Eight little girls liked to play in the surrounding fields. One day, while out picking flowers, it started to rain. They sought a shelter, and found a cave. They got in. It was the house of Surukuba, the Hyena.

A few moments later, Hyena arrived galloping.

As soon as she got near the cave, she stopped and exclaimed:

• Hum ! It smells like a little girl here !

Then she got close to the the cave, and looking inside, exclaimed:

• How many are you, little girls ?

The eight girls answered with a single voice singing:

• Eight little girls !
• We are indeed eight little girls, to fill Hyena’s mouth !

Overjoyed, Hyena jumped up, and galloped away. She wanted to tell another hyena. If she ate them right away, and then told that one day she had found eight little girls in her house, nobody would believe her ! She had to find a witness.

She galloped away, repeating the the little girls’ song:

• Eight little girls, to fill Hyena’s mouth .

She found a comrade and invited her to come see what she had found in her cave. In her very own house : eight little chubby girls ! But before their arrival, two little girls ran out of the cave and went back to the village.

The remaining six answered:

• Yes, we are really eight little girls to amuse the fangs of eight hyenas !

The two hyenas went away galloping. They needed to find a third one ? Why not a fourth one ? Then a fifth one ? Then … after all, there were really eight little girls.

But when the hyenas got back and asked:

• How many are you ? Girls ?

Only one voice replied. And when the hyenas ran into the cave, they only found a small ring that the oldest of the little girls had put down. It was this little ring which had replied.

Furious, they ran after the little girls. They arrived in the village, as the oldest of the little girls was climbing the fence. A hyena grabbed her foot:

• I got you, little cunning one. And I am going to eat you !

The oldest of the little girls burst out laughing :

• Oh! Big moron ! It is not my foot that you hold there, but a wood on the fence .

The hyena let go of the girl’s foot and grabbed the wood. The little girl then jumped into the village and alerted the hunters.

The French original can be found on Ouologuem Blog. Translated to English by Dr. Y., Afrolegends.com