It is said that Hyenas and Lions used to get along, share the kill and live in peace.  This is a story from that time.

There was this Lion, Tooth-Claw (Lion names are . . . well basic)

who loved to watch Butterflies when he was hunting for dinner.

At this time it was a guy Lion thing -- hunting that is -- and lady Lions

took care of the kittens and protected the younger members

of the Pride.

Tooth-Claw got so good at watching Butterflies because he could

be very still.  They started to land on him, on his head or paw.

One hot day Tooth-Claw was half-asleep, his tongue hanging

out to cool off -- when a Butterfly landed on it to get a drink!

After weeks of practicing this tongue landing business Tooth-Claw closed his mouth very carefully, and careful not to swallow the Butterfly, he went back to his friends in the Pride (Lions are very proud, so they called home the Pride -- remember, basic names).

Tooth-Claw walked-up to Fang-Slash, his best friend, looked him right in the face, opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, the Butterfly flew out.

Fang-Slash laughed so hard he rolled over on his back and stuck his tail and legs in the air (which means ‘dead Lion’, another joke but important as jokes go, it means: you are killing me that’s so funny).

Soon all the male Lions were catching Butterflies instead of hunting dinner, or lunch or breakfast.  They then played the Butterfly-in-the-mouth joke on each other.  But one could only be surprised so many times, about nine for most Lions, before the joke wasn’t funny.

About this time the leader of the Hyena pack came to visit the Pride

with his friends and family.  The thing about Hyenas back then was

their seriousness.  They didn’t understand humor, especially Lion jokes, and thought it all an absolute waste of time, when, after all, one

could be hunting.

Hunting, or the Lion’s current lack of it lately, was why the Hyenas

were here today. 

Digger-Snarl, the Hyena leader, had come to demand that the Lions start doing their share of the hunting. 

The Lions all listened to the Hyena’s complaint without interrupting with excuses or comment.  Digger-Snarl had been very thorough on the hunting problem, in his typical Hyena way, and was about to start another lecture when all the Lions opened their mouths and Butterflies flew out and about. The Hyenas were shocked.  Digger-Snarl even fainted -- he later claimed it was the heat and he wanted to rest for a moment.

Digger-Snarl’s friends felt very peculiar and found themselves

laughing, laughing at Digger-Snarl and the Butterflies.  This was the first time in Hyena history that any Hyena had ever laughed; it hurt and sound a little creepy.

The Lions looked and listened in wonder, the Hyena’s laugh was

so strange -- hideous actually, they were kinda’ sorry they had

started the whole thing.  The Lions thought that the Hyenas were

the worst of creatures -- couldn’t take a joke really -- and what a dumb-scare-the-kittens sort of laugh.

Somewhat insulting to Lion humor they thought, hence to Lion Pride.

After the Hyenas left, the female Lions were mad and told the males that Things Are Going To Change.  From that day forward the females did most of the hunting and made the males stay with the kittens.

Further, they told the adult males they could no longer hang together or ‘mess about’ (as the male Lions called it), but had to split up.  The new female rule: only one adult male in each Pride, and plenty of females in each Pride to keep an eye on the male.

However, it was too late for restoring good relations with the Hyenas.  Digger-Snarl declared eternal war. 

Lions and Hyenas have never since liked each other or shared in the kill; indeed they would now always fight over whom got the kill no matter which side actually did the work.

The Butterflies are another story.  The Butterflies moved on

-- this was all so stressful for nectar eaters.   Actually they went

to live with the Tigers, and rode on their backs for many years.

After all, they thought, it is better to ride the Tiger than to be in the Lion’s mouth.