Focus on a Miracle of Mary Story: Part 1: The Cannibal of Qemer
By Wendy Laura Belcher
January 1, 2020
Perhaps the most famous Miracle of Mary story in Ethiopia is the story of the Cannibal of Qemer, a man who eats seventy-eight people, including his own wife and children. The story is analyzed and translated here.
This story is very old, dating back to at least the 1300s. It is not clear whether it was composed in Ethiopia or elsewhere. Some of the language is unusual, not traceable to Ge'ez or Arabic. The scholar of Gəˁəz literature, Getatchew Haile, suggests that the tale was created by the clergy at the court, as it so clearly favors wealthy powerful men (Getatchew Haile and Zärˀa Yaˁəqob 3).
Belcher published the first research article devoted to this story, “Mary Saves the Man-Eater: Value in the Medieval Ethiopian Marian Miracle Tale of the Cannibal of Qəmər,” Global Medievalism issue, Digital Philology. Spring 2019.
She and Michael Kleiner also published a translation of the story, in that same issue, which is in PEMM.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Brown, Stephen Delamarter, and Wendy Laura Belcher are working on A Textual History of the Ethiopic Story of “The Cannibal of Qəmər” in the Täˀammərä Maryam (Miracles of the Virgin Mary), which will have translations of four scientifically established recensions.
You may also consult the Spanish translation and the French translation.
