Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Daniel Legesse

Once upon a time there was a man called Aleke Gebre Hanna. One day he wanted to leave Addis Ababa and go to Gojjam^{Formerly a province in north-western Ethiopia.} collecting all his money. His money was too much. He put it in a sack and he went.

As he arrived at the Blue Nile Bridge he feared the very fact that the policemen there might take away his money. And he stayed there for a while and started thinking about how he could save his money from being taken away. Finally, he had an idea. That was, to put all his money in a coffin and act as if his child is dead. Therefore he put it and he started crying, “Birr^{Birr is the main unit of currency in Ethiopia (the policeman mistakes the word for the name of his son).} , my son! Birr, my son!” And the policemen felt sorry and were also crying, thinking his son was dead and let him pass without investigating the coffin.

As he passed them he said, “Foolish policeman. I deceived them very easily.”