Ethiopian Folktales

Aleka Gebre Hanna and the Medicine Manአለቃ ገብረሃና እና መድኃኒት አዋቂው ሰው

Amharaአማራ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

Text size Share

Narrated by Yalemgeta Mamo

Once upon a time, Aleka Gebre Hanna, considered to be the most famous wise man, was suffering from sores. He went to a traditional medicine giver and the traditional medicine giver advised him that the treatment is too terrible, and he would not survive it.

Aleka said, “I must. I’ll suffer one day rather than many days.”

Finally the medicine man put a sharpened iron into the fire and when it was red hot he burned the sore.

At this time it was on his anus and his faeces came out and the medicine man said, “You are shitting.”

And Aleka replied, “What do you mean? When the house is burned, don’t you think the goods should be removed?”

አለቃ ገብረሃና እና መድኃኒት አዋቂው ሰው

በያለምጌታ ማሞ የተተረከ

በአንድ ወቅት በጣም ታዋቂና ብልህ የነበሩት አለቃ ገብረሃና ሰውነታቸው ቆስሎ ይታመማሉ፡፡ ታዲያ ወደ አንድ የባህል መድኃኒት አዋቂ ሰው ዘንድ ሄደው ቢጠይቁ ሰውየውም መድኃኑቱ በጣም ከባድ ስለሆነ እንደማይችሉት ይነግሯቸዋል፡፡

“አለቃም ሁልጊዜ ከምሰቃይ አንድ ቀን ብጨነቅ ይሻለኛል፡፡” ብለው መድኃኒቱን ለመውሰድ ወሰኑ፡፡

እናም መድኃኒት አዋቂው ሰው የሰላ ብረት በእሳት አግሎ ብረቱ ፍም ሲመስል ቁስሉ ላይ አኖረው፡፡

ታዲያ ቁስሉ ፊንጢጣቸው ላይ ስለነበር አለቃ ዓይነምድራቸው እንዳመለጣቸው አይቶ ሰውየው “ምነው አለቃ እየቀዘኑ እኮ ነው!?” ቢላቸው አለቃም ቀበል ብለው “ምን ማለትህ ’¨<; ቤት ሲቃጠል ዕቃውን ማሸሽ ይገባ የለም እንዴ;” አሉት ይባላል፡፡

In the original voice — hear tales from Amharaአማራ, told in Amharic. Listen ›

Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. Who was Aleka Gebre Hanna?

  2. What problem was Aleka Gebre Hanna suffering from?

  3. What did the medicine giver say about the treatment?

  4. What did Aleka say when he heard the treatment was terrible?

  5. What did the medicine man use to burn the sore?

  6. What did Aleka mean by his reply, "When the house is burned, don't you think the goods should be removed?"

For discussionለውይይት

  • Aleka chose to suffer for one day rather than for many days. Do you think this was a wise choice? Why or why not?
  • At the end, Aleka answers with a clever joke about a burning house. What does this tell you about his character?
  • Why do you think people remembered Aleka Gebre Hanna as a wise man? What in this story shows his wisdom?
  • The medicine giver warned that the treatment was very terrible. If you were Aleka, would you have gone ahead with it? Explain your thinking.