Ethiopian Folktales

Narrator Unknown

The hyena, the fox and the monkey were living together and one day they kidnapped four cows from one of the houses in the village. They took one each and one remained.

“What shall we do with the fourth?”

They discussed it.

“They said, “Let the oldest one take the fourth.”

So they agreed and they asked the hyena, “When were you born?”

He said, “Last year and before last year.”

The monkey answered, “I was born when the sky and the earth were made.”

The fox says, “That’s right. I remember. I heard a grey-haired man was born and I attended the ceremony and I had wheat porridge, cakes with butter and berberi^{Very hot Ethiopian red pepper.} in his gellop.” ( A ceremony of clothes washing after seven days after birth.)

“So who is the oldest?”

The fox.

So she took the fourth cow.