At the end of October, 1867, Menilek, at the head of
a considerable army, computed at 40,000 to 50,000 men, composed of
30,000 cavalry, some 2,000 or 3,000 musketeers, and the rest spearmen,
entered the Wallo Galla plain: he proclaimed that he came not as
an enemy, but as a friend; not to destroy nor to plunder, but to
re-establish in her rule the deposed and lawful queen Workite. She
was accompanied by a young lad who, she asserted, was her grandson,
the child of the prince who had been killed more than two years
before at Magdala. She stated that he had been born in the Wallo
country, before her departure for Shoa, the result of one of those
frequent casual unions so common in the country, and that she had
taken him away when she sought refuge in the land of the man whom
she had saved. To avoid any attempt being made by her rival to
secure the person of her grandchild, she had until then kept the
matter secret. However, her story was but little credited: I know
on the Amba the soldiers laughed at it; still it offered an excuse
to many of her former adherents for again joining her cause, and
if they did not credit her tale they pretended at least to do go.
The Galla chiefs for some time remained undecided. Menilek kept
to his word; he neither plundered nor molested any one, and, before
long, he reaped the reward of his wise policy.
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