Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Obothi Cham

Once upon a time, Agenga and his friend, Omet, went to Pinykew village near Gambela. When they reached the village, they were very hungry and they were accommodated in one of the family’s homes in Pinykew. When the people saw that they were very hungry, they were given fresh, uncooked corn (maize).

They said to each other, “How can we cook this fresh corn?” and Omet said, “Let me find a way to cook it.”

They had no firewood, no bushes and the trees were far away on the other side of the river. Nearby where they were resting, there was a grave with a fence all around it to protect it from the cattle. So Omet went and took some wood from the fence to roast the maize.

When the people saw him breaking the wood, they shouted, “We have found the evil eye who killed our son and now he is coming to kill his soul again because the last ceremony of his death, when we level his grave, has not yet been performed.”

So Agenga decided to save his friend, and he went and caught Omet, and they fought and fell on the ground.

The people came, and Agenga said, “Look, I brought him here and he is my mad man. Please don’t hurt him.”

So the people listened to him. At last when they were quiet, they saw how hungry they were and they allowed them to use the fence for roasting their maize.