BY TEKLEBIRHAN GEBREMICHAEL
The King of Kings of Ethiopia was in a mental quandary. He could not make up which of his two twin siblings princes, Mekonnen and Ermias to appoint Grown Prince of his vast domain. He consulted his close advisor about the matter but none of them were able to give him a definite recommendation.
Ras Kassa, the King of Kings’ foremost confidant would say:
“Your Majesty, the two most desirable traits for a future king of Ethiopia are wisdom and courage. They are both essential and I would be hard put to it to rank them in order of importance.”
“Kassa, I would rank courage first, what with all the internal and external enemies of Ethiopia breathing down our throats,” the King of Kings would reply.
“With your Majesty’s permission, I would reckon that wisdom is the most important hallmark of nearly all Ethiopian Kings of Kings in the long and glorious history of our beloved country Fitawrari Teklehawarit would say.
“Teklehawariat, you do have a point there, but a wise man spends a lot of time trying to avoid war in the face of an enemy intent on waging war no matter what, thus losing the advantages of a pre- emptive strike,” the great King of Kings of Ethiopia would rebut.
“May the Almighty augment ever more your Majesty’s awesome wisdom and courage. In my long career as your Majesty’s Chief–of –staff, I have come to know that courage is the offspring of wisdom and that wisdom and courage are inseparably intertwined traits”, Fitawrari Hebtegiorgis would comment.
“But, Habtegiorgis, the inevitable question then would be which of my two sihiligs, Prince Mekonnen and Prine Ermyias, has those two essential traits merged into one?” The great King of Kings of Ethiopia would query.
The most scholarly man of letters of the King of Kings advisors, Fitawrari Teklehawariat, spoke with remarkable confidence and credibility: That is not an easy matter to decide, Your Majesty. With your Majesty’s Permission, I would suggest that we adorn today’s session and take some time to come up with a list of questions that would indicate the presence of wisdom and courage in their conjoined manifestation”.
As the charismatic King of Kings gracefully rose to leave, the atmosphere in the small conference room was filled with an inexplicably palpable pomp and ceremony. All the advisors including those who opted not to speak at the session, were already on their feet while the great King of Kings was still halfway through the rising motion.
Fitawrari Teklehawariat hurried home to his small library where he consulted his favorable books on personality types and analysis. Ras Kassa and Ras Gobena consulted the natural app stores in their formidable intellects.
The fixed–line telephone in Fitawrari Teklehawariat’s living room rang. Fitawrari for a moment thought it to be an unwelcome distraction as he was poring over a volume of Encyclopedia Britannica looking for some definitive answers to the King –of –Kings’ grand question of who should become Crown Prince, Prince Mekonnen or Prince Ermias?.
When he realized that the call could be from the King –of –Kings himself, he rushed out of his small library to the telephone in his living room.
Indeed, it was the King–of–Kings!
“Good afternoon, Teklehawariat. Are you making any progress in identifying those crucial human characteristics which indicate with some degree of certainty the presence of enduring wisdom and courage in one’s personality?” the King –of –Kings said.
“Not quite, Your Majesty, but I think I have put my finger on at least three of the essential traits, namely positive self – image, consummated love and affection and extraordinary perspicacity”, Fit. Teklehawariat replied.
“Complete the list of traits and we shall sit in session again on the matter the day after tomorrow,” the King–of–Kings ordered.
Fita. Teklehaweriat searched the remote recesses of his mind to unearth some of the remaining traits of a wise and courageous person. He jotted down the following points: observation, absorption of information, retention, retrieval and commitment. Accordingly, he formulated the following questions to assess Prince Mekonnen and Prince Ermias on these and the earlier three criteria.
• What was the colour of the great coat I was wearing when we met a week ago?
• Where was Prince Alemayehu buried in the United Kingdom?
• What is the name of the lake in which you father almost drowned?
• What was the name of the Ethiopian patriot who helped Abreham Debeoch and Girma Asgedom escape to Debre Libanos in his taxi?
• Where was this great patriot buried?
• What do you associated with the place name Embabo ?
• Who wrote the book titled “The Plot to kill Graziani?”
• Name three of the greatest war generals in world history ;
• What does true love mean?
• Who do you love more: yourself or Ethiopia?
Fita. Teklehawariat showed the list of questios he prepared to the King of Kings, who held it in his hands, and as he was skimming through it Question no. 4caught his eyes and he lingered on it for a moment. He produced his snow–white handkerchief and started wiping his yes and said: Simeon Adefres. Real Patriot. I had ordered to have his tomb repaired”.
“Yes, that’s right, Your Majesty. The design for the repair work, which involves quite a great deal of reconstruction is being done in Paris”, Fita. Teklehawariat said.
“Paris that’s good “, the Great King nodded his head in approval.
The Great King’s eyes now rolled back to Question 3. He smiled cunningly and uttered:
“No earthly soul can reverse the fate ordained by the Almighty.”
Question No.7 also attracted His Majesty’s attention and he commented thus: “I am not aware of a book with that title.”
