Dagnew describes his family tree, his village, and the local history. At the age of nine, he began to herd sheep and cattle. When he was a few years older, he joined the men of the family, who worked in farming. He was also his family’s messenger, and was sent to collect and deliver things to and from various villages, sometimes a day’s walk away. Dagnew lists the types of games he used to play as a child such as: koli, gana, and swimming in the river. He learned religious studies and cantorial studies for four years, but his soul was drawn to nature, and when he grew up he did not continue his studies.

Dagnew explains how each year he marked the land he wanted to work by placing planks and grass in a pile. The land in the province did not belong to anyone. The right to work it was granted for one year only. Governmental taxes were also paid once a year, and were calculated according to the yield of the field and the quantity of tools.

Dagnew mentions racist incidents with the Christian neighbors in the Qwara area and other regions. He also talks about local disputes, common within the Jewish community, such as one person’s flock eating another person’s produce, arguments between married couples, or cases of violence. He also lists the solutions the elders of the community would propose.

Dagnew got married, built a house, and had children. At the age of 28, he began to go hunting. He would borrow a gun from his uncle and join a group of hunters. Accompanied by pack donkeys, they went on trips into the depths of the forest that lasted between four days and a month. They waited for animals, killed them, and dried their meat. In the area where they hunted, there were lions, tigers, hyenas, giraffes, and deer. The main objective of these trips was to bring back meat to eat. However, a hunter who came back with a lion or an elephant attained a special standing in the community and was appointed as a quasi-judge or person of rank. Dagnew describes various events he witnessed on the hunting trips. He also describes the celebrations and veneration the hunters received upon their return home. He lists the various types of weapons used in his time, what they were used for, their advantages and disadvantages, where they could be bought, and at what price. When the Derg regime began to wane and the rebels against it began to diminish the regime’s powers, hunting was made illegal and the punishment for illegal hunting was death by hanging.

Dagnew describes cattle diseases such as gomdo, hagordevate, and getzet. He describes the symptoms and effects, and whether and how it can be prevented or treated. Dagnew relates that some of the diseases were transmitted when merchants came from north of Qwara and sold infected cattle to residents who did not know how to identify the illnesses.  

He describes human illnesses such as malaria and the way they were treated, both traditionally and with Western medicine. Among other things, Dagnew describes at length the ways fortune tellers treated illnesses, such as giving an amulet, or the way a dybbuk was treated. He gives an example of an illness named shutlah that affects babies. He also explains how to read stars and other methods of treatment. Dagnew talks about a dybbuk that possessed him and how he managed to expel it. He reminisces about how the slave tribe – Gumuz dealt in magic and used roots to place curses and cause deaths. He also describes a holy site named Esremegiah, where tradition relates that 16 mules carrying soil from Jerusalem died. Pilgrims used to take soil from this site, drink it, and smear it on their bodies, and were healed from all their ailments.