The Clever Mother and her Clever Daughterብልኋ እናትና ብልህ ሴት ልጇ
Tigrayትግራይ · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narratorተራኪ: Unknown
Narrator Unknown
There were two men who did not know each other. They met on the road. They started going together.
One of the men said, “Oh, you, either you carry me on my your back, or I’ll carry you.”
The other man was puzzled. How can a heavy man carry a heavy man? So he ignored him.
Again, the other one said, “Give me your little finger, I will give you my thumb, or let me give my little finger and you give me your thumb.” (This means, let me give you my daughter to marry your son, or the other way round.)
The other said to himself, “What kind of man is this?” (He didn’t understand.)
Finally, when they were parting, he said, “You must give me answers to my questions and we’ll meet at such and such a place.”
So the other man thought, “What kind of a man is this?” and said nothing, but went home and told his family.
He told them that he had met a very odd person who had asked him questions and told him to bring the answers to the questions.
His family told him that the first question means either you tell me stories, or I’ll tell you stories. The second question means let’s marry our children.
His wife said to him, “When you go, say, ‘I will give you my little finger.’”
The man said, “OK”, and he went and told him, “I’ll give you my little finger.”
They agreed. The marriage was performed. The family of the bridegroom came to take the bride and the father of the bridegroom said to the bride’s family, “Listen. If we are to take the bride today, she must give birth to a boy, otherwise we will not take her.”
The bride’s father said to himself, “What type of a man is this? Is he mad?”
He went to his daughter and told her this request.
The girl said, “Tell him ‘OK’.”
The father said, “OK”, and they agreed.
They took the bride and when she goes to the bridegroom’s house she had a cloth round her waist to pull in her skirt so that she won’t feel hungry.
And they told her, “Take it off and eat injera.{footnote}Injera is a flat, round bread usually made from tef, a grain cultivated in the highlands of Ethiopia.{/footnote}”
She refused.
The father of the bridegroom said, “Why don’t you?”
She replied, “I am being married today. If I am to give birth to a son I will eat a cereal which was planted today, grown today and harvested today. Otherwise I will not eat.”
The father was silenced.
So he said, “This is a clever girl. Let’s cancel all the conditions.”
