Aleka Gebre Hanna and the Wise Ladyአለቃ ገብረሃና እና ብልኋ ሴት
Amharaአማራ · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narrated by Worku Alemu
In our country, once upon a time, there was one wise and famous man, called Aleka Gebre Hanna. This person always looks for another person who is wiser than him. He usually couldn’t find one, so he thinks he’s the wisest person alive. Eventually he heard about a lady who is supposed to be wittier and wiser than him and he went to her village to meet her, and he found her house and was received as a guest there.
It was her parents’ home. According to the tradition of our country, to be hospitable to a guest, such as washing his feet, preparing dinner, making a spread and so on, is very common indeed. And accordingly every treatment was given to Aleka Gebre Hannah by the wise and witty woman and her parents.
Finally the lady was told to take him out for excretion.
And she, leading him, went around the house many times and finally he was tired and forced to go at the gate of the residence and her family said, “What happened? Why don’t you go to the field?”
And the lady replied, “He refused and did it here.”
And everybody laughed at him, and Aleke Gebre Hanna was very upset by this and went to his bedroom and the lady was ordered to make the bed for him.
And she first put on the bed a small skin of a sheep, like a sheet, and was about to leave the room, so Aleke asked her, “Why don’t you make the bed well? Is that enough for a person to sleep on?”
“OK,” she said, “Finish this first and I’ll give you some more.” (As if he was a hyena.)
So he slept on it because he had no choice.
On the second morning he went back to his house planning vengeance. He sent her two sacks of tef on the back of two donkeys and asked her to tell him the number of the tef. If she tries to count it he will have won – and she will look foolish.
She replied by saying, “I have counted the tef. It is as much as the number of the hairs of the two donkeys. Count the hairs on the donkeys and you will know the number of the tef.”
So he realised she was the most witty lady.
አለቃ ገብረሃና እና ብልኋ ሴት
በወርቁ አለሙ የተተረከ
በአገራችን አንድ ብልህና ታዋቂ የነበሩ አለቃ ገብረሃና የተባሉ ሰው ነበሩ፡፡ እኝህ ሰው ታዲያ ከእርሣቸው የተሻለ ብልህ ሰው ሁልጊዜ ይፈልጉ ነበር፡፡
ሆኖም ብዙ ጊዜ አይሳካላቸውም ነበርና ከእርሳቸው የተሻለ ብልህ ያለ አይመስላቸውም ነበር፡፡ ታዲያ አንድ ቀን ከእርሳቸው የተሻለች ብልህና አዋቂ ሴት አለች መባሉን ሰምተው ወደሷ መንደር በመሄድ ቤቷን አፈላልገው አግኝተውት በእንግድነት ተስተናገዱ፡፡
ቤቱም የሴትየዋ ወላጆች ቤት ነበርና በባህሉም መሠረት አንድ እንግዳ ሲመጣ እግሩን ማጠብ፣ ምግብ ማቅረብ፣ አልጋ ማንጠፍና የመሣሠሉትን በማድረግ እንግዳውን መቀበል ልማድ ነበር፡፡ በዚህም መሠረት በብልኋና በአዋቂዋ ሴት እንዲሁም በወላጆቿ አለቃ ገብረሃና አስፈላጊው መስተንግዶ ሁሉ ተደረገላቸው፡፡
በመጨረሻ ሴትየዋ አለቃን ለሰገራ ይዛቸው እንድትወጣ ተነሯት ፊት ፊት እየመራቻቸው ቤቱን ብዙ ጊዜ አዞረቻቸው፡፡ በመጨረሻም አለቃ ስለደከማቸው ወደ ደጃፉ ሄዱ፡፡ የልጅቷም ቤተሰቦች “ምን ሆኑ? ለምንድነው ወደ ሜዳው ያልወረዱት?” ብለው ቢጠይቁ ብልኋም ሴት “እምቢ ብለው እዚህ አደረጉት፡፡” ብላ መለሰች፡፡
ሁሉም ሰው ስቆባቸው አለቃ ገብረሃና ስለተናደዱ ወደ መኝታቸው ይሄዳሉ፡፡ ብልኋም ሴት አልጋቸውን እንድታነጥፍላቸው ሲነግሯት መደባቸው ላይ ትንሽ ድብዳብ ጣል አድርጋ ልትወጣ ስትል አለቃ “አልጋዬን ለምን በደንብ አታዘጋጅልኝም? ይህ ለአንድ ሰው ይበቃል እንዴ?” ብለው ቢጠይቋት እሷም “እንግዲያው ይህንን ሲጨርሱ ሌላ እጨምርልዎታለሁ፡፡” አለቻቸው፡፡
እሳቸውም ምንም ምርጫ ስላልነበራቸው እዚያችው ድብዳብ ላይ ተኝተው አደሩ፡፡
በማግስቱም ጠዋት ቂም ይዘው ወደቤታቸው ተመለሱ፡፡ ከዚያም ሁለት ቁምጣ ጤፍ በሁለት አህዮች ጭነው ይልኩላትና የጤፉን ብዛት እንድትነግራቸው ይጠይቋታል፡፡ እሷም ለመቁጠር ብትሞክር እርሳቸው ስለሚያሸንፏት ሞኝ ልትባል ሆነ፡፡
ስለዚህ እንዲህ ብላ መለሰች “ጤፉን ቆጥሬ የአህዮቹን ፀጉር ብዛት ያክል ሆኗል፡፡ ስለዚህ የአህዮቹን ፀጉር ቆጥረው ብዛቱን ይድረሱበት፡፡”
በዚህም ጊዜ እሷ በጣም ብልህ ሴት እንደሆነች ተገነዘቡ ይባላል፡፡
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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
What was the name of the wise and famous man in the story?
What did Aleka Gebre Hanna always look for?
Why did Aleka Gebre Hanna go to the lady's village?
Whose home was Aleka Gebre Hanna received in as a guest?
What did the lady do when she was told to take him out to relieve himself?
How did the people react after the lady said he 'did it here'?
For discussionለውይይት
- Aleka Gebre Hanna believed he was the wisest person alive. What do you think about a person who believes no one is wiser than them?
- The lady tricked Aleka Gebre Hanna by leading him around the house many times. Do you think this was clever, unkind, or both? Explain your answer.
- How do you think Aleka Gebre Hanna felt when everybody laughed at him? Have you ever felt that way?
- The story shows how guests are welcomed with hospitality, such as washing their feet and preparing dinner. Why do you think welcoming guests kindly is important in a community?