A Life of Too Many Ups & Downs

English and Amharic (Page 9)

Written By: governor of gwender, dañew welde’silasé

Transcribed, Translated, and Edited By: H.E. Negash

At that time, since the land of gaynt was divided into thirds and quarters, for landowners, and a lot of land was given to my mother, and we did most of the assistant plowing. Especially, on the CHefa riverside, in the sedéw region, since ample land with a large product called Tfya was given to my mother, there was a fattened calf that would wait by the gate to plow the land and come. Only the spots where the Tfya product could be found totally covered the rations and living expenses of the family. As I heard later, after a man entered assistant plowing and plowing, unbeknownst (to the community) he married one of my grandparent's granddaughters, and after producing a child, he said, “I deserve this”, and stole some land. Every so often, we had grown accustomed to living without plowing Tfya.

Even though life was comfortable and agreeable to us, the lengthiness of our lot in life concerned our mother, and she was thinking of taking us back to our father's country. Providentially, as we heard Italy had brought Gatecommander ayaléw out of exile and given him his old dominion, promoting him to duke, without spending the day, without spending the night, we traveled to gwender, to the house of the man we counted as a father. And he received us with joy, he made me go with him to dabat, but from there he made my mom and my little brother stay in gwender, having given them a house and rations.

On the day of their trip to dabat, Duke ayaléw biru was seen crossing over to walaj from gwender: with ten thousand weapons, countless and innumerable bullets, sugar and flour, and in total special supplies, and about two hundred cars. Italy's plan was that when the country met its ancestral governor, they assumed he would govern with ease. But, Duke ayaléw biru, for the sake of something heard but not completed, appeared to have gladly accepted the appointments and rewards given to him, but since his heart had already become an outlaw, from amidst the things I remember, when he was giving weapons to the people, I remember correctly that this came with a command to «put these (weapons) to work». On this occasion, it means he had planned to become an outlaw once he had completed distributing the weapons. A Gatecommander named sheebeshee, a man of born in gaynt, had come along with him to protect him. As I came to understand later, he had also agreed with the matter (of weapons distribution and being an outlaw). As proof of this, I remember one day when I was called and entered where only the two Duke ayaléw and Gatecommander sheebeshee were present, Duke ayaléw biru said, «so that this boy does not fall down and get left behind, remember him, become his patron» and rendered me over to him. I think they were talking about this matter before I came in. When I exited, the Gatecommander told me not to disappear from his side, and from my point-of-view, I was under the impression that I had been rendered over to another man as his male servant, so, I angrily exited. Then, without waiting for a long time, an order came to loot the treasury house, and the army looted whatever they wanted to.

በዚያን ጊዜ የጋይንት መሬት ሲሶና እሩብ ለባለመሬቱ ይመክፈል ባሕል ስለነበረ ብዙኅ መሬት ለእናቴ ስለተሰጠ እኛም ማስጠመኑን በሰፊው ተያያዝነው። በተለይም ጨፋ ወንዝ ማዶ ከሰዴው ክልል ውስጥ የሚገኝ ጥፍያ ተብሎ የሚጠራ ታላቅ ምርት የሚገኝበት ሰፊ መሬት ለእናቴ ስለተሰጠ ጥፍያን ለማረስ ደጅ የሚጠናው ሙክት ስቦ ይመጣ ነበር። ጥፍያ የሚገኘው ምርት ብቻ ለቤተሰብኡ ቀለብና ኑሮውን በጠቅላላ የሚሸፍን ይመስለኛል። ኋላ እንደሰማሁት አንድ ሰው ተጠምኖ ለማረስ ከገባ በኋላ ሳይታወቅ አንዷን የአያቴን እኅት የልጅልጅ አግብቶ ከወለደ በኋላ ይገባኛል በማለት ቀማቸው ማለትን ሰማሁ። በጊዜው ጥፍያ ሳናርስ መኖርን አስለምዶን ነበር።

ምንም እንኳን ኑሮው የተመቸንና የተስማማን ቢሆንም እናታችን ስለዘለቄታው ዕድላችን ስለሚያስቡ ወደ አባታችን ሀገር መልሰው ሊወስዱን ያስቡ ስለነበር በአጋጣሚ ደግሞ ኢጣሊያ ደጅአዝማች አያሌውን ከግዞት አምጥቶ ራስ ብሎ የድሮ ግዛታቸውን እንደሰጣቸው ሲሰማ ሳንውል ሳናድር ጉዟችንን ወደ ጐንደር አድርገን እንደአባት ወደምንቈጥራቸው ሰው ቤት ሄድን። እርሳቸውም በደስታ ተቀብለውን እኔ አብሬ ወደ ዳባት እንድሄድ ሲያደርጉ እናቴና ትንሽ ወንድሜ ግን ከዚያው ጐንደር እንዲቀመጡ ቤትና ቀለብ ሰጥተዋቸው ሄዱ።

ራስ አያሌው ብሩ ወደ ዳባት በተጓዙበት ቀን ቍጥሩ አሥር ሺህ የሚሆን የጦር መሣሪያና ስፍር ቍጥር ከሌለው ጥይት ጋር ስኳር ዶቄቱ በጠቅላላው ልዩ ልዩ ስንቅ በግምት ፪፻ በሚሆን መኪና ተጭኖ ሲሰለፍ ከጐንደር ዋላጅን ተሻግሮ ይታይ ነበር። የኢጣሊያ እቅድ ሀገሩ የጥንት አስተዳዳሪውን ሲያገኝ ሰጥ ለበጥ ብሎ ይገዛል ብሎ የገመተ ሲሆን ራስ አያሌው ብሩ ግን ለይስሙላ የሚደርግላቸውን ሹመትና ሽልማት በደስታ የተቀበሉት ቢመስልም ልባቸው ሸፍቶ ስለነበር ከማስታውሰው ነገሮች መካከል መሣሪያውን ለሕዝቡ ሲሰጡት «ሥራበት» የሚል ትእዛዝ እንደነበረ በትክክል አስታውሳለሁ። በዚህ ሁኔታ መሣሪያውን አድለው ከጨረሱ በኋላ ራሳቸው ለመሸፈት እቅድ ነበራቸው ማለት ነው። እርሳቸውን ለመጠበቅ አብረው የመጡ ደጅአዝማች ሺበሺ የሚባሉ አንድ የጋይንት ተወላጅ የሆኑ ሰው ነበሩ። ኋላ እንደገባኝ እርሳቸውም በጉዳዩ ትስማምተው ነበር። ለዚህም ማስረጃ አድርጌ የማስታውሰው አንድ ቀን ተጠርቼ ሁለቱ ራስ አያሌውና ደጅአዝማች ሺበሺ ብቻ ባሉበት ገባሁና ራስ አያሌው ብሩ «ይህ ልጅ ወድቆ እንዳይቀር እርስዎ ባልደረባ ሆነው እንዲያስታውሱት አደራ» ብለው ሰጡኝ። ከመግባቴ በፊትም የተነጋገሩበት ይመስለኛል። ደጅአዝማች ከአጠገባቸው እንዳልጠፋ ነግረውኝ ስወጣ እኔ ደግሞ በበኵሌ ለሌላ ሰው አሽከርነት የሰጡኝ መስሎኝ ተቆጠቼ ነበር የወጣሁት። ታዲያ ብዙኅም ሳንቆይ ግምጃ ቤቱ እንዲዘረፍ ታዘዘና ሠራዊቱ የመሰለውን ይዘርፍ ጀመር።