It was long ago, but not so long ago that words were not spoken.  Back then, everything could speak.  The stones could talk; the trees could talk; the wind could talk and the animals could talk as well.

     The animals lived together in the Great Savanna, except for Hyena who lived in a cave alone.  He had no family or friends because of his laugh.  His laugh was loud and shrill and scary.  His laugh was wild and evil and unsettling.  What made it worse for Hyena was that he laughed at everything.  If he cut himself he laughed, if he was lost he laughed.  Even if he had a tummy ache he laughed. When the lion’s mother died, Hyena laughed when everyone else was crying.  He tried to stop himself but that just made him laugh harder.

     In the time that I speak of the Great Savanna was a great place for animals to live.  It had fresh grass and big trees with huge juicy fruits.  It had been that way as long as anyone could remember.  But one day, the rains did not come.  There was no sign of them, not even a small cloud.  All the animals said to themselves, “the rains are a little late.  They’ll be here soon.”  But a week and a month passed, then two weeks and two months.  “They’ll be here soon,” the animals said again, but as months became a year and the sun scorched the earth, they said it less and less.

     The animals became worried because the rivers dried up, no grass or trees grew and they all were getting weaker.  They decided to send the four fastest animals in search of water.  When they came back the animals gathered in the great meeting cave.

     Leopard spoke first.  “I ran North for thirty days nights.   All I found was dry, dry land.  I reached the Highest Mountains, so I turned and came back.”       

     Cheetah spoke next.   “I ran East for thirty days and nights.  All I found was dry, dry land.  When I came to the Cacti Forest, I turned and came back.”

     “As for me,” said Tiger, “I went South for thirty days and nights.  All I found was dry, dry land.  When I reached the Cliffs at the Edge of the World, I turned back.”

     Lioness was the last to speak.  “I went West for thirty days and nights.  I too found dry, dry land.  When I came to the Deepest Valley, I turned around.”

     The animals began to despair.  “The gods are angry,” Elephant wailed.  “There is no water left in the world.”

     The other animals began to scream and cry, except Hyena who began to laugh.  Many animals would have preferred if he had not been invited to the meeting.

     Finally Rhino, the wisest animal, spoke.  “Do not give up hope.  We have not looked in every direction.  We looked North, East, South and West.  There is still Up and there is still Down.  Somewhere there must be water."

     “We cannot fly,” said Elephant.

     “Then we will go Down,” replied Rhino. “We will travel to the Deepest Valley.  At the bottom we will dig the deepest well there has ever been.  We will find water.”

     The animals packed their things and walked to the Deepest Valley.  They left the children, and a few animals to take care of them, at the top.  The rest went down to dig.  They dug with teeth and claws and trunks.  They dug with paws and horns and humps.  They dug for days and dug for nights until late one evening they found a small trickle of water.  Even if they all had a small sip there was not enough for everyone.  The animals decided to go to the top of the valley and bring down their children.

       Before they left, Rhino approached Hyena.  “You alone have no family.  You will stay behind and guard the water.  When the day comes, the hot sun will call the water to it.  You are always laughing.  You must know some funny jokes.  Make the water laugh and it will not go to the sky.”

     The animals left and Hyena stayed by the water.  When the day came Hyena told the water the funniest jokes he could remember.  The water laughed and did not go up to the sun.  Unfortunately, Hyena was very thirsty.  Hyena had not drunk any water in months. If I just drink one sip, he thought, no one will notice.

     Hyena was about to drink when the water said, “You can’t drink me.  The animals said I am for the children.”

     “I have no children,” said Hyena and he took a sip.  The water tasted so sweet he did not stop.

     “You are drinking too much.” said the water.  “There will be none left.”
     Hyena took a big gulp. “None of the other animals visit or talk to me.  Why should I care?”

     He drank and drank and did not stop until he had drunk it all.  When the animals came back, carrying their children on their backs, they asked, “where is the water?”   

     Hyena said, “The water went up to the sun.”

     “He is lying,” said the rocks and dirt of the Deepest Valley.  “We saw him.  He drank it all."

     The animals became angry. “That might be the only water we find,” said Rhino.  “We can carry on a little longer, but the children are sick.  If any of them die, it will be your fault.”

     “Let’s beat him,” said Elephant.        

     “How would that help?” asked Rhino.  “There would still be no water.  We need to keep digging while we still have strength.  Hyena, you are banished from this valley and while we search for water Down, you must search for it Up.”

     “I cannot fly,” said Hyena.

     “Then we will beat you,” said Elephant.

     “I’ll find a way,” Hyena replied hastily.

