Lontan bann dimoun pa ti konn nanye. Zot pa ti kone kouma plant legim ouswa kouma koud ouswa kouma ranz bann zouti an feray. Bondie Nyame lao dan lesiel ti ena tou lasazes dan lemond. Li ti pe gard li an sekirite dan enn po later.
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.
Enn zour, Nyame finn deside ki li pou donn Anansi so po lasazes. Sak fwa Anansi ti pe get dan sa po later la, li ti pe aprann enn nouvo kiksoz. Sa ti bien interesan !
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, ki gourman, finn mazine, « mo pou gard sa po-la an sekirite lao enn pie. Koumsa mo kapav gagn li pou mwa tousel. » Li finn fil enn long difil, li finn anroul li otour po later la ek li finn atass li avek so lestoma. Li finn koumans mont lor pie-la. Me, li ti difisil pou grimnp lor pie-la avek sa po ki ti pe touletan tap avek so zenou.
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.
Tou sa ler la, Anansi so ti garson ti pe debout anba pie-la et li ti pe get li. Li finn dir, « li pa ti pou pli fasil si to ti pou atas po la avek to ledo plito ? » Anansi finn sey atas po later ki rampli ar lasazes la avek so ledo e zisteman, li ti bien pli fasil.
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.
Dan enn ti mama li finn ariv lao pie-la. Me li finn arete ek li finn panse, « mwa mo ti sipoze ena tou lasazes ek ala mo garson pli malin ki mwa ! » Anansi ti telman ankoler akoz sa ki li finn zet sa po later la depi lor pie.
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.
Po-la finn kase bout-bout lor later. Lasazes finn vinn disponib pou tou dimoun kapav partaze. Ek koumsamem ki bann dimoun finn aprann kouma plante, koud, ranz bann zouti an feray avek tou lezot zafer bann dimoun ti konn fer.
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
Shameem Oozeerally & MIE French Students
Mauritian Creole
Level 3
The audio for this story is currently not available.
