Ethiopian Folktales

Sheikh Nasreddin Counts the Donkeysሼክ ናስረዲን አህዮቹን ቆጠረ

Hararሐረር · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Hajji Abdu Settar Mohammed Bashir

Once upon a time, Nasreddin took donkeys to the forest to bring wood. On the way he sat on one of the donkeys and began to count the others. One, two, three – up to nine. Where is the tenth? But he didn’t count the donkey he was sitting on. So when he got off the donkey’s back and began to count, and this time there were ten, he said, “That’s better,” got back on the donkey and went on. He counted again and still there were nine. After puzzling for a long time he couldn’t understand why one was missing and not missing.

At last he realised his mistake and laughed at himself. How can a person be so stupid to make this mistake?

ሼክ ናስረዲን አህዮቹን ቆጠረ

በሃጂ አብዱሰታር መሃመድ በሽር የተተረከ

ከዕለታት አንድ ቀን ናስረዲን አህዮቹን እየነዳ ከጫካው እንጨት ሊያመጣ ሄደ፡፡ በመንገዱም ላይ አንዲቷ አህያ ላይ ተቀምጦ ሌሎቹን መቁጠር ጀመረ፡፡ አንድ፣ሁለት፣ሦስት እያለ እስከ ዘጠኝ ከቆጠረ በኋላ አስረኛዋስ? ብሎ አሰበ፣ የተቀመጠባትን አህያ መቁጠሩን ረስቶ፡፡

ከዚያም ከአህያዋ ላይ ወርዶ እንደገና ሲቆጥራቸው በዚህ ጊዜ አስር ሆኑ፡፡ ከዚያም “አሁን ልክ ነው፡፡” ብሎ ተመልሶ አህያዋን ተሳፍሮ ሄደ፡፡ እንደገና መቁጠር ሲጀምር አሁንም ዘጠኝ ሆኑበት፡፡ ለረጅም ጊዜም ግራ ከተጋባ በኋላ አንደኛዋ ለምን እያለች እንደጠፋችበት ማወቅ ተሳነው፡፡

በመጨረሻ ግን ስህተቱ ገብቶት በራሱ ሳቀ፡፡ “ሰው እንደዚህ አይነት ስህተት የሚሰራው ምን ያህል ደደብ ቢሆን ነው?”

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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. Why did Nasreddin take the donkeys to the forest?

  2. When Nasreddin first counted the donkeys while sitting on one, how many did he count?

  3. Which donkey did Nasreddin forget to count?

  4. What happened to the number of donkeys when Nasreddin got off and counted?

  5. What did Nasreddin do in the end when he understood his mistake?

  6. How did Nasreddin feel before he understood why one donkey seemed missing?

For discussionለውይይት

  • Why do you think Nasreddin kept forgetting to count the donkey he was sitting on? Have you ever forgotten something that was right with you?
  • What do you think this story teaches us about looking carefully before we decide something is wrong?
  • How do you think Nasreddin felt when he finally laughed at himself? Is it good to be able to laugh at our own mistakes?
  • Can you think of a time when a problem seemed confusing but the answer was simple all along? What happened?