Yeroo durii namoonni homaa hinbekan ture. Namoonni kuni akkaitti wayya dhahan, akkaa midhaan facaasan, fi akkaiti sibilaa tuman hinbekaan ture. Ayyanni Nyamee jedhamu garuu ogummaa bayee qaba ture. Ogummaa kana okkotee keesaa ka’ee.
Long long ago people didn’t
know anything. They didn’t
know how to plant crops, or
how to weave cloth, or how to
make iron tools.
The god Nyame up in the sky
had all the wisdom of the world.
He kept it safe in a clay pot.
Gaftokko, Nyameen okkotee kan Anaanisif kennuf murtesee. Anaanis yeroo okkotee kan ilalee hundaa waan bayee bartee. Bayee dinqii ture.
One day, Nyame decided that
he would give the pot of
wisdom to Anansi.
Every time Anansi looked in the
clay pot, he learned something
new. It was so exciting!
Sassatuun Anaanis akkan yaade. “Okkotee tana muka gubban ka’a. Sana booda ana qofatu ittifayyadam!” Funyoo dheera fidee okkoteeti maree garaa isaa irratti hidhatee. Sana booda mukicha kore. Garu halaa saanan mukicha koru hindandenyee.
Greedy Anansi thought, “I’ll
keep the pot safe at the top of a
tall tree. Then I can have it all
to myself!”
He spun a long thread, wound it
round the clay pot, and tied it to
his stomach.
He began to climb the tree. But
it was hard climbing the tree
with the pot bumping him in the
knees all the time.
Yeroo hundaa mucaan Anaanis muka jala dhabbate ilaal ture. Akkan jedhe, “Okkotee sana oto dugdaa keetiratti hidhatee wayya ta’a lata?” Anaanis akkuma mucaan isaa jedhee sanatti dugdatti hindhatee shaakallin salphaa ta’ef.
All the time Anansi’s young son
had been standing at the
bottom of the tree watching. He
said, “Wouldn’t it be easier to
climb if you tied the pot to your
back instead?”
Anansi tried tying the clay pot
full of wisdom to his back, and it
really was a lot easier.
Yerooduma san qacee mukaa irra gahee. Sana booda yadee, “Ani namaa silaa ogumma hundaa qabaachu qabu garuu mucaan koo akkamitti nacaalee!” Anaanis haala kannatti aaree okkotee mukarraa gadidarbee.
In no time he reached the top of
the tree.
But then he stopped and
thought, “I’m supposed to be
the one with all the wisdom,
and here my son was cleverer
than me!”
Anansi was so angry about this
that he threw the clay pot down
out of the tree.
Okkoteen nicacabdee. Ogummaaan suni nama hundaafu bilsaa ta’e. Namoonni haala kanaan akkamiti akka qotan, akkamiti akka uffata dhahan, fi akkamiti akka sibiilaaf wantoota biraa hojatan baran.
It smashed into pieces on the
ground. The wisdom was free
for everyone to share.
And that is how people learned
to farm, to weave cloth, to
make iron tools, and all the
other things that people know
how to do.
