Modaina

THE THE TALE OF THE HYAENA AND A MOSLEM PROPHET.
A Moslem prophet said to the hyaena: 'Pronounce the creed and make a vow to eat only what thou hast killed thyself!" And the hyaena made a vow [to refrain] from all carrion. And the prophet set out to go away and mounted his camel, and he let the hyaena ride behind him on the camel. And while they were travelling, everybody that saw him being with the prophet, was very much astonished, because he had taken the vow and become a pupil of the prophet. And while they were thus travelling with each other, they met a carcass on the road. And the hyaena sniffed the smell of the carcass.
Said the prophet to him: 'Daughter of Moses, do not sniff at this now after thou hast taken the vow [to refrain] from it!" But he sniffed again at the carcass and said to the prophet: 'May we not even sniff at it?" He replied: 'No!".
And after a little while the hyaena got off from his place behind [the prophetl and saying:"[This is] the food of my mother and my father!", he jumped at the carcass. And the prophet was sorry because the hyaena had broken his vow, and (then) went his way. And now they say, as a proverb, to people who do not keep their oath or their vöw: 'Thy vow has become like that of the hyaena."
'Daughter of Moses" is a name of the hyaena; the word hyaena,is used as a feminine in Tigré. The belief that the hyaena is a hermaphrodite is also found among the Tigre speaking people. It is known that the hyaena, especially the hyaena striata, is an unusually cowardly animal (cf. the tale bove p. 29), and that during the day-time he generally hides himself sleeping (cf. the same tale). Sometimes little children are killed and carried away, and single persons, - especially women, or persons sleeping are attacked by the hyaenas, more by the h. crotuta,than by the h. striata. Both are found in Northern Abyssinia; the h. crocuta is called the chief (ba'al gas(ts) or Sulul) of the hyaenas.

THE TALE OF THE FOX, THE WHITE KITE AND THE RAVEN.
The white kite built her nest on a certain tree and lived there; and she had (also) young ones.Thereupon the fox. who had an axe of clay, took this and went to the white kite. And he said to her: "With this my axe I shall cut down this thy tree, unless thou gives me one of thy young." And she said to him: "Do not cut it down. Lest thou destroyer us all in this way, I shall give thee [one]." Speakthing thus, she gave him one. And by telling her the same each day he ate up her young (away from her). Now the white kite had one of her young left, and she wept over her young that had died (away from her).
Thereupon the raven came to her and asked her saying: "Why doest thou weep?" And she said to him: "The fox said: 'This tree of thy nest I shall cut down with this my axe and eat thy young, unless thou gives me thy young, one after the other that I may eat them'; and he has finished them (away from me), and now even this one that is left he is going to eat (away from me)." And the raven said to her: "When he comes, tell him: 'I shall not give [it] to thee, cut [the tree], cut it'. His axe is of clay, it does not cut, but it breaks." And the fox came to her as before, and he said to her: "Give me the one that is left, lest I cut down this thy tree with this my axe!" And she said to him: "Cut, cut! That is nothing but an axe of clay!"
When he struck the tree with his axe, his axe crumbled. And the fox said to her: "Who told thee that my axe was of clay? Tell me the truth lest I cut thy tree (away from thee) with an axe of ron!" And she said to him: "The raven told me." Now the fox thought of revenge upon the raven, and sought to kill him. Thus one day the fox threw himself down upon a flat rock, let his tongue hang out and looked as if he were dead. When the raven saw him, he believed that he was dead, and he went down to eat him. And while he pecked at him, the fox snatched at him and was about to kill him. P. 13. But the raven asked him saying: "Do not kill me in this way; but make a large fire and when the wood chars, throw me on it; it is better for me to die in the fire." The fox said: "Very well", and did accordingly, and threw him into the fire. But the raven without touching the fire took wing and flew away. And the raven escaped from the fox in this way. And now they say as a proverb of something that is not durable: "It is an axe of clay."

