The Black Crowጥቁሩ ቁራ

Somaliaሶማሌ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Professor Ahmed Mohammed Ali

The crow was once a sheikh or priest, and at that time he was white. But all the other birds made an accusation against him.

They said, "On the one hand he eats meat, and on the other hand he eats fruits."

So all the birds came together and said, “You are a sheikh or a priest! But what you do is wrong. The smallest birds should eat meat. And the biggest ones eat fruit. But you eat from both sides.”

In not only Somali but Cushitic culture in general, it was said that the crow was the representative of the Sun God called Wak. Oromos believed in the Sun God also. People believed that the crow interpreted what Wak, the Sun God, said to the people and people would send their messages to the Sun God through him.

The crow, when he speaks, says “Wak! Wak!”

But the crow became dishonest and ate from both things – fruit and meat, and so he was punished. They cursed him and he became black.

ጥቁሩ ቁራ

በፕሮፌሰር አህመድ መሃመድ ዓሊ የተተረከ

ቁራ በአንድ ወቅት ሼኪ ወይም ቄስ ስለነበረ ቀለሙም ነጭ ነበር፡፡ ነገር ግን ሌሎቹ አእዋፋት ሁሉ አቤቱታ አሰሙበት፡፡ እንደዚህም አሉ “በአንድ ወገን ሥጋ ይበላል፤ በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ ፍራፍሬ ይበላል፡፡”

ከዚያም ሁሉም አእዋፋት ተሰባስበው “አንተ ሼኪ ወይም ቄስ ነህ! ነገር ግን የምትሰራው ነገር ስህተት ነው፡፡ ትንንሾቹ አእዋፋት ሥጋ መመገብ አለባቸው፡፡ ትልልቆቹ ደግሞ ፍራፍሬ ይብሉ፡፡ አንተ ግን ከሁለቱም ወገን ትበላለህ፡፡” አሉት፡፡

በሱማሌ ብቻ ሳይሆን በኩሽ ባህል በአጠቃላይ ቁራ የፀሃይ አምላክ የሆነው የዋቅ ተወካይ ነው ተብሎ ይታመናል፡፡ ኦሮሞዎችም ጭምር በፀሃይ አምላክ ያምናሉ፡፡ ቁራ የፀሃይ አምላክ ዋቅ የተናገረውን ለሰዎች የሚተረጉምና የሰዎችንም መልዕክት ወደ ፀሃዩ አምላክ የሚያደርስ መሆኑን ያምናሉ፡፡

ቁራውም ሲናገር “ዋቅ! ዋቅ!” እያለ ነው፡፡

ሆኖም ቁራው እምነት በማጉደል ሁለቱንም ነገሮች ማለትም ፍራፍሬና ሥጋ ስለበላ ቅጣት ተጣለበት፡፡ ረግመውትም ጥቁር ሆኖ ቀረ፡፡

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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

What kind of bird is this story about?
What color was the crow at first, before he was punished?
What did the other birds accuse the crow of doing wrong?
According to the birds, who should eat fruit?
In Cushitic culture, the crow was said to be the representative of which god?
What happened to the crow as his punishment?

For discussionለውይይት

The crow was once a respected sheikh or priest. Why do you think the other birds were so upset that he ate from both sides?
People believed the crow carried messages between humans and the Sun God, Wak. How would you feel if you had such an important job?
The crow was punished for being dishonest. What lesson do you think this story is trying to teach us?
The story explains why crows are black today. Why do you think people tell stories like this to explain things in nature?