The Hyena, the Lion and the Foxጅብ፣ አንበሣና ቀበሮ
Benishangul-Gumuzቤንሻንጉል-ጉሙዝ · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narrated by Abdu Rahim Ibrahim
Once upon a time there was a hyena, a lion and a fox and they were three good friends. These animals were so friendly that they had good unity. They talked to one another, they played together and did everything by helping each other.
One day, they got an animal and they slaughtered it. And they agreed to share the meat into three portions. The hyena was Abu Ali, the lion was Juma’a and the fox was Abu Hussein. The hyena, being very aggressive and greedy, took the job of sharing the meat into three portions. While he was doing so he put the best part of the meat towards himself, with good bones, since he likes bones. After the allocation was over, the three of them each had to take their share. Then the hyena's greed was so great that instead of taking one share, he took two shares for himself. The others were watching him.
“Where is our share? You took two and only one is left. Where is the share for the two of us?”
He replied, “You know I am so big and I eat so much, this is my habit and I must take the two shares.”
“Give us our shares,” they urged him, but he ignored them.
They were angry. Well, behind the lion and the fox other lions and foxes were watching and all of them altogether beat the hyena to death.
The three shares were remaining. Now the lion and the fox agreed to share the whole meat.
“Who should I be the one who does the sharing?” the lion says to the fox. “You know more about meat than I do. You can cut it into pieces well, so you have the responsibility to share it.”
So the fox, clever as he was, made seven pieces while the lion watched.
The lion said, “We are two. Why seven portions? I can’t understand.”
The fox said, “OK. This one is my breakfast. The second is my lunch. The third one is my supper.”
“What about the others?” the lion asked.
“Let me tell you,” said the fox. “This one is your breakfast, this one is your lunch and this one is your dinner.”
“What about the seventh piece?” asked the lion.
“How can you ask me such a question? You are a very strong animal and I have seen the death of the hyena. I would be foolish to take more. My dear master, the seventh one is for you.”
So saying, the cunning fox saved his life.
Seeing that the lion and the fox with all their relatives had killed the hyena, God thought it was not fair and he turned them into baboons. When the strong are many, they should not attack one person.
