Saba: Under the Hyena’s Foot

Caught Between Saytan’s Teeth

All day, Saba lays on her bed, refusing to eat. Negatwa and the old woman bring buttery wat and sugar cakes and almonds and figs, but Saba only turns them away. Negatwa finally whispers that Saba cannot give up. At least she’s imprisoned in a castle. What if Mesfin is on top of a high amba with only the wind and clouds to hear his cries. What hope does he have except for Saba?

Of course Negatwa is right. Mesfin is depending on her. From then on, Negatwa is Saba’s eyes and ears. Negatwa goes out when she can, but they also spend many long hours with their cotton at Saba’s feet. When Saba leans close to Negatwa, she quietly tells her when she has discovered.

Unfortunately, for many days, Saba’s eyes are blind and her ears are deaf. Negatwa goes to all the churches in the area. Only one of them has a roof that was covered with red cloth and mirrors so it flashes magnificent praise to the sky. However, none of the priests know anything of Mesfin. Servants, soldiers, townspeople, and peasants talk to her willingly about what they know. Kassa is growing stronger daily. Although Kassa’s relatives tasted the lands around Lake Dembya, his mother lived in Gondar in great poverty. While she sold kosso on the streets, she sent her son to study at a monastery on the lake.

Saba thinks of the water she saw that day when they were riding to Gondar. Many churches and monasteries sat on Lake Dembya’s islands. Did a frightened young Kassa once travel the same path that brought Saba and Mesfin to the city?

During the battle that the men at the fire described, the soldiers burned the monastery where Kassa was studying to the ground. But he escaped. That’s when he became a bandit, robbing the rich traders. So it was the injustice that he had seen that drove him to be a bandit. Saba hopes that now his soldiers are defeating the soldiers of the empress.

Negatwa says that Kassa learned to love books and Ethiopian history from his stay in the monastery. And from being a bandit, he learned to lead. But the empress despises him. The people say General Ali and his mother are doing everything they can to stop Kassa but more men flock to his side each day. And even though he is related to the general and the empress by marriage, Kassa is pressing on. The so-called empress has brought much of the trouble on herself.

One afternoon, Negatwa comes rushing into Saba’s room. She is bursting with news. But when Saba asks if it’s over her brother, she says no, but she’s found another person from Saba’s family, long lost. Saba asks if it is Emama. Saba wants to leap and sing. She knew Emama would find her way to Gondar. But Negatwa hangs her head and says it’s not Emama. It’s Saba’s father.

Even though Saba had heard the empress talk about him, she didn’t really think of him being alive. Negatwa says there’s news everywhere among the people that he has found his way to Kassa’s camp. More and more people are saying “let Kassa come.” They’re ready for change. So a bird had escaped from a snake. God willing, maybe a spider could as well.

Then comes a time of silence. Negatwa comes back from her errands, and Saba can see by the way she holds her shoulders, that she heard nothing new. Instead, they talk of other things. Negatwa tells Saba of their house and land. The soldiers had often come for many years, demanding goats, bread, and lodging. After one particularly good growing season, the farmers came up with a plan. They dug a pit in the middle of the field and plastered the bottom and sides of it with mud until it was smooth. The next time soldiers came their way, people rushed to put their grain and other things inside the pit. Then, they covered the pit with wood and earth was laid on top. Even Negatwa’s father could not tell where the mouth of the pit was. But the soldiers became angry to find so little grain. So the soldiers and farmers fought each other. Negatwa’s father and mother…

Saba could guess the ending of the story, and they sat, grieving together for some time. With both of Negatwa’s parents gone and the lands around her home in uproar, her uncle brought Negatwa to Gondar. Because the forests near Gondar have been cut down for firewood, there was great need for people who would go far away and bring wood to sell. And that is how Negatwa had been managing to eat. But at least now, she is here, where she has plenty of food. And she doesn’t have to bend her back under the weight of the wood. Although it feels good for them to be together, Saba wonders what would happen when the time for her dreaded marriage came.

Then comes a week when the air seems to be drenched with fear. A weasel had scratched its way into the house of pigeons and killed most of the birds, so the days are silent. Negatwa brings back news or rumors every day. They are never sure what the truth is. One day she hears that soldiers of General Ali and Empress Menen had completely vanquished Kassa and he is being dragged back to Gondar in chains. The next day, she hears that this is not true at all. Kassa had captured the leader of the soldiers and made him drink kosso until he died, in revenge for the empress’ taunts.

The bodies of the men that were trampled are long gone, but hyenas still lurk around the edges of the compound at night. Now that they’re hungrier, they’re fiercer, and the night’s silence is broken by hyena howls. Some nights, Saba thinks she might join them in their cries.

Eventually, the day comes that Saba feared. Negatwa is told to take the spun cotton to one of the weavers to have a new shamma made for Saba. She comes back quietly. Today, there is news about Saba. The general and empress are strengthening ties with a prince of another region. A merchant says the prince will soon march north with his soldiers and end the threat of Kassa for the last time. At the same time, General Ali is reaching out to a lifetime enemy, a man who ruled most of northern Ethiopia and none other than the other general who had run from the strangest battle in Ethiopian history. If all else failed, the two of them would join their armies into a force that would surely crush Kassa. Some say Saba to be married to the son of the prince. But others say no, it is to the son of the general. But all say it will take place on the first day of the next week.

Next Wednesday. Now Saba’s doom has indeed come down upon her head. She is to be like the girl with her head caught in Saytan’s teeth.