Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Yusuf Adem Mandre

In the old days the children used to write on a piece of wood called luh (like a blackboard). It used to be polished with polish called berassa to make the letters the children used to write look properly. So the children would go out in the woods and pick up berassa every week. After softening the berassa they would polish the luh. One day, the pupils after asking their teachers’ permission, went out to pick up berassa. While picking the berassa they found an elephant calf. Since baby elephants naturally like playing with human children, he became friendly with the boys and began to play with them.

So the children said, “Why don’t we polish the calf with the berassa?” and they began to polish him.

While they were doing this they accidentally stuck some berassa in the calf’s trunk and the calf died.

So the children, when they saw it was dead, they went to the teacher and sang, “We are the killers of elephants, we are the killers of elephants.”