Shimmering waves of heat rose from the desert floor as Sam Hyena chased the lions. It was something to do on a day when his mother was visiting her sister and left him in care of his grandmother. Grammy Hyena was having a nap, so Sam Hyena decided to play. Grammy Hyena thought Sam Hyena was napping, too.

 Across the field Sam Hyena ran until suddenly he found himself falling. At first he thought Marvin Monkey had left a banana peel in the way again. Marvin Monkey was always dropping his peels and all the animals had mishaps. Sam Hyena looked down expecting to see a peel, but saw Slowpoke Snake instead.

 Slowpoke Snake quickly nipped at Sam Hyena's heel, sending the hyena into a howling fit.

 "Why did you do that?" Sam Hyena howled.

 "You can ask that, when it was you, that stepped on me?" asked Slowpoke Snake, holding his back.

 "If you would get out of the way, it would help," said the hyena.

 "Look, young fellow, I'm quite a few years older than you. First, you should respect your elders. Maybe I'm not as fast as I once was, but I've put on a few pounds eating too many mice. Besides, look at my tail," said the snake, showing the hyena his tail that had a timber-hitch knot in it.

 "How did you get a knot in your tail?" asked the hyena, now laughing because seeing a snake with a knot in his tail was very different.

 "One of your friends thought I would look better if I had this knot in it. Can you imagine how painful this is? I can't get it untied," said the snake looking with despair at the knot.

 "You do have a lot of things going wrong for you, don't you? You are too fat, slow as can be and your tail has a knot in it. You are funny, indeed," said the hyena rolling on the ground laughing.

 Being laughed at is never great at the best of times, but taking in Slowpoke Snake's age and painful situation, it wasn't a laughing matter at all. Tears flowed from the corners of Slowpoke Snake's eyes.

advertisement

 "Hey, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. Stop that crying while I get this knot out of your tail. That will make you feel better," said the hyena, now sorry that he had laughed at the snake. He unfastened the timber-hitch knot with much screaming from the snake.

 "Does that feel better?" asked the hyena with great concern.

 "It still hurts!" said Slowpoke Snake. "Watch where you are going next time!"

 "I promise I will," said Sam Hyena and he did.

 Winner:  Brea Abriel of Mahone Bay received her prize through the mail for sending in the answer.

 Question about the story: Who put the knot in Slowpoke Snake's tail?

 Send answers to Storytime, c/o Verna Dunlop, RR#1, Moser River, NS BOJ 2KO or e-mail the answer to the question to vernadunlop@yahoo.com. Prizes will be sent to those sending in the answer.

posted on 03/30/10