Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Worku Mersha

Once upon a time there were two friends; these friends were one donkey and one dog, and they were the property of one owner.

One day the dog told the donkey that, “I am fed up of barking in the night and guarding the property of my master.” And the donkey also complained, “I am also fed up with carrying a heavy load whenever my master wants to go to the market. And what shall we do?”

Finally they agreed to run away and they went.

As they went, they arrived at a very large field, like a green pasture with water. The donkey got something to eat and drink and had enough, but the dog had nothing.

Therefore the donkey after having taken enough, said, “Now I must bray.”

And the dog advised her not to bray and he said, “If you bray, the first braying will be for waking the hyena, the second for telling him your direction and the third one for you to be eaten.”

The donkey couldn’t accept the advice and she brayed. And the hyena heard her, and the hyena came and started feasting on the donkey.

While the hyena is feasting on the donkey, the dog was giving the meat of the donkey piece by piece to the hyena, and the hyena ordered the dog to bring the heart of the donkey and the dog replied, “It has no heart. How can you ask for her heart, because if she had a heart, she wouldn’t have brayed.”