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ኣድጊ ዀይኑ ዝተወልደ ቈልዓ Donkey Child

Lindiwe Matshikiza

Meghan Judge

Daniel Berhane Habte

Tigrinya

Level 3

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ፈለማ ሓንቲ ንእሽቶ ቈልዓ እያ ነቲ ምስጢራዊ ቅርጺ ብርሑቕ ዝርኣየት።

It was a little girl who first saw the mysterious shape in the distance.

እቲ ቅርጺ እናቐረበ ምስመጸ፡ ሓንቲ ብጽሕቲ ወርሒ ነፍሰ-ጾር ኣደ ከምዝዀነት ርኣየት።

As the shape moved closer, she saw that it was a heavily pregnant woman.

እታ ሓፍር ግን ድማ ቈራጽ ዝኾነት ንእሽቶ ቈልዓ ናብታ ኣደ ቀረበት፡ ከምዚ ድማ በለት። “እናተኻናኸ’ና ምሳና ክንሕዛ ኣለና፡” እቶም ምስኣ ዝነበሩ ሰባት ድማ ከምዚ ክብሉ ወሰኑ። “ንዓኣን ንውላዳን ምሳና ክንዕቅቦም ኢና።”

Shy but brave, the little girl moved nearer to the woman. “We must keep her with us,” the little girl’s people decided. “We’ll keep her and her child safe.”

እታ’ደ ሕርሲ ተታሕዘት። “ድፍኢ!” “ኮቦርታ ኣምጹኡ!” “ማይ!” “ድፍኢኢኢኢኢኢኢኢ!!!”

The child was soon on its way. “Push!” “Bring blankets!” “Water!” “Puuuuussssshhh!!!”

ነቲ ህጻን ምስርኣይዎ ግና፡ ብስንባደ ኵላቶም ንድሕሪት ዘለሉ። “ኣድጊ?!”

But when they saw the baby, everyone jumped back in shock. “A donkey?!”

ኵሎም ክካትዑ ጀመሩ። ገሊኣቶም፡ “ኣደን ውላዳን ክንዕቅቦም ኢና’ዶ ‘ይበልናን፡ ከምኡ ድማ ኢና እንገብር።” በሉ። ካልኦት ድማ፡ “ግና ሕማቕ ዕድል ከምጽኡልና እዮም” በሉ።

Everyone began to argue. “We said we would keep mother and child safe, and that’s what we’ll do,” said some. “But they will bring us bad luck!” said others.

ስለዚ እታ’ደ ዳግም ንብሕታ ተረፈት። ነዚ ስግንጢር ዝዀነ ቈልዓ እንታይ ከምእትገብሮ ኣስደመማ። ብዛዕባ ገዛእ ርእሳ እንታይ ከምትገብር መስተንክር ኰና።

And so the woman found herself alone again. She wondered what to do with this awkward child. She wondered what to do with herself.

ኣብ መወዳእታ ግና እቲ ቈልዓ ወዳ ምዃኑ ንሳ ድማ ኣዲኡ ምዃና ክትቅበሎ ኔርዋ።

But finally she had to accept that he was her child and she was his mother.

ሕጂ፡ እቲ ቈልዓ ከምታ ዝነበራ፡ ንእሽተይ ግዝፉ ኔሩ እንተዝኸውን፡ ደለ ምዀነ። እቲ ኣድጊ ግና እናዓበየ እናዓበየ ኣብ ሕቘ እታ’ደ ክሕዘል ክሳብ ዘይክእል ኰነ። ብተወሳኺ፡ ዝፈተነ እንተፈተነ’ውን ከም ናይ ሰብ ጠባይ ክህልዎ ኣይከኣለን። ኣዲኡ ካብ ግዜ ናብ ግዜ ደኸመትን ተባሳጨወትን። ሓደ ሓደ ግዜ እንስሳታት ጥራይ ክሰርሕዎ ዝግበኦም ስራሕ ተስርሖ ነበረት።

Now, if the child had stayed that same, small size, everything might have been different. But the donkey child grew and grew until he could no longer fit on his mother’s back. And no matter how hard he tried, he could not behave like a human being. His mother was often tired and frustrated. Sometimes she made him do work meant for animals.

ኣድጊ ድንግርግር በሎ ቍጥዑኡ’ውን ዛየደ። እዚ ክገብር ኣይክእል እቲ ክገብር ኣይክእል። ከምዚ ክኸውን ኣይክእል ከምቲ ክኸውን ኣይክእል። ኣዝዩ ሓሪቑ፡ ክሳብ ሓደ መዓልቲ፡ ነ’ዲኡ ረጊሑ ናብ ባይታ ዘውድቓ ኰነ።

Confusion and anger built up inside Donkey. He couldn’t do this and he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t be like this and he couldn’t be like that. He became so angry that, one day, he kicked his mother to the ground.

