Part 5: On consistency; honesty, openness, plain speaking, reliability

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One does not call it a slave and call it a child of the house.

One does not call it a burden and also call it an adornment.

One does not find a horse on tether.

One does not see a thing and then say one does not see it.

One does not wear the ritual loincloth for presiding over a trial-by-ordeal and judge the righteous guilty.

One does not tie a goat with another goat and keep one from butting the other to death.

One does not conspire in secret without the matter eventually causing a public argument.

One does not ask the main litigant, “How about it?”

He died in the mire; he died in the mire; let us simply say that the person drowned.

It is bribery that blinds a judge.

Cleft-lipped person eating okro; he complains, “Can you believe what a mess the floor is?”

It is simply a euphemism for theft to say àfọwọ́rá (literally, causing to disappear through the operations of the hand).

It is a euphemistic description of stealing to say, “My child's hands are uncontrollably nimble.”

Riddling makes it impossible for one to know the meanings of names.

The leper said two things, one of them being a lie; he said after he had struck his child with his palm, he also pinched him severely with his fingernails.

Person-who-schemes-to-kill-a-sheep-to-eat, native of Ìlárá, he says that he is afraid of its eyes.

He who would collect rain water in a sieve deceives himself.

One-who-smears-one's-eyes-with-pepper, one's husband's concubine.

He-who-has-an-affair-with-one's-wife harbors no good will towards one.

You-who-steal-in-secret, if an earthly king does not see you, the heavenly king sees you.

A blind elephant does not know a man from a tree.

Employing-the-hands-to-make-things-disappear is called stealing.

The sword cannot tell the smith's head from others.

The maize plant is not human; who ever saw children on the back of elephant grass?

It is completely that a fortification wall encircles a town.

It is completely that the climbing rope encircles the palm-tree.

A farmer stays on the farm and sees the moon.

He-who-decides-a-case-after-hearing-only-one-side, (is) the dean of wicked persons.

Imperfect understanding of Ègùn (a language to the west of Yoruba) brings nothing but dissension.

Reluctance-to-extend-hospitality makes one say, “My friend's friend has arrived”; one should simply say, “My friend has arrived.”

It is an alarm that is raised without moderation that finds no helpers.

The dog says that if it had never been to a farm it would have thought that okra came from heaven.

A dog without ears is no good for stalking prey.

It is a dog in whose speed one has faith that one sics at a hare.

Ajala, who whipped you? It is none other than you, isn't it?

The elephant is more than something of which one says, “I caught a fleeting glimpse of something”; if one saw an elephant, one should say so.

He-who-wakes-in-the-morning-and-eats-nothing; he-“who-”makes-a-worm-er-of-six-loaves.

It is a journey one does not want to make that one consults the oracle about.

He-who-carries-a-hunting-bag-but-does-not-hunt, enemy alike of man and beast.

A ladder rests on the ground and leans on the house; if the person one leans on must remove his support he should warn one.

A person that will greet one should greet one, and a person that will betray one should do so; what is the meaning of “Hello, Ìjàyè person!” before Ògúnmọ́lá's house?

A male asín rat does not hear the cry of its young and remain still; a nursing mother does not hear the cry of her baby without responding anxiously.

The user of a cross-bow does not know what type of game he shoots at.

The butcher does not know what type the animal is.

People-who-know-the-answer-yet-ask-the-question, natives of Ọyọ, if they see you carrying a water-pot they ask whether you are on your way to the farm or the stream.

The-person-who-kills-and-eats-dogs claims to be afraid of chickens.

A murderer never permits the passage of a sword behind his skull.

The blacksmith manufactures from a description.

Ibadan people do not run from war; what they say is, “We will fall back a little.”

He-who-eagerly-speaks-of-one's-problems, he covers his own with a huge potsherd.

Wrapping-from-waist-to-the-floor is the style of the queen's wrapper; digging-down-to-the-deepest-bottom is the requirement of yàrà, the dry moat.

The old person who incurs debt, he says how much of it will he be around to repay?

He-who-hurries-after-riches is on his way to battle; He-who-has-in-abundance is off on his travels; By-and-by-“I-will-be-rich” is back in his hut, eating roasted yams.

Speaking-without-explaining killed the first Elempe who said that calabash was heavier than china.

The kite does not snatch chicks in secret, it snatches them openly.

The evil doer makes a brisk exit.

One-who-is-tight-with-the-right-and-tight-with-left-without-alienating-either; what one will find in that characterization is a lie.

Seeking-until-finding is how a woman seeks ingredients for stew.

Explicitness makes matters clear; it takes three-hundred strings to string six hundred; unless one explains it, no one understands.

Explicitly is the way Ifẹ̀ speaks; it is openly that Orò kills animals.

The space is never so tight that a chicken will not be able to reach its incubating nest.

1. Okro, because of its sliminess, is difficult enough for a person with no labial deformity to eat.  [Back to text]

2. People are apt to be cryptic in naming their children. The Yoruba give names that indicate the circumstances of the family at the time of the birth, comment on the hopes of the family, or otherwise express the chief concerns of the people at the time. Usually, of course, only those who are intimate with the family understand the full import of the names, because they are not always explicit.  [Back to text]

3. When the maize plant develops fruits the Yoruba say,“Ó yọ ọmọ”literally, “It is carrying a child.” The expression does not, however, mean that the people believe that the plant is human. Elephant grass is almost identical to maize in size and looks, even though it bears no fruit.  [Back to text]

4. Igbà is used by palm-wine tappers to climb palm-trees. It works the same way as the ropes lumberjacks use for climbing posts.  [Back to text]

5. A person who says his condition forbids eating, but eats six loaves as a means of expelling worms, is inconsistent, and deceives no one.  [Back to text]

6. During the internecine Yoruba wars of the nineteenth century Ògúnmọ́lá led Ibadan's forces in their war with Ìjàyè.  [Back to text]

7. During the internecine Yoruba wars of the ninetheenth century Ogunmọla led Ibadan's forces in their war with Ijaye.  [Back to text]

8. The reference is to a certain character who came to grief by asserting the point, without explaining that he was comparing a full calabash with an empty china plate.  [Back to text]

9. The message is that it takes a string costing three hundred cowries in the old currency to string six hundred cowries.  [Back to text]

10. The references are to the oracle at Ifẹ̀, and to one of the religious mysteries of the people, which is audacious in claiming its victims.  [Back to text]