The Riddlesእንቆቅልሾቹ
Gurage Zoneጉራጌ ዞን · 2 min readደቂቃ ንባብ
Narrated by Captain Dejene Washaka
Once there lived a poor man. He wanted his son to marry a rich man’s daughter and he asked her hand in marriage. The wealthy man refused because he was poor. He insisted.
“Can you solve riddles?” the wealthy man asked him.
“Yes, I can.”
“All right. I will give you three riddles and I want the answers by tomorrow.”
The three riddles were:
“A farmer has three cows. One of the cows is milked standing in the normal way. The second is milked while she kneels. The third one is milked while sitting. What does this mean?”
He couldn’t answer.
“Let me ask my wife.”
“All right. Go and ask her,” the wealthy man said.
But she couldn’t answer either.
“Go and ask for three or four days to think about it (a postponement).”
Just then a beggar woman appeared and said, “In the name of God, please give me something to eat.”
“We have no time to give you food, go away,” the poor man said. “We’re trying to solve the wealthy man’s riddle. Go away.”
“May I hear the riddle, please?” the beggar woman asked.
“How can you solve it, you’re just a poor beggar with nothing to eat.”
“Trust me. Just let me hear it,” she insisted.
So he told her.
“It’s easy,” she said. “The first one is, the cow belongs to a wealthy man. A poor man looks after the cow of the wealthy man, takes her to pasture and to drink and so on. He helps her in childbirth, and he gets the advantage of the milk for his children by so doing. He’s always worried, thinking that some day the wealthy man will come and take the cow. That’s why he does it so quickly, because he worries that the wealthy man will take it.
The second one has half confidence – maybe he will take her or maybe not. Because the cow is common for both. We have bought the cow together.
The third one, sitting, he milks her while sitting, so the cow is his and no one can come and claim it, he can relax and milk it in peace.”
So the beggar woman told him this. The man had already told the wealthy man he didn’t know the answer so he took the beggar with him and said she had provided him with the answer.
“Do you have a son?” asked the wealthy man.
“Yes.”
“I will give my daughter to him.”
After that the beggar woman became part of the rich man’s family.
እንቆቅልሾቹ
በካፒቴን ደጀኔ ዋሻካ የተተረከ
በአንድ ወቅት አንድ ድሃ ሰው ነበረ፡፡ ሰውየውም ወንድ ልጁ የአንድ ሃብታም ሰው ሴት ልጅ እንዲያገባ ፈልጎ ጋብቻውን ይጠይቃል፡፡ ሃብታሙም ሰው የሰውየውን ድህነት አይቶ ከለከለው፡፡ እንዲህ እያለም ይፈትነው ጀመር፡፡
“እንቆቅልሾችን መፍታት ትችላለህ?” ሲለው ሰውየውም “አዎ፣ እችላለሁ፡፡” አለ፡፡
ሃብታሙም ሰው “እንግዲያው ሶስት እንቆቅልሾችን አሰጥሃለሁ፡፡ መልሶቹን እስከ ነገ ድረስ እንድታመጣ፡፡” ብሎ የሚከተሉትን ሶስት እንቆቅልሾች ጠየቀው፤
“አንድ ገበሬ ሶስት ላሞች ሲኖሩት አንደኛዋ ላም የምትታለበው በተለመደው ሁኔታ ቆማ ሲሆን ሁለተኛዋ ላም ግን ተንበርክካ ነው የምትታለበው፡፡ ሶስተኛዋ ላም ደግሞ የምትታለበው ተቀምጣ ነው፡፡ ይህ ምን ማለት ነው?”