ኣድጊ ውርደት ተሰምዖ። ብዘለዎ ፍጥነትን ክሳብ ክበጽሖ ዝኽእል ርሕቀት ክሃድም ጀመረ።

Donkey was filled with shame. He started to run away as far and fast as he could.

ጕያኡ ኣብ ዘቋረጸሉ ግዜ፡ መሬት መስዩ ነበረ፡ እቲ ኣድጊ ድማ ጠፍአ። ኣብቲ ጸልማት “ሂሃ ሂሃ?” ኢሉ ሃለለ። “ሂሃ ሂሃ?” ዝብል መቓልሕ ተመልሶ። በይኑ እዩ ኔሩ። ከምዛ ኵዕሶ ዕዅልል ኢሉ ኣብ ዓሚቝን ርቡሽን ድቃስ ኣተወ።

By the time he stopped running, it was night, and Donkey was lost. “Hee haw?” he whispered to the darkness. “Hee Haw?” it echoed back. He was alone. Curling himself into a tight ball, he fell into a deep and troubled sleep.

ኣድጊ ምስ ተበራበረ ሓደ ዓቢ ባዕዳዊ ሰብኣይ ኣብ ልዕሊኡ ደው ኢሉ ክጥምቶ ጸንሐ። ኣብ ኣዒንቲ ናይቲ ዓቢ ሰብኣይ ምስጠመተ ብልጭልጭታ ናይ ተስፋ ክስምዖ ጀመረ።

Donkey woke up to find a strange old man staring down at him. He looked into the old man’s eyes and started to feel a twinkle of hope.

ኣድጊ ምስቲ ዓቢ ሰብኣይ ክቕመጥ ከደ፡ ዝተፈላለዩ ሜላታት ናይ ምንባር ድማ ካብኡ ተምሃረ። ኣድጊ ሰምዐን ተምሃረን፡ እቲ ዓቢ ሰብኣይ’ውን ከምኡ። ንሓድሕዶም ተሓጋገዙ፡ ብሓባር ድማ ሰሓቑ።

Donkey went to stay with the old man, who taught him many different ways to survive. Donkey listened and learned, and so did the old man. They helped each other, and they laughed together.

ሓደ መዓልቲ፡ እቲ ዓቢ ሰብኣይ ንኣድጊ ናብ ሓደ ጫፍ ናይ ጎቦ ተሰኪምዎ ክድይብ ሓተቶ።

One morning, the old man asked Donkey to carry him to the top of a mountain.

ኣብ ላዕሊ ኣብ መንጎ’ቲ ደበና ድቃስ ወሰዶም። ኣድጊ ኣዲኡ ከምዝሓመመትን ትጽውዖ ከምዘላን ሓለመ። ምስተበራበረ ድማ…

High up amongst the clouds they fell asleep. Donkey dreamed that his mother was sick and calling to him. And when he woke up…

… እቲ ደበና፡ ከምኡ ድማ ዓርኩ፡ እቲ ዓቢ ሰብኣይ ድሮ ተሰዊሮም ነበሩ።

… the clouds had disappeared along with his friend, the old man.

ኣድጊ ኣብ መወዳእታ እንታይ ክገብር ከምዘለዎ ፈለጠ።

Donkey finally knew what to do.

ኣድጊ ነ’ዲኡ፡ ንበይና ዀይና በቲ ዝጠፍኣ ቆልዓ ክትሓዝን ረኸባ። ንሓድሕዶም ንነዊሕ እዋን ተጠማመቱ። ሽዑ ንሓድሕዶም ኣጥቢቖም ተሓቛቘፉ።

Donkey found his mother, alone and mourning her lost child. They stared at each other for a long time. And then hugged each other very hard.

እቲ ኣድጊ ዀይኑ ዝተወልደ ቈልዓን ኣዲኡን ወትሩ ብሓባር ተቐመጡ፡ ከሳንዮም ዝኽእል ብዙሕ ሜላታት’ውን ረኸቡ። ቀስ ብቐስ፡ ኣብ ዙርያኦም፡ ካልኦት ስድራቤታት ክሰፍሩ ጀመሩ።

The donkey child and his mother have grown together and found many ways of living side by side. Slowly, all around them, other families have started to settle.

Written by: Lindiwe Matshikiza

Illustrated by: Meghan Judge

Translated by: Daniel Berhane Habte

Language: Tigrinya

Level: Level 3

Source: Donkey Child from African Storybook

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Read more level 3 stories:

እታ ደቃቕ ዘርኢ፡ ዛንታ ዋንጋሪ ማታይ ኖዚበለን እተን ሰለስተ ጸጕርታትን ደርሆን ዓረዛዘነን ናይ ሳኪማ መዝሙር ኣናንሲን ጥበብን እታ ቤተይ ገዲፈ ንከተማ ዝወጻኹላ ዕለት ደርሆን ንስርን

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