Saba: Under the Hyena’s Foot

Lion Creatures

When Saba awakens, the first word out of her mouth is “Emama.” She says she dreamed that lion beings grabbed her out of the human world. The beings pulled her shamma over her head so she couldn’t see, and she was jostled for hours on animals. But as her eyes open slowly, she knows it wasn’t a dream.

Saba sees a creature a way away, with its human face staring at her under a bushy golden and black lion’s mane. She sees only fur where the shoulders should be. She lets out a wail, and suddenly her brother is beside her. He whispers in her ear that he’ll take care of her. Saba clings to his hands. How will he fight the half-man, half-lion creatures?

Frowning, Mesfin says they’re soldiers wearing lion’s fur. Saba shrinks back as one approaches them. The man kneels and holds out something in his hands. Mesfin urges her to take it. When she doesn’t, Mesfin takes it instead. “For the sake of your father,” the man says in an unusual accent.

Mesfin pulls the skin from the fruit, breaks off a piece, and places it in Saba’s mouth. It’s delicious. Mesfin says he’s not sure what the man means, but they’ve been talking a little to him. But they won’t tell him where they’re taking them, even though they did mention Ababba.

Saba tries to imagine what the men with the strange voices know about Ababba. Mesfin explains they don’t know Ababba is dead. They thought he was home, and that’s why they didn’t come into the house to get them. The men waited in the woods and coaxed them out into the forest.

Saba thinks about the sounds she had heard by the stream. That might’ve been the same men. Mesfin continues that the men set the fire, too, hoping they’d run into the woods where they could seize them.

Saba thinks about Emama. By now, she’s probably returned from the market and came home to find them gone. Saba begins to weep, rocking back and forth, clutching her own arms. Mesfin pats her arm, and comforts Saba. Emama’s spirit is strong, and she must know more about the men than they do. But it’s very important they don’t tell anyone about Ababba’s death. As long as they think he’s dead, they’ll leave her alone.

Just then, Saba hears a shout. She looks up to see a mule running toward them. She notices how beautifully the saddle is decorated. It’s made of wood and covered with goatskin. The saddlecloth hangs down with a small stirrup only big enough for a toe to fit through. Silver dances on the cloth. In the middle of the cloth is an image of a man galloping on a white horse. His hand is holding a spear that’s piercing a snake close to the ground. The man’s brave and powerful face looks like it’s staring straight at Saba. The man must be Saint Giorgis, king of all saints. Saba recognizes him from Emama’s book.

Mesfin helps boost Saba onto the back of the mule. She looks back to her brother, asking where he’ll be. He doesn’t answer, and soon the mule is bouncing so fast Saba has to hold on with all her strength.

After a while, they’re on a path or road winding up a mountain. Below, she can see a glimpse of water. Is it Lake Dembya? When the holy mother, Yosef, and baby Yesus fled from their home in Israel to Egypt, they stayed on an island in Lake Dembya. Perhaps they came along this path.

They ride and ride until all of Saba’s bones and teeth have been shaken loose. Saba feels like she may never be able to walk again. Sometimes the path goes up, sometimes the path goes down. Sometimes the path is so steep that Saba has to lean back against the back of the saddle until she feels like she’s touching the mule with her back. At one point, the man in front of her on the mule calls out in a high voice and a voice far away answers. For a while, all they hear is the sound of men hollering and echoing to each other, followed by silence.

Eventually, the mule slows down, and Saba turns around to see Mesfin riding behind the man on a different mule behind. As they continue on, Saba sees houses in the far-off distance. Sometimes one is alone, and sometimes a few are clustered together. Her mind wanders again and again to thinking of a Emama coming home and finding them gone. They also pass people on the road. A baby is carried on the back of a girl about Saba’s age. The girl looks hungry and worn.

They continue on, past blue mountains in the distance, past a giant tree, past a place where the road drops away on both sides and Saba holds her breath as she peers into the valleys below. Saba wants to turn to look for Mesfin, but she feels like she can hardly move. When they stop to take a break, two more mules come up next to her own. A man comments on how the mules behave poorly—they should be following a horse, but these days, horses are saved for parades and battles.

Saba doesn’t care to listen to them talk. The only thing she’s thinking about is her brother and hoping that he’s on another mule behind them. Then, a man points to Saba, and tells her that she should climb down from the mule. She slides off, and he has to hold her while she gets her legs steady. His hand is rough and it hurts her thin arm, but Saba is glad he’s holding on to her. The ground is rough and rocky, and when the soldier sees how she’s struggling on the rocks he motions for her to sit under a tree. From his bag, he pulls something shaped like a little fish and hands it over to her.

Saba, turning over the item, sees that the bottom is flat. The man explains that a leather worker made these berebaso for his brother. He was going to give them to him the next time he visited family, but he’ll give them to her instead. For the sake of her father. The man shows Saba how to put them on her feet. His own feet are as bare as hers, and she has never worn such things in her life. But they stick to her feet as she stands up and takes a cautious step. At first she stumbles on the rocks even more, but the bottoms of her feet can no longer feel the sharpness of the rocks. After they walk a little ways, her feet start to like these strange berebaso.

The man guides her to a place where water comes out of the rocks. They all sit there, drinking the water they cup in their hands, and eating pieces of coarse bread. Saba shows her new footwear to her brother and he smiles with admiration. No doubt her own face is stained with tears, but he has the look of a bold boy on adventure.

Mesfin explains to Saba that they are taking them to a place called Gondar. It’s another two days’ ride. Saba recognizes this place. Sometimes when a Ababba was plowing, he’d sing:

Saba takes a sigh and whispers to herself a prayer that Emama can make her way to Gondar, too.

The next time they stop to rest and eat, they sit a little way off the road. A group of children stand watching them with wide, longing eyes. The soldiers yell in another language to chase the children away, but they always creep back. Mesfin says he doesn’t know what language they’re speaking, but he knows they’re not Amhara. They say they are Oromoo and that their chief is a very important person. For a moment, Saba thinks she’ll pull the berebaso off her feet, but such a gesture might make the soldiers angry. After all, the man gave her the berebaso out of kindness. But Saba can’t make herself eat another bite of their bread. She holds it out to a child, who runs over and takes it from her hand. Then just as quick as the girl came up, she dashes back and divides the small piece with an even younger girl.

The phrase the soldiers kept saying to Saba sticks in her mind. “For the sake of your father.” The words seem to be some kind of courtesy. Was anyone ever going to explain to Saba what the strange saying meant? And what kind of monstrosity was Gondar if it was filled with hippopotamus-eaters and other barbarians? Saba wishes she could ask Ababba why he spoke such praises of such a place.