Ethiopian Folktales

The King of the Animalsየእንስሳቱ ንጉሥ

Amharaአማራ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Chilot Amara

Once a lion was visiting all the wild and domestic animals and was asking them, “You, who is the king of all the animals?” and they all replied, “You are the one!”

He met the fox and asked her the same thing, and she replied the same.

After having covered all the animals, he finally went to the elephant and asked him the same question.

The elephant didn’t answer but just said, “Just come nearer,” so the lion came nearer to the elephant.

At once the elephant picked him up with his trunk and threw him to the sky. And when he fell he was severely hurt.

The lion said, looking up to the elephant, “Why did you do that while you could just say, ‘I am the king’?”

የእንስሳቱ ንጉሥ

በችሎት አማረ የተተረከ

ከዕለታት አንድ ቀን አንድ አንበሳ ከሁሉም የዱርና የቤት እንስሳት ዘንድ እየዞረ “እናንተ! የእንስሳት ሁሉ ንጉስ ማነው?” ብሎ ሲጠይቃቸው እነርሱም “አንተ ነሃ!” ይሉት ነበር፡፡

ቀበሮን አግኝቶ ይህንኑ ቢጠይቃት እንደዚያው መለሰችለት፡፡ ሁሉንም እንስሳት በዚህ ሁኔታ ካዳረሰ በኋላ በመጨረሻም ወደ ዝሆን ሄዶ ጥያቄውን ቢጠይቀው ዝሆኑ መልስ ሳይሰጥ “ወደ እኔ ዘንድ ቅረብ” ብቻ አለው፡፡ አንበሳውም ወደ ዝሆኑ በተጠጋ ጊዜ ዝሆኑ አንበሳውን አንዴ ብድግ አድርጎ ወደ ሰማይ ቢወረውረው አንበሳው ከመሬት ተላትሞ ከፉኛ ተጎዳ፡፡

አንበሳውም ቀና ብሎ ዝሆኑን እያየ “ንጉስ እኔ ነኝ ማለት ስትችል ይህንን ማድረግ ለምን አስፈለገ::” አለው፡፡ ይባላል፡፡

In the original voice — hear tales from Amharaአማራ, told in Amharic. Listen ›

Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. What question did the lion ask the animals?

  2. How did the wild and domestic animals answer the lion's question?

  3. Which animal did the lion ask before he went to the elephant?

  4. What did the elephant say when the lion asked him the question?

  5. What did the elephant do to the lion?

  6. What happened to the lion after he fell?

For discussionለውይይት

  • Why do you think all the other animals told the lion that he was the king? What might they have been feeling?
  • The elephant chose to act instead of answering with words. Do you think this was a good way to reply? Why or why not?
  • What lesson do you think this story is trying to teach us about being proud or wanting power?
  • If you were the lion at the end of the story, what do you think you would have learned?