|
Themes: "Sin's Depravity, Repent R.D. The date is December 23, 1770. The country is Ethiopia. The King is Tekla Haimanot II. My name is James Bruce. I am an explorer.
The King and I are good friends.
Today we rode our horses to the province of Tigre. My horse once belonged to the King's rival and he was very interested in it. He insisted that I ride in front of him. My horse was beautiful, and he watched it carefully. He wanted my horse.
The people from a nearby village watched our procession from a short distance. The King did not often come this way in peace.
At the edge of the village we had to cross a brook. The water was deep, but my horse handled it very well. A long branch of a kantuffa tree hung low over the brook. I ducked and felt only the scraping across my white goat skin cloak. The King was so busy watching my horse that he did not see the branch. The branch took hold of his long hair, the mantle that wound around his head, and the folds in his cloak. He was so tangled up that I could only free him by cutting down the main limb. I loosened his hair from the twigs of the branch, but when I pulled on the branch, his mantle and cloak came off as well. It was a great shame for the King to appear in public with his face and hair uncovered, let alone to be seen in his undergarments. I feared the King's reaction to this embarrassment. The village people viewed this scene with great interest. The King laughed out loud, but I was surprised at what happened next.
The King always had an officer nearby called a Kanitz Kitzer. He is the King's executioner and on his saddle there hangs a tarade. A tarade is several strips of rolled up bull hide.
The King and the Kanitz Kitzer rode their horses close to the villagers. The King nodded with his head, then made a sign with his hand. Without any words or noise, two loops of the tarade were instantly thrown around the necks of two men who were standing nearby. These men were hung from a branch of the same kantuffa tree. The kantuffa tree did not get the best of the King. The men were left to die as the King's laughter sealed their fate.
I decided that it would be a good idea to give the King my horse.
The King vented his anger on two innocent men. Doesn't he remind you of Cain? The King and Cain both became angry because of the results of their own doings. Cain did not bring the required offering. The King did not watch where he was going. They were both disgraced and took out their anger on other people. Cain's punishment is recorded in the Bible. We do not read of the King being punished but you can be sure that he will be punished because....anger is sin.....and the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23).
No one has commented on this article.
Related Items:
|
Peter Orasuk