THE TALE OF HOW THE FOX FOLLOWED THE ELEPHANT.
The fox and the elephant were together. When they started, the elephant said to the fox: "Where art thou going, fox?" The fox answered him: "I am going with thee." The elephant, however, said to him: "Stay here, thou canst not endure hunger and thirst." But the fox said to him: "I can endure [it]; I shall not say unto thee that I am hungry or thirsty." And the elephant said to him: "Very well, then." And they went together about a day's journey. Then the fox said to the elephant: "Uncle, I am thirsty." But the elephant replied: "Didst thou not tell me, thou wouldst not be thirsty? How is this now?" And the fox said to him: "When did I think that we should go through such a dry country?" The elephant said: "Go then, drink from that water-pit there and come back!" And the fox went, and after having drunk he filled up the pit and returned to the elephant. And the elephant asked him: "Hast thou drunk?", but he replied: "No, I found [the pit] filled up." Thereupon after they had marched a while, the fox said to him : " Uncle, I am thirsty!" The elephant: "Go then, drink from such and such a well; then come." He went, drank and filled up the well and said: "I found nothing in it, it was filled up." And again after they had marched on a while, he said to him: "Uncle, I am thirsty." He said to him: "Go then and drink from such and * such a well; then come!" And that one also he covered up and said: "I found nothing."
While the fox spoke thus and the elephant showed him every well, they came into a country which the elephant did not know. The fox said to him: "Uncle, I am thirsty." He answered: "I do not know the wells of this country. But enter here in my anus, and when thou hast drunk, come back without turning right or left. There is water within my belly." So he entered into the anus of the elephant, drank from that water and came back in his tracks. Afterwards when they had marched on from there, he said
to him: "Uncle, I am thirsty!" And the elephant replied: "Enter into me as before, and when thou hast drunk, come back!" The fox entered into him, and when he had drunk, on his return he saw the fat in the belly of the elephant swinging; and tearing a bite off from the fat he ate. The elephant said to him: "Fox, mayest thou be betrayed! How couldst thou betray me?" But the fox sat there, in order to eat from the fat. The elephant: "Why doest thou not come out from me?" The fox: "Where then shall I go out from thee?" He replied: "Where thou hast come in, there go out!" The fox: "That thy dung may soil me?" The elephant: "Come out through my mouth!" The fox: "Well, uncle, that thou mayest break me into pieces with thy tusks ?" "Come out through me foot!" "If then thou squashes me?" "Come out then through my ear!" "That the wax of thy ear may soil me?" "Come out through my trunk!" "If then thou catches me with it?" And through whatsoever he told him, he refused to go out. The elephant said to him: "Now then, after thou hast refused to come out, I shall throw myself with thee down from this precipice." But the fox said to him: "What do I care? Throw thyself down!" And the elephant intending to perish together with the fox, jumped from the precipice and all his bones broke into pieces. But the fox went out through his anus, when he began to jump down. Thereupon he took out the entrails, and while unrolling them and dragging them along he was met by traveling merchants. And he recognized his cousin among the merchants, and they greeted each other. Said his cousin to him: "From where hast thou come, fox?" And he told him his adventures and said to him: "To my luck and thy luck, I have found an elephant fallen down." So his cousin in- formed his company, and they asked him: "Where is he, fox?" He answered: "These his entrails will guide you; just follow them!" "But who will stay with our things for us? n said they. He replied: "I shall stay with them." And after they had gone to the elephant, the fox opened their skins and drank the melted butter ') that was in them; then he filled the skins with excrement. But from the skin of his cousin he kept away. And when they returned, they said to him: "Thou hast stayed [here] for us, fox; thou hast done well." And they said: "Make a meal for him!" And when they had made [the meal] for him, he asked them: "Make me butter-sauce out of the skin of my cousin ; my aunt's butter I know beforehand, it is good." So they made a sauce of it for him. And after he had eaten, he went away from them. When the merchants entered the town, they opened their skins in order to sell the butter; but they found nothing but excrement in their skins ; only the skin of the cousin of the fox was good. The merchants said: "The fox has done this to us," and went to seek him. But the fox had mixed with his friends, so [that] they did not recognize him. Then the merchants gathered all the foxes, planted a spear for them and said to them : "Jump over it." The other foxes jumped over it, but the fox who had drunk their melted butter could not jump. The merchants said: "It is he; because, he has drunk our butter he is now unable to jump," and they seized it him. And after they had tied him to a tree, they went away with the words: "Let us fetch switches with which to scourge him !" While he was thus tied, the jackal came to him with his few goats. He said to him: "Fox, what has happened to thee? Why art thou thus tied." He replied: "My family told me to become their chief, but I refused the chieftainship." "Does he whom they tell to become chief [ever] refuse the chieftainship?" "If thou wishes it, untie me that I give it to thee. Then I shall tie thee in my place. And when they lash thee with switches, speak to them: 'I will be chief!" The jackal untied him, and after that the fox tied him to the tree. Then he went away taking from him his few goats and also the harp which he had had. Now when the merchants returned and lashed the jackal with the switches, he said to them: "I will be chief; let me alone!" When they recognized him they asked him: "Who art thou ? And who told thee to become chief?" He answered: "I am the jackal; and the fox has betrayed me and told me : 'My family told me to become chief and I refused the chieftainship.' When I asked him: 'Does he whom they tell to become chief [ever] refuse the chieftainship ?', he said to me : 'Untie me that I place thee in my stead. And when they lash thee, speak to them : 'I will become chief; let me alone!' And he took my few goats and my harp and went away." Then they said: "This traitor has escaped us," and they untied him. And in this way the fox escaped from them. [This is what] they say.

i) The Tigre speaking people eat no hard butter (zebdat\ but take it only boiled and melted (h> ias)\ to eat hard butter is an abomination.