Ethiopian Folktales

The Hungry Snakeየተራበው እባብ

Gambelaጋምቤላ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Opiew Amwong

Once there was a snake which had not eaten for many days. It had become thin. When it was crawling around to look for food, it came out of the forest and went into a farmer’s house. It saw some milk in the bottle, and because it was very thin, it slithered into the bottle and drank the milk. Then it was too fat to get out of the bottle again.

When the farmer came home, he saw the snake in the bottle and he said, “Where is the milk that was in the bottle? Are you going to spit it out, so that you can get out of the bottle?”

The snake replied, “All my life I have been biting people, but now what can I do?”

The snake thought, “If I spit out the milk and come out, the farmer will kill me and I’ll still be hungry, so I’d better stay here and die.”

So he stayed in the bottle and died.

If you have two bad choices, take the better of two evils.

የተራበው እባብ

በኦፒው አምዎንግ የተተረከ

በአንድ ወቅት ለብዙ ቀናት ምግብ ያልበላ እባብ ነበር፡፡ በዚህም ምክንያት ከስቶ ነበር፡፡ ምግብ ለመፈለግም ከጫካው ወጥቶ ዞር ዞር ሲል ከአንድ ገበሬ ቤት ደረሰ፡፡ ከጠርሙስ ውስጥም ወተት ስለተመለከተና በጣምም ከስቶ ስለነበር ጠርሙሱ ውስጥ ተስቦ በመግባት ወተቱን በሙሉ ጠጣው፡፡ በዚህን ገዜ በጣም ስለወፈረ ተመልሶ መውጣት አቃተው፡፡

ገበሬውም ወደ ቤት ተመልሶ ሲመጣ እባቡን ጠርሙስ ውስጥ አይቶት እንዲህ አለው “ጠርሙስ ውስጥ የነበረው ወተት የት ሄደ? የጠጣኸውን ሁሉ ተፍተህ ከጠርሙስ ውስጥ አትወጣም?”

እባቡም “እድሜዬን ሁሉ ሰዎችን ስነድፍ ቆይቻለሁ፤ አሁን ግን ምን ማድረግ እችላለሁ?” ብሎ መለሰ፡፡

በመቀጠልም እባቡ እንዲህ ብሎ አሰበ “ወተቱን ሁሉ ተፍቼ ከጠርሙሱ ብወጣ፣ ገበሬው ይገድለኛል፤ እንደተራብኩም እቆያለሁ፤ ስለዚህ እዚሁ ሆኜ ብሞት ይሻለኛል፡፡” ብሎ እዚያው ጠርሙስ ውስጥ ሞተ፡፡
ሁለት መጥፎ ምርጫዎች ቢገጥሙህ ከሁለቱ የተሻለውን ክፉ ነገር ምረጥ፡፡

In the original voice — hear tales from Gambelaጋምቤላ, told in Anuak. Listen ›

Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. Why had the snake become thin?

  2. Where did the snake go after it came out of the forest?

  3. What did the snake find and drink in the house?

  4. Why could the snake not get out of the bottle again?

  5. What did the farmer ask the snake to do so it could get out?

  6. What did the snake finally decide to do?

For discussionለውይይት

  • Do you think the snake made the right choice by staying in the bottle? Why or why not?
  • The story ends by saying, 'If you have two bad choices, take the better of two evils.' What do you think this lesson means?
  • How do you think the snake felt when it realised it was trapped in the bottle? Explain your answer.
  • What might the snake have done differently to avoid getting stuck? Share your ideas.