Part 2: On perspicaciousness (good judgment, perceptiveness), reasonableness, sagacity, savoir-faire, wisdom, and worldly wisdom

B

The executor does not pawn his child; his helper pawns his own.

An unsolicitous host makes for a visitor with no deference.

The chief of farmers says he has nothing to go to heaven to sell; all he cares about is fair payment for his corn.

“This is what we do” in one place is taboo in another.

If one lives with a maniac one incurs the enmity of the wise; if one shuns iyá leaves one offends the corn-gruel seller.

As one castigates ẹrán, one should also castigate ẹràn.

If one whips a child with the right hand, one embraces it with the left.

After a joke one gives way to laughter; after satiation one gives way to sleep.

As one warns the thief, one should also warn the owner of the wayside yams.

If one says “Know,” the knowledgeable will know it.

While one weeps, one can still see.

If one is sent on an errand like a slave, one carries it out like a freeborn.

If one remembers the day of (the loss of) virginity, one should also remember the day of a woman's delivery, and one should remember the vagina that smarts.

When one sees a devious person one mistakes him for a good person; one talks into a basket and it leaks.

Although one has seen the morning, what about night time?

When one is done discussing a matter one laughs, when one is satiated sleep claims one.

If one has committed a great offense, one frees oneself by swearing (innocence).

If one sells a member of one's household cheap, one will not be able to buy him back at a great value.

If one does not throw a toad into hot water, and then throw it into cold water, it does not know which is better.

If one is not more clever than the partridge on one's farm, one cannot kill it.

If one cannot find a bat, one sacrifices a housebat.

If we cannot find a vulture we may not offer a sacrifice; if we cannot find a ground hornbill we may not carry out a ritual.

If one does not eat oil because of yams, one will eat yams because of oil.

If one has never had a child, has one not seen chicks flocking after chickens?

If one does not send a message to the market, the market does not send a message to one at home.

If one has never hunted, one would not know the tracks of “it-did-not-go-that-way.”

When night comes, one gives the ayò seeds to ayò.

When night falls, bọnnọ-bọ́nnọ́ goes limp.

If night does not fall, the house bat does not fly.

If the arms cannot encompass the silk-cotton tree, they may encompass its root.

If a terrible epidemic descends on a town, it is confronted with a terrible medicine.

If a masquerader wishes to disappear into the ground, it cries “Orò!”

Like play, like play, the makeshift cape became a dress.

After the person with smooth cheeks has stated his or her case, he or she should remember that the person with blemished cheeks will have something to say.

If trees fall atop one another, one removes the topmost one first.

When the squirrel has eaten, when the squirrel has drunk, the squirrel looks at the setting sun.

If the earth catches fire, the toad will hop on a tree.

If the town is split into two, one does the will of the heavenly king.

If a task does not delay one, one does not drag it out.

If a fight is not yet spent, one does not intervene to end it.

(If one is tripped by a protruding object one should not eat a wart-hog's head; if one eats a wart-hog's head, one should not go to a gathering of cudgels; if one goes to a gathering of cudgels, one should know one's place and act accordingly.

At the conclusion of a ceremony the acolyte commences to dance, and the onlookers prepare to make their exit.

“If you break I will retie you”; there will be a knot in it.

If you do not understand Ègùn, do you not recognize signs that someone is speaking?

If you will be a wife to the Olúgbọ́n be a wife to him; if you will be a wife to the Arẹsà be a wife to him, and stop sneaking around hugging walls; a person who would be the wife of the Olúfẹ̀ must gather her affairs into the house.

If a woman has not lived in at least two homes, she never knows which is better.

When day breaks, the trader takes up his trade; the cotton spinner picks up the spindle; the warrior grabs his shield; the farmer gets up with his hoe; the son of the hunter arises with his quiver and his bows; he-who-wakes-and-washes-with-soap makes his way to the river.

When the eyes come upon a matter, they must look hard and well.

If a youth's eyes do not witness a story, they should be good for hearsay.

When the camwood powder seller grinds the powder, she tests it on her own body.

If the gods take a person with a protruding back, the humpback should make ready.

Like proverbs, like proverbs one plays the ògìdìgbó music; [52] only the wise can dance to it, and only the knowledgeable know it.

Like proverbs, like proverbs are the pronouncements of Ifá. [53]

If the filthy person does not know profit, he should know his capital.

If a man sees a snake, and a woman kills it, what matters is that the snake does not escape.

Once God has revealed one's enemy to one, he can no longer kill one.

If a wise person is cooking yams in an insane way, a knowing person picks them with stakes.

If a child learns the trick of crying, the mother learns the trick of consoling him or her.

If a child learns the trick of dying, his mother should learn the trick of burying.

When a child is full, he shows his stomach to his father.

If a child expresses gratitude for yesterday's favor, he will receive today's.

If a youth is felling a tree, an elder will be considering where it will fall.

If a child is an adept ayò player, one defeats him with single seeds.

When a youth falls he looks ahead; when an elder falls he looks behind.

If a youth has never seen another person's father's farm, he says no body's father's farm is as large as his father's.

If a child refuses yesterday's pounded yams, it is stories one treats the child to.

If a problem remains long enough, it becomes clever.

If the arms cannot be swung, one carries them on one's head.

If guinea worm is becoming an ulcer, one should inform olúgambe.

When emergencies number two, one concentrates on one.

“Give me one yam” does not precede “Greetings to you on the farm.”

47. The word baálé means both landlord and husband.  [Back to text]

49. Ayò is the game played with seeds in a board with twelve scooped holes, a game popular in many parts of the continent.  [Back to text]

50. Bọnnọbọ́nnọ́ is another name for the tree ayùnrẹ́,whose leaves droop when night falls. The term could also apply to a person noted for restlessness.  [Back to text]

51. The persons named are titled people, whose wives would be expected to be above reproach.  [Back to text]

52. Royal ceremonial music of Ọ̀yọ́.  [Back to text]

53. The Yoruba oracle god.  [Back to text]

54. A medicine for treating guinea worm.  [Back to text]