ሰውየው ይህንን መመለስ አልቻለም፡፡
“እስኪ ሚስቴን ልጠይቃት፡፡” ሲል ሃብታሙም ሰው “እሺ ሄደህ ጠይቃት፡፡” አለው፡፡
ሆኖም ሚስቱም አልቻለችም፡፡ በዚህ ጊዜ ሃብታሙ ሰው “ሄደህ ለሶስትና ለአራት ቀናት ጠይቀህ ለመምጣት ሞክር፡፡” ብሎ በቀጠሮ ሲልከው ወዲያው አንዲት የኔቢጤ ሴት መጥታ “ስለእግዚአብሔር፣ እባካችሁ የምበላው ነገር ስጡኝ፡፡” እያለች መለመን ጀመረች፡፡
ድሃውም ሰው “ለአንቺ ምግብ የምንሰጥበት ጊዜ የለንምና እባክሽ ሂጂልን፡፡ የሃብታሙን ሰው እንቆቅልሽ ለመፍታት እየሞከርን ነውና ሂጂልን፡፡” አላት፡፡
የኔቢጢዋም ሴትዮ “እንቆቅልሹን ልትነግሩኝ ትችላላችሁ?” ስትላቸው እነርሱም “አንቺ ምስኪንና የምትበይው እንኳን የሌለሽ ድሃ የኔቢጤ ነሽና እንቆቅልሹን እንዴት ልትፈቺ ትችያለሽ?” አሏት፡፡
እርሷም “ግዴለም እመኑኝና ልስማው፡፡” ብላ ተማፀነች፡፡ ሰውየውም ነገራት፡፡
እርሷም “ይህማ ቀላል ነው፡፡ የመጀመሪያው፣ ላሟ የሃብታም ሰው ንብረት ናት፡፡ ድሃ ሰው የሃብታሙን ሰው ላም ወደ ግጦሽ፣ ወደ ውሃና ወደመሳሰሉት ነገር እየወሰደ ይጠብቃታል፡፡ ስትወልድም በማዋለድ ለሰራው ስራ የላሟን ወተት ለልጆቹ ይወስዳል፡፡ ታዲያ ይህ ሰው አንድ ቀን ሃብታሙ ሰው መጥቶ ላሟን ይወስዳታል ብሎ ሁልጊዜ ይሰጋል፡፡ ስለዚህ ነው ሃብታሙ ሰው ሳይወስዳት በችኮላ በቆመችበት የሚያልባት፡፡ ሁለተኛው ሰው ደግሞ በከፊል እምነት ያለው ነው፡፡ ሃብታሙ ሰው ላሟን ሊወስዳትም ላይወስዳትም ይችላል፡፡ ምክንያቱም ላሟ የጋራ ንብረታቸው ናት፡፡ ላሟን በጋራ ነው የገዟት፡፡ ሶስተኛው ሰው ላሟ ተቀምጣ የሚያልባት ላሟ የራሱ ንብረት ስለሆነች ማንም ሰው መጥቶ አይወስዳትምና ተረጋግቶ በሰላም ያልባታል፡፡” በማለት የእኔ ቢጤዋ ሴት ነገረችው፡፡
ሆኖም ድሃው ሰው መልሱን ራሱ የማያውቀው መሆኑን ለሃብታሙ ሰው ነግሮት ስለነበረ የእኔ ቢጤዋን ሴት ወደ ሃብታሙ ሰው ዘንድ ይዟት ሄዶ መልሱን እርሷ እንደነገረችው ነገረው፡፡ ሃብታሙም ሰው “ወንድ ልጅ አለሽ?” ብሎ ጠየቃት፡፡ እርሷም “አዎ” አለችው፡፡
እርሱም “ልጄን ለልጅሽ ነው የምሰጠው፡፡” ብሏት የእኔ ቢጤዋ ሴት የሃብታም ሰው ቤተሰብ ሆነች፡፡
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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ
Why did the wealthy man refuse to let the poor man's son marry his daughter?
What did the wealthy man ask the poor man to solve?
How many cows were in the first riddle?
Who did the poor man first ask for help with the riddles?
What did the beggar woman want at first?
How did the poor man treat the beggar woman when she first appeared?
For discussionለውይይት
- The beggar woman said the riddle was easy, even though everyone thought she could not help. What does this story teach us about judging people by how they look?
- Why do you think the poor man and his wife could not answer the riddle, but the beggar woman could?
- The poor man almost sent the beggar woman away. What might have happened if he had not let her hear the riddle? What does this teach us about being kind to others?
- If you were the poor man, how would you feel when a stranger said she could solve the riddle that you and your wife could not? Explain your answer.