maul on his shoulder. Donkey looked at him, confused that the mason was not setting the tools on his back. “Am I not to carry your tools, master,” asked Donkey.
“Not this time,” said the mason. “You have earned a well deserved rest for all your service, so I shall not require you to help me. I will leave you untied and have put out a barrel of oats for you that will last several weeks but I should be back in a few days.” With that, the mason scratched Donkey behind the ears and set off for the gate.
That night Donkey went to meet Hyena at the gate not knowing his Master was hiding nearby. As usual, donkey sang to put the sheep and soldiers to sleep and Hyena gnawed off the lock. The mason was accustomed to Donkey’s lovely voice but he had been in hiding so long that he found himself nodding off before he could make himself known.
Hyena snapped up a fat sheep and Donkey began gorging himself on figs. Fear of a djiin had kept the harvesters away from that part of the fig grove, though, and the figs had sat so long on the tree that they began to over ripen and ferment. Soon, Donkey was standing on unsteady legs, drunk from eating so many fermenting figs.
“Do you know what,” Donkey said drunkenly loud to Hyena. “I feel like singing.”
“Shut up, fool,” hissed Hyena. He had been chuckling quietly to himself while eating a sheep but now he no longer laughed. “You will wake up the guards.”
“Pfft on the guards! I’m happy, friend, and I am going to sing!”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” snarled Hyena rising to his feet. “You drunken idiot. You will ruin everything.”
“What a dull fellow,” exclaimed Donkey. “Singing makes one happy . You are just envious you cannot sing and can only laugh. Even though I have never once heard you tell a joke!”
Hyena glanced over his shoulder to the sleeping guards not thirty feet away. His glowing eyes turned back to his drunken friend, all fat and tasty. “I swear I will rip out your throat if you wake up the guards,” said Hyena who could not help but snigger at the very thought of Donkey’s warm blood dripping from his mouth..
“See, that is not funny at all,” said Donkey who started singing loudly. Sheep lifted their heads and started bleating. Guards sat up rubbing the sleep from their eyes and the mason roused himself from slumber
Hyena snarled, sheep blood still staining his bone crunching teeth and charged at Donkey. The mason snatched up his maul and ran after Hyena. Hyena leaped, huge maw clamping onto Donkey’s throat. Donkey’s song ended in wet gurgling. The two tumbled to the ground. Hyena stood almost immediately but Donkey still lay on the ground, blood oozing from his neck.
Hyena tittered maniacally, and gulped down the torn, dripping meat dangling from his jaws. “Tasty tasty red meat pasty,” he guffawed.
CRUNCH, the mason slammed his maul down onto Hyena’s hips. The blow drove Hyena’s hips into the ground, crushing them. A stout beast, and heedless of pain when he had the taste of warm blood in his mouth, Hyena ran off but something was wrong. He looked over his shoulder at his now shorter hind legs and low, crushed hips. He could not help but laugh with insane abandon at how absurd he now looked. “Ah HA, HA! At least I have not lost my voice!” On he ran, laughing until his voice had passed beyond hearing of the mason and the guards.
The mason quickly bound Donkey’s wounds but the damage was done. No longer would Donkey speak or sing in his once beautiful voice. And to keep him from any more trouble, the mason always tied him at night.
From that moment on all donkey could do was bray like an idiot. Hyena found unnatural and devilish amusement in his crushed hips being the price for depriving Donkey of his voice. And that is why to this day Hyena still laughs whenever he thinks about it.