Ethiopian Folktales

Origin of Bena Peopleየቤና ህዝብ አመጣጥ

Omo Zoneኦሞ ዞን · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Iyasu Origo

There was a queen who had three breasts. There had been drought for seven years and all the people died. There were only two men left. The two men were her grandsons. Many people died and many fled. The only ones left were these three.

There was no one to sleep with her to multiply the people.

So, because it was not right to have intercourse with your grandchildren, she slaughtered a sheep and put the hide on her eyes and said, “Come and sleep with me one by one, so I can’t see you, when my menstruation is over.”

First a daughter was born. And then another one.

After that she gave her in marriage to one of her grandsons. When they were married they gave birth to a son and baby daughter.

But there was a big animal, Golja, a dragon, who ate people. The queen wanted to kill the dragon so that they could all survive.

She prepared a pit trap and put in it her unmarried daughter to attract Golja.

So the dragon came and went into the pit and impaled himself on the spears in the pit, and fell on the girl and she died.

So elderly people say to this day that after that incident the Bena people multiplied and multiplied from that small family.

የቤና ህዝብ አመጣጥ

በእያሱ ኦሪጎ የተተረከ

ሶስት ጡቶች ያሏት አንዲት ንግስት ነበረች፡፡ ታዲያ በአንድ ወቅት ድርቅ ለሰባት ዓመታት በአካባቢው ተከስቶ ህዝቡ ሁሉ በረሃብ ሲያልቅ ሁለት ሰዎች ብቻ ቀሩ፡፡ ሁለቱም ሰዎች የንግስቲቱ የልጅ ልጆች ነበሩ፡፡ ብዙ ሰው ሲሞት የቀሩትም ስለተሰደዱ በአካባቢው የቀሩት እነዚህ ሶስቱ ብቻ ነበሩ፡፡

የህዝቡም ቁጥር እንደገና ያንሰራራ ዘንድ ከንግስቲቱ የሚወለድ ሰው አልነበረም፡፡ ከልጅ ልጆቹ ጋር ግብረ ስጋ መፈፀም ስለማይቻል ንግስቲቱ አንድ በግ አርዳ ቆዳውን አይኖቿ ላይ ከሸፈነች በኋላ የልጅ ልጆቿን  “ኑና በየተራ አብራችሁኝ ተኙ፡፡ የወር አበባዬም በቀረ ጊዜ አላያችሁም፡፡” አለቻቸው፡፡

ከዚያም ንግስቲቱ አርግዛ መጀመሪያ ሴት ልጅ፣ ከዚያም ሌላ ሴት ልጅ ወለደች፡፡ ከዚያ በኋላ ልጇን ለአንደኛው የልጅ ልጇ ድራት እነርሱም ተጋብተው አንድ ወንድ ልጅና አንዲት ሴት ልጅ ወለዱ፡፡

ነገር ግን አንድ ግዙፍ ጎልጃ የተባለ ሰዎችን የሚበላ እንስሳ ስለነበረ የህዝቡን ዝርያ እንዳያጠፋ በመስጋት ንግስቲቱ ይህንን እንስሳ መግደል ፈለገች፡፡ አንድ ጉድጓድ በወጥመድነት በማዘጋጀት ያላገባችውን ልጇን ጉድጓዱ ውስጥ አስቀምጣት ጎልጃው ወደ ልጅቷ ተስቦ ጉድጓዱ ውስጥ ሲወድቅ ጉድጓዱ ውስጥ ከነበሩት ጦሮች ላይ ወድቆ ከልጅቱ ጋር ተያይዘው ሞቱ፡፡

እናም እስከ አሁን ድረስ የአካባቢው አዛውንቶች የቤና ህዝብ ከዚያ ትንሽ ቤተሰብ ቀስ በቀስ እየተባዛ እዚህ መደረሱን ይናገራሉ፡፡

In the original voice — hear tales from Omo Zoneኦሞ ዞን, told in an Omo Valley language. Listen ›

Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. How many breasts did the queen have?

  2. Why did all the people die at the start of the story?

  3. Who were the only two men left with the queen?

  4. What did the queen put over her eyes so she could not see the men?

  5. What was the name of the big animal, a dragon, that ate people?

  6. How did the queen trap and kill the dragon?

For discussionለውይይት

  • The queen made a hard choice so that her people would not disappear. What do you think about the decision she made? Why?
  • The unmarried daughter died in the pit so the dragon could be killed and the others could survive. How does this part of the story make you feel?
  • The story says the Bena people multiplied from one small family. Why do you think people still tell this story today?
  • What does this story show you about how families and communities try to survive in hard times?