Proverbs from Izonland

POPULAR IZON PROVERBS

1. A child who hides what he is doing from his father will always go to the old man for help when trouble comes.

2. The person, whom the fairy strikes, is always struck on no other place, but the neck.

3. A woman can never be the oldest person in a village any day.

4. When the canoe capsizes, the things are never complete.

5. He, who sees a rough river and tries to cross with a small canoe, should not blame God.

6. He, who has a bad stay in the city, is off.

7. The tongue is only 3 inches, but it can kill a man that is 6ft tall.

8. A sheep that associates with dog will eat dung.

9. A person who has not secured a place on the floor should not look for a mat.

10. It is when the wind blows that we see the anus of a fowl.

11. It is the wrapper the whole town cuts for a man that reaches his waist.

12. A woman with only one wrapper does not go under the rain.

13. A man who thinks everything around his is sweet should remember that bitter leave grow in the bush with oranges.

14. If the singer is a fool, the listener is also a fool.

15. The fish that dwells in the waterside of a village never lives to its old age unless it is cunning.

16. No matter how a man cries, he never cries to bring blood.

17. He whose house is on fire does not pursue rat.

18. The tortoise says if it knew that it could ever become an elder, it would have recommended the use of a big cup to serve drinks for the elders.

19. You do not tell a little child to swear not to play with girls.

20. The knife which rejoices when it is cutting what it calls an old sheathe, is indeed destroying its home.

21. To whom nothing is given, of him nothing can be required.

22. The crab may try, but it will never walk straight.

23. Happiness in marriage is a matter of stance.

24. He who has not sat on the marital stool does not know the problems of marriage.

25. If you praise a child today for not killing a grass-cutter, when next he goes out hunting he will kill an antelope.

26. A plantain sucker will not produce fruit before his mother.

27. A cricket with one wing says that it is good to travel early.

28. A kindred that know how to circumcise don’t do it because the knife is sharp.

29. A dry grass dare not challenge fire to a duel.

30. It is shame for the mother of a squirrel to cook without palm oil.

31. Who would have believed that the pestle can beat the mortar.

32. One does not protect another's head in such a manner as to allow the hawk to lift one's own off one's shoulder.

33. A dog will always recognize its owner even when he is angry.

34. When elders are in the market place, the head of a child on his mother's back is not allowed to droop.

35. A wise fish knows that a beautiful worm that looks so easy to swallow has a sharp hook attached to it.

36. Whoever does not spread flour to dry will not be afraid of an approaching rain.

37. A house for which we use spittle to mix its mortar will collapse during a mist.

38. The death that will kill a man begins as an appetite.

39. Death has no business on a deserted house. He who has nothing loses nothing.

40. The man who lends one cloth tells one where to sit.

41. The man chews the stick acceptable to it.

42. The bachelor who complains of poor turnout at the market should be asked how many of his wives and children are attending.

43. Neither whose reign brings peace and stability nor the one whose reign brings turbulence would be forgotten.

44. The palm wine tree that is afraid of the calabash should stop producing palm wine.

45. The man who jumps from the ground onto an anti-hill is still on the ground.

46. One who has no mother should not sustain a sore on the back.

47. The vulture says he is happy whenever his wife is pregnant. If she bears the child alive good; and if she delivers a dead child, it is also good because meat will be provided.

48. Money is a stranger; it only stays with those who take good care of it.

49. If it were not for the ears, the heart will never be angry.

50. When there is no more rats to be had in the bush the fetid hedgehog becomes welcome.

51. When a blind man dies, he is not stranger to the spirit.

52. No body asks from where a married woman gets her pregnancy.

53. The wild cat does not roam the streets in day time; a man of good breeding does not roam the night.

54. The cock belongs to one person but its crow is for the whole neighbourhood.

55. The dog that opens its eyes while chewing bones invites pepper into its eyes.

56. The world is like a dancing masquerade. If you want to see it well, you do not stand is one place.

57. The rat says he has no quarrel with its killer but with the one who informs on its whereabouts.

58. The tongue is a good thing as far as it doesn’t belong to a woman.

59. Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he's well dressed.

60. To whom nothing is given, of him nothing can be required.

61. The crab may try but it will never walk straight.

62. Happiness in marriage is a matter of chance.