Kgalekgale batho ba ne ba sa tsebe letho. Ba ne ba sa tsebe ho lema, ho loha masela kapa ho etsa disebediswa tsa tshepe. Modingwana Nyame hodimo mahodimong o ne a na le bohlale bohle ba lefatshe, a bo bolokile ka pitseng ya letsopa.
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.
Ka letsatsi le leng, Nyame a nka qeto ya hore o tla fa Anansi pitsa ya bohlale. Kamehla ha Anansi a ne a sheba ka pitseng ya letsopa, o ne a ithuta ntho e ntjha. Sena se ne se mo thabisa haholo.
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 ya meharo a nahana, “ke tla boloka pitsa ena hodima sefate se se telele-telele mme e tla ba ya ka ke le mong!” A loha kgwele e telele a e potolohisa pitseng ya letsopa yaba o e tlamella mpeng ya hae. A qalella ho palama sefate. Ho ne ho le thata ho palama sefate pitsa e ntse e mo otla mangweleng.
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.
Nako ena yohle, mora Anansi ya monyenyane o ne a eme ka tlasa sefate a shebile. A re, “na ho ne sa tlo ba bonolo ho hlwella ha o ne o tlamelletse pitsa ka mokokotlong?” Anansi a leka ho tlamella pitsa e tletseng bohlale ka mokokotlong mme ho ile ha ba bonolo e le ka nnete.
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.
A fihla hlorong ya sefate kapejana. Yaba, o a ema o a nahana, “ke tlameha ho ba le bohlale bohle ke le mong, empa mora wa ka o bohlale ho mpheta!” Sena sa halefisa Anansi hoo a ileng a lahlela pitsa ya letsopa fatshe.
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.
Ya ptjatlana fatshe, ya e ba dikotwana. Bohlale ba abelwana le bohle yaba batho ba ithuta ho lema, ho loha masela, ho etsa disebediswa tsa tshepe le ntho tse ding tsohle tseo batho ba kgonang ho di etsa.
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.
