Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Yisahak Aldade

It was during the rainy season, when the rains were raining and there were a lot of floods. The flood was flooding everywhere, rushing around, breaking down trees, carrying away lots of animals, and the flood had grown very, very mighty.

And due to his might, he became very, very arrogant, and he thought he was the greatest flood ever.

The flood had a very handsome son, and he wanted his son to get married, and the lake had a very, very beautiful daughter. So the flood wanted his son to marry the lake’s daughter.

So according to the tradition, the flood sent elders to the house of the lake, asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The elders came over and asked the lake for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

The lake was furious. He said, “How can this momentary flood, this ephemeral phenomenon, dare to ask for my daughter’s hand in marriage?”

He was about to refuse out of anger, when his own elders advised him. They said, “Wait, you don’t need to disappoint the flood now. Let us handle it and listen to our advice.”

So the lake's elders said to the flood's elders, “Look, we want to inspect the bridegroom, and his father and all their relatives. Therefore as is the custom, we will give you an appointment and in the appointment you will all come over and if we find you acceptable you can marry our daughter then.”

So the elders on the flood side agreed, and the elders of the lake said, “All right, we set the appointment date for 26th Parsus.” The month of Parsus is in the centre of the dry season, where there is no rain and the like. Therefore obviously, by the time Parsus came, there were no floods and no rains, and nobody came to the appointment.

The moral of this story is that we shouldn’t be flushed by momentary success and others should bide their time.