And they lived happily.
ብልኋ እናትና ብልህ ሴት ልጇ
ተራኪው የማይታወቅ
እርስ በርስ የማይተዋወቁ ሁለት ሰዎች ነበሩ፡፡ መንገድ ላይም ተገናኝተው አብረው መጓዝ ጀመሩ፡፡
አንደኛው ሰው “አንተ ሰው፣ ወይ አንተ እዘለኝ ወይም እኔ ልዘልህ፡፡” ሲለው ሌላኛው ሰው ግራ ገብቶች “እንዴት ከባድ ሰው ሌላውን ከባድ ሰው ሊሸከም ይችላል?” በማለት ዝም አለው፡፡
ሌላኛው ሰው ግን አሁንም “እኔ ትንሿን ጣቴን ልስጥህና አንተ አውራ ጣትህን ስጠኝ፡፡” አለው፡፡ (ይህ ማለት ሴት ልጄን ለወንድ ልጅህ ልዳርለት ወይም ያንተን ሴት ልጅ ወንድ ልጄ ያግባት ማለት ነበር፡፡)
ሁለተኛው ሰው ግን “ይህ ምን አይነት ሰው ነው?” ብሎ አጉተመተመ፡፡ (ነገሩ አልገባውም ነበር፡፡)
በመጨረሻም ሲለያዩ ጠያቂው ሰው “ለጥያቄዎቼ መልስ ስጠኝና እንደዚህ፣ እንደዚህ ከሚባል ቦታ እንገናኝ፡፡” አለው፡፡
ሁለተኛውም ሰው አሁንም “ይህ ምን አይነት ሰው ነው?” ብሎ አስቦ ምንም ሳይናገር ወደቤቱ ሄዶ ስለሆነው ነገር ለቤተሰቡ አጫወታቸው፡፡
ግራ የሆነ ሰው እንዳጋጠመውና ያልሆኑ ጥያቄዎችን ጠይቆት መልስ ይዘህ ና እንዳለው ነገራቸው፡፡
የሰውየውም ቤተሰብ የመጀመሪያው ጥያቄ አንተ ተረት ንገረኝ ወይም እኔ ልንገርህ ማለት እንደሆነና ሁለተኛውም ጥያቄ ልጆቻችንን እናጋባ ማለት እንደሆነ ነገሩት፡፡
ሚስቱም “ሰውየው ጋ ተመልሰህ ስትሄድ ‘እኔ ትንሿን ጣቴን እሰጥሃለሁ’ በለው፡፡” አለችው፡፡
ሰውየውም “እሺ” ብሎ በመሄድ “ትንሿን ጣቴን እሰጥሃለሁ፡፡” አለው፡፡ በዚህም ተስማምተው ጋብቻው ተፈፀመ፡፡ የሙሽራው ቤተሰብ ሙሽራዋን ሊወስዱ ሲመጡ የሙሽራው አባት የሙሽራዋን ቤተሰብ “አዳምጡኝ፣ ሙሽራዋን ዛሬ የምንወስዳት ከሆነ ወንድ ልጅ መውለድ አለባት፣ አለበለዚያ አንወስዳትም፡፡” አሉ፡፡
የሙሽራዋም አባት “ይህ ምን አይነት ሰው ነው? አብዷል እንዴ?” ብለው አሰቡ፡፡ ሆኖም ወደ ልጃቸው ሄደው የተጠየቁትን ነገሯት፡፡ ልጅቷም “እሺ በላቸው፡፡” አለቻቸው፡፡
በዚህ ሁኔታ ሙሽራዋን ወስደው ወደ ሙሽራው ቤት ስትሄድ በቀሚሷ ስር እንዳይርባት የታጠቀችው መቀነት ነበር፡፡
እነርሱም “መቀነትሽን ፈትተሸ እንጀራ{footnote}እንጀራ በኢትዮጵያ ደጋማ አካባቢዎች ከሚበቅለው ጤፍ የተባለ ሰብል የሚሰራ ጠፍጣፋ፣ ስስና ክብ ምግብ ነው፡፡{/footnote}” ብዪ፡፡” አሏት፡፡
እርሷ ግን እምቢ አለች፡፡
የሙሽራውም አባት “ለምንድነው የማትበይው?” አሏት፡፡
እርሷም “ዛሬ የጋብቻዬ ቀን ስለሆነ ወንድ ልጅ መውለድ ካለብኝ ዛሬ ተዘርቶ፣ ዛሬ በቅሎ፣ ዛሬ የታጨደ እህል ነው መብላት ያለብኝ፡፡ አለበለዚያ አልተኛም፡፡” አለች፡፡
የሙሽራውም አባት መልስ አጡ፡፡
በመጨረሻም “ይህቺ ልጅ ብለህ ናት፡፡ ያስቀመጥናቸውን ቅድመ ሁኔታዎች ሁሉ እናንሳ፡፡” አሉ፡፡
ተጋቢዎቹም በደስታ ኖሩ ይባላል፡፡
Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
How did the two men in the story first come to be together?
What strange choice did one man offer about carrying?
What did the riddle about the little finger and the thumb really mean?
What did the puzzled man do after he could not understand the questions?
Who helped the man understand what the strange questions meant?
What did the wife tell her husband to say when he went back?
For discussionለውይይት
- Why do you think the strange man spoke in riddles instead of saying plainly what he meant? What might he have wanted to find out?
- The man could not solve the riddles by himself, but his family helped him. What does this tell us about asking others for help?
- The story is called 'The Clever Mother and her Clever Daughter.' Who in the story do you think was clever, and why?
- How do you think the puzzled man felt when he kept meeting questions he could not understand? Have you ever felt that way?