Ethiopian Folktales

The Cats and the Miceድመቶችና አይጦች

Oromiaኦሮሚያ · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

Illustration for The Cats and the Mice
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Narrated by Merga Debelo

Long, long ago the cats and mice used to live together in harmony. They were friends. But then the mice realised something mysterious was happening. The mice started disappearing. So they started to investigate the case. And they realised that the cats were eating the mice, so that they realised that they had to hide. So they began digging holes and hiding in them, and mothers always warned the young mice not to go out anywhere near the cats. So, after a time, the cats had no mice to eat.

So they got together and said, “Look, there are no mice to eat anymore, so how can we catch them and eat them?”

So they came up with a plan and the plan was to ask to marry a mouse, and to eat all of the mice on the day of the wedding.

So they sent their elders to the elders of the mice to say that they wanted their son to marry their daughter.

But the mice were a bit suspicious and they said, “No, no, no, we’re not interested in the marriage, you’re not serious, you’ll eat us up.”

The cats said, “No, no, forgive us for our past, we’re serious now. We just want the marriage.”

So on the day of the marriage, the mice were still wary and they warned their children to be careful when the cats came because there might be a problem. So the cats were coming from afar singing a wedding song.

As they came nearer, the words of the wedding song had changed to: “Surround them and gobble them up, surround them and gobble them up.”

And the mice were singing, “Sing, but keep an eye on the cats, sing, but keep an eye on the cats.”

So when the mice heard the cats were singing, “Gobble them up,” all the mice jumped into their holes singing, “But keep an eye on them,” so they escaped.

And another day the elders of the cats came back to the mice, saying, “Look, we came to the wedding, but no one showed up.”

And the mice said, “Yes, but we’ve also grown wise, and we’ve also got our exits.”

And the moral of the story is you should be careful to have means of escaping if trouble comes.

ድመቶችና አይጦች

በመርጋ ደበሎ የተተረከ

ድሮ፣ድሮ ድመቶችና አይጦች በህብረት አብረው ይኖሩ ነበር፡፡ ጓደኞችም ነበሩ፡፡ በኋላ ታዲያ አይጦች አንድ የሆነ ሴራ እየተጠነሰሰ መሆኑን ስለደረሱበት ቀስ በቀስ መጥፋት ጀመሩ፡፡ ጉዳዩንም ማጣራት ጀመሩ፡፡ በመጨረሻም ድመቶቹ አይጦቹን እየበሏቸው መሆኑን ስለደረሱበት መደበቅ እንዳለባቸው አወቁ፡፡ ስለዚህ ጉድጓድ እየቆፈሩ መደበቅ ጀመሩ፡፡ እናት አይጦችም ልጆቻቸውን ወደ ድመቶች እንዳይሄዱ ሁልጊዜ ስለሚያስጠነቅቋቸው ከጊዜ በኋላ ድመቶቹ የሚበሉት ነገር አጡ፡፡

በዚህ ጊዜ ድመቶቹ ተሰባስበው “እንግዲህ አይጦች ስለጠፉ እንዴት አድርገን መያዝና መብላት እንችላለን?”ብለው ተማከሩ፡፡

ከዚያም አንድ እቅድ አውጥተው እቅዱም አይጥን ለጋብቻ በመጠየቅ በሰርጉ እለት አይጦቹን ሁሉ መብላት ነበር፡፡

ስለዚህ ሽማግሌ ድመቶችን ወደ አይጦቹ ሽማግሌዎች በመላክ ወንድ ልጃቸው ሴት ልጃቸውን እንዲያገባ አስጠየቁ፡፡

አይጦቹ ግን ትንሽ ስለተጠራጠሩ “አይ፣አይ፣አይ፣ የእውነታችሁን ስላልሆነና ስለምትበሉን ጋብቻውን አንፈልገውም፡፡” አሉ፡፡

ድመቶቹም “በፍፁም! ስላለፈው ነገር ይቅር በሉን፤ አሁን ግን እውነታችንን ነው፡፡ ጋብቻውን ብቻ ነው የምንፈልገው፡፡” አሉ፡፡

በሰርጉም እለት አይጦች አሁንም ሥጋት ላይ ስለነበሩ ልጆቻቸው ድመቶቹ ሲመጡ እንዲጠነቀቁ አሳሰቧቸው፡፡ ድመቶቹም ከሩቅ የሰርግ ዘፈን እየዘፈኑ መጡ፡፡

ወደ ሰርጉ ቦታም እየታቀረቡ ሲመጡ የሰርጉ ዘፈን ቃላት ተቀይረው

“ክበቡና ዋጧቸው! ክበቡና ዋጧቸው!” የሚሉ ሆኑ፡፡

አይጦቹም “ዝፈኑ ግን ድመቶቹን ተጠንቀቁ! ዝፈኑ ግን ድመቶቹን ተጠንቀቁ!” እያሉ ይዘፍኑ ጀመር፡፡

እናም አይጦቹ ድመቶቹ “ዋጧቸው!” እያሉ ሲዘፍኑ በሰሙ ጊዜ ሁሉም ወደ ጉድጓዶቻቸው ዘለው በመግባት “ግን ተጠንቀቋቸው!” ብለው በመዝፈን አመለጡ፡፡

በሌላ ቀን የድመቶቹ ሽማግሌዎች ተመልሰው መጥተው “ወደ ሠርጉ ሥፍራ መጥተን ነበር፡፡ ነገር ግን ማናችሁም አልነበራችሁም፡፡” አሉ፡፡

አይጦቹም “አዎ ነገር ግን እኛም አውቀናል፣ ጉድጓድ ምሰናል፡፡” አሏቸው ይባላል፡፡

የዚህ ተረት መልዕክትም ችግር በመጣ ጊዜ ማምለጫ ዘዴ ማዘጋጀት እንዳለብን የሚያስተምረን ነው፡፡

In the original voice — hear tales from Oromiaኦሮሚያ, told in Afaan Oromo. Listen ›

Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. How did the cats and the mice live long, long ago?

  2. What strange thing did the mice notice was happening?

  3. What did the mice discover the cats were doing?

  4. How did the mice try to keep themselves safe?

  5. What plan did the cats come up with to catch the mice?

  6. How did the mice first answer when the cats asked for the marriage?

For discussionለውይይት

  • Why do you think the mice did not trust the cats when they asked for the marriage? Were the mice right to be careful?
  • The mothers always warned the young mice to stay away from the cats. Why is it important to listen to such warnings?
  • The cats said, "Forgive us for our past, we're serious now." Do you think the cats were really sorry? Why or why not?
  • What lesson do you think this story teaches us about trusting someone who has hurt us before?