ጅብ፣ አንበሣና ቀበሮ
በአብዱራሂም ኢብራሂም የተተረከ
በአንድ ወቅት ሦስት በጣም ጥሩ ጓደኛሞች የነበሩ ጅብ፣ አንበሣና ቀበሮ ነበሩ፡፡ እነዚህ እንስሳትም በጣም ይዋደዱ ስለነበረ ጥሩ አንድነት ነበራቸው፡፡ እርስ በርስ እየተነጋገሩ፣ አብረው እየተጨዋወቱና እየተጋገዙ ይኖሩ ነበር፡፡
ከዕለታት አንድ ቀን አንድ እንስሳ አግኝተው አረዱት፡፡ ሥጋውንም ሶስት ቦታ ሊከፋፍሉት ወሰኑ፡፡ ጅቡ አቡ አሊ፣አንበሳው ጁማአ እንዲሁም ቀበሮው አቡ ሁሴን ይባሉ ነበር፡፡ ጅቡም በጣም በመቆጣትና በስስት ሥጋውን የመከፋፈሉን ሥራ ወሰደ፡፡ በአከፋፈሉም ወቅት አጥንት ስለሚወድ ጥሩ ጥሩ አጥንቶችና ጥሩ ሥጋ ለራሱ አደረገ፡፡ ሥጋውን ማከፋፈሉ እንዳለቀም ሶስቱም የየድርሻቸውን መካፈል ነበረባቸው፡፡ ሆኖም ጅቡ በጣም ስለተንገበገበ ሁለቱን መደብ ለራሱ ወስዶ ሶስተኛውን ብቻ ለሌሎቹ ሲያስቀር እነርሱ በግርምት ይመለከቱት ነበር፡፡
“የእኛስ ድርሻ የታለ? አንተ ሁለቱን መደቦች ወስደህ የቀረው አንድ ብቻ ነው:: ለሁለታችን የሚሆን ድርሻ የታለ?” አሉት፡፡ እሱም “እንደምታውቁት እኔ ትልቅ በመሆኔና ብዙ ስለምመገብ ይህ ልምዴ ነውና ሁለቱን መደቦች ወስጃለሁ፡፡” አላቸው፡፡
“ድርሻችንን ስጠን?” ብለው ቢጠይቁትም አሻፈረኝ አለ፡፡ እነርሱም በጣም ተናደዱ ሆኖም ከአንበሣውና ከቀበሮው ኋላ ሌሎች አንበሶችና ቀበሮዎች ስለነበሩ ጅቡን ቀጥቅጠው ገደሉት፡፡
ሶስቱም መደቦች ስላልተነኩ አንበሳውና ቀበሮው ሥጋውን በሙሉ ለመካፈል ወሰኑ፡፡
አንበሳውም “ስጋውን ማን ያካፍል?” ብሎ ቀበሮውን ጠየቀው በመቀጠልም “አንት ከእኔ የተሻለ ስለ ሥጋ ስለምታውቅ ሥጋውን ቆራርጠህ የማከፋፈሉን ኃላፊነት አንተ ውሰድ፡፡” አለው፡፡
ቀበሮውም ብልህ ነበርና አንበሳው እያየው ሥጋውን ሰባት ቦታ ቆራርጦ አከፋፈለ፡፡
“አንበሣውም እኛ ሁለት ነን፡፡ ሥጋውን ለምን ሰባት ቦታ እንዳከፋፈልከው አልገባኝም?” አለው፡፡
ቀበሮውም መልሶ “ይኸኛው ቁርሴ ይኸኛው ምሣዬ ይኸኛው ደግሞ እራቴ ነው፡፡” ብሎ ሶስቱን መደቦች ወደራሱ ቆጠረ፡፡
“ሌሎቹስ?” አለ አንበሳው፡፡
“እኔ ልንገርህ” አለ ቀበሮው “ይኸኛው ቁርስህ ይኸኛው ምሳህ ይኸኛው ደግሞ እራትህ ነው፡፡” አለው፡፡
አንበሳውም “ሰባተኛው መደብስ?” ብሎ ቀበሮውን ቢጠይቀው ብልሁ ቀበሮ “እንዴት እንዲህ ያለ ጥያቄ ትጠይቀኛለህ? አንተ በጣም ጠንካራ እንስሳ ነህ፡፡ የጅቡንም አሟሟት አይቻለሁ፡፡ ከዚህ በላይ ብወስድ ሞኝነት ነው፡፡ ውድ ጌታዬ ሆይ ሰባተኛው መደብ ያንተ ነው፡፡” ብሎ ራሱን ከሞት አዳነ፡፡
እግዚአብሔርም አንበሳውና ቀበሮው ከዘመዶቻቸው ጋር ሆነው ጅቡን ሲገድሉት ባየ ጊዜ ይህ ደግ እንዳልሆነ በማሰብ ሁሉንም ወደ ዝንጀሮነት ቀየራቸው፡፡ ኃይለኞች ሲበዙ አንድን ሰው ማጥቃት የለባቸውም፡፡
In the original voice — hear tales from Benishangul-Gumuzቤንሻንጉል-ጉሙዝ, told in Berta, Shinasha, Gumuz. Listen ›
Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
Who were the three good friends in the story?
What did the three friends do one day after they got an animal?
Who took the job of sharing the meat into three portions?
How many shares did the hyena take for himself?
What reason did the hyena give for taking more meat?
What happened to the hyena at the end of the story?
For discussionለውይይት
- The hyena was described as greedy and aggressive. Why do you think his greed caused so much trouble for him?
- Do you think it was fair for the hyena to take two shares of the meat? Explain your thinking.
- What lesson do you think this story is trying to teach us about friendship and sharing?
- The lion and the fox asked nicely for their shares before getting angry. What do you think they could have done differently?