Aster (referred to by her first name according to Ethiopian custom) while born free was later enslaved by the king of Limmu-Ennarea.
Bible translator Onesimos quickly “discovered that Aster was endowed with considerable mental gifts and possessed a real feeling for the Oromo language” (Arén 1978:383).
Aster also translated a book of Bible stories and recorded five hundred traditional Oromo riddles, fables, proverbs, and songs, many of which were published in a volume for beginning readers (1894).
Arén reports that a large amount of the folklore she collected is still unpublished although preserved by the Hylander family (1978:384, fn.
Although the title page and history credit Onesimos as the translator, it appears that Aster's contribution was not, and still is not, adequately appreciated.