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3. The Story of the Bet-Arbaj.
The Bet-Arbaj are the brothers(1) of the Mänsas; they are all descendants of Arabi(2). The village of the Bet-Arbaj was at Debbur, and the villige of the Mänsas at Hajgat.
The Bet-Arbaj were high-born and brave and said to the Mänsas: »We are the high-born ones and men of the land, therefore give us tribute: give us at every "Cross-feast" (3) barren cow, and furthermore at every Easter a skin full of boiled butter. And if ye do not give us all this, we shall plunder you and destroy you». The Mänsas said: »We are not going, to give you this tribute». But a man who was called Wekenaj was on that occasion with them. And he intervened between them all in order to reconcile them, .and said to them: »Do not destroy one another on account of this thing». And to the Mänsas he said: »Give what they told you to». And the Mänsas said: »Let them renounce the one thing; either the cow or else the skin of butter». And Wekenaj came to the Bet-Arbaj, mediating, and said: »Remit the one thing to them». But they refused.
And Wekenaj was at heart with the Mänsas and counselled with them and said to them: »lf I make you victorious over the Bet-Arbaj, what will ye give to me?» And the Mänsas said: »We will establish an ordinance in thy honour». And he returned to the Bet-Arbaj and said: ,Yea, they accept. Whither should they go (to escape) from you? But appoint a meeting at the river Shital and let no one take weapons; come with your sticks only, and take with you every one of your noblemen and your chief, and come,,. »Good», said the Bet-Arbaj.
Footnotes
(1) i. e. the near kindred. They call one another - brother» even to the 5th and 6th generation.
(2) See introduktion p. 10.
(3) The cross-feast, on the 24th of September.
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Thereupon came Wekenaj to the Mänsas and said to them: »We have arranged a meeting, and, having hastened before them down to Shital, bury ye your weapons in the sand there. Afterwards, when they have come to you, let each one of you seat himself upon the burying place of his weapons. And after the Bet- Arbaj have come to you, say to them: 'Remit one of them to us; both, of course, it is impossible for us to give'. And I shall say to you: Before ye said, 'Good', did ye not? And answer ye: 'Yes'. And then when I have said: 'Yea, the agreement has become idle talk for me, I will mount my mule and go my way from you: and when ye have become very hot, dig up your weapons and kill them therewith». And the Mänsas said: »Good». On the day for the meeting the Mänsas went down from Hajgat to Shital (and buried their weapons there), and then every one of them seated himself upon the burying place of his
weapons. Afterwards came the Bet-Arbaj in their wooden shoes (1) without weapons, and with only a small stick in their hands, together with their chief. And when they had seated themselves,´ Wekenaj said to the Mänsas: »Ye have accepted, have ye not?» And the Mänsas said: To thee we said that we accept, but let them remit to us one part of the tribute». And the Bet-Arbaj said to them: »Give us both parts of the tribute». And Wekenaj said to them: »Well, since ye (on the one hand) have changed your lips(2), nothwithstanding that ye said before: 'We accept'; and ye (on the other hand) refuse to remit, then our agreement is not fulfilled.» And he flung himself upon his mule and rode away. And the Bet-Arbaj said to the Mänsas: »Because ye refuse to accept, we depart». When they had spoken thus, while their chief mounted (his) mule, the Mänsas, having dug up their weapons, fell upon them and defeated them and put an end to theim, striking them down, even to their village.
But a small part of them, who fled, having gone over Afluk, came to Ansaba. And there they live, to this very day, as dependants. And the mother of those who live in the territory of'
Footnotes
(1) Wooden shoes of different kinds are chiefly used during the rainy season in the highland,
July-September, and otherwise only in moist weather as at Christmas.
(2) i. e. have not kept your word.
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the Mänsas, was a woman of the Ad-Bula (1). And the Ad-Bula saved them, and after they had lived together with them, their family having been weakened, they became the dependants of the latter, and are subject to them even to this very day. And in this way the Bet-Arbaj have, by evil guidance, been ruined, and the Mänsas inherited all that they had owned. And as for Wekenaj, the Mänsas established this ordinance: Of every slaughtered cow(2) he may take the heart, and when they plunder and go to rob, he shall be the scout, and of the cows which they get, they shall give him one. And this custom remains for him (3) even to this very day.
4. The Story of Zenaj and Mahari, son of Hawache.
Zenaj was a very rich and mighty man, and in conformity with his mightiness, in order that he, when judging at the council place, should not have to see the man (4) and his breath should not reach to him, he let a hole be bored in the stone(5) and used to lay his ear to this hole. And the man who spoke with him stood on the other side of the stone. The bored stone remains even to this very day. And they call the descendants of the man for a surname: »Sons of Tarkoj»(6).
Mahari, son of Hawache, used to give the tongues (7) to Zenaj. One time, when each one of them had moved down to the lowland with his village, Mahari's son died, and (his father) slaughtered
Footnotes
(1) Bet-Abrehe is divided into several branches. The principal ones are: 'Ad-Hafarom, 'Ad-Gäbres, 'Ad-'Ajlaj and 'Ad-Bula. There are also some sma'ller enes, such as 'Ad-Zawlaj, Bet-Abbaza, 'Ad-Mahari and Bet-Abgalaj.
