The Hyena and the Chicken's Debt

A Hyena and a Chicken were neighbours during a terrible drought. The Hyena's children were starving. He went to the Chicken and begged her to lend him one of her fat grubs to feed his family, promising to repay it when the rains came. The kind Chicken agreed. The rains came, the earth was full of grubs again, but the Hyena did not keep his promise. The Chicken went to the Hyena's den to ask for her grub back. The Hyena laughed. "A grub is a grub," he said. "Find one yourself." Heartbroken by the betrayal, the Chicken scratched a message in the dirt, a curse that said, "From this day on, what is owed must be paid." The spirits of the ancestors saw this. That night, the Hyena felt an uncontrollable hunger for chickens. He snuck into the village to steal one, but he was caught in a trap and killed. The story teaches that a promise is a sacred debt, and failing to repay even the smallest kindness will lead to ruin.