Makumbi akunyima vathu kavejivile chuma numba chimweko. Kavejivile mwakutumbila vimbuto, chipwe mwakutungila mahina, chipwe mwakusongela vitwa vyavikungoko. Kalunga walijina lya Nyame mwilu apwile nachinyingi chakaye. Achilamine kanawa mundeho yaunonga.
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.
Likumbi limwe, Nyame ashinganyekele kuhana ize ndeho yachinyingi kuli Anansi. Lwola lwosena Anansi atalile muze mundeho yaunonga, alinangwilemo vimwe vyavihya. Echi chamusuulwishile chikuma kumuchima!
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 wakuzuzuka ashinganyekele, “Nangulamina ize ndeho helu lyamutondo wausuku. Kaha yose nayipwa yami ukhawami! Ahosele lungoji lwalusuku, nakulujingulwisa haze handeho yaunonga, nakuyikashilila kujimo lyenyi. Aputukile kunyina kuze kumutondo. Oloze chapwile chachikalu kunyina kumutondo shimbu ize ndeho ili nakumuveta hamambuli lwola lwosena.
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.
Lwola lwosena mwana Anansi walunga emanyine mwishi yamutondo nakutala. Ambile ngwenyi, “Khumana kachechi kukuhashiwilako nge mukashilila ize ndeho kunyima yove?” Anansi esekele kukashilila ize ndeho yakuzala nachinyingi kunyima yenyi, kaha chachili vene chapwile chachashi chikuma.
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.
Mulwola lwalundende tuthu ahetele helu lyamutondo. Oloze emanyine nakushinganyeka, “Ami yami ngwatelanga kupwa nachinyingi chosena, oloze aha mwanami nazangama kunguhambakana ami!” Anansi apihililile chikuma kaha ambilile ize ndeho yaunonga hamavu kufuma kuze kumutondo.
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.
Yapazukile muvihanda haze hamavu. Chinyingi jino chambwambumukile nakuya kuli khala muthu. Hakhiko jino vathu valilongesele kulima, kutunga mahina, kutunga vitwa vyavikungo, navyosena vathu vejiva kulinga.
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.
