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Sulo adayanya uxamwali na Moto Why hippos have no hair

Basilio Gimo, David Ker

Carol Liddiment

Little Zebra Books

Chinyungwe

Level 2

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Pantsiku inango sulo akhazunga m’phepete mwa gombe, ndipo mbvuu ikhabzizungirambo icimbadya mauswa yakusvipirira m’phepete mwa gombe momwe mukhana sulomo.

One day, Rabbit was walking by the riverside.

Hippo was there too, going for a stroll and eating some nice green grass.

Mbvuu iribe kuwona kuti sulo akhali m’phepete mule, na tenepo mbvuu idamuponda mwendo sulo. Ndipo sulo adalira, acipfuwula aciwuza mbvuu kuti: “Iwe mbvuu uli kuwona lini kuti uli kundiponda mwendo?”

Hippo didn’t see that Rabbit was there and she accidentally stepped on Rabbit’s foot. Rabbit started screaming at Hippo, “You Hippo! Can’t you see that you’re stepping on my foot?”

Ndipo mbvuu ire idamupepesa sulo iciti, “Pepa xamwali ndikhalibe kukuwona, ndikhululukirembo!” Ndipo sulo alibe kufuna kubva, ndipo sulo ule adauza mbvuu ire kuti, “Wandiponda utowa, dikhira, unidzawona ntsiku inango, undzakhaula.”

Hippo apologised to Rabbit, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you. Please forgive me!” But Rabbit wouldn’t listen and he shouted at Hippo, “You did that on purpose! Someday, you’ll see! You’re going to pay!”

N’cadidi sulo adayenda kukapangana uxamwali na moto aciti, “Udzayende kukatentha mbvuu ikadzabula kunja kudzadya mauswa thangwe idandiponda.” Ndipo xamwali moto ule adatawira aciti, “Inde xamwali sulo, ndinidzacita bzomwe walewabzo.”

Rabbit went to find Fire and said, “Go, burn Hippo when she comes out of the water to eat grass. She stepped on me!” Fire answered, “No problem, Rabbit, my friend. I’ll do just what you ask.”

Mbvuu ire idayenda kukadya kutali na gombe, ndipo mwadzidzi moto udagaka uciyamba kutentha ukuse bwentse bwa mbvuu.

Later, Hippo was eating grass far from the river when, “Whoosh!” Fire burst into flame. The flames began to burn Hippo’s hair.

Ndipo mbvuu idalira, icithawira m’madzi. Ndipo ukuse bwentse budamala kupsa na moto. Mbvuu idalira iciti, “Ukuse bwangu bwapsa na moto. Ukuse moto wanditenthera. Ukuse bwangu bwamala kupsa, ukuse bwangu bwa bwino-bwino.”

Hippo started to cry and ran for the water. All her hair was burned off by the fire. Hippo kept crying, “My hair has burned in the fire! My hair is all gone! My beautiful hair!”

Na tenepo, mbvuu imbabula lini kunja kugopa kupsa pomwe na moto. Sulo adakomedwa kwene-kwene pomwe mbvuu idapsa na moto, acilewa kuti, “Ndam’bwerezambo.”

Rabbit was happy that Hippo’s hair was burned. And to this day, for fear of fire, the hippo never goes far from the water.

Written by: Basilio Gimo, David Ker

Illustrated by: Carol Liddiment

Translated by: Little Zebra Books

Language: Chinyungwe

Level: Level 2

Source: Why hippos have no hair from African Storybook

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 International License.

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