A few months later, Meseret wanted to build a new hut for himself. He thought, "I'll burn down my old hut and build a big new one." Meseret began to carry everything out of his hut. Demeke saw him and asked, "What are you doing?" Meseret replied, "I'm going to burn my hut and build a new one." Demeke was worried, "But your hut is next to mine. If you burn your hut, you will burn mine, too." Meseret was angry. "Don't try to stop me! This is my hut, and I will burn it if I want to," he said. "Stop! Let's go and ask the judge." cried Demeke. The unwise judge didn't listen carefully and didn't try to understand. "Let Meseret burn his hut because it's his own and no one can stop him," the unwise judge ruled. So Meseret burned his hut. The wind carried the fire to the roof of Demeke's hut and soon it was burning too. They went back to the judge. Demeke cried, "Look! Meseret has burned my hut! He must pay me." "No, Meseret burned his own hut.

License information: CC BY 4.0
MPAA: G
Go to source: https://www.africanstorybook.org/