Ngelinye ilanga unogwaja
wayehamba ngasemfuleni.
One day, Rabbit was walking by the riverside.
Umvubu naye wayekhona
lapho, ezihambela futhi ezidlela
utshani obumnandi.
Hippo was there too, going for a stroll and eating some nice green grass.
Umvubu akazange abone ukuthi
nonogwaja ukuthi ukhona,
wamnyathela unyawo
ngephutha.
Unogwaja wamemeza ethethisa
umvubu ” wena mvubu!,
awuboni yini ukuthi
unginyathela unyawo?”
Hippo didn’t see that Rabbit was there and she accidentally stepped on Rabbit’s foot.
Rabbit started screaming at Hippo, “You Hippo! Can’t you see that you’re stepping on my foot?”
Umvubu waxolisa kuye wathi, ”
ngiyaxolisa mngani wami,
angikubonanga, ngicela
ungixolele!”
Kodwa unogwaja akafunanga
ukuzwa lutho, wathethisa
umvubu wathi, “wenze lokhu
ngabomu!,ngelinye ilanga,
uzabona! uzokhokha!”
Hippo apologised to Rabbit, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you. Please forgive me!”
But Rabbit wouldn’t listen and he shouted at Hippo, “You did that on purpose! Someday, you’ll see! You’re going to pay!”
Kwase kuthi unogwaja wahamba wayofuna umlilo, wathi kuye ” hamba, uma
umvubu ephuma emanzini eyodla utshani ufike umshise. Unginyathelile!” umlilo
waphendula, ” akunankinga mngani wami, ngizoyenza lokhu ongicela kona.”
Rabbit went to find Fire and said, “Go, burn Hippo when she comes out of the water to eat grass. She stepped on me!”
Fire answered, “No problem, Rabbit, my friend. I’ll do just what you ask.”
Lokhuyana, umvubu eyodla
utshani kude nasemfuleni
“whoosh!” umlilo waphenduka
amalangabi. Lawo malangabi
acala ashisa izinwele zika
mvubu.
Later, Hippo was eating grass far from the river when, “Whoosh!” Fire burst into flame. The flames began to burn Hippo’s hair.
Umvubu wacala wakhala
egijimela emanzini. Izinwele
zakhe zonke zazishile emlilweni.
wayeloku ekhala ethi ” izinwele
zami zishile emlilweni! ushise
zonke izinwele zami! izinwele
zami ezinhle kakhulu!”
Hippo started to cry and ran for the water. All her hair was burned off by the fire.
Hippo kept crying, “My hair has burned in the fire! My hair is all gone! My beautiful hair!”
Yingakho umvubu akadlaleli kude namanzi ngoba esaba ukuthi uzoshiswa
wumlilo. Unogwaja wathokoza kakhulu ngenkathi umvubu esha ethi, ” ngaze
ngamthola!”
Rabbit was happy that Hippo’s hair was burned.
And to this day, for fear of fire, the hippo never goes far from the water.
