The story I chose is “The Lion, the Hare, and the hyena”. This was a short story but I think it had a strong message behind it. It was basically short and to the point. A quick summary of this story is the lion got hurt badly and could not use his leg and started to starve to death. Then the hare was going running and saw the lion in trouble. He stopped and nursed him back to health. Once he was healthy enough the lion started to help out with the food situation and pulled his own weight. Then bones started to pile up outside his den and a hyena was curious and wanted in on it. The hyena tried to become friends with the lion so he could get apart of the food. In doing so he tried to trick the lion that the hare was not helping him all the way and when the hare heard this he did not like it and set the record straight. He said that because of how small he was he could not get all the stuff he needs to fully help him and then the hare said he need the skin of a hyena to wrap around his leg and the lion pounced on the lying hyena and ripped the skin off his back and his leg was healed in a weeks time.
I think the moral lesson here is to not be misleading and untruthful. They hyena was only lying and caring to check in on the lion for his own self benefit. He wanted food and did not care at all about the lions health. Another lesson that I saw within this story was how to be kind to others, just like how the hare went out of his way to help the lion. With him helping the lion it did benefit him because he gained a friend within the lion, the lion told people about the hare and the hare became well know as a good doctor.
An alternate ending to this story is that the hyena never tried to lie and that he checked on the lion when it had been a week without seeing him and he was a true friend. Then both the hyena and the hare where able to help the lion. The lion regain the use of his leg way sooner and they all learn to work together and help each other out.
My favorite story from “Favorite African Folktales” is “The lion, the hare, and they hyena”. I like how is it about friends helping one another and you find out who are your real friends are and who aren’t.
My favorite story from “Mangoes, Mischief, and Tales of Friendship” is the story of “The Greedy Moneylender.” This is my favorite story because of the Veera and Suku, and the lesson it tells that being greedy can lead to foolishness and can hurt a community. This was a very valuable lesson that can impact readers.
Some quotes I took away from the story. “Eventually he began to realize that companionship had its advantages.” pg 40 “..Sunguru (the hare) realizedthat the lion was starving.” pg 40 ” I am led to believe that the wound on your leg is making poor progress, due to the underhanded treatment that you are receiving from your so-called friend Sunguru. pg 41
ENGLISH HWK 