The two characters are not human - at least according to local myths; they are invisible creatures belonging to the Jinni population. I haven�t heard they ever hurt anyone at all. And by God, they are admirable target shooters.

Jinni, a super creature popularized in the Western culture by the story of Aladdin (Ala�a Addin) is one of the one-thousand-and-one-nights stories. Shahrayar was a psychopathic king who would marry a beautiful lass during the day just to kill her the next morning; Shahrazad was one such girl Shahrayar married. She had to find a way of surviving to avoid being killed. She started to tell Shahrayar a captivating story until he felt sleepy but yearning to hear the end of the story; she threw her �to be continued� at him. He spared her for a day to hear the end of the story and postpone her killing for next day.

The next night Shahrazad would finish the previous story, start a new one, and tell king Shahrayar another captivating story and throw another �to be continued� at him. By doing that, she managed to postpone her death for a long time and survived for 1001 nights, each night telling Shahrayar a different story. Those stories are now a revered part of the whole Middle Eastern heritage and a magnificent wealth of literature. Many of the stories from 1001 nights were translated into many languages, the story of Aladdin�s lamp and the Jinni is one such story that probably was made into 1001 movies and cartoons by Disney and Hollywood, and the Jinni was popularized in the Western culture.

In Eritrea we had many (folklore and traditions had died out thanks to militarization of the society) such stories of Jinnis: Deqi Hdrtna (fairies), the two common Jinnis, Abu Teran and Abdu Robo, and many other less known Jinnis.

Abu Teran and Abdu Robo are fond of throwing rocks; no one ever discovered their intention for throwing rocks. Usually, rocks would be hurled from nowhere. They land on the roofs, doors and windows of some houses and make a loud noise. Strangely, nothing gets broken. You look around and if you don�t see anyone throwing it, no doubt the culprit was Abu Teran. For some reason, Abu Teran is a likable fellow. Sometimes he is fond of throwing eggplants - maybe to spice up his rock-throwing hobby. Again, no one understood that one, the eggplant thing! Myself, I never understood or knew why the Jinni throws rocks in the first place. But then, Abu Teran or Abdu Robo wouldn�t be themselves unless they hurled rocks with an almost laser-guided accuracy � and without any collateral damage at all. Never.

Abu Teran would find a pile of rocks in one place and it is believed that he picks the rocks and throws them elsewhere. The rocks are then piled on the other side in a similar pile as if someone moved them on a wheel borrow - this is the explanation I heard when I was young. I have seen rocks thrown and I believe it must have been Abu Teran. I have seen piles and someone would say: "you see, only yesterday this pile was over there on the other side of the road, and Abu Teran piled it all up here over night." I have no way of verifying that and I never questioned truth of the stories- I am told that the Jinni can do anything; didn�t the Jinni pop out from Aladdin�s lamp! Then, who would want to investigate and prove beyond any doubt whether it is Abu Teran who is throwing the rocks or not? Who would want to sit and wait on a pile of rocks to verify if Abu Teran was actually involved in the scary sport?

What if on the night one decides to investigate the dilemma, Abu Teran runs out of eggplants and is actually throwing thick granite rocks? And while you sit and wait, he throws a rock, and just maybe by luck that night he is not using his laser guide and misses his target - just once - and that might be the time a rock lands on your head! I told you, it is prudent to believe some stories without questioning too much and move on! The Amhara have a saying: Atbqqo Teyyaqi, yennatu mot y�reddal�

Leteghabir was a woman who always complained that Abu Teran was harassing her.  She would say, "last night he almost broke my door." Then she kills a colorful rooster and spills its blood on her doorstep to appease the harmless Jinni. Then she would cook the rooster and eat it. How is Abu Teran going to be appeased when you selfishly consume a rooster killed on his honor? "He wants blood and I spilled enough blood so that he would leave me alone," Leteghabir would say. But how do you know he wants the blood to be spilled: don�t you think he would break your skull with his rocks if he wanted to see blood spilled? Leteghabir would look at you in surprise. She wouldn�t say it but she is thinking you must be an idiot to question the Jinni�s love for the blood of colorful roosters! Blood of ugly chicken doesn�t count. Don�t ever say this doesn�t make sense; Jinni rituals are a sort of �Believe it or you will be sorry� stuff.

You have certainly heard of Jinnis possessing humans. You have certainly heard of a Jinni, Buda (voodoo) who would possess the body of a beautiful (and most probably oppressed) woman and would refuse to leave. I have seen a lady who was "possessed", being interrogated by some men, ten of them. They were all beating her up. It was obvious the poor woman was agonizing in pain and they insisted they were beating up the Jinni and not her! They gave her different orders and threats to do things and they insisted they were talking to the Jinni who was supposedly possessing her.

"Get out", they would order the Jinni, order her, I mean order the Jinni in her. Never mind, if it is confusing just stay confused.

The Jinni would say (through the woman) "emblley, I not going to leave her body."

