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

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Some masqueraders are greater than others; some gods are greater than others; the masquerader Pààká chases the Ṣàngó worshipper into the bush.

The masquerader did not hit a woman with his shroud, but the woman unwraps her home-woven wrapper and hits the masquerader with it.

The masquerader stayed too long on parade and is reduced to speaking with his upper lip. They said, “Welcome, father,” and he responded, “He-e-e-e.”

The masquerader enters a house and claims he did not see Ejonto; Ejonto asked, “Is that a rag that entered the house, or what?”

An elephant's bone: it sticks in the wolf's mouth.

A tick fastens on a fox's mouth and a chicken is asked to peck it off; the chicken, though, knows that it itself is food for a fox.

A snake does not escape over the fence while a warrior [42] watches.

I bought twenty cowries worth of corn pap and you bought twenty cowries worth of corn pap, and you call me a corn pap addict.

I am a pawn, you are a pawn, and you tell me the creditor sent you to collect his money; have you repaid yours?

It is palm oil that I am carrying; sandman, do not ruin my fortune.

An elephant's trumpeting is never answered by its young's trumpeting.

It is people who use the path that will spread the word about mature corn.

Èsúrú yam [43] forgets itself and loses favor with the maker of pounded yams; the lizard forgets itself and falls into disfavor with the wall; tortoise-like He-who-will-remain-nameless forgets himself and loses all regard with me.

It is only with the ears that a woman hears the voice of Orò.

Which among the leaves of the locust-bean tree is adequate to receive corn-loaf?

What business does Sikirat have in the town of Ìwó?

The cane-rat that attempts to uproot a palm-tree will lose all its teeth in the attempt.

The goat did not say it was not sired by the sheep; it was the sheep that said it was not sired by the goat.

If sired by a goat, one does not go foraging in the realm of sheep.

Only people like monkeys have their clothing torn by monkeys.

Humans have no place to sleep, and a dog is snoring.

A shameless person deserves to have only one eye, that one as large as a horse's.

41. Women are forbidden to approach masquerades, and are supposed to run into hiding whenever masquerades are about on pain of being whipped.  [Back to text]

42. In this case Ààrẹ is the short form of the highest Ọ̀yọ̀ military title, Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò.  [Back to text]

43. Dioscurea Dumetorum (See Abraham: 324); the starch content is so low that it is not suitable for pounding.  [Back to text]

44. Orò is a secret cult forbidden to women, and at the approach of whose ritual bearer women must run into hiding.  [Back to text]

45. Corn-loaves are cooked wrapped in large leaves, much larger than the leaves of the locustbean tree, which are inadequate for the purpose. The proverb plays on gbà (to receive) and the last end of ìrúgbàá (gbà á), which means “receive it,” or “accommodate it.”  [Back to text]

46. Sikirat is a muslim name for a woman; the town of Ìwó is, presumably (as far as this proverb is concerned), a stranger to Islam.  [Back to text]

47. The proverb plays on ìtìjú, literally “the pushing at the eyes,” which is the Yoruba word for shame. A person who is insensitive to “the pushing at the eyes” certainly can do without a second eye, and the one he or she does have can be as large as possible, since it will be insensitive to pushing, and the disfigurement would mark the person as grotesque while having no effect on him or her.  [Back to text]