(2) i. e. such as are slaughtered at weddings and funerals. for his family.
(3) for his family.
(4) i.e. supplicant.
(5) i. e. in the huge back of his stone seat, and used to lay his ear to this hole in order to listen.
(6) i. e. "the Borer", from the verb 'terke(tigr alphabet) to bore.
(7)i. e. the tongues of the cattle which be slaughtered at weddings, funerals or the like.
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many cows for him(1), about thirty; and, that be might send their tongues to Zenij, he said: »Bring them hither», and counted them. But there was lacking one tongue, and when (Zenaj) had it searched for, his slave-girl had just then, by mistake, put it into the pot. And they took it up out of the pot, and Mahari sent it, together with the others, to Zenaj. When the tongues came to Zenaj and he saw the marks of the warm water on the one, he said: »Mahari has had the tongues cooked, with the purpose of eating them up. Well then, let the tongue not say: 'I have not been eaten'; and the wretched Mahari: '1 have not eaten'»(2). And the bearer informed Mahari saying:
»Thus and thus said Zenaj to thee». When Mahari heard this, he was afraid and thought: »So Zenaj contemplates making an end of me». Afterwards, thinking: »I shall make an end of himinstead of his making an end of me», he moved on to the regions of Sahar and Engana. To the men of the regions he said: »Come with me, and I will lead you to plunder cattle which have not an owner». And they followed him with their horde. When, showing them the way, he approached the village, and had said to them: »Wait here for me, until I have moved away my possessions, and tomorrow, plunder», he gave them a guide to Zenaj's quarter. Thereupon he went to his own part, and moved it away. The following day he went to Zenaj, and, in order that the latter should not flee when he caught sight of the crowd, he said to him: »Stand up for me!(3)» And Zenaj arose for him. And after they had gone a little way from the village, they settled themselves to converse in secret, and, that Zenaj should not look in the direction from which the horde was to come, Mahari seated himself on the opposite side, and Zenaj sat turned towards Mahari, and Mahari looked in the direction of the horde.
While they sat speaking together in secret, a viper came (creeping) between them both, and it was about to go towards Zenaj. Mahari, however, noticed it first. And that Zenaj should not see the horde and
Footnotes
(1) Here it is the custom to cut the tendons on the hind legs of the cows with a sword, after which they are allowed to stand for several hours, bleeding and suffering. This cruel practice is now disappearing.
(2) The meaning is: »Mahari is intending to escape from paying me tribute, hut I shall not permit it».
(3) The usual form for saying: »Let me speak with you».
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flee, in case he observed the serpent and turned around, Mahari quietly stamped on it with the sandal he had on his foot. And while they sat there, the horde came and killed Zenaj, and plundered his villige, and killed his people, and having seized his cattle, returned to their (own) tracts. Thus Zenaj met his death, through this.
Of his descendants who fled, one betook himself to the northern land, and lived there and left some seed, and these his seed went over to Islam and live even to this very day as dependants and as Islams. Another fled to Kabasa and there took a wife and begat children. And when Mahari and his kinsmen had destroyed Zenaj, he succeeded to this land. The land belonged, from former times, to Zenaj; he was created with it. The descendants of Mahari multiplied and became mighty.
Afterwards Ada, son of Gäbres of the family of Mahari, came as guest to Kabasa. A mother to them who are born from the seed of Zenaj (then) grasped Ada by his hand and foot and said to him: "1 beg thy protection for these my children, that they may inhabit Hajgat, and they demand nothing of thee, make them only thy dependants». And he replied: »Good, now I shall take counsel with my kinsman Täsfamkel, on this matter.» After he had gone down to his land again, he related this to Tästfamkel, who said to him: »Let therm come». Then Ada said to them: »Come». Thus they gave to Ada the right of patronage over them, which reinains to the present time. The survivors, it is true, did not inherit any of Zen's or Zenaj's land, but Mahari's house gave them a part of it. And in order that they should not kill them, it was forbidden to touch them, and even to the present day the descendants of Zen and Mahari have no connection with one another and do not intermarry, and this has become in established custom. The daughters of the offspring of Mahari, i.e. the Mänsa girls, swear by them (the descendants of Zen), saving: »This is my Zenaj,»(1) and the daughters of Zen swear, saying: "This is my Mänsaaj(2).» And thus they are, even to the present time, forbidden one another.
Footnotes
(1) i. e. »as a man of the house of Zen is forbidden me, let this be forbidden me».
(2) i. e. »as a man of the house of Mänsa is forbidden me, let this be forbidden me».
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And furthermore, in recompense to (the descendants of) Zen (or Zenaj), they established the following custom: When they (Mänsas) give their daughters away in marriage, it is those (Zens) that build the nuptial hut,(1) and formerly the Mänsas used to give them a heifer of the cows following with the wedding gift.(2) But now they give to the Zens a thaler M. T. from the wedding gift and a bowl of porridge, i. e. it is the girI's father who gives it to them, and (the descendants of) Zen give their blessing in return. But all these customs apply only to those descendants of Zen who came (and still come) from Kabasa. They have no reference to those who went over to Islam in former times (as related). And they are called the Christian Zens and the Mohammedan Zens.
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