The Lion's Whiskers

The following is a fable from Ethiopia and was submitted by Azeb Worku Sibane, an actress, director and producer based in Addis Abba, Ethiopia.


There was a woman who was unhappy because her husband did not love her like before. At the beginning of their marriage he was always very nice with her-he worried a lot when she was a little bit tired, he brought her gifts, and he liked all the dishes that she prepared.

But unfortunately, after a while, he changed. He returned home late under pretext of having a drink with his friends or going to oversee the crops. When he returned from the market he didn’t bring any thing for her. He stopped eating at home, and when he did, he complained that all that she prepared was bland and badly cooked. The woman didn’t know how to change her husband back to how he was before.

She remembered that one old wise man, a “Debtera,” lived not far from their house, close to the church of Saint Michel. This wise man, knows a lot of things. He can read, write and prepare talismans. She thought that he could perhaps give her a charm that would return her husband’s attention and his affection.

The Lion's Whiskers

One morning she went to find the old debtera in his house. The old man welcomed her and listened to her story with attention. When she finished, he remained silent and then he said

“I will be glad to prepare for you a medicine which will make your
husband see you with the same eyes as before, but for the medicine you
must bring me three whiskers of a lion. But the whiskers must be
taken from a live lion and by your own hand.”

“How shall I do this, and, how can I find a lion? The women asked

- Farmers of the low lands said to me that there was a lion which often
comes to the heart of the valley, at the edge of the river.

She was worried by the idea of going down to the low lands, as they were known to be a dangerous area. Add to that, she has to pluck the whiskers of a live lion!...

“And what do I have to do to make this lion come close to me?” She asked.

The debtera answered, “I don’t know. The only thing I know is how to make magic medicines, not to tame a lion.”

The Lion's Whiskers

She went back home and she asked herself what she was going to do. She loved her husband, and she wanted him to love her as before-certainly the medicine of the debtera would be very effective. The next day she goes down to the bottom of the valley to taking meat in her basket. It was hot in the valley. When she heard the roar of the lion, she put the basket of the meat on a flat rock and ran away.

The following day, she returned to the same place and, at the first distant roar, she put down the meat in the same place. This time she did not run away, but she hid behind a tree not far from the place. She heard the lion arrive slowly; he was enormous. He shook his mane and opened a terrible mouth. He came to the meat;
he looked at everything around him with suspicion, then he started to eat. When he finished, he left in the direction from where he had come, calmly and the woman returned to her home.

The Lion's Whiskers

The third day, she went back to the low lands. She put the meat in the same place, she moved backward to the tree, but she did not hide. She remained motionless, watching for the arrival of the lion. The lion arrived. He looked at the woman, roared out and ate all the meat with a huge appetite, all while looking at her. When he finished, he started to leave, but at the end of some steps, he turned around, looked at her, then he resumed his walking and disappeared into bushes.

The Lion's Whiskers

The next day, having put down the meat, she only went away some steps. She was anxious and impatient to see the lion. He arrived, almost noiseless. He stopped in front of the meat, but did not touch it. He looked for a long time with his yellow eyes. Some times he stared at the women, sometimes at the meet, and then he began eating.

When he had finished, she made one step, then the other one. The lion lay, immovable. When she was close, he got up and the woman’s heart barely beat at all. The lion opened his mouth, but instead of roaring, he yawns, then he left as every day by turning around several times.

The following day, when she arrived at the same time, the lion was already there, asleep near the flat stone. She moved quite slowly and arrived in front of him she took a piece of meat out of her basket, which she stretched out, to him. The lion took it delicately. She sat down next to him to stroke his head. He began to hum like a big cat. She continued to give him the meat, which was in the basket, piece by piece until he became full. She began caressing him. The lion winked his eyes, and fell asleep.

The woman held out the hand towards the muzzle of the lion, and, delicately, plucked three whiskers. He grumbled weakly, moved a little, but continued to sleep. The women tightened her hand around the treasure, went away slowly and walked out of the bottom of the valley. Without returning even at her house, she went to find the old man debtera.

The Lion's Whiskers

“I brought you what you had asked me.” She said to him, “here are three whiskers of a lion.”
The old man looked at her with an amazed gaze.
“Tell me how you did it,” he asked her.
When she told him how she had reached her goal, he looked at her quietly.

“Well,” she said to him, “now you can prepare this medicine that will restore my husband’s affection to me?”
“What medicine do you mean? You, who managed to calm and to tame this wild animal, can’t you manage to do the same for your husband? Behave as you did with the lion, with the courage, the sweetness and the patience! There is no other magic.”

And indeed, she knew how to find for her husband the words, the gestures and the charms that were necessary. Softly and patiently, also with good dishes, she gets his heart back and they lived with joy.