The Mother-in-lawአማትየው
Oromiaኦሮሚያ · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narrated by Abiyot Legesse
Once upon a time a man, his mother and his wife used to live together in the same house.
Now one day when the man went out he came back and his wife refused to speak to him. He sat down and asked her what was wrong and she said that she had a terrible life because her mother-in-law gave her such a terrible time. She said that his mother hated her and was always nagging her and making her life a misery. So she said that she couldn’t live any more with his mother and he had to find a solution.
But he didn’t know what to do, so he asked his wife what he should do. She said that if he killed his mother, they could live happily. So he sat down to think about this, and realised that his mother was an old lady who didn’t have a future and was basically useless, whereas he could live a good life with his wife.
So he decided that if his mother was being such a pain, he should throw her over the cliff. So he carried his mother and started walking towards the cliff.
After a while his mother realised that he was going to kill her, so she said, “Be careful, my son. When you’re throwing me over the cliff you might slip and fall down yourself, or I might grab you and pull you down with me. Therefore hold onto a tree when you throw me off so that you don’t die too.”
He was very surprised that he was about to kill her and she was worried for his life. So he asked her the cause.
She said, “It’s only a mother who’s given birth to a child who can really appreciate that relationship, and you won’t understand it until you have children too. Anyway, be careful.”
So he set her down and started to question what was going on. He realised that if she valued his life more than her own, she must be a very good person and his wife must be the cause of all the problems.
So he set her down, took her home and then chased away his wife and lived happily ever after.
አማትየው
በአብዮት ለገሠ የተተረከ
በአንድ ወቅት ባል፣ ሚስትና የባል እናት በአንድ ቤት ውስጥ አብረው ይኖሩ ነበር፡፡
አንድ ቀን ታዲያ ባልየው ከሄደበት ወደ ቤት ሲመለስ ሚስቱ አላናግር አለችው፡፡ ሰውየውም ተቀምጦ ችግሩ ምን እንደሆነ ሚስቱን ሲጠይቃት እሷም አማቷ በጣም እያስቸገሯት እንደሆነ ነገረችው፡፡ እናቱ በጣም እንደሚጠሏትና ሁልጊዜ እየጨቀጨቁ ኑሮዋን አስቸጋሪ እንዳደረጉባት ነገረችው፡፡ ስለዚህ ከዚህ በኋላ ከእናቱ ጋር መኖር ስለማትፈልግ መፍትሔ እንዲፈልግ ጠየቀችው፡፡
ነገር ግን ባልየው ምን ማድረግ እንዳለበት ግራ ስለገባው ምን ማድረግ እንዳለበት ሚስቱን ጠየቃት፡፡ ሚስቱም እናቱን ከገደላት እነርሱ በደስታ እንደሚኖሩ ነገረችው፡፡ ከዚያም ቁጭ ብሎ ሲያስብ እናቱ አሮጊት መሆናቸውንና ከዚህ በኋላ የወደፊት ራዕይም ሆነ ጥቅም የሌላቸው ስለሆነ እርሱ ግን ከሚስቱ ጋር ጥሩ ኑሮ እንደሚኖር ተገነዘበ፡፡
ስለዚህ እናቱ የዚህን ያህል አስቸጋሪ ከሆኑ ገደል ውስጥ ሊወረውራቸው እንደሚገባ በመወሰን ተሸክሞ ወደ ገድል አፋፍ ይዟቸው ሄደ፡፡
ጥቂት ከሄደ በኋላም እናቱ ሊገድላቸው እንደሆነ ስላወቁ “ልጄ ተጠንቀቅ! እኔን ስትወረውር አዳልጦህ እራስህ ልትወድቅ ወይም እኔ ጎትቼህ አብረን ልንወርድ እንችላለን፡፡ ስለዚህ አንተም እንዳትሞት ስትወረውረኝ በአንድ እጅህ ዛፍ ያዝ፡፡” አሉት፡፡
እርሱም ሊገድላቸው እንደሆነ እያወቁ ለእርሱ ህይወት ሲጨነቁ ሲሰማ በጣም ገረመው፡፡ እናም ምክንያቱን ጠየቃቸው፡፡
እርሳቸውም “ይህንን መገንዘብ የምትችለው ልጅ የወለደችና ግንኙነቱን የምታደንቅ እናት ብቻ ስለሆነች አንተም ልጅ እስክትወልድ ድረስ ይህ ሊገባህ አይችልምና ብቻ ተጠንቀቅ፡፡” አሉት፡፡
እናም እናቱን ከትከሻው አውርዷቸው ምን እየተካሄደ እንደሆነ ራሱን መጠየቅ ጀመረ፡፡ ከዚያም እናቱ ከራሳቸው ህይወት አስበልጠው ለእርሱ ህይወት የሚጨነቁ ከሆነ በጣም ጥሩ ሰው እንደሆኑና የችግሩ ምንጭ ሚስቱ እንደሆነች ተገነዘበ፡፡
በመጨረሻም እናቱን ወደ ቤት ወስዶ ሚስቱን በማባረር ከእናቱ ጋር በደስታ መኖር ጀመረ፡፡
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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
Who lived together in the same house at the start of the story?
What did the wife do when the man came back home one day?
Why was the wife so unhappy?
What did the wife say her husband should do to solve the problem?
Where did the man decide to take his mother to kill her?
What did the mother warn her son about as he carried her?
For discussionለውይይት
- The mother warns her son to hold onto a tree so he does not die too, even though he is trying to kill her. What does this tell us about her feelings as a mother?
- The man decided his old mother was 'useless' while he could live a good life with his wife. Do you think this was a fair or kind way to think? Why or why not?
- If you were the man, what would you have done about the problem between your wife and your mother? Explain your idea.
- What lesson or message do you think this folktale is trying to teach us?