Ethiopian Folktales

The Young Guestወጣቱ እንግዳ

Gambelaጋምቤላ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Opiew Amwong

Once there was an old man who lived alone. He ate alone. He slept alone.

One day a strange young man came to his house and he arrived before dinner was served. The old man was unhappy. He didn’t want to share his food with his guest because he didn’t think there was enough for two of them. At last he decided to let them eat together, but he ate very slowly. In fact there was plenty of food. The young man ate normally, but he was satisfied first and stopped eating.

The old man sighed with relief and said to himself, “The young man has been satisfied before me.”

So he pulled the rest of the food towards him, but even he couldn’t finish it.

The moral is, don’t worry about things before they happen, or have been done.

ወጣቱ እንግዳ

በኦፒው አምዎንግ የተተረከ

በአንድ ወቅት ብቻውን የሚኖር አንድ አዛውንት ሰው ነበር፡፡ ብቻውን ይበላል፡፡ ብቻውን ይተኛል፡፡

ታዲያ ከእለታት አንድ ቀን አንድ ወጣት ሰው ራት ከመበላቱ በፊት አዛውንቱ ቤት ይደርሳል፡፡ አዛውንቱም ሰው በዚህ ደስተኛ አልነበረም፡፡ ምግቡም ለሁለቱ የሚበቃቸው ስላልመሰለው እራቱን ከእንግዳው ጋር መካፈል አልፈለገም ነበር፡፡ ነገር ግን በመጨረሻ አብረው እንዲበሉ ከወሰነ በኋላ እሱ ቀስ እያለ ይመገብ ጀመር፡፡ ሆኖም ምግቡ ብዙ ነበር፡፡ ወጣቱም ሰው በትክክለኛ አበላል ተመግቦ ስለጠገበ ቀድሞ መብላት አቆመ፡፡

አዛውንቱም ሰው እፎይታ ተሰምቶት ለራሱ እንዲህ አለ “ወጣቱ ሰው ከእኔ ቀድሞ ጠገበ፡፡”

ከዚያም ምግቡን ወደራሱ በመሳብ ቢበላም ሊጨርሰው አልቻለም፡፡

የዚህ ተረት መልዕክትም ነገሮች ከመሆናቸው በፊት ወይም ከሆኑ በኋላ አትጨነቅ የሚል ነው፡፡

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

Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. How did the old man live at the start of the story?

  2. When did the young man arrive at the old man's house?

  3. Why didn't the old man want to share his food?

  4. How did the old man eat his food?

  5. What did the young man do while eating?

  6. After the young man stopped eating, what happened with the rest of the food?

For discussionለውይይት

  • Why do you think the old man worried about not having enough food, even though there was plenty?
  • How do you think the young man felt when the old man ate so slowly? What would you feel in his place?
  • The moral says not to worry about things before they happen. Can you think of a time when you worried about something that turned out fine?
  • What do you think the old man learned by the end of the story? Would he act differently with his next guest?