The Virtuous Man ~ by Hénock Gugsa

The Virtuous Man 

~ by Hénock Gugsa ~

[A folk tale from Harrar, a South-East Administrative Region of  Ethiopia]

In the old days, it is told,  there lived a man who led a life that did not stray from the correct path. He was humble, compassionate and decent beyond reproach.  Moreover, he was also devout and prayed in solitude as often as he could wherever he traveled. 

One day, this virtuous man was at a secluded place which was by a farm field that had an irrigation channel running through it.  As the man was quietly preparing to do his prayer, the streaming water brought a guava fruit and deposited it at his feet.  The man was hungry and thought that a divine force must have meant him to have the fruit.  So he picked it up and ate it.

Then he started to pray.  However, he was abruptly interrupted by a spirit which revealed itself to him and said, “You claim to be devoted to God, but why do you steal other people’s fruit?”

The holy man was so devastated by the reproach that he vowed to go find the owner of the guava farm and immediately apologize for the sinful deed.  

“I have eaten a guava which fell off one of your trees and was brought to me by the water. Please forgive me.”  He begged the owner of the guava farm as soon as he found him.

At first the guava farmer angrily refused to forgive him, and that made the holy man very sad and distraught. 

But then the guava farmer took pity, relented and said, “If you want me to forgive you, you have to do what I tell you to do.”

The repenting man readily agreed.

The farmer said, “I will forgive you only if you marry my daughter, and you should know that my daughter has no eyes and no legs.”

The holy man said, “That’s fine, it’s all right. If you forgive me, I will marry her.”

So they went to the owner’s house and the holy man asked him where his daughter was.
The owner said, “Before I present my daughter, you must go through the marriage formalities.”

So the holy man did as was demanded.

Then the girl was brought out from the adjoining room where she kept to herself. To the prospective groom’s surprise and delight, he saw that she was neither blind nor was she without legs.  She was extremely well-mannered, and a jewel of a maiden in every respect.

The man could not help but ask the farmer, “Didn’t you say she had no eyes and no legs?”

The girl’s father replied, “What I meant was that in her entire life, my daughter has never seen bad things, nor has she ever taken the morally wrong path !”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Happy Ending ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~