“Figlio, it’s time for bed.”
“Ohh, Dad! Do I have to go to bed now?”
“I told you that you had twenty minutes.”
“But you said that like five minutes ago!”
“No, I told you that twenty minutes ago.”
“Can I have five more minutes?”
“Not tonight, Figlio. We have a very early start, and you need to get a good night’s sleep.”
“It’s just not fair, dad! I always have to sleep early.”
“What doesn’t seem fair to you, is actually very fair to me.”
“Dad, that doesn’t even make any sense!”
“That’s understandable. When I was about your age, I didn’t think it was fair either, but now that I’m a father I guess I see things differently.”
“When I grow up, I’m gonna stay up all night!”
“Well, then, let’s see if this story can show you how quickly perspectives can change.”
…
HYENAS, BIGHORN SHEEPS, AND SQUIRRELS
Written by: Isabel Chiwibel (Fiverr name @Chiwibel)
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Edited by: Celina Mike (Fiverr name @Celinawrite)
Suns and Moons ago, when the many tribes fought over territory, three kingdoms formed a pact. The hyenas of the savannah, the bighorn sheep of the mountains, and the nimble, tree-climbing squirrels put aside their differences for the benefit of their societies.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/XJvCM4n2/Abisane-the-Laughing-Duchess-Light-Source.png]
*The hyenas brought numerous cackles of hyena-soldiers to the field of battle. The bighorns with their defensive prowess formed their impenetrable shield wall. While the squirrels had their mobile troops on the battlefield to bolster both offense and defense. Together, they united as a strong cohesive army and were undefeated in all their battles. In history, no other alliance had been as successful and long-lived as theirs during those ancient times of war.
But every dawn had its dusk, and the sun finally set for their alliance during what has been referred to as The Last Council of Peace. During this time, only the leaders of the hyenas, bighorns, and squirrels reunited inside a large and spacious tent to divide the lands they had conquered from all their enemies. The leader of the bighorns was, above all, fair, and he quickly presented an even distribution on the vast map that gave the hyenas and squirrels vast fertile lands that would best suit them and were equal in size to the valleys he had designated for his bighorns.
The leader of the squirrels was quite content with this arrangement, and he openly voiced his pleasure to the bighorn on how he had skillfully divided the map into such perfect equal parts of fertile lands for all three of them, with no one benefiting more than another.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/T1gndx4n/Bighorn-Sheep-colors.jpg]
As the bighorn and the squirrel shook hands, the hyena laughed hysterically. Suddenly a cackle of hyena soldiers burst into the tent and savagely overwhelmed the single, unarmed bighorn until the sheep lay bloodied and unmoving on the ground. Then the hyena snapped her fingers and her cackle of soldiers just as swiftly as they had burst upon the scene, retreated outside of the tent.
The hyena chuckled. Then she stopped and said, “I suppose, I should explain why I’m laughing. While we discussed how to split our prize, my cackles of hyena-soldiers were busy decimating the bighorn army. They’re all gone now! The mountain kingdom is empty.”
The hyena’s eyes looked crazed as she laughed hysterically. The squirrel did not smile.
“You will divide all these lands between the two of us as you see fit,” said the hyena, voice dripping with venom, “but make sure that you are fair in your distribution.”
The squirrel did not hesitate. He quickly arranged for his squirrels to have a small out-of-the-way desert corner on the map and gave the hyenas all the vast, remaining lands.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/7hkfN2KT/Squirrel-colors.jpg]
The hyena frowned, and said, “That doesn’t seem fair, I think you should at least take that small oasis just north of your new desert kingdom.”
Glancing at the bloodied and unmoving bighorn, the squirrel quickly replied, “This is more than fair, we don’t need anything more than what I’ve chosen on the map.”
The hyena laughed, holding her belly. Right outside, the squirrel could hear her cackle of hyena-soldiers laughing just as hard.
…
“But… That’s not fair," said Figlio. He was going to say more but his eyes fell on the time on the clock.
“You see how fair I am."
The End! Stay tuned for the FINAL Fable in two weeks!
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