In an open glade, at the foot of the great mountain range, stands the
church of Affaf Woira, and the tenement of Abba Salama, its superior,
enclosed by a rough stone wall. Numerous huts are scattered in clusters
over a wooded eminence, which rises on the steep side of the river, and
here the indolent brothers,
"Beneath the shade of melancholy boughs.
Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time."
An air of the most perfect repose usually pervades the scene. The
inmates are alike indifferent to the blast of winter and to the cares of
life. Majestic trees tower high overhead, yielding undisturbed
protection to the vulture and the white ibis. The "monk of the wood,"
the Gureza ape, there displays his variegated coat floating in peace
amongst the mossy branches; and whilst every breath from beneath wafts
up the perfumed air, the lazy monk of the monastery, during the entire
day, basks in the sun amidst the bright flowers of nature's growth,
gazing in apathy on the sparkling stream which steals through the
forest, half hid in a fringe of the willow and the bamboo.
But bustle and confusion for once disturbed this dreamy repose. The
priests had been engaged in noisy choir, and the sacred drum had
resounded since dawn of day. At length the portals of the hallowed
edifice were thrown open, and the holy procession, under the thundering
chorus of an Abyssinian psalm, moved over the bright greensward. The
gay umbrellas of the church, rich in satin and silver, led the van, and
the corpulent Superior, in his white cotton robes, followed the
insignia, bestriding a sleek mule decked in metal chains and tinkling
bells. At his side marched the bearers of the straight falchions,
sheathed in scabbards of polished silver. A band of priests followed,
with their heads swathed in folds of white cotton, and their persons
wrapped in black woollen cloaks, profusely studded with blood-red
crosses and other emblems of Christianity; and closing the procession
strode two hundred stout dirty monks, clothed in the skin of the wild
antelope, with their shaven heads enveloped in dark greasy cloths, each
carrying in his hand a small iron cross, and joining the tribute of his
lusty throat to the deafening chant. Dell and dingle rung again as the
psalm increased in violence, and the cavalcade, threading the
intricacies of the wood, proceeded on its mission of mercy, to implore
pardon for the rebel who had thrown himself on the protection of the
monastery.
The conference with the monarch was long and stormy. The royal
vengeance, though far from being appeased, was curbed by a fear of the
Church, and more particularly so at the present juncture, when religious
disputes regarding the two natures of Christ were beginning to excite an
unusual ferment in many parts of the kingdom. An unwilling pardon was
at length extorted, and the triumphant monks returned amidst the joyful
acclamations of the female inhabitants of Shoa, whose shrill voices are
raised on every possible occasion, and whose feelings were in the
present instance enlisted in the behalf of their old favourite. The
trip also would appear to have been profitable to the holy fathers, for
it was currently reported that one half of the remaining wealth of
Medoko was the stipulated price to be paid for this monastic
intercession.
The nature of Abyssinian custom impels the humbled grandee to tempt
again the slippery ladder of power; and disgraced for a time, the
courtier, bending his neck to the misfortune, dances attendance on his
capricious master until fickle fortune smiles upon his fallen condition.
Unless enjoying the favour of the monarch, and basking in the sunshine
of the court, he is held of no account whatever; and the quiet
retirement of country life is despised and detested by a race who are
ignorant of its pleasures, and possess neither amusements nor
intellectual resources.
The property and estates of Medoko had not been confiscated, and months
rolled quietly along as day after day he took his station among the
courtiers in waiting; but the eye of the monarch was turned in cold
indifference upon his former favourite, and there were not wanting
counsellors to whisper deeds of blood into his ear. Besides the father
confessor, the haughty chief had other enemies who were chafed at the
sight of the numerous band of well-equipped followers that Medoko still
entertained upon his ample means. Many also had lost relations during
the rebellion, and misfortune had not abated one atom of the imperious
demeanour which ever characterised the chief.
The feast of Maskal was now approaching, and it being rumoured that
honours and government were to be again bestowed upon "the murderer of
the Amhara," as the rebel was denominated among the conspiring band,
measures were taken to counteract the royal intention, if such had
really been entertained. The most odious calumnies were industriously
circulated; fresh accusations of disloyalty were daily carried to the
palace; and the monarch, hourly assailed on every side, at length
resolved to test the feelings of his vassal, by the offer of an inferior
post in the unhealthy country of Giddem.
For the last time the gallant chief at the head of his followers swept
up the palace hill of Angollala, and leaving, according to the
etiquette, his son Chara, together with his retainers, in the middle
court-yard, where shields and spears must be deposited, Medoko crossed
the enclosure, and alone and unattended entered the inner wicket.
On the several faces of the inner square are the entrances to the
principal buildings of the palace. The great hall of entertainment on
one side faces the king's stables on the other, and the artificers'
workshops stand opposite the balcony of justice; but all are connected
by stone walls and stout palisades, through which private wickets lead
to the interior apartments. His Majesty had not yet taken his seat in
public, but the usual throng of people were lounging about the yard, or
seated on the rough bedsteads which line one corner, for the convenience
of the great.
