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.
Basilio Gimo, David Ker
Carol Liddiment
Little Zebra Books
Chinyungwe
Level 2
The audio for this story is currently not available.
