Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Worku Woldemariam

A man caught a very beautiful bird in the palm of his hand. He was squeezing her so as to kill her. But she requested to be allowed to say a word or two.

“Please don’t kill me. I’ll give you three important pieces of advice. My first is: don’t let go of what you have in your hands. The second is: don’t regret anything that has happened.”

Then she kept quiet.

He asked her to give him the third one.

“The third one is very useful to your children and grandchildren and I will not tell you unless you release me.”

The man was anxious to hear that important advice so he let her go and she flew up into a tree.

“What did I say to you? Do you remember?” she said to him.

“You said, ‘Don’t let go of what you have in your hands.’”

“And the second?”

“Don’t regret any mistakes you have made.”

“Yes. You did not accept what I told you. If you hadn’t let me go, you would have found gold in my body that would have been a great asset to your children and grandchildren. So that’s all.”

“What about the third one?” he asks.

“The third one was a repetition of the second. Don’t regret what you have lost. That’s all. Goodbye. So, because you haven’t taken my advice you will live in poverty.”