In a heterogenous society like ours, the dominant culture naturallyrnexerts its influence over the others directly or indirectly. Amharisationrnhas hence drastically affected the numerous nationalities of the countryrnchief amongst wham are the Southern Agaws. As a result of this uncheckedrnprocess of assimilation which emerged by the end of the 15th - century,rntheir traditional oral treasures and the language are in the processrnof dying out.rnIt then becomes imperative that attempts either to revive thernlanguage or to record, study and preserve their oral treasures forrnreasons of historical, cultural and literary significance should bernmade before they disappear altogether. The purpose of the study wasrnthus to record some of the Southern Agaw folktales and examine theirrnsocia-cultural significance through a thematic analysis as well asrnto detennine their major motifs.rnThe study has three main divisions. The first part which runsrnfrom chapter one to chapter three lays the foundation for the studyrnby describing the purpose and the scope of the study, the magnitudernof the problem and the Socia-Historical background of the .Ag~~ inrngeneral and that of the Southern .Agaws in particular. Area of thernstudy, methods of data collection and classification, the definitionrnof terms used and an etyrrological explanation have also been includedrnhere. The second part which constitutes chapters IV and V, dealsrnwith a descriptive analysis of the selected tales. In chapter IV, abrief description of each tale or that of a group of tales as the casernffi'ly be, is given after which the major themes they errbody are pointedrnout, In chapte r V, an attempt has been ~ade to bring forth the majorrnmotifs of Southern Aga# folkta l es, This part has many di visions andrnsubdivisi()ns since the bulk of the work occurs here, The third part,rnthe conclution, recaptulates the significant therres and motifs observernin the ana l ysis and draws their significance in the Southern Agawrnsocia-cultural milieu.