Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Abdul Hakim Abdulahi Jibril

Adam was in the garden of Eden, and when he came out into the world, all the animals wondered, “Who is this new animal who has two legs?”

“He has two legs only! He has two hands, like the monkey, but he is different from the monkey.”

They wondered and said, “What does he want from us? Can he live peacefully with us? How will it be?”

So they decided to send a dog to talk to him. So the dog accepted and approached Adam.

“You, man,” he said, “New animal, we are wondering if you will join with us on the earth and live peacefully? Or do you want to fight us?”

“I want to live peacefully,” said the man. “I am new and I have come from the garden, and I want to live with you.”

“Oh, that’s good news,” said the dog, and he started to run back to the other animals to tell them. As he went, he ran fast.

When the other animals saw that he was running, “Oh,” they said, “Adam is chasing him, so we have to run away.”

All the animals tried to run away. So the dog, trying to tell them not to run away, shouted, “Waf! Waf! Stop! Stop!”

But the other animals were afraid and kept on running. The dog soon got tired, and went back to the man, and from that time the animals have run away from man. But the dog became the friend of man and the dog says, “Wuf! Wuf! Stop! Stop!”

Also, Adam thought the animals didn’t want him, and he began to see them as enemies and hunted them, and he asked the dog to remain with him to guard him.