The Jackal Who Learned from the Hyena’s Cheek

Overview

Reinisch’s numbered animal fable joins a lion, a hyena and a jackal in a predatory alliance. They agree to raid a neighbouring village after dark. Each brings back different livestock: the lion captures a large ram, the hyena a two-year-old ram, and the jackal a kid. Asked to divide their booty, the hyena proposes that each should receive the animal corresponding to its own catch. The lion answers by striking the hyena across the face.

The jackal then offers another division. The lion should swallow the kid first, follow it with the younger ram and finish with the large one that evening. Pleased, the lion asks who taught the jackal such an excellent distribution. The jackal identifies the blow on the hyena’s cheek as his teacher, and the narrative ends there. This particular ending makes the jackal’s apparent generosity an adjustment to coercion. The text gives talking animal roles without establishing a precise zoological species or a separate personal name.

Origins & earliest records

Ibrahim Abdillah of the Makahil division of Habar-Awal, named by Reinisch as contributor of texts through printed page 187. The preface places the research after the expedition returned to Vienna in spring 1899. This attribution does not establish a modern national origin.

Records & interpretation

Complete Somali text and facing German translation of numbered narrative, printed pp. 131–132, including the ending. German meaning read; Somali not independently translated.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Die Somali-Sprache, I: Texte

   Leo Reinisch, recorder and German translator; Ibrahim Abdillah, named Somali contributor for the selected textual section · 1900

   Originaltexte, Erzälungen, printed pp. 131–132; complete preface v–vi qualifies attribution and transcription.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Original historical Somali/German collectionReinisch 1900, complete narrative, pp. 131–132Research access: 2026-10-18

Image credits

AI interpretation of the jackal’s wary response to the lion; exact species and setting unspecified.

Original AI interpretation of a particular historical Somali-language narrative. Animal species, colours, landscape, pottery geometry, materials and setting imagined; no authenticated iconography, current community practice or modern national origin claimed.