Queen Furaንግስት ፉራ
Sidama Zoneሲዳማ ዞን · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narrated by Abebe Kebede
Queen Fura was a famous queen in Sidamo who taught all the women how to behave, and they still follow her to this day. She was very wise. First she told them not to completely submit to men. Then, secondly, she told them not to be completely obedient. Then she told them to be shy and keep men guessing. She also told them never to show their private parts to men in public. So they should cover their bodies from the knee to the waist. She also told them that a woman should take good care of herself because men are attracted by beauty.
Unfortunately, Queen Fura was very bad to men. She gave them all sorts of impossible commands.
She would say, “Go to the river and bring me back water in a sieve.”
Or she would tell them to make big tubs out of very thin grass. Or she would pull out one of her long hairs and tell them to divide it into six. So she really gave them a hard time.
But most of all what she did was, she hated bald men and short men. So she ordered all short men and all bald men to be killed. Hundreds and hundred were killed except for one short man and one bald man. The short man wore shoes with big heels, so he survived (he invented high heels) and the other man wore a wig (he invented wigs).
Now the short man and the bald man didn’t know what to do about the queen. They thought maybe they should kill her. But that had two big problems. The first one was, you never in the tradition kill a woman. The second was, she was a queen after all. Therefore they didn’t know what to do.
So they thought and made a plan. They decided to catch a giraffe. So they chased all the giraffes in the area to a marshy swamp and they managed to catch one when it got bogged down in the marsh.
They called the queen and said, “You’re a great queen. You shouldn’t ride a normal animal. You should ride the tall, elegant giraffe.”
Because the giraffe was in the bog and had sunk down, the queen could easily mount her. Then they strapped the queen on to the giraffe’s back, chased the giraffe out of the marsh and the giraffe ran and ran and ran. The queen began falling to bits. Her head fell off somewhere. Her arm fell off somewhere. Her intestines fell out somewhere and her leg fell off somewhere.
That’s why today in Sidamo you have towns with the name head, leg, body, intestines, hand. Oun, head, Godubore, intestines, Leka, leg, Anga, hand.
ንግስት ፉራ
በአበበ ከበደ የተተረከ
