In the hands of this Maronite scholar, the humble bean became not only a beverage but a witness to divine Providence.
The goats simply refused to sleep. Their shepherd, annoyed by the animals that had been jumping and dancing all night, went to complain to the monks at a nearby monastery in the kingdom of Ayaman, Arabia Felix — which corresponds to present-day Yemen.
The prior, “driven by curiosity,” went to the hillside where the herd had been grazing, found a small bush laden with berries there, and, “after boiling them in water, immediately realized that this drink helped keep one awake at night.”
The monks then “ordered that it be used daily during night vigils, so that they might be more alert for the night services and prayers.”
This is the story that countless café chalkboards recount today in one form or another, usually featuring a goat herder named Kaldi. This name is a later addition, absent from the oldest written version of the tale, which first appeared in Rome in 1671, penned by a Maronite Catholic priest of Lebanese origin.
Father Antonio Fausto Naironi taught Syriac at Rome’s Sapienza and was nephew to the great Orientalist Abraham
