Ethiopian Folktales

These stories were collected in Jijiga in October 1998 with the collaboration of Moge Abdi Omar of the Somalia Education Bureau, who facilitated the visit and translated the stories from Somali, assisted by Osman Abdulahi Ahmed. Translations from Amharic into English were done by Mikhail Negussie of the British Council.

Midwives narrate stories in Jijiga

The stories reflect the pastoralist, nomadic rhythms of traditional Somali life. Some (eg The Head), are similar to many tales told in Arab lands on the far side of the Red Sea, while others (eg The Black Crow), refer to beliefs of a pre-Islamic period. Unusually in Jijiga, it was possible to work with women storytellers. (The narrator of Degder was a young girl of around 12.)

Contents:

	Story	Narrator
1	Don’t Be Too Shy	Hukun Hussein Fura
2	The Black Crow	Professor Ahmed Mohammed Ali
3	The Head	Professor Ahmed Mohammed Ali
4	Deya Ali, the Cheating Fox	Aisha Awadem
5	Another Fox Story	Aisha Awadem
6	The Cannibal Woman	Degen Ali Adem
7	The Girl and the Lion	Degen Ali Adem
8	The Cracked Land of Drought	Moge Abdi Omer
9	The Hyena, the Fox and the Monkey	Yusuf Adem Mandre
10	Abba Bukkush	Yusuf Adem Mandre
11	The Fox and the Scales	Yusuf Adem Mandre
12	The Bride’s Test	Osman Abdulahi Ahmed
13	Hirsi and Kabaalaf	Osman Abdulahi Ahmed
14	The Clever Woman and the Sheikh Who Makes Mistakes	Abdul Hakim Abdulahi Jibril
15	The Handsome Boy’s Dream	Abdul Hakim Abdulahi Jibril
16	How the Cat Became the Woman’s Friend	Abdul Hakim Abdulahi Jibril
17	How the Dog Became Man’s Friend	Abdul Hakim Abdulahi Jibril
18	How the Dog Became Man's Friend (2)	Abdul Hakim Abdulahi Jibril
19	The Dog, the Goat and the Donkey	Abdul Amin Ahmed
20	The Lion, King of the Animals	Osman Abdulahi Ahmed
21	The Mother of Sons	Shamis Habib Farah
22	Degder	Ikran Ahmed Omer
23	The Boy Lion of Fafen	Abdul Hakim Abdulahi Jibril
24	Egal Sheeda	Narrator Unknown

Audio Recordings: