Camel Narratives

I grew up in a highland. The animals I knew as a child include cows, oxen, sheep, goats, donkeys, horses and mules. I saw a picture of camels only in books. Some people told me what a real camel looked like. Even there is a story of a certain highlander who went to a lowland area and was confused about this animal. Then, he is quoted to say, “Some people do not know that.” Then, they would ask him if it were the camel and he responded affirmatively. In this wise way he learnt the name of that new creature. Welela, a beautiful woman I knew as a high school student related what she knew about camels. “After they told me camels weep when they discover that they are going to be slaughtered, I stopped eating camel meat altogether,” says this woman. Her cousin Mrs. Merima told me how camels could be aggressive and attack people. A few years ago I came to discover that its back legs fold twice – what a unique creature! It was during my visit to the Lalibela rock-hewn churches that I saw camels. Yordanos, a guy who went with me said that this animal looked like a dried tree when seen from afar. The most recent time I saw a camel is last year. It was in Adama, Nazareth, that I had a closer look at this beast. In the culture I was brought up in, we neither eat camel meat nor drink its milk.