I Have Died

kha-yuma malla, malla Nasraden, bitayele men-urkha. khmara zenchellighe rappuyele u-malla benpala men-khmara. pyashel tama, lel bekyama. mara ana khina-adi metli. ina hech nasha letten kat-kati ate makkem men-da-arra. kha-nasha liten takhmen but-diyyi. mara kemen rakhten azen ka-bakhti tanen.

One day the mullah, mullah Nasradin, comes along the road. The donkey kicks out and the mullah falls from the donkey. He remains there and does not get up. He says ‘I have now died, but there is nobody to come and get me up from the ground. There is nobody to think about me.’ He says ‘I shall get up and run and tell my wife.’

bekyamele men-tama berkhatel bitayel ka-bakhtu marele bakhta, ketma b-risho gorakh mitele. khabra letlakh? ika mitele? pellan dukta. ku-ta-ganakh, makhzenna ikele, tamele. mita, kha-nasha la-tile shakelle. ka-bakhtu makhzuyol dukta kat-mitele.

He gets up from there, runs and comes and says to his wife ‘Wife, oh woe, your husband has died. Have you not had news?’ ‘Where has he died?’ ‘In such-and-such a place. Come yourself, I’ll show where he is.’

medre malla berrekhshel beryakhel tama. bakhta bitayela bekhyela, charchurela. marela kat-malla hech-nasha letle. malla gori mitele. mara m-ika dilakh gorakh mitele? mara ganu kha-akhcha kha-shima meskina tile kati tunile kat-mitele, hech-nasha letle azel shakel tamerre.

The mullah goes and lies down again there. The wife comes, weeps and shouts. She says ‘The mullah has nobody. The mullah my husband has died.’ He says ‘From where have you learnt that your husband has died?’ She says ‘He himself, such a poor wretch, came and told me that he has died and that he has nobody to go and take him and bury him.’