Part 1: On humility, self-control, self-knowledge, self-respect, and self-restraint

O

Salt loses its good quality and becomes like saltpeter.

The moon loses its esteem and shines all night long.

Your eyes flinch not and your mouth is unstoppable, but you do not know nine times nine.

Not until the gathering of trousers will Ládugbo know itself as a miscreant.

It will not be until the end of days before the humpback realizes that a hump is not a child.

You do not know what black eyed peas are like for dinner.

You are reduced to eating last year's antelope in your stew, and yet you claim to have attained the height of good fortune.

It might be seemly for a masquerader to chase one off a corn farm, but it is not seemly for Pákọ̀kọ̀ to chase one in the middle of town.

Everybody has a right to say the yams are not well cooked, but not the bàtá drummer.

It is fitting for everybody to bargain to reduce the cost of dyeing clothes, but not the bed wetter.

Everyone can justifiably say, “God, who has left nothing undone,” but not a eunuch.

It is only in a small stream that the crab can make its oil; when it becomes huge and swift the river sweeps the crab away.

The law will assert itself, “as in the case of” a junior wife flogging the child of the senior wife.

The war that the two-eyed person saw and fled is the same the one-eyed person vows he will join.

Only two things are proper for a warrior: the warrior goes to war and drives the enemy off; the warrior goes to war and dies in battle.

What one sells is what one eats; that does not apply to the kerosene seller.

Whatever the ant is able to carry is what it says is its full measure.

That which the cricket attempted and broke a thigh, the aláàńtètè asks to be permitted to attempt.

A thing that is not worth the least amount of money should not prove a hardship for an elder.

What the imbecile does to himself is far worse than what he does to others.

One boasts only about things proper to boast about; whoever heard of the boast, “By this time yesterday I had given my parent-in-law the beating of his life.”?

Whatever is becoming for a person is what is becoming; a noose is not becoming for a chicken.

It is in a visitor's presence that one gets into debt; it is in her absence that one repays the debt.

The eye, father of the body; nothing is as valuable as the eye; nothing is as difficult to achieve as the status of elder.

It is not in the presence of the flame that water-yam grows hair.

The colobus monkey is never so reduced in circumstances that it becomes a land-hugging creature; the vulture is never so badly off that it becomes the equal of a chicken.

A head of a household is never so hard up that he sweeps his compound with his bare hands.

An Ifá diviner-priest is never so hard up that he asks for yesterday's sacrifice.

A dead person cannot be so desperate as to appeal to a living person for deliverance.

One should not become so desperate that one takes one's younger sister as wife.

One should never be so benighted that one covers oneself in rags.

One's circumstances do not so deteriorate that one becomes red in teeth.

A person only newly acquainted with wealth; he has a son and names him Ọlaniyọnu.

The medicine man lacks all shame, he announces that his parent-in-law is dying.

Shame upon the wasp; the wasp has a nest but no honey.

The giant bush rat and its child become equals in their hole; the mother cracks palm-nuts with its teeth, and the child does the same thing.

Darkness does not know who deserves deference; it consulted the oracle Ifá for “Who might you be?”

A person who has only one wife does not form a circle for a fight.

A one-eyed person does not attempt standing somersaults.

The omele drummer does not vow that there will be an earth-shaking performance on the morrow.

The rich man eats slowly and at leisure; the poor person eats fast and with anxiety; the poor man who keeps company with a wealthy man is exceeding his station.

It is a rich person that keeps company with a wealthy person; only people of equal standing play together.

It is a rich person that eats pounded yams worth two thousand cowries.

A minor chief should not act garrulously in the presence of a king.

Today, the antelope falls into the ditch; tomorrow, the antelope falls into the ditch; is the antelope the only animal in the forest?

The shameless person does not know what is fitting; the shameless person is off to raid a farm, and he takes his wife along; the husband steals staple yams, the wife steals wateryams.

The bàtá drummer does not enter a mosque and ask “Where is the Imam?”

The excessively attentive visitor “who” extends hospitality greetings to the host.

The person with goitre offers a ridiculously low price for beads; were the beads seller to accept her offer she would have no neck to string the beads around.

The host is eating the fruits of the gbìngbindo tree; the visitor asks to be treated to some black-eyed peas.

The Ṣàngó worshipper who dances and does not shake his skirt: he does not disgrace Ṣàngó but himself.

The Ṣàngó worshipper who dances and does nor kick his legs disgraces himself.

The seller of twigs for firewood has a child and names him Ayọ̀ọ́kúnle[Joy fills this home]; what sort of joy is to be found in firewood twigs?

It is the person who does the summoning that assumes airs; the person subject to summons does not assume airs.

The-elderly-person's-head-deserves-respect is better than The-elderly-person's-head-is-damaged.

It is on the hide that one finds the elder.

What is the cause of the bachelor's elation that makes him whistle? That he will make pounded yams for himself and eat it by himself?

Your mother's co-wife made a garment for you and you complain that it is not long enough; how many did your mother make for you before she died?

“The dark of night knows not who is a wealthy person” is the oracle one delivers to “Who might that be?”

Sun, go set so one does not blame the owner of the day.

The water-buck ate, the water-buck drank, the water-buck compared its limbs to an elephant's.

A youth's food can enter the stomach of an elder; it is only a youth's ring that cannot slip unto an elder's finger.

People have no difficulty paying the money for glorious events; it is the money for trouble that is unpleasant to pay.

71. When the Yoruba have written someone off are irremediably worthless they say, “Óọ́ b lọ́wọ́ ẹ̀” (It has all slipped from his/her hands.)  [Back to text]

72. Black eyed peas eaten for dinner cause heart burn and great thirst.  [Back to text]

73. Pàkọ̀kọ̀ is a very minor eégún (masquerader) as distinct from the major ones that strike terror into people.  [Back to text]

75. Aláàńtètè is a type of cricket.  [Back to text]

76. A tag to the proverb goes: Bó bá yẹ ẹ́, tẹni tí ńfà á ńkọ́? (Even if it does, what about the person pulling it?)  [Back to text]

78. The use of afà and èro for hive (nest) and honey is non-standard Yoruba.  [Back to text]

79. The omele is the smallest drum in the dùndún ensemble, and it is usually played by an apprentice drummer.  [Back to text]

80. The bàtá drum and ensemble are associated with traditional deities and their worship, and therefore out of bounds in a mosque.  [Back to text]

81. Ṣàngó worshippers wear skirts, and good Ṣàngó dancing requires skirt shaking.  [Back to text]

82. “Orí ẹẹ́ fọ́!” (Your head is split) is an insult.  [Back to text]

83. Elders often sit on cowhides when they relax or adjudicate disputes.  [Back to text]

84. The proverb assumes that co-wives would not ordinarily extend generosity towards the children of other co-wives.  [Back to text]

85. Ọlọ́jọ́ (Owner of the day) is another designation for God.  [Back to text]