Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Shirguma Soraga

There were two men called Deglerasu and Kefulerasu (that is “a good man is rewarded” and “an evil man is punished”) and they went on a journey. At noon they sat under a tree and ate the food of Deglerasu.

The next day they did the same thing and ate the food of Deglerasu and the same thing happened on the third day. Then the food of Deglerasu was finished. Deglerasu asked Kefulerasu to give him food but he refused.

“Take out one of your eyes and I will give you food,” Kefulerasu said.

So he took out one eye and Kefulerasu gave him some food.

They continued on their journey. Next day, Kefulerasu refused. Deglerasu had to take out his other eye. He ate, but now he was blind.

Kefulerasu continued his journey. Deglerasu went up a tree to pass the night. The devils were playing under the tree. He heard them talking about the different parts of the leaves of the tree.

“That is medicine for death,” one of the devils said.

“That part of the tree is good for the stomach,” another said.

“And that is medicine for the blind,” said the third one.

In the morning, when the devils went, he tried all the leaves they were mentioning, and his eyes were healed.

The he heard that the king’s daughter was blind and he cured her and he married her. Deglerasu became a judge of the market. Kefulerasu came to the market one day and they met.

“How did you get cured?” Kefulerasu asked him and Deglerasu told him the whole story, and how he came to be a judge in the market.

So Kefulerasu thought he would get a leaf that would make him rich. He went to that tree to become rich.

The devils were discussing medicine as before and suddenly he asked them to show him the part of the tree that would make him rich and they pulled him out of the tree and beat him to death.

He deserved it because he was too greedy to keep quiet.