Ethiopian Folktales

The Rich Brother and the Poor Brotherሀብታምና ደሃ ወንድማማቾች

Benishangul-Gumuzቤንሻንጉል-ጉሙዝ

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Narrated by Fatima Ali

There were two brothers. One was wealthy and the other was poor. The wealthy brother never liked others who were poor. The poor brother was poor but good. The poor brother had nothing to offer guests but they shared whatever they had with guests. But the rich brother didn’t want anyone to come to his house.

Guests came to the poor brother.

He said, “There is no room for you. We would have done anything, but sorry, we can’t put you up for the night. Please go to my brother and ask him.”

They went to the wealthy brother and as usual he drove them away saying, "There is no place for you."

So they went back to the poor brother’s place.

Now those guests, having been driven away from the rich man, came to the poor man and said, “Never mind, we’ll sleep just outside your door and we’ll go in the morning.”

The poor brother and his wife said, “What can we give you to eat?”

“Don’t worry. We have our own food to eat.”

He gave them water to drink. They drank it and ate their own food and then from their own food they gave the poor man what was remaining. Then later that night they left.

When the poor couple woke up they saw that the guests had left but the home was full of wealth.

ሀብታምና ደሃ ወንድማማቾች

በፋጢማ አሊ የተተረከ

አንደኛው ሀብታም ሌላው ደሃ የሆኑ ሁለት ወንድማማቾች ነበሩ። ሀብታሙ ወንድም ደሃ ሰዎችን በፍጹም አይወድም ነበር።

ደሃው ወንድም ግን ደሃ ቢሆንም ጥሩ ሰው ነበር። ደሃው ወንድም ለእንግዶች የሚያካፍለው ነገር ባይኖረውም ያለውን ይሰጥ ነበር። ሀብታሙ ወንድም ግን ማንም ሰው ወደ እርሱ ቤት እንዲመጣ አይፈልግም ነበር።

እንግዶች ወደ ደሃው ወንድም በመጡ ጊዜ፣ እርሱም “እዚህ ልናካፍላችሁ የምንችለው ምንም ማረፊያ ቦታ ስለሌለን ልናሳድራችሁ አንችልም፤ ስለዚህ እባካችሁ ወንድሜ ዘንድ ሄዳችሁ ጠይቁት” ይላቸዋል።

እነርሱም ወደ ሀብታሙ ወንድም ቢሄዱም እንደተለመደው “እዚህ ለእናንተ የሚሆን ቦታ የለም” ብሎ አባረራቸው።

ተመልሰውም ወደ ደሃው ወንድም ቤት ሄዱ።

ከሀብታሙ ወንድም ቤት ተባረው የተመለሱት እንግዶችም ደሃውን ሰው “አንተ አትቸገር፤ ከደጃፍህ ላይ አድረን ጠዋት እንሄዳለን” አሉት።

ደሃው ወንድምና ሚስቱም “የምትመገቡት ምን ልንሰጣችሁ እንችላለን?” ብለው ጠየቋቸው።

“አትቸገሩ፤ የራሳችንን ምግብ ይዘናል” ብለው መለሱላቸው። የሚጠጡትንም ውሃ ሰጧቸው። ውሃውንም ከጠጡና የራሳቸውን ምግብ ከበሉ በኋላ በዚያኑ ሌሊት ተነስተው ሄዱ።

ባልና ሚስቱም ከእንቅልፋቸው ሲነቁ እንግዶቹ ሄደው ቤታቸው ግን በሀብት ተሞልቶ አገኙት።

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