Ethiopian Folktales

Money, my Sonብር ልጄ

Amharaአማራ

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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 Gojjam1 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, “Birr2 , 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 ገብረ ሐና የተባሉ ሰው ነበሩ። እኝህ ሰው ታዲያ አንድ ቀን ገንዘባቸውን ሁሉ ሰብስበው አዲስ አበባን ትተው ወደ ጎጃም ለመሄድ ፈለጉ። ገንዘባቸውም እጅግ ብዙ ስለነበረ በከረጢት ተሸክመውት ሄዱ።

የአባይ ድልድይ እንደደረሱም ፖሊሶች ገንዘባቸውን እንዳይወስዱባቸው ፈርተው እንዴት ሊያሸሹት እንደሚችሉ ሲያስቡ ቆዩና በመጨረሻም አንድ ሀሳብ መጣላቸው። ብልሃቱም ገንዘባቸውን በአስከሬን ሳጥን ውስጥ ከተው ልጃቸው እንደሞተባቸው ማስመሰል ነበር።

እናም ገንዘቡን ሳጥን ውስጥ ከተው «ብር 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።

(ማብራሪያ፦

  • ጎጃም የቀድሞ የኢትዮጵያ ሰሜን ምዕራብ ጠቅላይ ግዛት ነው።
  • ብር የኢትዮጵያ ዋና የመገበያያ ገንዘብ ነው። ፖሊሶቹ ብር የልጁ ስም መስሏቸው ተሞኙ።)

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