The Poor Man and his Luckድሃው ሰውና እድሉ
Gurage Zoneጉራጌ ዞን · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narrated by Shirguma Soraga
Once there lived a poor man in a certain village. On the road he met a very beautiful woman.
“Where are you going, and what do you want to do?”
“I want to work and get money and be rich,” he said.
She said, “I will make you rich.”
She took him home and gave him seeds to sow on a certain hill. On his way to the field he saw a man collecting pieces of firewood, and he piles them, but he’s never satisfied. He binds the sticks with a rope, then he goes to get another and another. When they were too many for him to carry he bound them all, and tried to put the bundle on his back, but he couldn’t. And still he went to fetch more, and tried to carry it again, but he couldn’t.
“But why pile all this wood like that, knowing that you can’t carry it? Throw some away and take the rest home easily,” said the man.
The man answered, “It’s none of your business. Go on your way.”
Then he met another man who was cutting the cereal crop with a sickle. But he was mowing all the cereal, even the ones not ready, the tef{footnote}A grain grown in the highlands of Ethiopia.{/footnote} and the barley all together, even though the barley wasn’t ripe.
The man said, “Why do you do that? Why don’t you mow the ripe ones and leave the rest till they are ripe?”
“Well, who are you to tell me what to do? Continue your journey.”
The third man he saw was pushing a big rock.
“What are you trying to do?”
“I’m pushing a rock.”
He tries again.
“But you can’t. It’s very big for you.”
“ It’s up to me to try. None of your business. Go on your journey and don’t interfere with my trouble with the rock.”
So he went to the field to sow, and when he finished he came home.
“What did you see on your journey?” the beautiful woman asked.
He told her about the three men and what they had said. He told her of the first man who was piling the wood.
She said, “That was a moneylender. He wants more and more. The second man is death. He kills the young and the old alike, the weak, the strong, the rich, the poor. The one pushing the rock, I told him not to do so, but that man is thought, troubled by his thought, thinking too much, ambitious, weighed down by his cares. Insatiable. The man pushing the rock wanted to be a very rich man.”
The woman said, “You must sow the seeds of a watermelon, and you will become rich.”
ድሃው ሰውና እድሉ
በሺርጉማ ሶራጋ የተተረከ
በአንድ ወቅት በአንዲት መንደር ይኖር የነበረ አንድ ምስኪን ሰው በመንገዱ ላይ አንዲት በጣም ቆንጆ ሴት ታገኘውና “ወዴት እየሄድክ ነው? ምንስ ልታደርግ ነው?” ብላ ስትጠይቀው እርሱም “ስራ ሰርቼ ገንዘብ አግኝቼ ሃብታም መሆን እፈልጋለሁ፡፡” አላት፡፡
