Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Fatima Ali

There were two brothers. One was wealthy and the other was poor. The wealthy brother never liked others who were poor. The poor brother was poor but good. The poor brother had nothing to offer guests but they shared whatever they had with guests. But the rich brother didn’t want anyone to come to his house.

Guests came to the poor brother.

He said, “There is no room for you. We would have done anything, but sorry, we can’t put you up for the night. Please go to my brother and ask him.”

They went to the wealthy brother and as usual he drove them away saying, "There is no place for you."

So they went back to the poor brother’s place.

Now those guests, having been driven away from the rich man, came to the poor man and said, “Never mind, we’ll sleep just outside your door and we’ll go in the morning.”

The poor brother and his wife said, “What can we give you to eat?”

“Don’t worry. We have our own food to eat.”

He gave them water to drink. They drank it and ate their own food and then from their own food they gave the poor man what was remaining. Then later that night they left.

When the poor couple woke up they saw that the guests had left but the home was full of wealth.