Yaaka yahanyima, antu hiyelukili zhidizhezhimaku. Hiyelukili kutumba mbutuku hela kuton’ga yakuvwala hela kufula yitwa. Nzambi Nyame wamumawula wadin’ga nakashinshi kaheseki. Wayilaminini mumba yakuwumba.
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.
Ifuku dimu, Nyame wazhinini kwinka iyi imba kudi anansi. Impiji yezhima Anansi neyi natali mumba, wadi’nga nakutan’ga chuma chachiha. Chadin’ga chamuzan’galu.
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 wachifwa washinganyekeli, “Nikulama iyi imba hewulu damutondu wawulehi. Dichi yikwikala yami nkayami!” wayikasili kutambu mumbunda. Watachikili kukandama kumutondu. Ilan’ga chadin’ga chakala kukandama namba kumutondu yinakumweta mumanun’gu mpinj yezhima.
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.
Mpiji yezhima, mwana ka Anansi wadin’ga hesshina da mutondu nakutala. Wahosheli nindi, “Hichikwikala chaswayiku neyi wukandama kumutondu namba wunakasili kunyima?” Anansi wesekeli kukasila imba yakashinshi kunyima yindi kaha nawa chedin’ga chaswayi.
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.
Hakadi nimpinji, washikili kwiwulu damutondu. Ilan’ga wemene nakushin’ganyeka, “yami natela kwikala namaana ilan’ga mwanami wudi wababala kubadika ami!” Anansi wahilili chakwila anata nimba hamaseki kufuma kumutondu.
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.
Yabalukili nakuchikeka hamaseki. Kashinshi kedin’ga kamuntu wezhima kudanzan’gena. Dichi antu elukiliwu kudima, kuton’ga yakuvwala, kufula yitwa nayuma yezhima yelukawu antu kulelu.
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.
