Kebra Nagast

Kebra Nagast — Budge — Section 19

“ Again there is a book called Kivera Negust (i.e. Kebra Nagast), which contains the Law of the whole of Ethiopia, and the names of the Shums (i.e. Chiefs), Churches, and Provinces are in this book. I pray you will find out who has got this book, and send it to me, for in my Country my people will not obey my orders without it.” When a copy of this letter was sent to the British Museum the Trustees decided to grant King John’s request, and the manuscript was restored to him on 14 December, 1872. King John’s letter proves that very great importance was attached to the Kebra Nagast by the Ethiopian peoples, even in the second half of the nineteenth century. M. Hugues Le Roux, a French envoy from the President of the French Republic to Menyelek II, King of Ethiopia, went to Addis Alem where the king was staying, in order to see this manu¬ script and to obtain his permission to translate it into French. Having made his request to Menyelek II per¬ sonally the king made a reply, which M. Le Roux trans¬ lates thus : Je suis d’avis qu’un peuple ne se defend pas seulement avec ses armes, mais avec ses livres. Celui dont vous parlez est la fierte de ce Royaume. Depuis moi, l’Empereur, jusqu’au plus pauvre soldat qui marche dans les chemins, tous les fithiopiens seront heureux que ce livre soit traduit dans la langue frangaise et porte a la connaissance des amis que nous avons dans le monde. Ainsi l’on verra clairement quels liens nous unissent avec le peuple de Dieu, quels tresors ont ete confies a notre garde. On comprendra mieux pourquoi le secours de Dieu ne nous a jamais manque contre les ennemis qui nous attaquaient.” The king then gave orders that the xxvii Introduction