A Narrative Of Captivity In Abyssinia With Some Account Of The Late Emperor Theodore, His Country And People By Henry Blanc
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We Soon Heard
That His Majesty, In A Fearful Passion, Had Left His Tent, And Had
Gone To Mr. Rassam's Servants' Houses, Where The Magdala Prisoners
Had Been Shut Up Since They Had Been Taken Down To Islamgee.
As I have said, that morning Theodore had released a large number
of his prisoners.
Those who remained, believing that they might
avail themselves of the Emperor's good disposition, clamoured for
bread and water, as for two days they had been deprived of both,
all their servants having decamped and kept away since they had
been removed from Magdala. At the cries of "abiet, abiet,"
[Footnote: "Abiet," master, lord. The usual expression used by beggars
when asking alms.] Theodore, who was reposing after indulging in deep
potations, asked his attendant, "What is it?" He was told that the
prisoners begged for water and bread. Theodore, seizing his sword,
and telling the man to follow him, exclaimed, "I will teach them
to ask for food when my faithful soldiers are starving." Arrived
at the place where the prisoners were confined, blind with rage and
drink, he ordered the guards to bring them out. The two first he
hacked to pieces with his own sword; the third was a young child;
though it arrested his hand, it did not save the poor creature's
life, and he was hurled alive over the precipice by Theodore's
order. He seems to have been somewhat calmer after the two first
murders, and something like order prevailed during the remainder
of the executions.
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