Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Imahoy Zewditu Wudineh

Once there was an immature rat going out into the world, without the knowledge of her mother, alone. She admired everything she saw and came to where a cat was sleeping, a beautiful white one, coiled up on itself. She loved him the moment she saw him.

“How beautiful is that creature, with white fur and nice whiskers. I must go and talk to him. I want to know him. He’s so attractive.”

While she was creeping up to the cat, the cock was there. So the cock was big and had a red crest, and the rat feared him with his beak and crest. She shuddered and retreated, looking for chances to get to the cat. The cock flapped his wings, and shouted, and she was terrified and ran away, back to her mother.

The mother had been worried, missing her baby.

“I was worried. Where were you? Why did you go out without telling me?”

“Oh Mummy, I was in the world today for the first time and I was very happy. I saw the birds. I saw the dog and beautiful things. And this is what happened. While I was going to a very attractive creature who had white fur and whiskers and attracts everyone when he says ‘Miaow’, and I was trying to be his friend, and a big creature, red colour with his crest and beak, flapped his wings at me and I was afraid he would eat me, and so I ran home to tell you.”

“Oh, what a pity that you are so small and innocent that you didn’t know all this. Such a child, with no knowledge of friends and enemies. That creature whom you feared and ran away from is so innocent. He can do no harm to our race. Even when human beings kill him and eat the meat, we get the bones from him. But the other one who you thought was so peaceful and attractive is the cat, the enemy of our race, from whom we hide and run, so don’t go to him again.”