Why the Hyena Laughs

Come close, young ones, and let me tell you why the hyena makes that peculiar sound that seems like laughter. This is a tale of Kpakpalu the Hyena, who tried to be too clever for his own good.

The Greedy Schemer

Long ago, when animals could still speak as clearly as humans do, there lived a hyena named Kpakpalu who was always looking for ways to get something for nothing. He was not the strongest animal, nor the fastest, nor the most beautiful, but he considered himself the cleverest of all creatures.

“Watch and learn,” Kpakpalu would tell the other animals. “While you all work hard for your food, I will use my superior intelligence to live a life of ease and plenty.”

The truth was, Kpakpalu was lazy and greedy, but he disguised these faults by calling them “intelligence” and “efficiency.” Instead of hunting his own prey or gathering his own food, he spent his time thinking up schemes to trick other animals out of their hard-earned meals.

One particularly dry season, when food was scarce and every animal had to work extra hard to survive, Kpakpalu noticed that Rabbit had managed to grow a beautiful garden of sweet potatoes despite the drought.

“Perfect,” Kpakpalu thought to himself. “Rabbit is small and timid. It should be easy to trick him out of his entire harvest.”

The False Friendship

Kpakpalu approached Rabbit with his most charming smile. “My dear friend Rabbit,” he said in his smoothest voice, “what a wonderful garden you have grown! You must be very proud of your hard work.”

Rabbit, who was indeed proud of his garden, smiled back cautiously. He had heard rumors about Kpakpalu’s trickery, but the hyena seemed genuinely friendly.

“Thank you, Kpakpalu,” Rabbit replied. “It wasn’t easy with so little rain, but I’m grateful for what I’ve managed to grow.”

“You know,” Kpakpalu said, his eyes gleaming with false sincerity, “I’ve been thinking how unfair it is that you have to work so hard all by yourself. As your friend, I’d like to help you guard your garden at night. There are so many thieves around these days!”

Rabbit’s ears perked up with interest. Guarding the garden at night was indeed exhausting, especially when he had to tend it during the day as well.

“That’s very kind of you, Kpakpalu,” Rabbit said. “But I couldn’t ask you to work for nothing.”

“Nonsense!” Kpakpalu waved a paw dismissively. “What are friends for? Although…” he paused as if just thinking of something, “if you really want to show your appreciation, perhaps you could spare just a few sweet potatoes for my meals while I’m working. Just enough to keep my strength up for guarding duty.”

Rabbit thought this seemed very reasonable. “Of course! That’s the least I can do.”

The Nighttime Theft

That very night, Kpakpalu took up his position in Rabbit’s garden. But instead of guarding it, he began digging up the sweet potatoes and eating them as fast as he could.

“This is perfect,” he chuckled to himself between bites. “Not only am I getting free food, but Rabbit will thank me for protecting it!”

Night after night, Kpakpalu continued his deception. Each morning, he would report to Rabbit that all was well, that he had successfully scared away several potential thieves during the night.

“You’re such a good friend,” Rabbit would say gratefully, giving Kpakpalu his promised payment of sweet potatoes. “I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

Meanwhile, Kpakpalu was secretly eating far more from the garden than Rabbit was giving him as payment. The hyena grew fat and sleek while poor Rabbit, not understanding why his harvest seemed so small, grew thin and worried.

The Clever Plan Backfires

After several weeks of this arrangement, Rabbit began to notice that something was very wrong. Despite Kpakpalu’s faithful guarding, the garden seemed to be shrinking rapidly.

“It’s very strange,” Rabbit confided to his wife. “Kpakpalu assures me he’s keeping all the thieves away, but we have much less food than we should.”

Rabbit’s wife, who was even more suspicious of Kpakpalu than her husband, suggested they investigate. “Perhaps,” she said carefully, “we should check on our ‘guardian’ one night to see how well he’s doing his job.”

That night, Rabbit and his wife crept quietly to the edge of the garden and hid behind a large bush. What they saw made Rabbit’s ears stand straight up in shock and anger.

There was Kpakpalu, not guarding the garden at all, but digging up and devouring sweet potato after sweet potato, laughing quietly to himself about how clever he was.

“What a perfect scheme!” Kpakpalu was muttering between bites. “That gullible rabbit pays me to steal from him! I must be the smartest animal in the entire forest!”

Rabbit was furious, but he was also smart. Instead of confronting Kpakpalu immediately, he decided to teach the greedy hyena a lesson he would never forget.

