One of my Dad's jokes-Enjoy

[Martin Clarke]

The Laughing Hyena
One hot day in Africa, this old, lone hyena was scavenging a long way from his home ground. He came to a clean water hole, shaded by thick trees, and decided to quench his thirst. As he was drinking, a big Leopard jumped out of the bushes and attacked him; gave him a few good bites and scratches, and the thrashing of his life. The Leopard looked down at him in the sand, and said “No animal drinks from my pool. If I see you here again, you will be sorry; this was just a warning”.
The hyena picked himself up, licked his wounds and slowly moved away. As he came to the edge of the clearing, he saw some monkeys in the trees and spoke to the Head monkey. “Does this Leopard treat your group in the same manner?” “Yes” said the Head monkey, “we cannot drink from the pool, and so, have to go quite far to quench our thirst, as he is very vicious”.
The hyena said “I have a plan, but will need your help”. “We are ready to help” said the Head monkey “What is your plan?”
The hyena said “I will go away and heal my wounds, and get strong again. I will come back and drink from the pool. When this Leopard attacks me, you and all the other monkeys jump out of the trees, and between all of us, we will fight back and sort out this nasty leopard.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me” said the monkey. The hyena went back home, his wounds healed, and he got well and strong again. As planned, he went straight back to the pool, and brazenly started drinking. The Leopard jumped on him in a flash, gave him the thrashing of his life again, and inflicted some nasty bites and tore his skin to shreds. Not one monkey came to his aid, as planned. The Leopard left him on the sand, broken, twisted and bleeding; apparently to die a slow and painful death. The hyena then looked up, and said to the Head monkey “I though you were friends - You guys promised to come down and help me; we were to sort him out as planned".
The Head monkey replied, “How were we to know – by the way you were laughing, we thought you were winning the fight”.