Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Obothi Cham

Agenga had been staying with kings. One day, he went to where the people had assembled and he put his shoes on the grass roof of the shelter where the king would sit. When the king came, he sat down without realising. When everyone was sitting and conversing, Agenga sat near the king and he tried to reach his shoes, but he couldn’t because they were too far away. He was too afraid to stand up, so he knelt up and reached for them.

The king was looking at him and at last he asked him, “What’s the problem, Agenga?”

He said, “I was trying to reach my shoes, but they are too far away, above your head.”

The king got up and took the shoes down and gave them to Agenga. But he didn’t understand the trick.

And Agenga said, “Look, you have been telling me that the king cannot be given orders, but I succeeded in giving him orders.

This man was disturbed during the Derg and he was sent to Cuba and became mad there.^{It is not clear to whom this sentence refers. The Derg (or Dergue) was the communist military regime that, under Mengistu Haile Mariam, ruled Ethiopia 1974-1991. Cuba supported the regime.}