     Hyena left the Deepest Valley.  He climbed every tree he could find but none was high enough.  Then he remembered the Highest Mountains.  Hyena traveled North for many days.  When he reached the mountains he climbed.  He climbed until his body ached then kept on climbing. One morning he came across some grass.  There had been no grass in the Great Savannah for nearly a year.  Hyena kept on walking and soon he came to a grove of trees with ripe mangoes, bushes of berries, and fields of carrots and cabbages and turnips.

     “What a wonderful place I have found.”  Hyena climbed a tree and took a mango.  He was about to eat it when he heard a voice behind him.  “You are stealing my mangoes.”

     Hyena turned and he saw the strangest animal he had ever seen.  It walked on two legs and looked a bit like a monkey.  It had no fur on its body.  Its only fur was on its head and this fur was bright yellow.  It had an ugly face and its body was covered in strange multi-colored leaves.  In its hand it was holding a silver stick.

     “Tell me who you are,” said the mountain monkey.

     “I come from the Great Savannah where there is no water.”

     The mountain monkey nodded.  “Then you can eat. I am Olaf. I understand how things are for you.  The rains used to come and go as they pleased. That doesn’t happen any more.”

     “Why is that?” Hyena asked.

     Olaf smiled proudly.  “I will show you.  Follow me.”

     Olaf led the Hyena through the fields.  They passed many mountain monkeys.  They had so much water on top of the mountain that some of the mountain monkeys were swimming in it and throwing it at each other.  Olaf led Hyena down curled path and Hyena heard the sound of screaming.

     “What’s that?” he asked.

     Olaf laughed.  “That’s just the sound it makes.  There it is.”

     Olaf pointed to a big black stone at the end of the path.  As they got closer, the screams became louder. Hyena could make out some words. “Let us out!”  “Help! Help!”  The black stone was covered by strange holes.  The screams were coming from inside it.

     Olaf put his hand in one hole and water shot out of another.

     “It makes water,” said Hyena.  “How did it do that?”

     “Before I built this, it was hard to farm the land.  The rain would come whenever the clouds came.  Sometimes they would come late.  I thought to myself, if the clouds were always here, there would always be enough water. I made this.”  Olaf tapped the black stone.  “It sucked all the clouds in into it.  Now, whenever I want water, it is right here.”

     “They are trying to get out.  You can't just keep them in there.”

     “Why not?  They want to take the water away again, but I’m cleverer than them.”

     Hyena realized something.  “But there is no water anywhere else in the world.  It must be because of you.  Without the clouds, water cannot get to the Great Savannah. You must let them out.

     “If I let the clouds go, me and my people will have to worry that the rains might not come.”

     Hyena tried again, “In the Great Savannah, there are many animals that have no water.  The children are all getting sick and will soon die.  Let the clouds out.”

     Olaf was getting angry now.  “I will not.  I don’t know these animals you speak of.  None of them come to visit me, or talk to me.  Why should I care?”

     Hyena realised that these were the same words that he had told the water about the other animals.  He was ashamed.  He tried again.  “Imagine it was you who had no water.”

     “That’s why I made this in the first place.”

     Hyena ran forward to try and break the big black stone open.

     Olaf stepped in front of Hyena and held up the silver stick he had in his hand.  Hyena saw that the stick was very sharp.   He was frightened.  He was so afraid that, as always, he began to laugh.

     Olaf swung and his silver stick cut Hyena’s shoulder.  Hyena laughed louder than before.  Olaf stepped back.  “What vicious beast are you? You find it funny when I cut you.  You will surely eat me and all my children.”

     “Oh yes,” said Hyena, still laughing.  “I can eat you.  You look like you would be quite tasty."  Olaf held up his silver stick to defend himself but his hand was shaking.

     Hyena made his voice sound as dangerous as he could.  “Now, let the clouds out of the black stone.”

     Olaf rotated the stone and the clouds that were inside flew out.  They thanked Hyena.

     Hyena said to Olaf, “I will go back to the Great Savannah now.  But remember this, if you ever suck the clouds into your black stone again, I will come back.  You understand.”

     “Yes,” the trembling Olaf replied.

     “Goodbye then.” Hyena walked off. He walked down the Highest Mountain, and back to the Deepest Valley.  All the way there Hyena was laughing.

     The rains returned and, over time, the Great Savannah was covered in grass and trees again.  Hyena was a hero and, even with his laughing, the other animals always went to see him. And since then people have said that the laugh of a Hyena is good luck.

     And that is the story.  There are other stories, like the story of what made the stones and the trees and the animals stop talking.  There are more stories of Hyena and of the chameleons in the Cacti Forest.  There are even stories of magic cucumbers and sleepy lions, but those are for another day.