In 1966 Dervla Murphy travelled the length and breadth of Ethopia, first on a mule, Jock, whom she named after her publisher, and later on a recalcitrant donkey. The remarkable achievement was not surviving three armed robberies or the thousand-mile trail, but the gradual growth of affection for and understanding of another race.

Dervla Murphy set out with her pack-mule Jock on a hazardous trek through Ethiopia's remote and hostile regions. Inspired by stories of Prester John and the Queen of Sheba, she hoped to find beauty, danger, solitude, and mystery. Instead, she encountered rough terrain, exhaustion, illness, and the disorder of the Ethiopians' domestic affairs - all of which she conquered with endurance and good humor. Despite being robbed three times, Murphy found the Ethiopian highlanders were unusually hospitable. Out of her dependence on them and her increasing familiarity with their way of life grew a close and warm understanding. On reaching Addis Ababa, she concluded that affection for Ethiopia's people was the richest reward of her journey.