The Clever Tricksterብልሁ አታላይ
Gurage Zoneጉራጌ ዞን · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narrated by Captain Dejene Washaka
Once there lived a man called Murchine. He was so clever and he tricked everyone. The villagers didn’t know what to do with him.
He tricked everyone and they were fed up with him, and they said, “What do you want us to do so that you will live far away from us, not to give us trouble? We’ll do anything to get rid of you.”
He answered, “I have a cow. Slaughter it and give me the hide.”
So they killed the cow and gave him the hide. He dried it and went to a far away country and made the cattle stampede by beating the dried skin. So he brought many cows and oxen to the village.
So his fellow men were very surprised and they asked, “Where did you get these cows from?”
He said, “There’s a man who exchanges cattle for a dried hide.”
So these men killed all their cows and went to sell the hides.
The people said to him, “Why did you lie? You told us a man was selling cows for dry hides.”
“It was true,” the man said. “But you went to the wrong place.”
They couldn’t get rid of him and said, “How can we get rid of you?”
He said, “I have a hut. Burn it and give me the ashes.”
They did so.
He filled three sacks with the ashes and went. When he reached a hut, he put the ashes in front of it and went off to drink coffee. After drinking it, he shouted and the villagers came out.
They said, “What’s the matter?”
He said, “I had three sacks of tef{footnote}A grain grown in the highlands of Ethiopia.{/footnote}, but they have taken the tef, and substituted ashes. How come? Well, believe me, I had tef, but they put ashes instead. This must be a land of thieves.”
The people were afraid that their names would be spoiled. So he went to his village with three sacks of tef.
“How did you do that?” they asked him.
“Well, there’s a place where they exchange ashes for tef.”
“Can we do that?”
“Yes.”
So those fools took ashes but couldn’t get tef.
“Put me in water and I may drown.”
And they did, but he swam away, saying, “I am not dead.”
ብልሁ አታላይ
በካፒቴን ደጀኔ ዋሻካ የተተረከ
በአንድ ወቅት አንድ ሙርቺን የተባለ ሰው ነበር፡፡ ይህ ሰው በጣም ብልህ ስለነበረ ሰዎቹን ሁሉ ያታልል ነበር፡፡ የመንደሩም ሰዎች ምን እንደሚያደርጉት ግራ ገብቷቸው ነበር፡፡
ሁሉንም ያታልል ስለነበረና ሰዎቹም በዚህ በጣም ተሰላችተው ስለነበረ “ከእኛ ርቀህ እንድትኖርና ከዚህ በኋላ እንዳታስችግረን ምንድነው ማድረግ ያለብን? ከአንተ ለመገላገል የምንችለውን ሁሉ እናደርጋለን፡፡” አሉት፡፡
