Roy stood up, loath to waste time in a political argument. “Shall
we get going?” he said. “Incidentally, where are we going?”
“We’re going to see my friend. He knows everything there is to
know about coffee and other magical plants,” Abora lowered his
voice, “He’s a dabtara.”
Such was the paradoxical nature of dabtaras that even though
they generally lived on church property and were in fact former
priests who went on to pursue additional scholarship, they were
normally spoken of in hushed, embarrassed tones. Good Christians
scoffed at them, Webele explained, but that was only pretense. In fact
they were feared because they were in league with both God and the
Devil at the same time. Dabtaras did not take sides. Like hyenas, they
too were outside the realm of divided things.
As they walked through the city, Abora pointed out the many
mosques. “Harrar is considered the fourth-most important city
Islam,” he said, “After Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. It was here
that Mohammed’s first followers fled after persecution in Arabia.”
On the way he took a small detour to show them a wood and
stained-glass structure being renovated by the tourist bureau. “That
was the house of Arthur Rimbaud, famous French poet,” he said.
“Really?” Roy said.
“No,” replied Abora. “Actually not. Nobody knows where he
lived. But there must be something for the tourists to come see. So we
put on a little act for them. And they pay us for it. And we are both
happy. That it is untrue does not matter.”
“This Rimbaud, he was a bit of a degenerate I think,” Webele
said.
“He practically defined the term,” Roy assured him.
“No wonder he came to Ethiopia!” said Abora, “Our greatest folk
heroes in Ethiopia have been wild men. Tricksters. Womanizers.
Drunks. He must have fit right in.”
“By the time he came to Ethiopia, though, he had given all that
up,” Roy said, “Supposedly, he lived like a monk when he was here.”
Strolling out through the southern gate of the city, Abora pointed
out that it was through there that the great explorer Richard Burton
snuck into the isolated Islamic bastion disguised as an Arab.
“He did not know if he would live or die. But he was determined
to uncover what was hidden from the rest of the world!” Abora said,
his voice full of admiration. “Rimbaud was the same. He mapped out
parts of Ethiopia no Ethiopian would have ever visited. Heroes!”
ABYSSINIA
232
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