Medoko had hardly taken his solitary seat, when wreathed in smiles the
father confessor approached his victim. Whispering in his ear the
intentions of the king, he strongly advised him to reject the proposal
with scorn; and no sooner had he ended than the four conspiring chiefs
advanced from the interior, bearing the royal preferment to the country
which was so thoroughly detested, and which had been hitherto offered
only to men of low degree.
The royal presentation, although received with the impatient curl of the
lip, and an indignant breathing from the distended nostril, was declined
in courteous terms--"The slave of the king desires only to be near the
person of his master." But far different was the insolent answer
carried back to the monarch, whose superstitious feelings were further
irritated by the previous discourse and forebodings of the monk; for a
black bullock had been discovered lying dead at the threshold of the
gateway, portending that on that day an untimely fate awaited some one
within the royal precincts.
For a time no word escaped the moody lip of the monarch. His features
remained fixed and still; but a withering glance from his solitary eye
shot over the band as he dismissed them from his presence with the
cutting remark, "That they were all traitors alike, and lazy cravens to
boot."
The hint was sufficient to Guffa Woosen, the _Dedj Agafari_, a man who
stickled at no atrocity to gratify his master and to serve his own ends.
After a hurried and mysterious consultation with six others equally
unprincipled as himself, they proceeded together into the outer
court-yard. Approaching by degrees, the band surrounded the bed of the
chief, who was lulled into fatal security by a message that the king was
about to appear to receive in person the refusal of office in Giddem,
and whilst bandying a joke about the frail tenure of the dungeons of
Goncho, five long-bladed knives were suddenly sheathed to the hilt in
his brawny back.
Undaunted to the death, Medoko reared himself with difficulty from his
couch, and his good sword flashed instantaneously from the scabbard. He
had been unwarily caught in the toils; but, like the wounded lion, he
stood fiercely at bay, and some of the hunters paid dearly for their
treacherous sport. In the hour of battle his sword had seldom required
a second blow, and as the trenchant blade now fiercely descended into
the neck of the chief conspirator, the head of Guffa Woosen for a moment
drooped upon the shoulder, and in the next his lifeless trunk fell
heavily to the ground. Again the ruddy steel gleamed overhead, but the
energy was fast fleeting from the stout sinew, and Selunko, although
marked for life with a desperate slash over the face, succeeded with the
remnant of his cowardly ruffians in basely escaping from the scene. A
general rush and scramble now ensued for the tops of walls and houses;
and from these elevated places of security, savage yells proclaimed the
perpetration of the dastardly deed. The king seized a double-barrelled
gun from the wall, lest the mighty warrior should attempt to storm the
harem; and a high tribute was paid to the single arm which had thus
cleared the court.
Desperately wounded, the chief now staggered across the yard, fainting
and falling more than once ere he reached the gateway. No doorkeeper
remained to dispute the egress, and as yet none dared to cross the path
of the stricken brave. One little enclosure alone separated him from
his devoted followers, but his strength was fast sinking with the
welling blood, and after swaying for a time from side to side, utterly
exhausted, he fell, with a groan, upon his knee in the last pangs of
death.
Tunkaiye, the great bulwark of the throne, was the first who recovered
from the panic, and cautiously advancing with the chosen of the Amhara
chivalry, he beheld through the wicket the situation of the chief.
Rushing through the door, he dealt a blow from behind on the neck of the
recumbent figure, and the head sunk to rise no more. One faint struggle
of the right arm was alone to be distinguished, and one word was
indistinctly murmured amidst the gurgling of the flowing blood; for the
long knives of the assassins had penetrated into a brave heart, and the
victory over the king's enemy had been already achieved.
Crowds now rushed to the spot, and the limbs were hacked to pieces by
the miserable poltroons amidst the coarsest ribaldry and mirth. One
wretch, as he thrust his crooked knife into the late brilliant eye,
exclaimed, "How is it that my father now bears the bite without power to
brush away the gnat?" and another, after succeeding with difficulty in
hewing through the iron muscles of the stout arm, declared, with a
laugh, that "the skin of an elephant was composed of less tough
material."
Deprived of their weapons, and of the countenance of the mighty fallen,
Medoko's son and followers surrendered on the first summons; and a dog,
carrying off his father's hand, brushed past young Chara as he entered
the murderous court-yard. Stones and sticks were still being expended
on the remains of mortality which were strewed in every direction. All
human resemblance had already been entirely effaced, and a deep pool of
blood remained to mark the dire tragedy.
To this hour the stain is settled upon the spot; and it is daily before
the eyes of the perpetrators of the outrage. The stern warrior is never
mentioned within the precincts of the palace, and rich offerings are
continually made to all the churches in the land, to dissipate the
unpleasant dreams which too frequently haunt the royal couch. But
although the name is now used amongst the Amhara only to still the
unruly child, the gallant Medoko is the darling theme of the roving
Galla. The heathen female draws the long tress across her flashing eye
at the recollection of his fate; and the chief yet thinks with respect
of the brave spirit who could quell the feud and the intestine quarrel,
and who had led the wild host with success, to spoil the dominions of
the Christian despot.
Volume Two, Chapter XIX.