እርሱም “አንዲት ላም አለችኝና እርሷንም ወስዳችሁ ካረዳችኋት በኋላ ቆዳዋን ስጡኝ፡፡” አላቸው፡፡
እነርሱም ላሟን ካረዷት በኋላ ቆዳዋን ሰጡት፡፡ እርሱም ቆዳዋን ወስዶ ካደረቀው በኋላ ወደሩቅ ሃገር ይዞት ሄዶ ደረቁን ቆዳ በመቀጥቀጥ ብዙ ከብቶችን አስደንብሮ ወደ መንደሩ ብዙ ላሞችና በሬዎች ይዞ ተመለሰ፡፡
የመንደሩም ሰዎች በጣም ተገርመው “እነዚህን ሁሉ ከብቶች ከየት አመጣሃቸው?” ብለው ጠየቁት፡፡
እርሱም “ደረቅ ቆዳ በከብቶች የሚቀይር አንድ ሰው አለ፡፡” አላቸው፡፡
በዚህ ጊዜ ሰዎቹ ከብቶቻቸውን በሙሉ አርደው ቆዳቸውን ሊሸጡ ይዘው ሄዱ፡፡ ሆኖም ቆዳቸውን የሚገዛቸው ሰው ስላላገኙ በጣም ተበሳጭተው “ለምንድነው የዋሸኸን? ከብቶች በቆዳ የሚለውጥ ሰው አለ ብለኸን ነበር፡፡” ሲሉት እርሱም “የነገርኳችሁ ነገር እውነት ነው፡፡ ነገር ግን እናንተ የሄዳችሁት ወደ ተሳሳተ ቦታ ነው፡፡” አላቸው፡፡
ይህንንም ሰው ከመንደሩ ሊያስወግዱት ስላልቻሉ “እንግዲህ አንተን እንዴት አድርገን ነው ከዚህ የምናስወግድህ?” ሲሉት “አንዲት ጎጆ አለችኝ፡፡ እርሷን አቃጥሉና አመዱን ስጡኝ፡፡” አላቸው፡፡ እንደተባሉትም አደረጉ፡፡
እርሱም አመዱን በሶስት ስልቻ ሞልቶ በመሄድ ከአንዲት ጎጆ ዘንድ ሲደርስ አመዱን ከደጃፉ ላይ አስቀምጦ ቡና ሊጠጣ ሄደ፡፡ ቡናውን ከጠጣ በኋላ ጩኸቱን ሲለቀው የመንደሩ ሰዎች ሁሉ ወጥተው “ምን ሆነሃል?” ብለው ጠየቁት፡፡ እርሱም “ሶስት ስልቻ ጤፍ{footnote}በኢትዮጵያ ደጋማ ሥፍራዎች የሚበቅል ሰብል{/footnote} ይዤ መጥቼ ነበር፡፡ ሆኖም ጤፉን በሙሉ ወስደው በአመድ ለወጡብኝ፡፡” ሲላቸው እነርሱም “ይህ እንዴት ሊሆን ይችላል?” ቢሉት “እመኑኝ! ጤፍ ነበር ያመጣሁት፡፡ በምትኩ ግን አመድ አኖሩልኝ፡፡ ይህ የሌቦች አገር መሆን አለበት፡፡” እያለ መጮሁን ቀጠለ፡፡
ሰዎቹም ስማቸው እንዳይጠፋ በመፍራት ሶስት ስልቻ ጤፍ ሰጥተውት ጤፉን ይዞ ወደ መንደሩ ተመለሰ፡፡
የመንደሩም ሰዎች እንደተለመደው “ይህንን እንዴት ልታደርግ ቻልክ?” ብለው ሲጠይቁት እርሱም አመድ በጤፍ የሚቀየርበት “አንድ ቦታ አለ፡፡” አላቸው፡፡
“ይህንን እኛም ማድረግ እንችላለን?”
“አዎ”
እነዚያ ሞኝ ሰዎች አመድ ይዘው ቢሄዱም ጤፍ ሳያገኙ ቀሩ፡፡ በዚህ ጊዜ ውሸታሙ ሰው “ውሃ ውስጥ ወርውሩኝና ልሙት፡፡” አላቸው፡፡
እነርሱም ሰውየውን ውሃ ውስጥ ቢወረውሩትም ዋኝቶ በመውጣት “አልሞትኩም!” አላቸው፡፡
In the original voice — hear tales from Gurage Zoneጉራጌ ዞን, told in Gurage. Listen ›
Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
What was the name of the clever man in the story?
How did the villagers feel about the clever man?
What did the man ask the villagers to give him after they killed his cow?
How did the man bring many cows and oxen back to the village?
Why did the other men kill all their own cows?
What did the man ask the villagers to do with his hut?
For discussionለውይይት
- The man kept tricking the villagers, yet they could not get rid of him. Why do you think his tricks worked so well on the other people?
- When the men complained that he lied about cattle for hides, he said, 'It was true, but you went to the wrong place.' Do you think that was a fair answer? Why or why not?
- What do you think the story is trying to teach us about being clever and about trusting others too easily?
- If you were one of the villagers, how would you have tried to deal with a man like Murchine?