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.
어느 날, 느야메는 지혜의 항아리를 아난시에게 주기로 결정했어요. 아난시는 점토 항아리를 볼 때 마다 무언가 새로운 것을 배웠어요. 정말 신이났어요!
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!
욕심쟁이 아난시가 생각했어요, “항아리를 높은 나무 위에 두어야지. 그러면 내가 모두 가지고 있을 수 있어!” 그는 긴 실을 짜서 점토 항아리에 두르고, 배에 묶었어요. 그는 나무를 오르기 시작했어요. 그러나 항아리가 무릎에 계속 부딛히느라 나무를 오르기가 힘들었어요.
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.
아난시의 어린 아들이 나무 밑에서 항상 지켜보고 있었어요. 그는 “항아리를 등에 묶으면 오르기 더 쉽지 않을까요?” 라고 말했어요. 아난시는 지혜로 가득 찬 항아리를 등에 묶었고, 정말 훨씬 쉬웠어요.
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.
그는 금새 나무 꼭대기에 이르렀어요. 그러나 그는 멈추고 생각하길, “내가 모든 지혜를 가지고 있어야 하는데, 내 아들이 나보다 똑똑하잖아!” 아난시는 정말 화가 난 나머지 점토 항아리를 나무 밑으로 던져 버렸어요.
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.
항아리는 산산조각 났어요. 지혜는 모든 사람들에게 자유롭게 나누어질 수 있게 되었어요. 그렇게 사람들은 어떻게 농사를 짓고, 천을 짜고, 철기 도구를 만들고, 다른 모든 것들을 배울 수 있었어요.
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.
