Ethiopian Folktales

How the Cat Became the Woman’s Friendድመት እንዴት የሴት ጓደኛ እንደሆነች

Somaliaሶማሌ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Abdul Hakim Abdulahi Jibril

At the beginning of the world, the cat was the friend of the antelope in the bush. But once the lion came to the bush and fought and killed the antelope. So the cat thought the lion was better, and became a friend of the lion. But then a group of elephants fought the lion and the lion was killed, so she became the friend of the elephants. Then she saw a man kill an elephant.

“Oh, this is better than the elephant,” and she became the friend of man.

As soon as the man went into his house there was a quarrel with his wife, and his wife ran at him with a stick, shouting, “Where have you been?”

And she shouted many bad things to him. So the man ran away.

“Oh,” said the cat, “the woman is stronger than the man.”

So she became the friend of the woman.

ድመት እንዴት የሴት ጓደኛ እንደሆነች

በአብዱልሃኪም አብዱላሂ ጅብሪል የተተረከ

በዓለም መጀመሪያ ወቅት ድመት የጫካዋ ሚዳቋ ጓደኛ ነበረች፡፡ ሆኖም በአንድ ወቅት አንበሳ ወደ ጫካው መጥቶ ሚዳቋዋን በመተናኮል ሲገድላት ድመቷ አንበሳ የተሻለ እንደሆነ ስላሰበች የአንበሳ ጓደኛ ሆነች፡፡ ነገር ግን አንድ የዝሆን መንጋ መጥቶ አንበሳውን ታግሎ ሲገድለው ስታይ የዝሆኖች ጓደኛ ሆነች፡፡ ከዚያም ሰው ዝሆንን ሲገድል ድመቷ “አሃ! ይህ ከዝሆን የተሸለ ፍጡር ነው፡፡” በማለት የሰው ጓደኛ ሆነች፡፡ ሰውየውም ወደቤቱ እንደተመለሰ ከሚስቱ ጋር መጣላት ጀመረ፡፡ በዚህ ጊዜ ሚስቱ ዱላ ይዛ ወደ ባሏ እየሮጠች “የት ነበርክ?” ብላ ጮኸችበት፡፡ አከታትላም ብዙ መጥፎ ቃላት እተናገረች ስለጮኸችበት ሰውየው ሮጦ ሄደ፡፡ በዚህ ጊዜ ድመቷ “አሃ! ሴትየዋ ከሰውየው የተሻለች ነች፡፡” በማለት የሴትየዋ ጓደኛ ሆነች ይባላል፡፡

In the original voice — hear tales from Somaliaሶማሌ, told in Somali. Listen ›

Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. At the beginning of the world, who was the cat's friend?

  2. What happened to the antelope?

  3. Who killed the lion?

  4. Why did the cat become the friend of the man?

  5. What did the wife do when the man came into the house?

  6. Who did the cat become friends with at the end of the story?

For discussionለውይይት

  • Each time the cat changed friends, what was she looking for in a new friend? What do you think she valued most?
  • Do you think the cat was a good friend? Why or why not?
  • The story says the woman was stronger than the man. What does the word 'stronger' mean in this story?
  • What lesson or message do you think this folktale is trying to teach us?