Goat and Hyena
A story from the Caribbean
Goat and Hyena told by Wendy Shearer
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Story
Goat lights a fire in the forest to cook his vegetables for dinner. Soon the scent fills the forest and attracts hungry Hyena. Goat offers to share his food with Hyena but Hyena doesn’t want vegetables – he wants to eat Goat. Goat thinks quickly and says that he will taste better after he has eaten his own dinner. Hyena agrees. Goat eats as slowly as he can. But Hyena isn’t the only animal attracted by the smell of Goat’s dinner. Tiger appears and is surprised to find Goat and Hyena sharing dinner. Goat explains that Tiger is waiting to eat him. Tiger agrees that Goat should eat first – but when Hyena has eaten Goat, Tiger will eat Hyena. Goat says he needs water to help his food go down and asks Tiger if he can get a drink from nearby stream. Goat heads to the stream. Hyena and Tiger watch each other. As soon as Goat is out of sight he runs to the mountains and is never seen again. Hyena and Tiger watch each other and wait for him to come back.
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Why we chose it
A Caribbean trickster story that’s great fun to tell.