“You are right, Your Majesty. The title is still under research by some English author. I forget his name,” Fita. Teklehawariat said.
“Forget? That’s the most unacceptable verb in my personal lexicon, Teklehawariat. Those who forget are doomed to failure in life,” the King –of-Kings said and added: “We shall sit in session tomorrow and present these questions to both Prince Ermias and Prince Mekonnen at the same time and allow them time to respond.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Fita. Teklehawariat accepted the Great King’s orders with alacrity.
The Crown Council sat in session as appointed. The two Princes were invited to the conference room and took their seats in front of the Council. The Great King entered the hall with the customary pomp and ceremony and sat on his magnificent throne. But Ras Gobena’s high chair was conspicuous by the absence of its great occupant.
Suddenly the Palace compound rang with salvos of gunshots from all sides. Prince Ermias and Prince Mekonnen jumped from their seats almost simultaneously and rushed to the Great King’s throne and stood upright in front and behind the throne to give body protection to the King-of-Kings. The Great king was suddenly filled with high fatherly emotion and rose to kiss both his brave and courageous sons on their heads, each at a time.
The salvos of gunshots stopped and Fita. Habtegorgis entered the conference hall in his resplendent military uniform. He was overjoyed to see Prince Ermias and Prince Mekonnen standing as trusted bodyguards in front and behind the throne.
“They are both courageous! Very difficult to choose between these two magnificent princes, Your Majesty!” Fita. Habtegioris said smiling from cheek to cheek.
The gunshot drama and mayhem was orchestrated by the Great King and his most trusted general Fita. Habtegiorgis. After the two princes thus passed the test for courage and loyalty, Fita. Teklehawariat insisted on proceeding with the plan to put to the princes the list of questions he prepared on the King-of-Kings orders.
The two princes returned to their respective seats and Fita. Teklehawariat started reading the questions out to the princes who were told that whoever gave the answers first would get a bonus of 2 points over and above the 10 marks allotted for each correct answer.
“Where was Prince Alemayehu buried?” Fita. Teklehawariat asked.
“St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle,” both Prince Ermias and Mekonnen shouted almost simultaneously.
“No bonus for speed. You both get full marks, though,” the Fitawarari said.
“Well, the next question runs as follows: What was the name of the Ethiopian patriot who helped Abraham Deboch and…,” the Fitawrari had hardly completed reading half of the question when the two amazing princes spouted Simeon Adefres” at exactly the same time. Prince Ermias added: “Fitawrari, Simeon is my hero and role model.”
Uncharacteristically, the King–of-Kings gave Prince Ermias a standing ovation, and members of the Crown Council looked like they felt Prince Ermias had clinched the contest for the great title of Crow Prince. But the King-of-Kings warned that his appreciative intervention should have no influence on the outcome of the test being administered by Fita. Teklehwariat.
Ras Kassa, perhaps the wisest confidant of the King-of-Kings, who actually looked like he was dozing in the midst of the great royal drama of the day, cleared his throat to speak.
“Your Majesty, it is almost impossible to choose between these amazing twin princes. I suggest that the Queen Consort should make the final pronouncement on the matter,” Ras Kassa said. The King-of-Kings sent for his Queen Consort who entered the conference hall flanked by several court ladies and courtiers. She gracefully sat on her erstwhile empty throne. The King-of-Kings gently whispered into her ear apparently informing her of the issue at hand.
Then the Queen Consort spoke thus: “Prince Mekonnes and Prince Ermias were born exactly thirty minutes apart, and Prince Ermias arrived first. So, Prince Mekonnen is the elder of the two.” The King-of-Kings smiled at Ras Kassa with great satisfaction. Ras Kassa was himself pleased with the great insight that his short doze in the midst of an August conference afforded him.
Members of the Crown Council were now absolutely sure that the Heir Apparent to the throne was Prince Mekonnen by being thirty minutes Prince Ermiase’s senior. But the conference was suddenly swayed by Fita. Teklehawariat’s reservations. The Fitawrari said: “Who is the braver, Prince Ermias who dashed into this uncertain world first or Prince Mekonnen who lingered on for thirty minutes more?”
The King-of-Kings who had always admired the Fitawrari’s intellectual prowess said: “Teklehawarait, you do have a point there. Firstborns seem to be smarter with a higher IQ, but this is said to be more apparent than real.”
Ras Kassa, who was purring with satisfaction over his much admired insight into the unraveling of tough problems, was a bit irked by the Fitawrari’s newfangled ideas. So, he said: “Fitawrari, you have seen how both princes are equal in the speed at which they answered your questions. Why are you now dragging us into the uncharted waters of IQ and what have you? Personally I stick by the time-honoured right of primogeniture.”
“Your Excellency, Ras Kassa, I respect your immense wisdom particularly as regards traditional Ethiopian values, but remember I was trained and educated in Russia and France where new ideas are confronted head on,” Fita. Teklehawariat replied. The King-of-Kings quietly listened to both sides of the argument and said: “I have a bit of French ethos myself but let us stick to primogeniture for now.” The session is adjourned.”
The Ethiopian herald January 3/2021
