Read the legend Lu loves
Lalibela and the Bees
A swarm of bees descends on a sleeping baby, not to sting him, but to crown him: the beginning of the legend behind Ethiopia’s famous rock-hewn churches.
Long ago, in the highlands of Ethiopia, a baby boy was born who would one day become a great king. As he lay sleeping in his cradle one warm afternoon, a swarm of bees descended from the sky and settled all around him, covering his tiny body from head to foot.
His mother rushed in, terrified, certain her baby would be stung a hundred times over. But when she looked closely, she saw the bees were not stinging him at all. They moved gently across his skin, humming softly, as though they were guarding him rather than harming him.
A Name and a Sign
The wise elders of the village were called to see the strange sight, and they told the boy’s mother not to be afraid. “The bees have come to serve him,” they said, “for one day he will be a king, and his people will gather around him just as these bees have gathered now.” From that day on, the boy was given the name Lalibela, which in the old Agew tongue means “the bees recognize his sovereignty.”
A Dream of Stone Churches
Lalibela grew into a kind and thoughtful young man, and in time, just as the elders had foretold, he did become king. Many years later, it is said, he had a vivid dream in which he was shown a new Jerusalem, a holy city carved not from bricks or wood, but from the living rock of the mountains themselves, so that his people would always have a sacred place close to home.
The Churches of Lalibela
Lalibela set his workers to the task in a valley high in the Ethiopian mountains, and together they began to carve enormous, breathtaking churches downward into the red volcanic stone, not built up brick by brick, but hollowed out whole from the earth beneath their feet. Legend says that the builders worked through the day, and that when night fell and they went to rest, angels came down to continue the carving until dawn, so that the eleven churches rose from the rock far faster than human hands alone could have managed.
To this day, the eleven rock-hewn churches of Lalibela still stand exactly where they were carved, drawing travelers and pilgrims from every corner of the world, all to see the wonder that began, so long ago, with a baby boy, and a swarm of bees who came not to hurt him, but to crown him.
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Eshururu
Play this softly while you read: a traditional Amharic lullaby, from the same country this legend calls home.
More stories, more lullabies
This is one tale in a growing collection of traditional stories from around the world, each one paired, where we can, with a real lullaby from the same culture.