Oh, I'm so happy. I'm so happy. Laughed Koleli to herself. Mother has bought me a new waterpot. A new one for my very own. I'm bog enough to have my own waterpot. Koleli looked down at the old brown gours that she had used to carry water.
Somebody else can have that now. I have my own clay pot. Koleli picked up the jar and put it on her head. It's just righ. Mother. See? She danced around in happiness. The next day Mother took the new pot and burned it for a long time in the fire.
Then she took it out and set it in a safe place to cool all night. In the morning mother poured water into it to ne sure it would not leak. Oh oh. Cried Koleli. It doesn't leak. It doesn't leak. Now i can go down to the river to get water.
She put the pot on her head and picked up a small gourd for a dipper. Proudly she went out on the path with her little sister to join the village women who were going to bring water. Koleli walked as straight and as tall as she could.
She hoped everyone would see her new treasure. Her sister Wudei carried an old brown gourd. She was too little to have a clay pot. Then women and girls left the village and started down the mountain. The path went down a long ridge.
On one side was a valley. Farmers were plowing there. On the other side was a valley. Farmers were plowing there, too. Koleli wished they would all look up and see her new waterpot. Bit the farmers were too busy with their oxen to see a girl with a new waterpot on her head.
Along the way there were shepherd boys with their sheep. Baby monkeys hung onto their mothers' backs for fast rides down the mountains. Tiny deer ran across the path. Hornbills with their heavy-looking orange beaks cried loudly as they flew from tree to tree.
What a beautiful, beautiful day it was. But finally dipped her little gourd dipper into the river to fill her pot. Back up the mountain the women and girls went. Past the hornbills and deer. Past the monkeys and the shepherds. My first pot of water in my own clay pot. Koleli laughed as she set the pot down.
Many months passed. Koleli carried water every day for mother. Then one day mother again said to both her daughters. Go to the river and bring water. Koleli picked up her pot. Wudei took another pot. Her mother had borrowed that one. Down the mountain they went. Past the shepherds, the monkeys, the deer, the hornbills. Down, down to the river.
It was cool by the river under the great green trees. The girls set their pots down and watched the beautiful white herons dive for fish. Then they filled their pots and started up the mountain with two women. From the village. Slowly, slowly they walked in the hot sun.
Suddenly there was a crash. Everybody looked. Koleli was lying flat on her back with water splashed all over her. Around her were many pieces of her very own waterpot. She stood up. Oh, my waterpot. My waterpot. My very own waterpot. It's broken all to pieces.
It was my very own and what will mother say now. She picked a piece of the pot in one hand. She picked a piece of the pot up in her other hand. Up the path she walked. Holding the pieces high in the air. And oh how she cried. The shepherds heard her and laughed.
The farmers in the valley heard her and laughed, too. Oh, what shall i do? What shall i do. She wept. But Koleli. Said her sister. Don't cry. Be glad you didn't fall and break. The one I'm carrying. It was borrowed. Suddenly there was another crash. Everybody looked again.
There was Wudei lying flat on her back with water splashed all over her. Around her were pieces of her borrowed waterpot. She stood up. The borrowed waterpot. It's broken. It's broken. What will mother say. The two girls ran up the path and down the path.
They did not know where to go. Then they stood still. Koleli said to the women. Tell our mother what happened. We didn't mean to do it. Tell her we're not coming home. Then the two girls ran down the Mountain. People were still laughing at them. Could anything so terrible ever have happened in Ethiopia before?
The two women went to their house and set their pots down. Let's go and see the girls' mother. One said. So they went and found her. Your girls broke their waterpots. The women told her. Which one. Asked mother. She hoped it was not the borrowed one. Both of them. Answered one woman.
Both of them. Asked mother. Yes. They didn't mean to do it. They slipped on the rocks. Where are they now. Asked mother. They were afraid of what you would do so they ran back to the river. Afraid of me? Cried mother. She hurried down the mountain to find her two children.
At last she saw them crying by the pathway while they held their pieces of clay waterpots. My children. Do not be afraid of me. Said their mother. I am sorry the pots are broken. But you did not mean to do it. Never do i want you to be afraid of me.
Come now. Let's go home. We will get some more pots at the market. We didn't know our mother was that way at all. Thought the girls as they went home with their mother. We did not need to be afraid. We could have come home and just told mother what the trouble was and she would have listened to us.
Next time that is what we will do. You know. Children. Most mothers are like Koleli and Wudei's mother. Maybe you think yours is not. But the next time you're in trouble, try telling your mother all about it, and see what happens. God is like Koleli's mother too.
Only much. Much more kind and forgiving. Sometimes when people do wrong they try to forget about God. They want to run away from him. But they do not need to run away.
What they really need to do is to kneel down and tell God how sorry they are for what they have done. God forgives people who do this and they are much happier afterward.
The next time you are in trouble because you have sinned. Go to God and tell him about it. He will help you just as Koleli and Wudei's mother did. Try it. Won't you?
