Ethiopian Folk Tale - The Thief and the Chair

For generations, Ethiopian stories such as this, with their perceptive wit and useful lessons, have been used to entertain and instruct young children.

I am sharing these folk-tales from the collection of stories by author Shlomo Bachrach, 1967. Enjoy. Senait Mareligne

A long time ago there was a thief in the region of Dessie, Ethiopia. This thief stole many things. He took books, horses, clothing and food. He took everything that he wanted.

One day the thief went to the café. He didn’t sit down at the table. He walked around the room. He looked at the pictures on the walls. He looked at the bottles on the shelves. He looked at the people sitting at the tables.

At last, the thief picked up a chair. He carried the chair to the door. Then he walked outside, carrying the chair. He crossed the road. When he got to the other side, he put the chair on his back. Then he slowly walked across the field with the chair. The waiter ran out the café. He looked for the thief. He saw the thief walking across the field. He shouted at him, ‘Stop! Bring back the chair.” The thief heard him, and he stopped. He put the chair on the ground and sat down. The waiter saw him sitting in the middle of the field. He began to walk towards the thief.

‘Come here, waiter,’ said the thief.

‘What do you want?’ asked the waiter.

‘Bring me a cup of coffee,’ said the thief.

‘Do you want sugar?’ asked the waiter.

‘Yes, I do,’ said the thief.

So the waiter went back into the café to get the coffee. Then the thief picked up the chair and ran away.