Friends become enemies - English story book

Jul 17, 2026

A traditional fable in English featuring Hyena and Hare, two friends whose selfish actions and excuses gradually turn them into enemies. Hyena works diligently on his farm, while Hare delays work, pretends to farm, and eats roasted seeds. At harvest time, Hare steals Hyena’s ripe maize, provoking Hyena’s anger. Hyena responds with a clever trap using sticky gum to stop thieves, escalating the conflict at night when Hare returns.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Story

Hyena and Hare

Seeds and pretending to work

Harvest theft and excuses

The sticky gum trap

Night attempt

Friends become enemies English Story Book Copyright © 2015, African Storybook Initiative You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute or credit the original author/s and illustrator/s. Friends become enemies Writer: Kennedy Amandu Illustration: Rob Owen Translated By: Nelson Acadri Language: English Reformatted using Bloom: Kent Schroeder The African Storybook Project is an initiative of Saide ([www.saide.org.za](www.saide.org.za) ), a registered Non-Profit Organisation, governed by a Trust and based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The first four years of the project (2013 to 2016) have been funded by the UK based funder, Comic Relief ([http://www.comicrelief.com/](http://www.comicrelief.com/) ). English Once upon a time there lived two friends, Hyena and Hare. Hyena was a hardworking farmer. He woke up early every morning and went to work in his field. Hare woke up when it was already broad daylight. He would yawn and stretch. Then he would go looking for food. Most mornings, Hare would take some seeds from Hyena’s granary. Then he went to his field and pretended to work. He would light a fire and roast the seeds. He did nothing, except eat roasted seeds. At harvest time, Hare went and stole his friend’s ripe maize. He carried it to his own granary. Hyena complained about the stolen crops. Hare answered,“Maybe the neighbours stole your maize. They are suffering from famine because they are lazy.” Hyena thought about this problem for a long time . He came up with an idea . He collected gum from the trees . He put that sticky gum around the whole field. The thief would get stuck in the gum. During the night, Hare went to Hyena’s field to steal more maize. Before entering the field he looked around to see if it was safe.

FAQs

Who are the two main characters in the story?

The story centers on Hyena, a hardworking farmer, and Hare, who often neglects work and looks for food instead.

What does Hare do that causes the friendship to break?

During harvest time, Hare steals Hyena’s ripe maize and tries to blame the neighbors, which fuels Hyena’s anger.

How does Hyena respond to the stealing?

Hyena comes up with an idea by collecting gum and spreading it around his field, so anyone trying to steal gets stuck.

Jul 17, 2026

Uploaded by Ava Thompson