Ethiopian Folktales

The Fox and the Scalesቀበሮውና ሚዛኑ

Somaliaሶማሌ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Yusuf Adem Mandre

A long time ago there lived two monkeys together. One day they went out to search for food and found something to eat. They began to quarrel over the food.

They said, “Let us go to the fox and let him judge us,” and they went to the fox.

The fox, after hearing the case, said, “I will have to use the scales so that I can divide the food into two equal pieces. Unfortunately I don’t have the scales with me now. I have lent it to the lion this morning. Let us go to the lion and divide the food.”

So they went to the lion’s cave. At the mouth of the cave, the fox called out to the lion and told him the story.

He said, “Lion, make peace between the monkeys.”

But then the fox went back without entering the cave, and he picked up the food the monkeys had found and ate it himself. Meanwhile, the two monkeys began to tell their stories to the lion. But the lion had no intention of judging their quarrel. He wanted to eat them, so he ate them.

ቀበሮውና ሚዛኑ

በዩሱፍ አድም ማንደሬ የተተረከ

ከብዙ ዓመታት በፊት ሁለት ጦጣዎች አብረው ይኖሩ ነበር፡፡ ታዲያ አንድ ቀን ምግብ ፍለጋ ወጥተው የሚበሉት ነገር አገኙ፡፡

ሆኖም በምግቡ ላይ መጣላት ጀመሩ፡፡

ስለዚህ “ወደ ቀበሮው ዘንድ ሄደን እርሱ ይገላግለን፡፡” ብለው ወደ ቀበሮው ሄዱ፡፡ ቀበሮውም ጉዳዩን በጥሞና ካዳመጠ በኋላ “ምግቡን ሁለት እኩል ቦታ ማካፈል ስላለብኝ ሚዛን መጠቀም አለብኝ፡፡ ነገር ግን አሁን ሚዛን በእጄ የለም፡፡ ዛሬ ጠዋት ሚዛኑን ለአንበሳው ስላዋስኩት ወደ አንበሳው ሄደን ምግቡን እናካፍለው፡፡” አለ፡፡

እንደደረሱም ቀበሮው አንበሳውን ተጣርቶ ጉዳዩን ነገረው፡፡ እንዲህም አለው “አንበሳ ሆይ! እነዚህን ጦጣዎች አስታርቃቸው፡፡” ይህንንም ብሎ ቀበሮው ወደ አንበሳው ዋሻ ሳይገባ ተመልሶ ሄደ፡፡ ጦጣዎቹም የተውትን ምግብ አንስቶ ራሱ በላው፡፡ ይህ በእንዲህ እንዳለም ሁለቱ ጦጣዎች ችግራቸውን ለአንበሳው መንገር ጀመሩ፡፡ ነገር ግን አንበሳው እነርሱን መብላት አንጂ መዳኘት አልፈለገም ነበርና በላቸው፡፡

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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. How many monkeys were there at the start of the story?

  2. Why did the two monkeys start to quarrel?

  3. Who did the monkeys ask to judge their quarrel first?

  4. What did the fox say he needed to divide the food into two equal pieces?

  5. What did the fox say he had done with the scales that morning?

  6. What did the fox do after calling out to the lion?

For discussionለውይይት

  • The fox pretended he was helping the monkeys, but he had a secret plan. What do you think the story is teaching us about people who pretend to help?
  • The monkeys trusted the fox and then the lion to solve their problem. What could the two monkeys have done differently instead of asking others to judge them?
  • Why do you think the monkeys lost both their food and their lives in the end? What lesson can we learn from what happened to them?
  • How would you describe the fox and the lion in this story? What words would you use to talk about how they behaved?