ERITREAN CHILDREN STORIES lll

The Frog and the Scorpion (Bilen)

It is told that one day returning home from a busy day the scorpion had difficulty crossing a sudden flood. It tried all the means at its disposal to cross the river but failed.

All of a sudden it saw a frog near the bank of the river:

“My dear Frogie,” it begged. “Would you please carry me on your back?”

“No problem,” said the frog. “Just hop on my back and we will be on the opposite bank in no time.”

“Thank you very much” intoned the scorpion and took a ride on the back of the frog.

While thus crossing the river, the scorpion felt like stinging the frog for no reason. Scorpions can’t help stinging all kinds of animals just for fun. It is an ugly but an irresistible impulse.

So, the scorpion stung the frog.

“Ouch!” shouted the frog. “What’s that for?”

“I can’t help stinging whoever comes near me,” said the scorpion sheepishly.

The frog found the scorpion’s behavior very strange. When they both reached the middle of the river, the frog started to swim underwater.

“Gurgle, gurgle, choke! Help! Help!” shouted the scorpion.

“What’s the problem?” wondered the frog.

“Why are you swimming underwater, can’t you see I am drowning?” asked the scorpion unable to breathe.

“I can’t help swimming underwater,” replied the frog carrying the terrified scorpion to its death. “It is just a natural impulse.”

 

 

The Hyena, the Fox and the Macaque (Bilen)

There was a time in the distant past when the hyena and the fox owned an ox and a cow respectively.

“Let’s tend our cattle by turns,” suggested the hyena.

“Okay,” agreed the fox.

So they began to tend their cattle by shifts.

One day as the hyena was tending the cattle, the cow gave birth to beautiful calf.

“Impossible!” said the hyena. He thought for a while, rubbed his ox with blood, took the calf and told the fox:

“Look, foxy darling,” he exclaimed. “My ox had just produced a beautiful calf.”

“Since when does an ox produce a calf?” asked the fox very much surprised.

“Here is the proof,” said the hyena pointing at the bloodstained ox and at the calf which he carried on his shoulder.

The fox knowing that it was a waste of time to argue with a greedy hyena told him that they should take the case to the macaque.

They found the macaque in the woods.

“Honorable macaque,” said the fox. “We have come here for justice. Is it possible for an ox to produce a calf?”

The macaque knew that there was something fishy about the whole case. He scratched his head and thought for a while and finally said:

“Just a minute! I will be back soon. Wait for me.”

“What!” shouted the hyena who expected a quick verdict in his favor. “We came to you for justice thinking you are a wise animal. How can you just leave us here waiting for you to come back?”

The macaque refused to get disturbed by the hyena’s threats. He simply said:

“I just want to extract some fiber from that big stone over there.”

“Very strange,” exclaimed the hyena. “How is it possible to extract fiber from a stone?”

“Well, how could it be possible for an ox to produce a calf?” replied the macaque and disappeared among the trees.

 

 

Fatuma (Afar)

“What’s that, at the bottom of the well?” wondered the husband of Fatuma.

He was drawing water from a well and he did not like what he saw.

“Please help me,” whined the hyena at the bottom of the well.

The husband of Fatuma pulled the hyena out of the well and helped him to lie on the ground.

When the sun warmed up his body, the hyena got up and looked around him.

“You want to fight? He asked the man

“Why not? Answered the man.

“But first, I want you to be as naked as I am,” suggested the hyena.

The husband of Fatuma took off his clothes and shoes and began to wrestle with the hyena.

A naked man and a hungry hyena wrestling near a well. Naturally, the hyena simply killed and ate the man. He then put on his clothes and went straight to the hut where Fatuma was doing household chores.

“Good day,” said the hyena.

“Good day,” answered Fatuma without looking over her shoulder. But when she turned around, she saw a strange person who looked more or less like her husband.

“Give me food,” the hyena shouted.

Fatuma served him the normal Afar dish.

“What!” said the hyena angrily. “Give me my favorite dish!”

“What is your favorite dish?” implored Fatuma.

“Ashes and blood, of course,” said the hyena.

After eating ashes and blood, the hyena told Fatuma to get ready for a long journey to his father’s village.

Fatuma was confused. She was not sure if he were her real husband. He looked like a hyena but talked and dressed like her husband.

The hyena-man brought a camel, mounted on it and ordered Fatuma to lead the way on foot. Fatuma held the rope tied to the camel’s head and started to pull.

The hyena-man started to eat the camel. First its hump, then its neck…..

The camel groaned and fell down dead.

Fatuma was terrified. She dropped the rope and ran for dear life.

The hyena-man ran after her. But she outran him and climbed on a date tree.

As hyenas cannot by nature climb on trees, Fatuma was saved.

The hyena-man went away very angry. Fatuma sat on a the branch of the tree for some days eating dates.

One day a bird flew by and begged Fatuma to give her some dates.

“First, you have to tell my family that I am here,” said Fatuma

“Okay,” chirped the bird. “I will.”

“What will you say to my family?” continued Fatuma.

“Chirp, Chirp, Chirp…..”

“No!” shouted Fatuma. “You will never carry the message properly.”

Several birds came and asked for date fruit, but were dismissed by Fatuma because they could not utter her words of instruction correctly.

Finally, a dove arriived. It was able to pronounce the words correctly. Fatuma gave it dates and sent it away.

The next day Fatuma’s family arrived and implored her to go back home with them. But Fatuma refused because they had married her off to a hyena-man.

Her family begged her the whole day, but she wouldn’t listen.

Finally, her little brother who knew nothing about her marriage to a hyena-man begged her to come down from the tree and come home with them.

Fatuma was deeply moved by the innocent words of her little brother. She came down from the tree and went back home with her family.

And she lived happily ever after.