The Tables Turn

The next morning, Rabbit approached Kpakpalu with a worried expression. “My friend,” he said, “I’m concerned about you. You look very tired from all your hard work guarding my garden. Perhaps you need a vacation?”

Kpakpalu, his belly full of stolen sweet potatoes, was feeling very pleased with himself. “Oh no, dear Rabbit, I’m perfectly fine. Happy to help a friend!”

“Well,” Rabbit said, as if struck by a sudden idea, “I’ve just remembered that my cousin in the next valley has a much larger garden that needs guarding. The pay would be much better too—twice as many sweet potatoes per night! Would you be interested?”

Kpakpalu’s eyes lit up with greed. A larger garden meant more food to steal, and better pay on top of it!

“I’d be honored to help your cousin,” he said eagerly.

“Wonderful!” Rabbit smiled. “He’s expecting you tonight. Just follow the path through the dark forest, and you’ll find his garden at the bottom of the valley.”

The Trap

What Kpakpalu didn’t know was that Rabbit had spent the day preparing a very special surprise. At the bottom of the valley, he had dug several deep holes and covered them with thin branches and leaves. He had also recruited some friends—Porcupine, Skunk, and Bee—to help teach the greedy hyena a lesson.

That night, Kpakpalu set off eagerly for the promised larger garden, his mouth already watering at the thought of all the sweet potatoes he would steal.

As he made his way through the dark forest, following Rabbit’s directions, Kpakpalu couldn’t stop congratulating himself on his cleverness.

“Soon I’ll be eating from an even bigger garden,” he chuckled. “That foolish rabbit makes it so easy!”

But as he stepped into the supposed garden area, disaster struck. CRASH! Kpakpalu fell through the disguised covering straight into one of Rabbit’s deep holes.

“Help!” he called out, but his cries only attracted more trouble. Porcupine appeared at the edge of the hole and began dropping his sharp quills down on the trapped hyena. Skunk added his own unpleasant contribution, and Bee arrived with several of his relatives to provide additional motivation for Kpakpalu to learn his lesson.

The Permanent Laughter

By the time Rabbit and his friends finally helped Kpakpalu out of the hole, the hyena was in quite a state. He was covered in mud, stinking from Skunk’s spray, stuck full of Porcupine’s quills, and swollen with Bee stings.

But the worst part was yet to come.

“Did you enjoy your visit to my cousin’s garden?” Rabbit asked innocently.

Kpakpalu was about to respond with angry complaints when he discovered something terrible—every time he opened his mouth to speak, the only sound that came out was a strange, involuntary laughing noise: “Hee-hee-hee! Ha-ha-ha!”

He tried to roar in anger: “Hee-hee-hee!” He tried to demand an explanation: “Ha-ha-ha!” He tried to threaten revenge: “Hee-hee-hee-ha-ha!”

It seemed that Bee’s magic stings had affected Kpakpalu’s voice permanently. No matter what he felt—anger, sadness, fear, or frustration—the only sound he could make was that peculiar laughing noise.

“How appropriate,” Rabbit observed with satisfaction. “Now everyone will know exactly what you think of your own cleverness!”

The Lesson Learned

From that day forward, Kpakpalu could only communicate through his strange laughing sounds. At first, this seemed like a terrible curse, but eventually, he began to understand the lesson Rabbit had taught him.

Every time he was tempted to trick someone, his involuntary laughter reminded him of the consequences of dishonesty. Every time he felt proud of a particularly clever scheme, his laughter made him remember how his own cleverness had backfired.

Gradually, Kpakpalu learned to be honest in his dealings with other animals. He discovered that earning his food through legitimate work was actually more satisfying than stealing it. And while he never regained his normal voice, he found that his constant laughter made other animals less afraid of him, which led to unexpected friendships.

Why All Hyenas Laugh

When Kpakpalu eventually had children, they inherited his peculiar voice. And their children after them, and their children after them. To this day, every hyena in the world seems to be laughing, whether they’re happy or sad, angry or content.

But now you know the truth—they’re not really laughing at all. They’re remembering the story of their ancestor who tried to be too clever, who thought he could trick his way through life without consequences.

Every hyena’s laugh is really saying: “Remember Kpakpalu! Remember that dishonesty leads to embarrassment! Remember that true cleverness lies in honesty and hard work!”

So the next time you hear a hyena’s distinctive call echoing across the African night, you’ll know what they’re really communicating—a permanent reminder that the cleverest trick of all is simply being honest and treating others with respect.

And that, dear children, is why we say: “The trickster who laughs last, laughs alone.” For in the end, the greatest wisdom is knowing that true success comes not from deceiving others, but from being truthful with yourself.