ንግስት ፉራ ስመጥር የሲዳማ ንግስት የነበረች ሲሆን ሴቶችን ሁሉ መልካም ባህሪን ያስተማረችና እስካሁንም ድረስ ተቀባይነት ያላት ሴት ነች፡፡ ንግስቲቱ በጣም ብልህ ነበረች፡፡ በቅድሚያ ሴቶች ለወንዶች ሙሉ ለሙሉ ተገዢ እንዳይሆኑ፣ በሁለተኛ ደረጃ ደግሞ ሴቶች ለወንዶች ሙሉ ለሙሉ ታዛዥ እንዳይሆኑ ትመክራቸው ነበር፡፡ ከዚያም በላይ ሴቶች አይን አፋር እንዲሆኑና ወንዶች እነርሱ ስለሚያስቡት ነገር ሁልጊዜም ግምታዊ እንጂ ግልፅ እንዳይሆን ታስተምራቸው ነበር፡፡ ሃፍረተ ገላቸውንም በአደባባይ እንዳያሳዩና ሰውነታቸውንም ከጉልበታቸው እስከ ወገባቸው ድረስ እንዲሸፍኑ ትነግራቸው ነበር፡፡ ወንዶች በውበት ስለሚማረኩ ሴቶች ራሳቸውን በደንብ እንዲጠብቁ ታስተምራቸው ነበር፡፡
ነገር ግን ንግስት ፉራ ለወንዶች በጣም መጥፎ ሴት ነበረች፡፡ የማይቻሉ ነገሮችን ሁሉ እንዲሰሩ ታዛቸው ነበር፡፡
“ወደ ወንዙ ሄደህ ውሃ በወንፊት አምጣ፡፡” እያለች ታዝ ነበር፡፡ ወይም በጣም ስስ ከሆነ ሳር ትልልቅ ገንዳዎችን እንዲሰሩ አለያም ከረጃጅም ፀጉሮቿ አንዱን ነቅላ ስድስት ቦታ እንዲሰነጥቁት በማዘዝ ወንዶችን ታሰቃያቸው ነበር፡፡
ከሁሉ በላይ ግን ራሰ በራና አጭር ወንዶችን አጥብቃ ትጠላ ነበር፡፡ ስለዚህ አጫጭር እንዲሁም ራሰ በራ ሰዎችን ሁሉ እንዲገደሉ ታዝ ነበር፡፡ በብዙ መቶዎች የሚቆጠሩ አጫጭርና ራሰ በራ ሰዎች ሲገደሉ አንድ መላጣና አንድ ራሰ በራ ወንዶች ግን ከዚህ ችግር ተርፈው ነበር፡፡ አጭሩ ሰው ረጃጅም ተረከዝ ያሏቸው ጫማዎች በማድረግ ሲተርፍ (ረጅም ተረከዝን የፈጠረው እርሱ ነው) ራሰ በራው ሰው ደግሞ ሰው ሰራሽ ጸጉር (ዊግ) በማድረግ ከሞት ዳነ፡፡ (ዊግን የፈጠረው ሰው እርሱ ነው፡፡)
ታዲያ አጭሩና ራሰ በራው ሰዎች ንግስቲቱን ምን እንደሚያደርጓት ግራ ገብቷቸው ነበር፡፡ ሊገድሏትም አሰቡ፡፡ ነገር ግን ይህን ማድረግ ሁለት ግዙፍ ችግሮች ነበሩት፡፡ የመጀመሪያው በባህሉ መሰረት ሴትን መግደል በፍፁም ነውር ነው፡፡ ሁለኛው ደግሞ እርሷ ንግስት ስለነበረች ይህ የማይሆን በመሆኑ ምን ማድረግ እንዳለባቸው ተቸገሩ፡፡
ከዚያም ጥቂት ካሰቡ በኋላ አንድ ዘዴ ዘየዱ፡፡ አንድ ቀጭኔ ለመያዝ አስበው ቀጭኔዎቹን ሁሉ እያሳደዱ ወደ ረግረጋማው ስፍራ ከነዷቸው በኋላ አንዱ በጭቃው ተይዞ ሲቀር እርሱን ያዙት፡፡
ንግስቲቱንም ጠርተው “አንቺ ታላቅ ንግስት ነሽ፡፡ አንቺ መሳፈር ያለብሽ ተራውን እንስሳ ሳይሆን ረጅምና ሞገስ ያለውን እንስሳ ነው፡፡” አሏት፡፡
ከዚያም በሰአቱ ቀጭኔው እግሩ ጭቃው ውስጥ ዘልቆ ስለነበረ ንግስቲቱ ያለችግር ተሳፈረችው፡፡ ከዚያም ንግስቲቱን ቀጭኔው ላይ አስረዋት ቀጭኔውን ከጭቃው ካወጡ በኋላ ሲያባርሩት ቀጭኔው ሲሮጥ፣ ሲሮጥ፣ ሲሮጥ፣ ንግስቲቱ እየተቆራረጠች መውደቅ ጀመረች፡፡ ጭንቅላቷ ወደ አንድ ቦታ፣ እጆቿ ወደ ሌላ ቦታ፣ አንጀቷ ወደ አንድ አቅጣጫ፣ እግሮቿ ወደ ሌላ ስፍራ ተበጣጥሰው ወደቁ፡፡
በዚህ ምክንያት ነው እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ ሲዳማ ውስጥ ጭንቅላት፣ እግር፣ ሰውነት፣ አንጀት፣ እጅ የሚባሉ የከተማ ስሞች ያሉት፡፡
አኦውን፣ ጭንቅላት፤ ጎዱቦሬ፣ አንጀት፤ ሌላ፣ እግር፤ አንጋ፣ እጅ ማለት ነው፡፡
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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
Where was Queen Fura a famous queen?
What did Queen Fura teach the women?
Which men did Queen Fura hate the most?
What did Queen Fura tell the men to bring back from the river?
How did the short man survive being killed?
What did the bald man wear so he would survive?
For discussionለውይይት
- Queen Fura is called very wise, but the story also says she was very bad to men. Do you think she was a good queen? Explain your thinking.
- The short man invented high heels and the bald man invented wigs to stay alive. What does this tell us about how people act when they are in danger?
- Queen Fura gave the men impossible tasks, like dividing one hair into six. Why do you think she gave them tasks that could never be done?
- If you could give Queen Fura some advice, what would you say to her about how she treated the men?