Ethiopian Folktales

Money, my Sonብር ልጄ

Amharaአማራ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

Text size Share

Narrated by Daniel Legesse

Once upon a time there was a man called Aleke Gebre Hanna. One day he wanted to leave Addis Ababa and go to Gojjam{footnote}Formerly a province in north-western Ethiopia.{/footnote} collecting all his money. His money was too much. He put it in a sack and he went.

As he arrived at the Blue Nile Bridge he feared the very fact that the policemen there might take away his money. And he stayed there for a while and started thinking about how he could save his money from being taken away. Finally, he had an idea. That was, to put all his money in a coffin and act as if his child is dead. Therefore he put it and he started crying, “Birr{footnote}Birr is the main unit of currency in Ethiopia (the policeman mistakes the word for the name of his son).{/footnote} , my son! Birr, my son!” And the policemen felt sorry and were also crying, thinking his son was dead and let him pass without investigating the coffin.

As he passed them he said, “Foolish policeman. I deceived them very easily.”

ብር ልጄ

በዳንኤል ለገሠ የተተረከ

አንድ አለቃ ገብረሃና የተባሉ ሰው ነበሩ፡፡ እኝህ ሰው ታዲያ አንድ ቀን ገንዘባቸውን ሁሉ ሰብስበው አዲስ አበባን ትተው ወደ ጎጃም{footnote}የቀድሞ የኢትዮጵያ ሰሜን ምዕራብ  ጠቅላይ ግዛት፡፡{/footnote} ለመሄድ ፈለጉ፡፡ ገንዘባቸውም እጅግ ብዙ ስለነበረ በከረጢት ተሸክመውት ሄዱ፡፡

አባይ ድልድይ እንደደረሱም ፖሊሶች ገንዘባቸውን እንዳይወስዱባቸው ፈርተው እንዴት ሊያሸሹት እንደሚችሉ ሲያስቡ ቆዩና በመጨረሻም አንድ ሃሣብ መጣላቸው፡፡ ብልሃቱም ገንዘባቸውን በአስከሬን ሣጥን ውስጥ ከተው ልጃቸው እንደሞተባቸው ማስመሰል ነበር፡፡

እናም  ገንዘቡን ሳጥን ውስጥ ከተው “ብር{footnote}ብር የኢትዮጵያ ዋና የመገበያያ ገንዘብ ነው፡፡ (ፖሊሶቹ ብር የልጁ ስም መስሏቸው ተሞኙ፡፡){/footnote} ልጄ! ብር ልጄ!” እያሉ ያለቅሱ ጀመር፡፡ ፖሊሶቹም እውነትም ልጅ የሞተባቸው ስለመሰላቸው አብረው አልቅሰው ሳጥኑን ሳይፈትሹ አሳለፏቸው፡፡

የፍተሻውንም ቦታ እንዳለፉ “ጅል ፖሊሶች፣ በቀላሉ አሞኘኋቸው” አሉ ይባላል፡፡

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

Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. What was the name of the man in the story?

  2. Where did the man want to go?

  3. How did the man carry his money at first?

  4. Why was the man afraid at the Blue Nile Bridge?

  5. What was the man's clever idea to hide his money?

  6. Why did the policemen let the man pass without checking the coffin?

For discussionለውይይት

  • Do you think it was right for the man to trick the policemen to keep his money? Why or why not?
  • The man called the policemen 'foolish'. Do you agree that they were foolish? Explain your thinking.
  • How do you think the policemen would feel if they later learned the truth about the coffin?
  • What does this story teach us about being clever? Can being clever sometimes be unkind?