The Land of Prester John
Haile Selassie I as Prester John
The principled stance by Haile Selassie I for peace and diplomacy against Mussolini's fascist aggression drew comparisons between the Ethiopian emperor and the mythical Prester John. The following examples provide different ways in which the Emperor was associated with Prester John after Italy's invasion. Each presents Haile Selassie I with quite different characteristics - one an enlightened African reformer, the other a race revolutionary!
Poem by Hazel Napier, secretary of the Friends of Abyssinia League, 1935
“Little father! Little father!” is the cry of dusky throngs in the streets of Addis Ababa.
To whom do they cry? Who is this man with big brooding eyes of mystical darkness set in an oval of ivory? The face of a prophet. The calm of a philosopher. The sensitive fingers of an artists.
This is Ras Tafari – the chief without fear!
This is Halie Selassie, power of the trinity, negus negasti, king of kings.
This is the conquering lion of Judah, scion of Solomon, christian emperor of the golden realms of Prester John!
Above the Gibbi [palace] there waves in the kamsin breeze the Ethiopian flag, green gold and red, inscribed in gold Amharic letters: “ The lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered”.
With quiet dignity Haile Selassie sits on a throne of gold, a crown of gold upon his head. How courteous his greeting!
On his knee rests a white sheaf of paper – “light and peace”, a periodical edited by himself. For this royal monarch is a thinker and writer as well as a reformer. He rises before dawn.
“My royal crown is as the coils of the lash of labour about my head”.
“Lttle Father! Little Father!”
“Little father! Little father!” is the cry of dusky throngs in the streets of Addis Ababa.
To whom do they cry? Who is this man with big brooding eyes of mystical darkness set in an oval of ivory? The face of a prophet. The calm of a philosopher. The sensitive fingers of an artists.
This is Ras Tafari – the chief without fear!
This is Halie Selassie, power of the trinity, negus negasti, king of kings.
This is the conquering lion of Judah, scion of Solomon, christian emperor of the golden realms of Prester John!
Above the Gibbi [palace] there waves in the kamsin breeze the Ethiopian flag, green gold and red, inscribed in gold Amharic letters: “ The lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered”.
With quiet dignity Haile Selassie sits on a throne of gold, a crown of gold upon his head. How courteous his greeting!
On his knee rests a white sheaf of paper – “light and peace”, a periodical edited by himself. For this royal monarch is a thinker and writer as well as a reformer. He rises before dawn.
“My royal crown is as the coils of the lash of labour about my head”.
“Lttle Father! Little Father!”
General Jan Smuts, South African statesman and early architect of apartheid, August 1935, commenting on the looming Italy/Ethiopia conflict:
"For years the prospect of a conflict between the black races and the white at an indefinite date in the future has been present to the minds of those intimately connected with Africa. The legend of Prester John – the white priest who is said to have ruled over innumerable negro tribes - is known to many who are not writers of fiction, and with the spread of education among the black peoples and their increasing command of the resources of civilisation there is latent in the consciousness of white men in Africa the fear that a real Prester John, but black in colour, may yet emerge to lead the sons of Ham in a great crusade."
"For years the prospect of a conflict between the black races and the white at an indefinite date in the future has been present to the minds of those intimately connected with Africa. The legend of Prester John – the white priest who is said to have ruled over innumerable negro tribes - is known to many who are not writers of fiction, and with the spread of education among the black peoples and their increasing command of the resources of civilisation there is latent in the consciousness of white men in Africa the fear that a real Prester John, but black in colour, may yet emerge to lead the sons of Ham in a great crusade."
Depictions of an African Jesus in an Ethiopian Orthodox Church bible taken forcibly at Maqdala by British imperial forces