Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Ajulu Ojwatto

Adurat was very, very small. She tried to copy her sisters, the giraffe, the frog and the python.

As she did this, her children watched her, saying, “When our mother is busy, look out. Mother is trying to copy her sisters, but she can’t because she’s too small.”

When her children ask for stew, she’ll say, “It’s already cooked,” because the giraffe, when she wants to get a stew, she only bites her leg and oil comes out which she eats for stew. But Adurat is not a giraffe and if she copies the giraffe, she’ll suffer.

When the children ask for water, she says the water’s already there because the frog doesn’t fetch water. She just jumps on the pot and urinates water into the pot, so Adurat wants to do the same, but she can’t. If she copies, she will suffer.

“What will she do at bed time?” the children think.

The python is very slow. When the python goes to bed, she fills the whole room and surrounds all her children. Adurat tries to embrace her children but she can only do this by taking off her arm and wing and making herself as long as the python, so she died.

Don’t copy people beyond your capabilities. Stay true to your own nature.