Gebre Hanna

Aleqa Gebre Hanna (flourished late 19th century) was a dabtara (a lay person of religious learning) of the Ethiopian Church, renowned in Amharic oral tradition for (to quote Donald Levine) his "quick and biting wit." He was a master of the genre of Amharic poetry known as "qene", as well as introducing a new style of ceremonial dancing to the Ethiopian Church.
Life.
Gebre Hanna was born in Fogera, a district on the eastern shore of Lake Tana, and his interest in religious learning brought him to the city of Gondar towards the end of the Zemene Mesafint, where he became a teacher at the Church of Ba'eta Maryam in the city and eventually its "aleqa".
While at Baeta Maryam, Aleqa Gebre Hanna invented a new style of religious dancing, known as "Ya-Takla" after his son. The Ethiopian Church is unique amongst Christian traditions in its traditional incorporation of ritual dances (known as "aquaquam") in its ceremonies, which were performed by dabtaras. As Levine describes Aleqa Gebre Hanna's innovation:
In the traditional style of "aquaquam", the bodies and sticks of the dancers move up and down, punctuating the flow of chant with alternatively gradual and abrupt movements. Alaqa Gebre Hanna, inspired by the lateral movement of the waves of Lake Tana and the bamboo reeds in the breeze at its shore, taught that bodies should sway from side to side. Although the conservative clergy in Gondar rejected this teaching, his son Takla successfully introduced to Debre Tabor, where it spread to the rest of Ethiopia.
According to the one-time Ethiopian ambassador to the United States, Berhanu Denqe, who had received his education there, "Aleqa" Gebre was one of the teachers at the church school of Saint Raguel on Mount Entoto. He was often a guest of the Emperor Menelik II and his wife Empress Taytu, and his exchanges with these monarchs are the setting for many of the stories told about him.
His wit.
As Simon Messing explains,
The Amharic language lends itself readily to puns and hidden meanings, since many verbs have double or triple interpretations due to the hidden variations in the basic verbal stem and the absence or presence of gemination of some consonants. The listener must pay close attention. If he misinterprets the context and fails to discern the pun, he is often made the butt of the next tricky joke by those who have heard it before. The more a storyteller and wit masters the "sowaso" 'grammar' of the Amharic language, the better he can manipulate the humor. Alaqa Gabra Hanna was a master of the "sowaso" grammar, as demonstrated by one of his best-known stories. One day the Alaqa encountered a peasant with his donkey, and bowing low asked greeted him with "Endet adaratchu?" ("How did you sleep?") Only afterwards, as the man told of the encounter did he realize that the Alaqa had used the plural form of "you", not the singular: Alaqa Gabra Hanna spoke to the donkey and its owner as equals.
Tales involving Aleqa Gebre Hanna are numerous. Levine notes that in a published collection of 300 old folktales and anecdotes, no less than one quarter are devoted to stories about the Alaqa. Other stories involving the Alaqa include: