Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Worku Alemu

Once upon a time, two friends were living together as neighbours. Both are married and have children. The wife of one is very beautiful, while the other is not so beautiful, but her husband has the evil eye.

One day the beautiful wife got seriously sick with no reason and finally died. The two friends mourned together.

The children of the two families are friends and always play together.

One day the two friends went away for some reason. At this time one of the little daughters of the evil eyed man called her friend who has lost her mother to her home and told her, “You know, your mother is living in our home.”

She said, “In your home?”

“Yes, in my home. If you like I can show you.”

“OK. Show me.”

They went to the house and she picked something like a stick down from the ceiling. There were many pots in the other room. She took the stick with her and she kicked one of the pots and immediately the pot changed into a human being – her mother – but only her dead body.

First the kid was astonished – then embraced her mother and cried and kissed her.

Then the other girl (daughter of evil eye) was worried because the daughter had seen the mother and wouldn’t go. So she kicked the body again and it turned back into a pot.

The motherless daughter ran home and told her father. He didn’t believe her at first, then he did, and began to think of ways of getting the pot to his home. That pot was unique because it was a bit broken round the rim because the dead mother also had a broken tooth.

The little girl told all this to her father. So he one day found a way.

He told his friend, “I am planning to celebrate the first year of my wife’s death.”

“That’s good,” his friend said.

“I need some materials from you.”

“What kind?”

“I need the pots for tala^Beer.”

“OK, you can take them.”

He took all the pots after many negotiations and made tala in all of them except the broken one.

Now he made the feast; all his relatives and neighbours came and at this festival the evil eyed friend was present. As they were enjoying it, the daughter took her father and showed him the stick. Her father stole the stick and took it to his home. He hit the pot with the stick and it turned into her body. He was very surprised, hit her and she turned into the pot.

He felt it very much and collected his brothers and armed them.

At the end of the festival he took this pot into the middle of the relatives in the tent. He kicked the pot in front of them and again it was the body of his wife, and everyone saw and cried. The evil eyed man had kept the soul separate, but would send it into the body when he wanted her as a slave. Her soul is in the hands of the evil eyed man and he was forced by the crowd to give her soul back. Finally, fearing death, he gave her soul back and she regained her life, and this man was driven away from the village.