Fire, Water, Truth and Liesእሳት፣ውሃ፣እውነትና ሃሰት
Oromiaኦሮሚያ · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narrated by Merga Debelo
Fire, Water, Truth and Lies were friends, but Lies wasn’t too happy about this and he wanted to destroy the harmony.
So one day he said, “Why don’t we go together and look for free places so that each of us will have a kingdom of his own? So let’s set out on a trip together.”
And they all agreed and started moving.
After some time, as they were walking together, Lies went to Water and he said, “Fire is our worst enemy who burns the grass and the forest and the bushes – how can we find a kingdom with him around?”
So Water said, “What should we do?”
And Lies said, “Obviously we’ll have to kill him, and you are the only one with the power to extinguish him, therefore when he’s sitting down, splash yourself on him and extinguish him.”
Water said, “I’ll spill on the ground and won’t be able to become one again.”
But Lies said, “No problem, I’ll put some stones there, so you won’t spill away and I can collect you again.”
So, when the unsuspecting Fire sat down, Water poured all over him and Lies put stones to collect him. So Lies got rid of Fire and they went on their way.
After some time Lies said to Water, “Look, why don’t you sit at the top of this cliff to enjoy the scenery?”
So when he sat down, Lies sneaked up and pulled the stones from under him, and he spilled away, and that was the end of him.
So Lies had to get rid of Truth. So when they came to a big mountain, Lies told Truth to sit at the bottom of the mountain and he pushed down a boulder to crush Truth, but Truth managed to scramble away and when the boulder crashed down there were diamonds and gold and all sorts of valuables inside. Lies came down to look at the body of Truth and he found all those valuable things.
And he said, “From where did these come?”
So Truth said, “When the boulder came down on top of me, this is what came out.”
So Lies said, “I’ll go down and you go up and push the boulder over.”
So Truth went up and he pushed the boulder over and it landed on Lies’ head and squashed him to death.
This shows that although Truth may have a hard time, eventually it does succeed.
እሳት፣ውሃ፣እውነትና ሃሰት
በመርጋ ደበሎ የተተረከ
እሳት፣ ውሃ፣ እውነትና ሃሰት ጓደኞች ነበሩ፡፡ ነገር ግን ሃሰት በዚህ ጥምረት ደስተኛ ስላልነበረ አንድነታቸውን ማበላሸት ፈልጎ እንዲህ አለ “ለምን ወደ አንድ ስፍራ ተጉዘን እያንዳንዳችን የራሳችንን ግዛት አንመሰርትም? ስለዚህ ተነስተን አብረን እንጓዝ፡፡”
ሁሉም በሃሳቡ ተስማምተው ሲሄዱ ከተወሰነ ጊዜ በኋላ ሀሰት ወደ ውሃ ጠጋ ብሎ “እሳት ሣሩን፣ ደኑንና ቁጥቋጦውን የሚያቃጥል ቀንደኛ ጠላታችን ስለሆነ ለምንድነው ከእርሱ ጋር ግዛት ፍለጋ የምንሄደው?” አለው፡፡
ውሃም “ታዲያ ምን ብናደርግ ይሻላል?” አለ፡፡
ሃሰትም ቀበል አድርጎ “ልንገድለው እንደሚገባ ግልፅ ነው፡፡ እሳትን የማጥፋት ብቸኛ ኃይል ያለህ ደግሞ አንተ ነህ፡፡ እናም ቁጭ ሲል ጠብቀህ እላዩ ላይ ራስህን በመርጨት አጥፋው፡፡” አለው፡፡
ውሃም “ራሴን መሬቱ ላይ ከረጨሁ ተመልሼ ውሃ መሆን አልችልም፡፡” አለ፡፡
ሀሰትም “ችግር የለውም፡፡ ተረጭተህ እንዳትበታተን የተወሰኑ ድንጋዮች በዙሪያህ አኖርና በኋላ እሰበስብሃለሁ፡፡” አለው፡፡
በዚህ ጊዜ ያልጠረጠረው እሳት መጥቶ ቁጭ ሲል ውሃው አንድ ጊዜ በላዩ ላይ ሲረጭ ሃሰት ድንጋዮች ዙሪያውን አድርጎ ውሃውን ከሰበሰበውና እሳትን ካስወገዱ በኋላ አብረው መጓዝ ጀመሩ፡፡ ከተወሰነ ጊዜ በኋላ ሃሰት ውሃውን “ለምን እዚህ ገደል አፋፍ ላይ ቁጭ ብለህ በተፈጥሮ ውበት አትዝናናም?” አለው፡፡
ውሃም አፋፉ ላይ ቁጭ ሲል ሃሰት ቀስ ብሎ ተነስቶ ውሃ የተቀመጠባቸውን ድንጋዮች ከስሩ ሲለቅማቸው ውሃው በመረጨት በዚያው ተበታትኖ ጠፋ፡፡
በመጨረሻም ሃሰት እውነትን ማጥፋት ነበረበትና ወደ አንድ ትልቅ ተራራ በተቃረቡ ጊዜ ሃሰት እውነትን ከተራራው ግርጌ ቁጭ በል ብሎት ከተራራው አናት ላይ ትልቅ አለት ቁልቁል በመልቀቅ እውነትን ሊጨፈልቀው ሲል እውነት ቀልጠፍ ብሎ ማምለጥ በመቻሉ አለቱ ተንከባሎ ሲፈረካከስ ከውስጡ አልማዝ፣ ወርቅና ልዩ ልዩ የከበሩ ማዕድናት ወጡ፡፡ ሃሰትም የእውነትን አስከሬን ሊመለከት በመጣ ጊዜ እነዚህን ሁሉ የከበሩ ድንጋዮች አየ፡፡
እናም “እነዚህ ሁሉ ከየት መጡ?” ብሎ ጠየቀ፡፡
እውነትም “አለቱ እላዬ ላይ ሲወድቅ እነዚህ ማዕድናት ወጡ፡፡” አለው፡፡
በዚህ ጊዜ ሃሰት “አሁን ደግሞ እኔ ከተራራው ግርጌ ልቀመጥና አንተ አለቱን በላዬ ላይ ልቀቅብኝ፡፡” አለው፡፡
እናም እውነት ወደ ተራራው ጫፍ ወጥቶ ትልቅ አለት ወደታች በለቀቀ ጊዜ አለቱ የሃሰት አናት ላይ አርፎ ሃሰትን ጨፈላልቆ ገደለው፡፡
ይህ የሚያሳየው እውነት ፈተና ቢገጥመውም በመጨረሻ አሸናፊ መሆኑን ነው፡፡
In the original voice — hear tales from Oromiaኦሮሚያ, told in Afaan Oromo. Listen ›
Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
Which of the four friends wanted to destroy the harmony between them?
What idea did Lies suggest to all the friends at the start?
Why did Lies tell Water that Fire was their worst enemy?
According to Lies, who was the only one with the power to put out Fire?
What was Water worried about when asked to put out Fire?
How did Lies promise to help Water not spill away?
For discussionለውይይት
- Lies tricked Water into helping destroy Fire. Why do you think Water listened to Lies instead of asking Fire first? What could Water have done differently?
- At the end, Lies pulled the stones from under Water after Water had helped him. What does this tell us about trusting someone like Lies?
- The four friends were Fire, Water, Truth and Lies. Why do you think the storyteller chose these four to be friends in the same story?
- What lesson do you think this folktale is trying to teach about friendship and listening to people who want to cause trouble?