እርሷም “እኔ ሃብታም አደርግሃለሁ፡፡” አለችው፡፡
ከዚያም ወደ ቤቷ ወስዳው ከተራራ ላይ የሚዘራውን ዘር ሰጠችው፡፡ እርሱም ዘሩን ይዞ ወደ ማሳው ሲመለስ አንድ ሰው ማገዶ ሲሰበስብና ሲከምር ቢያየውም ሰውየው በፍፁም ደስተኛ አይመስልም ነበር፡፡
ማገዶውን በገመድ እያሰረ ከዚያም ሌላ ሊሰበስብ ይመላለስ ነበር፡፡ ከዚያም መሸከም የሚያቅተውን ያህል ማገዶ ከሰበሰበ በኋላ በአንድ ላይ በማሰር ሸክሙን በጀርባው ሊሸከም ቢሞክርም ያቅተዋል፡፡ እንደዚህም ሆኖ ሰውየው ተጨማሪ ማገዶ ለመልቀም መመላለሱን አላቆመም፡፡ አሁንም ሊሸከም ቢሞክርም ያቅተዋል፡፡ በዚህ ጊዜ መንገደኛው ሰው “ይህንን ሁሉ ማገዶ ከምረህ እንደማትችለው ስታውቅ ለምን የተወሰነውን ቀንሰህ የቻልከውን ያህል ብቻ አትሸከምም?” ሲለው ሰውየውም “ይህ አንተን አይመለከትህምና ዝም ብለህ መንገድህን ቀጥል፡፡” ብሎ መለሰለት፡፡
እርሱም ጉዞውን ቀጥሎ አንድ እህል የሚያጭድ ሰው ዘንድ ደረሰ፡፡ ይህ ሰው ታዲያ ሰብሉን በሙሉ የደረሰውንም ያልደረሰውንም ያጭድ ነበር፤ ጤፉንና{footnote}በኢትዮጵያ ደጋማ ስፍራዎች የሚበቅል ሰብል ነው፡፡{/footnote} ገብሱን ያልደረሰውንም አብሮ ያጭድ ነበር፡፡
መንገደኛውም ሰው “ለምንድነው እንደዚህ የምታደርገው? ያልደረሰውን ትተህ የደረሰውን ብቻ ለምን አታጭድም?” አለው፡፡
ይኸኛውም ሰው “አንተ ማነህና ነው ምን ማድረግ እንዳብኝ የምትነግረኝ፡፡ አርፈህ ጉዞህን ቀጥል፡፡” አለው፡፡
እርሱም መንገዱን ቀጥሎ ለሶስተኛ ጊዜ ያገኘው ሰው ትልቅ አለት እየገፋ ነበር፡፡
በዚህ ጊዜም ሰውየውን “ምን እያደረክ ነው?” አለው፡፡
“አለት እየገፋሁ ነው፡፡” ብሎ አሁንም ሙከራውን ቀጠለ፡፡ መንገደኛውም ሰው “ሆኖም አትችለውም እኮ! በጣም ትልቅ እኮ ነው!” ሲለው ሰውየው “መሞከሩ የእኔ ድርሻ ነው አንተን ምንም አያገባህምና የአለቱን ጉዳይ ለእኔ ተወውና አርፈህ መንገድህን ቀጥል፡፡” አለው፡፡
ከዚያም መንገደኛው ሰው ወደ ማሳው ሄዶ ዘሩን ዘርቶ ከጨረሰ በኋላ ወደ ቤቱ ሲመለስ ቆንጆዋ ሴት አግኝታው “በመንገድህ ላይ ምን አየህ?” ብላ ጠየቀችው፡፡
እርሱም ስለ ሶስቱ ሰዎችና ስላሉት ነገር ነገራት፡፡ ማገዶውን ይከምር ስለነበረው ሰው ሲነግራት እሷም “ያ ሰው ማለት ገንዘብ አበዳሪ ነው፡፡ ሁልጊዜም ተጨማሪ ገንዘብ ይፈልጋል፡፡ ሁለተኛው ሰው ደግሞ ሞት ነው፡፡ ወጣት፣ ሽማግሌውን፣ ደካማና ጠንካራውን ሃብታምና ደሃን ሳይለይ ይገድላል፡፡ አለቱን ይገፋ የነበረውን ሰው እንዳይገፋ ነግረኸው የነበረ ቢሆንም ያ ሰው ማለት ሃሳብ ማለት ነው፡፡ በሃሳብ ተውጦ እጅግ በጣም በማሰብ ብዙ የሚመኝና በራሱ ጉዳይ ጭነት ስር የሚኖር ነው፡፡ በፍፁም የማይረካ ሲሆን ይህ ሰው በጣም ሃብታም መሆን የሚፈልግ ሰው ነው፡፡” አለችው፡፡
በመጨረሻም ሴትየዋ “አንተ መዝራት ያለብህ የሃባብ የዘር ፍሬዎችን ሲሆን ሃብታምም ትሆናለህ፡፡” አለችው፡፡
In the original voice — hear tales from Gurage Zoneጉራጌ ዞን, told in Gurage. Listen ›
Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
What did the poor man say he wanted to do?
Who offered to make the poor man rich?
What did the woman give the poor man to do?
What was the first man on the road doing?
Why could the first man not carry the firewood?
What was wrong with how the second man cut the cereal crop?
For discussionለውይይት
- The first man kept piling more firewood than he could ever carry. What do you think this teaches us about wanting too much?
- The second man cut even the crops that were not ready. Why do you think it is better to wait until things are ripe?
- Both men told the poor man to mind his own business. How do you think the poor man felt when he tried to help and was rejected?
- If you were the poor man on the road, what would you have done when you saw these two men? Why?