The Children and the Elephantልጆችና ዝሆኑ

Hararሐረር · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Yusuf Adem Mandre

In the old days the children used to write on a piece of wood called luh (like a blackboard). It used to be polished with polish called berassa to make the letters the children used to write look properly. So the children would go out in the woods and pick up berassa every week. After softening the berassa they would polish the luh. One day, the pupils after asking their teachers’ permission, went out to pick up berassa. While picking the berassa they found an elephant calf. Since baby elephants naturally like playing with human children, he became friendly with the boys and began to play with them.

So the children said, “Why don’t we polish the calf with the berassa?” and they began to polish him.

While they were doing this they accidentally stuck some berassa in the calf’s trunk and the calf died.

So the children, when they saw it was dead, they went to the teacher and sang, “We are the killers of elephants, we are the killers of elephants.”

ልጆችና ዝሆኑ

በዩሱፍ አደም ማንድሬ የተተረከ

በድሮ ጊዜ ልጆች ለመፃፊያ የሚጠቀሙበት ሉህ የሚባል ከእንጨት የተሰራ የጥቁር ሰሌዳ ዓይነት ነበር፡፡ ይህም መፃፊያ ልጆቹ የሚፅፏቸው ፊደሎች ትክክል ይሆኑ ዘንድ በራሳ በሚባል መወልወያ ይወለወል ነበር፡፡ እናም በየሳምንቱ ልጆቹ በራሳ ለመልቀም ወደ ጫካ ይሄዱ ነበር፡፡ በራሳውን ካለሰለሱትም በኋላ ሉሁን ይቀቡት ነበር፡፡ ከዕለታት አንድ ቀን ተማሪዎቹ አስተማሪያቸውን አስፈቅደው በራሳ ለመሰብሰብ ሄደው እየለቀሙ ሳለ አንድ የዝሆን ልጅ አገኙ፡፡ የዝሆን ልጆች ከሰው ልጆች ጋር መጫወት ስለሚወዱ የዝሆኑም ግልገል ከልጆቹ ጋር ተግባብቶ መጫወት ጀመረ፡፡

ልጆቹም የዝሆኑን ግልገል ለምን በበራሳው አንወለውለውም ብለው ይወለውሉት ጀመር፡፡

ይህንንም እያደረጉ ሳለ በድንገት በራሳውን ኩምቢው ውስጥ ስለከተቱበት ግልገሉ ሞተ፡፡

ልጆቹም የዝሆኑ ግልገል መሞቱን ባዩ ጊዜ ወደ መምህራቸው ሄደው እንዲህ እያሉ ዘፈኑ “እኛ ዝሆን ገዳዮች፣ እኛ ዝሆን ገዳዮች፡፡”

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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

What did the children write on in the old days?
What was the polish called that made the letters look proper?
How often did the children go to the woods to pick up berassa?
What animal did the children find while picking berassa?
Why did the baby elephant become friendly with the boys?
What happened to the calf after the children polished it?

For discussionለውይይት

The children did not mean to hurt the elephant calf. Do you think they were wrong to polish him? Why or why not?
At the end, the children sang, "We are the killers of elephants." Why do you think they sang this to the teacher?
What lesson can we learn from this story about playing with animals?
How do you think the children felt when they saw that the calf had died? What would you have done?