Kale kale ko batu nebasazibi lika. Nebasazibi ku cala licalo, ku luha libyana, kapa ku panga lika za lisipi. Mulimu Nyame mwa lihalimu na nani butali kaufela mwa lifasi. Na bubulukile mwa poto ya lizupa.
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.
Zazi leliñwi, Nyame a keta kufa poto ya butali ku Anansi. Nako kaufela Anansi atalimela mwa poto ya lizupa, naituta sesiñwi. Nelinto yenetabisa!
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!
Anansi ni lunya lwahae anahana, “Nita beya poto ye fahalimu a kota yetelele. Mi nitaipulukela yona ninosi!” Atatulula muhala womutelele, atata kwa poto ya lizupa mi saitama yona famba. Sakala kupahama kota. Kono neli butata hahulu kupahama kota ni poto inge inata fa mañwele nako kaufela.
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.
Nako yeo kaufela, mwana mushimani wa Anansi na yemi mwatasi a kota anza buha. Abulela, “Nekukaba bunolo kambe nemu tamezi poto kwa mukokoto?” Anansi alika kutamela poto ya lizupa yetezi butali kwa mukokoto wahae, mi neitoba bunolo hahulu.
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.
Kabubebe, afita kwa halimu a kota. Kono alisela ni kunahana, “Neniswanela kuba ni butali bokaufela, kono mwanake na talifile kunifita!” Anansi na nyemile ahulu ka taba ye mi sa yumba poto ya lizupa fafasi kuzwelelela kwa kota.
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.
Yapwaceha ka liyemba-yemba fafasi. Butali neli bwamahala kuli batu kaufela bakona kuikabela. Mi kona batu monebazibezi ku lima, ku luka litino, kupanga lika za lisipi ni lika zeñwi ze baziba batu kueza.
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.
Ghanaian folktale
Wiehan de Jager
Christabel Songiso
SiLozi (Namibia)
Level 3
