Child's tale of Ethiopian slave prince

The son of a prince, he was captured as a slave in about 1700

The intriguing tale of how an African slave became a general under Russian Czar Peter the Great has been turned into a children's story.

Abraham Petrovic Hannibal was in charge of military engineering across Russia, helped fortify St Petersburg in the 18th century and was the great grandfather of Russian literary icon, Alexander Pushkin.

But he was originally a slave - an Ethiopian prince, his family say.

Abraham Hannibal and the Battle for the Throne was published earlier this month, while Abraham Hannibal and the Raiders of the Sands was released in April.

He led a stormy later life - divorce, allegations of bigamy and exile in Siberia Frances Somers Cocks

"I think the story of an African child, kidnapped, becoming a slave and then a general in a western nation is extraordinary," author Frances Somers Cocks told BBC News Online.

However, as it is a fictional book for children, she embellished historical facts, with accounts of crocodile attacks, landslides and elephant stampedes.

Holidays

But why write this bizarre tale for children, rather than as a historical account or even as adult fiction?

Abraham was a page boy to Tsar Peter the Great

"I thought it was time to have more children's stories featuring Africans," Ms Somers Cocks says.

She also tried to combat stereotypical, negative images of Africa by making sure that her hero visits the lavish ancient Ethiopian Emperor's palace in Gondar and the Axum obelisk.

In order to be able to describe the settings first-hand, she retraced his footsteps from Ethiopia to St Petersburg during her holidays, while working as a primary schoolteacher.

As the story is aimed at children, the second book ends when Abraham is 16 but his remarkable life story does not end there.

Sequel

"He led a stormy later life - divorce, allegations of bigamy and exile in Siberia," the author said.

The former slave even ended up with large numbers of serfs once he became a big landowner.

"But it seems he was a kind master," Ms Somers Cocks says.

So is she considering writing a follow-up story for adults?

"Possibly."

He rose to became the Russian army's chief engineer

But first she must make a business success of her children's books.

Major publishers rejected her manuscripts and Ms Somers Cocks had to publish it herself.

The books are available in UK bookshops, she says but "the problem is getting noticed".

So far, she has sold just 1,000 copies of the first book, Abraham Hannibal and the Raiders of the Sands.

Due to the prohibitive cost, the books are not available in Ethiopia but the author says she would be happy to enter into an arrangement with Ethiopia publishers.