They brought a heavy boulder and made her carry it; the woman almost died from the weight that they put on her back. More beating up and squeezing of her thumb followed. We, the onlookers would almost feel the pain inside the dark, damp and smoky, claustrophobic room.

Finally, overwhelmed by the pain, the woman (but the men insisted it was the Jinni speaking through her mouth) would cry, "All right, I will leave." But they never give up! They wanted to know the exit point exactly.

They asked, "Where will you exit her body from?"

The Jinni was actually sarcastic and seemed to despise the dialogue with the men, he, in the woman�s voice, would reply, "Through the door".

"The door is closed", they would scream.  Someone runs to the door to make sure it is locked� and more pressure and squeezing of the poor woman�s thumb.

"All right, stop the pain, I am leaving through the thumb," the Jinni would say sobbingly, (actually, it was the woman crying as I can tell, but they insisted it was the Jinni). Then they would let go of the poor woman�s thumb and she would collapse - of course, she does, it is good she didn�t die after all that torture.

Shuku-Shuka, Eritrean UFOs

There are many types of Jinnis and they have different professions: some possess humans, others like Abu Teran and Abdu Robo hurl rocks. Others make you sleep-walk and take you to far places, Shuku-Shuka, the equivalent of which, in the West, are the stories of people who claim they were kidnapped by aliens who took them to far places in UFO�s. Poor Eritreans, they don�t even get a radio interview for that, instead they are beaten up. In the West, people who claim to have had such experience become famous and rich. They even spice it up by claiming they can telepathically talk to someone�s grandfather who died during the American civil war. But rarely do Eritreans become rich with the help of Jinnis. I know one of those rare persons: MeTer AlGroosh.

I don�t remember the name of the gentleman, everybody called him MeTer AlGroosh, an Arabic term meaning Rain of Money. He lived in Asmera for a long time before moving to Keren. Asmarinos might remember a tall, heavily built, elegant man who always wore three-piece suits and a colorful Abu Resmi Umma, a Hijazi turban and held a gold-plated, short, ceremonial stick. The man spent most of his time at the Cinema Impero cafeteria always sipping a cappuccino. A chain smoker who would light one cigarette and when it is done, he would light another cigarette with it.  I think he used one matchstick for the whole day. He wouldn�t be caught dead without a cigarette between his fingers. He spent like a real rain of money to satiate his expensive taste. Many stories circulated about him.

In his book, Mohammed Said Naud, the founder of Haraka (Mahber Shewatte) thinks MaTer Al Groosh was a collaborator whose name was in the payroll of the Ethiopian occupation that funded him heavily. If so, he must have been earning twice as much as Asrate Kassa. Many others believed that he was married to a fairy that gave him all the cash he spent. Maybe he was the "Kisha" of the time, because similarly, many accuse the honest Kbur Tegadalai Hagos Kisha of corruption. Don�t they understand? Here is a secret: Hagos Kisha is married to a fairy.

I once heard an old man say that he knew Meter Al Groosh when they both served under the Italian army and that he has his suspicion since then. According to him, the man was a loner, slept on top of an isolated tree, and talked to someone the other soldiers couldn�t hear or see. Really? Sleep on a tree like a monkey? Is sleeping on top of a tree your idea of a romantic night with your fairy wife? Well, maybe if you married a fairy, your judgment and taste might be altered. I am not so sure, just saying; I never married a fairy, though I once came very close to that - but that is another story.

So much Jinnis and so much possessed Eritreans throwing rocks at each other. Abu Teran is surely dismayed; his inheritors are not doing a good job. I imagine him shouting, "I never hurt anyone you idiots, I was just having fun". He might be saying, "rooster blood, you imbeciles, who told you I like human blood?" But the present Jinni has combined the duties of Abu Teran and Abdu Robo into one portfolio and has become a de facto two-headed creature just like in the fairy-tales.

Some people are questioning this: Have the Jinni become humans (or the humans become Abu Terans)? They are moving piles of rocks from one place to another and hurting the innocent passerby. Don�t you think the streets of Asmara should be cleaned of all the rocks (and eggplants) so that Abdu Robo would not find anything to hurl and give up his hobby? Would you object if the Eritrean Defense Forces brought Abdu Robo under control � provided Abu Teran doesn�t insist that he inherits his powers, if they are two? The good news so far is that Abu Teran, or Abdu Robo, were denied visas to Khartoum, and that is why the meeting, albeit heated and tense as any democratic meeting, is going smoothly. The meeting has a secret resolution that they are not going to announce: a fairy told me that they have promised to fight the Abu Terans and Abdu Robos, so that they usher a phase of mature, responsible struggle. A struggle that would rid Eritrea of present day Abu Terans and make it difficult for another Abu Teran to emerge and rule supreme.

Now look over to the horizon. Abu Teran is not throwing eggplants but real rocks. If he did, we would have collected the eggplants and fought the looming starvation. But look, we can fight Abdu Robo with his own tools- let�s all throw eggplants at him.

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