Belai, the cannibal of Qemer, is the anti-hero of one of the best-loved tales of the Ethiopian Miracles of the Virgin Mary, a Marian legend innovated in the highlands and unknown to the Arabic and European collections. A nobleman who devours seventy-eight people, family and strangers alike, he one day yields water to a thirsty leper who begs in the name of the Virgin. When his soul is later weighed in the balance, that single drop of charity outweighs all the souls he consumed, and Mary carries him to heaven before the astonished angels. The story is a favourite subject of church wall-painting, its panels depicting the devouring, the gift of water, and the scales of judgement.